Page 15 of The Bodyguard's Bookworm
His throat works. “I have a right to be here.”
“You have a right to leave.”
“I’m not doing anything. I’m just parked.”
“You’re watching Emi.”
His eyes flick past me toward the bookstore, and rage moves through me so fast that my voice drops to something flat. “Look at me.”
He does. Barely.
“She doesn’t want you,” I say. “She told you that. You decided not to listen.”
His mouth twists. “You don’t know anything. Women say no all the time when they mean maybe. She led me on.”
My hand curls around the top of the door. “Say that again.”
He shuts his mouth.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to stay away from Emi. You’re going to stay away from her store, her home, her car, her family, and every street she walks down. If I see you near her again, I’ll make you real fucking sorry you ever laid eyes on her in the first place. You don’t want to test me, son.”
He swallows, and whatever courage brought him here shrivels in front of me. “Fine. I’ll go.”
“Far.”
“Fine.”
I step back, and he pulls away fast, tires bumping over the curb before he corrects. I watch until the sedan turns the corner and disappears.
Then I call Jenner.
He answers on the second ring. “That was fast.”
“Sorry, but I’m out.”
Another pause. “You’re turning it down?”
“Yes.”
“Rhodes, this is a lot of money.”
“I know.”
“You sure?”
I look over at the bookstore. Through the window, Emi is helping an older man at the counter, her face calm, her smile gentle, completely unaware that my life just narrowed and widened at the same time.
“I can’t be away that long,” I say. “Moving forward, I’m only interested in short assignments.”
Jenner exhales. “That’s a big change.”
“Yes.”
“All right. I’ll tell them.”
I hang up and start walking back toward Emi, but then I change my mind and make a detour at the florist two doors past the bakery. Five minutes later, I step into the bookstore with a bouquet in my hand.
Every person in the shop notices. Conversation dips, then rises in a ripple of poorly concealed interest. Emi is ringing up a customer when I come toward the counter, and her eyes land on the flowers and she goes completely still.
