Protecting His Beautiful Lover (Southern Soldiers of Fortune 3)
Pulse thumping fast, she hurried to the kitchen. “What’s everyone want for dinner?”
Later that night, after they’d devoured the chicken tacos and salad Tara had made for supper, she finished cleaning up in the kitchen while Clint got Ashley ready for bed. She’d just put away the last of the dishes when Clint returned to the kitchen.
“Need any help?” he asked.
“No.” Tara put the last pan away then wiped her hands on a dish towel, casting him a side glance. “Aren’t you on water duty again tonight?”
Clint snorted. “No, surprisingly. Ashley’s in bed and sound asleep.”
“Really?” Tara set the towel aside and the two of them stepped into the living room and settled onto the sofa. “What changed?”
“Not sure.” He shrugged and stretched, then relaxed back into the cushions. “I think you wore her out today, with the photo shoots and the building and the brainstorming.”
“Huh.” She grinned. “If that’s all it takes, I’ll need to remember that for the future.”
“Me too.” Clint yawned and stretched again, drawing her attention to his torso beneath the blue T-shirt he wore entirely too well, darn him. Then he rolled his head to look over at her, his gaze narrowed. “
I talked to the guys at the event venue. They’re sending me over details—the security measures they have in place, the layout of the venue, the number of guests expected.”
“Yeah?” She tucked her feet up underneath her, anxiety knotting inside her once more. Today had been so nice and relaxed—well, after the whole “cut wires” thing and the board meeting earlier—that she almost hated to bring reality back into it again. “How does it all look?”
“I’ll need to go over it all in more detail, and we’ll need to make some plans for how to handle your entrance and exit, along with some rules for during the event, but…at first glance, I’d say it looks good.”
Tara released her pent-up breath. Good. Okay. “That’s awesome.”
“Hmm.” Clint shifted slightly to face her. “I still have my reservations about it all, but I suppose if everything checks out, then we can attend the rally.”
She almost said that was good, since that’s what he’d told the board today, but bit that back. Fighting about it now wouldn’t help anything and she was so tired of fighting with him. So, instead, she said, “Okay. Oh, and I have an idea of how we might be able to make it safer.”
“Yeah? What’s that?” He leaned an elbow against the back cushions and rested his head in his hand, all graceful, gorgeous, relaxed alpha male and darn if her pesky libido didn’t perk right up again, her core tightening and warmth spreading out from her middle to her extremities.
“Well,” she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, suddenly shy as she stared down at her hands in her lap. “What if we make it a surprise appearance? No public announcement that I’ll be attending—only the event staff and the GGE crew will know. That way no one can plan an attack ahead of time, right? The rally’s invite only.”
Clint seemed to consider that a second. “Maybe. Let me sleep on it—we can decide in the morning.”
“Cool.” An awkward silence fell and Tara’s skin felt too tight for her body. Searching for something, anything, to fill the heavy quiet blanketing the space between them, she scooted off the sofa and down onto the rug again. “We never finished putting this castle together earlier.”
“No. We didn’t.” Clint joined her and started fitting bricks together again. Their positions put him closer to her than before, close enough that she could feel his warmth through her thin cotton top and jeans. Close enough she could smell the sandalwood of his aftershave and a hint of soap on his skin. Close enough for her to hear the softness of his breath and see the faint shadow of dark stubble on his jaw and wonder what that might feel like against her tongue if she licked him there…
“What would you normally be doing now?” he asked, jarring her attention back to the task at hand.
“You mean work-wise?” She finished putting together a turret and started on another. “I’d probably still be at my office, working away on the legislation or starting a new proposal. What about you?”
“Same.” He connected one wall of the castle to her turret and started on the second wall. “Except I’d be putting together security plans or hustling for new clients for SSoF.”
“It’s kind of nice having a break,” she admitted, handing him a third completed turret to fit into another corner of the castle. “And having company.” At the last admission, her cheeks heated again. “I mean, not that I’m lonely or anything. It’s just been fun having Ashley around today. And you, of course. I mean…”
She was stumbling over her words and didn’t seem to be able to stop talking. Gah!
Clint put together the last corner of the castle and glanced at her over his shoulder, his mouth curved into a small, sexy smile. “I know what you mean.”
“You do?” Her words emerged more breathless than she’d wanted.
He nodded and leaned back on his hands, putting them shoulder to shoulder as they admired the finished castle. “Yeah. It’s good to have another adult around. Makes things easier. Smoother.”
“Smoother,” she repeated, resting her weight against him more than was necessary, but damn. It felt so good to touch him she couldn’t seem to stop. “I like smoother.”
“Me too.” His voice was lower now, his breath stirring the hair near her temple.