To Love and Protect (Must Love Diamonds 4)

Elena’s request was somewhat ironic she was coming to realize. Because of what had happened between her and Dev nine years ago, she was always quick to go on the defensive. Sometimes even the offensive. Better to have her guard up than risk getting hurt again.

But maybe if she relaxed a little, he would, too. In the personal sense, not the bodyguard sense.

It’s worth a try.

“What does ladron mean?” she asked as he started the engine.

“Ladrõn,” he corrected, a sexy Spanish accent stirring a flutter in the pit of her stomach. “It means thief.”

“Well, your mom gave these to me, so don’t get any ideas.” She shifted the zipped baggie to the far right side of her lap as he drove down the driveway.

“That’s a lot of cookies to eat all by yourself.”

His tone had her arching her brows in offense. “What exactly are you saying?”

The corners of his mouth tugged upward. “I said exactly what I said.”

And everything else between the lines. “I run a couple times a week, you know.”

He shot her a stern frown. “Not for the foreseeable future you don’t.”

With those few clipped words, he ruined the mood. She didn’t bother pointing out she could go to a gym as she turned to brood out the passenger window.

“On that note, you have some decisions to make.”

A sarcastic snort came out louder than she intended, but she didn’t care. “Really? I get to make a decision? You’re not just going to tell me what’s going on?”

“Yes, smartass, you get to make a decision.”

“Ooh, goody.” Shelby twisted toward him and rubbed her hands together. “About what? Which way you’re turning up here? What we’re having for dinner? What color scrubs I’m going to wear to work tomorrow?”

He flipped the blinker on for a left turn. “For starters, do you want to move in with me, or would you rather I move in with you?”

Chapter 13

Shelby blinked in genuine shock, her jaw slack as Dev made the turn and accelerated onto the highway. “What?”

“I talked to your dad,” he explained as if they were discussing the weather. “Until this over, he wants someone with you at all times, and I agree with him. So…since you’re stuck with me twenty-four seven, where do you want to live?”

Live with Dev. Twenty-four hours a day. Seven days a week.

Eating meals with him. Sleeping with him. Well…not sleeping with him.

Then again—

“Shelby?”

She blinked away the image of his bedroom only to have hers fill her vision. Front and center were the words scrawled in red across her vanity mirror. She knew they’d been wiped away after the cops left, but the image would be burned into her head forever.

“With you. I’ll move in with you.”

He gave a curt nod. “Okay. You want to go by your place for some of your things, or should I arrange for someone to bring them to my place?”

Dealing with a bodyguard whenever she’d wanted to leave her apartment had been frustrating and inconvenient. Now he would be shadowing every second of her life. Talk about feeling caged. She hadn’t driven herself anywhere since the day Dev had pulled her SUV out of the ditch.

Since the day someone cut your power steering line.

She fisted her hands as she clenched her jaw against the urge to scream her resentment. More so at the situation than him, but all bets were off the next time he acted like she had leprosy.