Protecting Her: A Romance Bundle

“A big, greasy breakfast,” I replied. “There is a place not too far from here if you would let me take you.”

She looked at me for a second, her eyes glimmering brightly. I could tell she either didn’t completely trust the situation, or she didn’t trust herself, but either way, my easy stance and charming smile would do the trick. I reached over and plucked a piece of lint from her robe and smiled as she blushed.

“Unless you’ve already eaten,” I said, looking over at the kitchen.

“No, I cooked my dad breakfast, but at the time, I wasn’t hungry.”

“So,” I said, stepping forward again. “What do you say? Let me take you out to breakfast.”

“Okay,” she replied. “Let me change out of this robe and throw my hair up, and we can go. You can sit down if you like. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be out in a jiffy.”

She turned and walked back toward the bathroom, and I let out a deep sigh, happy that I was going to get to spend some time with her. Was it strange that I was feeling just as excited as she was? This might be a bad thing for my normal routine with women, but at that moment, I just didn’t care.

4

Josie

My morning started with the spins, a super headache from hell, and a serious mental beatdown for my lack of responsibility the night before. I was being that typical girl, wavering between chastising myself and getting giddy as hell every time I thought about the hot sex and even hotter guy that I had hooked up with the night before. I got out of the shower, one of the few private moments I had in my day, and wiped the fog from the mirror. I stared at my tired face and soaking hair, glad to have washed the makeup and booze off my skin. I replayed my drunken state over in my mind, cursing at myself for being so reckless. I had a lot of responsibilities in life, and the last thing I needed to do was get wasted at a bar and end up putting myself in danger.

Blaine had been such a gentleman, from the moment I started dancing with him, but what if it hadn’t been Blaine? What if one of these skeevy West Palm boys had picked me up? I could have woken up in one of the beatdown areas, surrounded by creeps, and I would have had no idea what I had gotten myself into. Worse than that, I could have really gotten hurt. I was lucky that he showed up when he did. Just as I took a deep breath and thought about Blaine, my father knocked on the door, telling me some guy was there to see me. When I walked around the corner, I was more than shocked to see Blaine’s gorgeous blue eyes looking back at me with a smile on his face.

Never in a million years did I ever think that I would actually see Blaine again. I figured we would text a few times, try to make plans, and then fade from each other’s memories. I really thought it had been a seriously good one-night stand, but knowing men, there was no way I was going to see him again. But there he was, in all his glory, standing awkwardly in my father’s living room. It was rare to sleep with a guy within the first couple hours of meeting him, and then they actually had some sort of interest in you. I didn’t do that very often, but I was a girl who went to college, and as a social person, it was bound to happen every now and then. I drank way too much the night before, and even when I woke up that morning, I questioned myself as to whether my mind was playing tricks on me or if I had really had Blaine over. When I rolled over in my bed and smelled his cologne, I knew that it had not been a dream at all. Having him standing in my living room, though, was definitely not something I was expecting in the least.

I looked at him and tilted my head, curious and excited at the same time. Not only had he come over for no particular reason, he wanted to take me to breakfast. I thought for sure I had left something like my wallet or shoes in the car, and he came back to return them, but no, he was really there just to spend time with me. I was starting to feel like I was in the twilight zone, and I half expected him to tell me something crazy over eggs and bacon. I brushed my hair and grimaced at how fluffy it had become from the blow dryer. Having breakfast with this guy wasn’t the normal, everyday Saturday morning for me, and I really wished I had been able to straighten my hair and put on makeup. However, seeing that he was standing in my living room with my crazy father, I figured faster was better. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and smeared some lip gloss on my lips. The last thing I wanted to do was make Blaine wait. He was too damn hot to be standing around, waiting on my ass. Of course, I had to remind myself that he didn’t know me or my situation at all, so I might want to enjoy this because it probably wouldn’t last forever.

I hurried around the corner and into my bedroom, throwing open my closet and staring at my choices. I didn’t know where he was taking me, so I didn’t want to do a sweatshirt and shorts, but at the same time, I didn’t want to go nuts with a maxi dress and fancy sandals, either. These were the kinds of decisions I would normally mull over for hours, even days, before choosing something, but in the current situation, I needed to grab something and go. I pulled a pink sundress off the hangar and pulled it over my body, looking at how my curves fit the dress perfectly. I nodded my head and smiled, leaning down and slipping a pair of strappy sandals on my feet. I tightened my ponytail and squeezed my cheeks, trying to give myself some sort of color. It was summer in West Palm Beach, and I looked like a damn vampire with my fair skin and dark hair and eyes.

