The Bodyguard (Red's Tavern 7)

He propped himself up a little, looking at me in the eyes now, his face hovering just inches above mine. “Maybe I need a kiss sometimes when I’m not mid panic-attack, too, you know.”

God damn it. When he said things like that, I couldn’t control my heart rate or my hard-on.

He gently bit his lower lip as he watched me, and I felt frozen in place.

It was typical. Now that the crisis situation was over, I had no idea what to do. I had always been good in an emergency. I could focus. Everything became clear. I didn’t overthink things.

But now that everything was pretty much back to normal, I was sure I was going to make some wrong move.

“I meant what I said,” I told him. “You’re not crazy. But I’m pretty sure you are going to make me crazy.”

“Just because I really want to kiss you again?” he asked, batting his lashes at me as if he were being coy. As if anything about him was coy.

No. Theo knew exactly what he was doing.

And I hated that I loved every single second of it. Because he really was the kind of person who could get anything he wanted, at least from me.

“Come here,” I said under my breath.

I moved in and pressed my lips to his again. I lost myself instantly in the kiss. It was a simple, slow kiss—more intimate than the one from earlier tonight, and so much more tender than the one we’d shared in the Red’s Tavern parking lot the first time we met.

His palm slid down the front of my chest and I pulled him in a little closer. His mouth opened to me and I felt the slip of his tongue against mine. There was nothing half-chub about it, now. I was hard as hell.

“I know you don’t want to do anything more physical, and we don’t have to,” Theo murmured, kissing down the side of my neck. “But I love it when you kiss me.”

I pulled in a shuddering breath.

Theo really thought I didn’t want to do anything physical. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

I wanted it badly, actually. I wanted it so fucking much. The idea of doing more physical things with Theo was so hot I could barely process it, and I was pretty sure I’d come in two seconds flat if I reached down and touched myself.

“I just want you to feel good,” I said. I had no clue what else to say, and every word of it was the truth.

The rain had started to get heavy again against the window pane. Theo cuddled up against the side of my body and let out a long sigh.

“Good night, Roman,” he murmured, his voice finally sounding sleepy again. Apparently the kiss had finally relaxed him enough that he could fall back asleep. It made me happy, but the kiss had definitely had the opposite effect on me. I was like a human exclamation point right now, and my cock was so hard under the sheets.

In another two minutes, Theo was gently and evenly breathing, clearly asleep right there against me.

He was like a chaotic little angel. Theo had an energy that I hadn’t had in my life in a very, very long time. In fact, since meeting him, it felt like I’d been woken up from some sort of hibernation I hadn’t even realized I’d been in.

My life felt like it had purpose, for the first time in a long while. And even though I was out of my depth, I desperately wanted to be a part of his orbit.

12

Theo

“Malibu. Tomorrow night. I hope you’re ready.”

I pushed the covers aside, pressing my phone up to my ear. I could barely open my eyes. The room was still a dim, muted grey, but I could tell that it was morning, and my ringtone had been a rude awakening.

I could also tell that I was alone in the bed. Where Roman’s warmth had once been was now just cold sheets.

“What time is it, Madeline?” I croaked into my phone.

“For you, eight-thirty,” she said.

“We’ve talked about this,” I told her, sitting up in bed. “No calls before eleven. I’m still a pumpkin. A fucking cranky pumpkin.”

“Well, I thought that the pumpkin might want to know that you were invited to Garett McKennaugh’s birthday party. He wants you there tomorrow night.”

My eyes widened immediately. “Wait. Garett actually invited me?”

“Told you you’d want to wake up for this.”

The house was quiet. No more sound of rain, but also no sign of Roman or Donna. I pulled in a deep breath and turned to the side, swinging my legs over the side of the bed.

I noticed that on the nightstand, there was a full glass of water, a muffin, and a little sticky note with a neat message written out.