Nothing Left to Lose (Guarded Hearts 1)

He sighed deeply. “Listen, Anna, this is what guys do for their girls. We need to start acting like a couple now so that it’ll be easier next week. It’s not a big deal; I just want to help you out of the boat. Please stop being difficult,” he countered, grabbing my hand and helping me onto the deck. “Jeez, you’re stubborn.” He shook his head, laughing. “Most girls would’ve fallen for my charm by now,” he boasted, smiling at me.

I snorted at his cocky attitude. “If you’re expecting me to fall for you, then you’re going to be very disappointed,” I said seriously.

He chuckled. “I know, I can tell,” he answered, grinning. I rolled my eyes at him and took my jeans off, plopping down on the dock in just my long, baggy T-shirt. I grabbed an apple out of the bag, nibbling on it absentmindedly.

When he stripped down to his shorts, exposing that incredible toned and tanned body that looked like something out of a celebrity magazine, I slipped on my shades so that he wouldn’t see my eyes wander in his direction. I forced my gaze away from him and focussed on my apple. I actually felt immensely guilty for looking at him in that way. I had never looked at a man the way I kept looking at Ashton, not since Jack. No one ever caught my interest, and I felt like I was being unfaithful to Jack’s memory by looking at my new guard.

Ashton sat down next to me, stretching out his long legs. “Let’s start with the getting to know each other. What’s your favourite colour?” he asked casually.

“Green,” I answered, closing my eyes and lying back on the wooden dock. I loved it out here; the way the dock rocked slightly on the water was soothing. I often came out here and just lay in the peace and quiet.

“Favourite flower?”

“Dandelion,” I replied, then bit my lip. “I mean roses, white roses,” I amended, frowning.

“Dandelions? You like weeds? Why?” he asked, eyeing me curiously.

Oh for goodness’ sake! Why does this guy want to know everything about me and always see through my lies? I sighed. “Jack gave me a big bunch of dandelions when he asked me out when we were five,” I admitted, smiling at the memory.

He laughed. “That’s sweet. He sounds like he was a nice guy.” I nodded, and he smiled at me. “Maybe he was a bit cheap though,” he added jokingly.

I smiled and looked at him. “He was a great guy, you’d have liked him, everyone liked him.” I rolled onto my front, putting my arms under my chin, watching the water ripple around the dock.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. “Favourite food? Mine’s a tuna melt baked potato because that’s about the only thing I can cook,” he laughed.

“Seriously, you can’t cook? Do you still live with your parents? Does your mommy do everything for you? I bet she still washes your clothes,” I teased, grinning at him.

A sad smile crossed his face. “My parents died when I was ten, I grew up in foster homes,” he replied. “And no, I can’t cook. I’m pretty good at burning stuff though.”

I winced and looked at him apologetically because of my insensitive joke about his mom. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I shouldn’t have said that.”

He smiled and shook his head, shrugging casually. “It’s fine; it was a long time ago. Favourite food?”

“Er, chocolate fudge cake? I’m a dessert girl,” I admitted, smiling, grateful for the change of subject.

He laughed. “Right, I should have guessed by the size of you,” he joked, poking me in the ribs.

“Hey, don’t make fun of a girl’s weight!” I scolded, trying to look stern. I knew he was joking though; I worked out a lot, so my figure was toned, I just hid it under baggy clothes so no one could see.

“Whoa there, sorry, ma’am,” he replied, holding up his hands in an ‘I surrender’ fashion. My stomach fluttered when he called me ‘ma’am’. From his mouth, it actually sounded incredibly sexy.

The questioning continued for about another hour and in that time I learnt a lot about him. He’d graduated two days ago – this was his first proper assignment. He’d never been undercover before. He was originally from Boston but moved around a lot because of the foster homes. He had no other family or siblings. His best friend from the academy was called Nate, and he was like a brother to him. They shared an apartment in LA. Apparently, he did know how to wash his own clothes. His dream job was SWAT Front Line.

He was really easy to talk to and was actually a funny guy. We ate while we talked, and boy he can eat a lot! I’d never seen anyone pack away as much food as he did, not without feeling sick anyway.

“How long shall we say we’ve been together?” he asked cautiously as he polished off the last pack of chips.

I shrugged. “I don’t care.” It honestly didn’t matter how long we said we’d been together. It wasn’t like a load of people were going to be hanging around and chatting to us about our relationship.

“I think we should go for a year. That way we won’t have to be too touchy-feely. People are usually over that first passion thing by a year, aren’t they?” he asked thoughtfully. I glanced at him and laughed as I realised why he seemed so unsure. “What?” he asked, grinning.

“Have you never had a relationship before?” I asked curiously. It seemed impossible that a gorgeous guy like him was without a girlfriend.