I looked in the mirror and swished the skirt of my dress back and forth, happy with my choice. I sighed at the bags under my eyes and shrugged, knowing there was nothing I could really do about it at that point. I reached over and grabbed my bag from the night before, making sure I had all my stuff, and headed back out to the living room. As I reached the opening, my father yelled out loudly, spewing a steady stream of curse words into the air. I sighed and took a deep breath as I rounded the corner to see my father still playing the damn game. My cheeks blushed immediately, realizing that Blaine was witnessing the ridiculousness of my father. He didn’t understand my family dynam

ic, and from the look on his face, he was being very understanding of that fact. I leaned over and kissed my father on the top of the head, listening to him grunt in response.

“I won’t be out too long,” I told my father. “There is egg salad in the fridge if you get hungry. I’m taking the keys to the car with me, so if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call my cell. I have it in my purse.”

“Yeah,” he said gruffly, looking up at me. “Have fun.”

The fact that my dad forced a smile and tried to be supportive of the fact that a man had come calling was a big step for him. In reality, he never really saw me doing anything out of my normal routine, but I knew that bothered him. However, he was my responsibility, and in order for me to go anywhere and feel comfortable, it took a bit of preparation, almost as if I had a child to take care of. Luckily, my father could make his own meals and generally take care of himself physically. I was more of a guardian than anything.

“Ready?” I looked up at Blaine and smiled.

“I am.” He smiled back and walked toward the door.

He looked over his shoulder to say something to my father but realized he was lost in his computer screen. I closed the door behind us as Blaine escorted me to his bright teal sports car parked out front. Immediately, I remembered thinking about how much I would like this car sober, and my drunk self was right on the money. It was sleek, shiny, sparkly, and had to have been almost brand new. The thing was luxurious and from my limited knowledge of cars, extremely expensive. Seeing that told me one of two things. Either he had a rich daddy, or he had some seriously fat pockets of his own to be able to cruise around in something like that. He definitely was not a West Palm Beach boy. That was for damn sure.

However, I didn’t really care about his money at all. It was just an observation that helped me start to piece together who Blaine actually was. I couldn’t remember him telling me anything about himself the night before, so in reality, the only thing I could do was piece together who I thought he was, though it was very likely that I was wrong. It didn’t matter at that point, anyway. I was just glad to see him standing there, waiting for me, something I never thought would happen. But I couldn’t deny that his car was pretty sweet.

Knowing that Blaine was obviously not poor made me a bit nervous about where he was taking me to lunch. I really didn’t like snobby rich people, and I wasn’t dressed to face those kinds of people at the moment. I assumed, though, that he would take me to a fancy brunch place or something, and secretly, I was dreading it. To my surprise, however, we zoomed down the road just a short way and pulled into the parking lot of Hal’s, a greasy spoon type of diner that had the best fried foods in the whole town.

I had gone there as a teenager with friends, when I could eat whatever I wanted and still have a rocking body. I wasn’t going to lie. I was pretty relieved to be there and not someplace with the rich and the famous of Palm Beach. I was just used to West Palm, no matter what people said about it. It was home, the place I grew up when times were simpler, and it had provided for me ever since then.

It was definitely more relaxing, knowing I was going to face Blaine on my own turf. He was intimidating enough as it was.

He walked around the car and opened my door, reaching down to help me out. As my hand moved across his, I could feel the electricity sparking through us. I stood up and straightened my dress, feeling his eyes on me. I linked my arm into his, and we walked inside, grabbing a booth in the back corner for a little bit of privacy. We both ordered a big sloppy burger and greasy fries. Then we sat back, talked, and ate for quite a bit of time. He was so funny and charming, and I felt that his candor was refreshing, even if it did take me by surprise at first. It was quickly becoming apparent that I liked him more and more.

“What do you do?” I asked.

“You can’t hold it against me if I tell you,” he said, chuckling. “I’m a lawyer. It was my parents’ firm.”

“That’s awesome,” I said, impressed. “Do your parents still work there?”