Page 17 of Sultry Bodyguard Summer

God, how true those words are.Oliver is all power. That hard body, the enormous erection that was the best and worse tease I’ve ever gotten. I feel color rising to my cheeks.

Darcy tilts her head. “You two have gotten very close very quickly. Oliver has a softness towards you that looks different from what I've seen before. He was in full protection mode around the police officers, and those officers are people we’ve worked with for years. They’ve never done us wrong. But he was ready to pounce if they made you feel the least bit uncomfortable.”

“He’s good at what he does.” I glance out the window to the backyard.

“Is there something between you two?”

“Like personal?” I put all of my emotional strength into steadying my voice.

“Like romantic.” Darcy holds my gaze.

I shake my head. I won’t give Ollie up. I hate lying to Darcy, but there’s no other way. “I think because you and I go way back, he regards me as more than a client.”

“Right. That makes sense.” Darcy puts a hand on my knee. “When this is over, we need to have a girls weekend. No, make that a full week. Let's go somewhere exotic and fancy. Should we take a cruise?”

A cruise with Darcy would be relaxing and giggly. We’d get boozy and…

I’d miss Ollie.

Where did that thought come from? It’s irrelevant. I’m Darcy’s friend first.

Then I shouldn’t be seducing her sort-of coworker, sort-of employee.

Is that what I’m doing? Am I being unfair to her and to him?

I smile at Darcy. “I’d love to cruise with you.”

Ollie turns onto the road heading back toward Sunbreak Harbor and his place at the marina. I weave my fingers through his. I like him too much. I didn’t like him this much when I first seduced him. Then, I thought he needed to let loose for his sake, and maybe even for Darcy’s.

Wouldn't he be better at his job if he was sleeping with me?

But that was misguided thinking. I truly put his job in danger.

I shouldn’t have seduced him.

Yeah, he’s a big, tough guy and could’ve said no. But I made it very hard for him to say no. “Darcy asked me directly if there was something romantic between us.”

He stiffens.

“I told her there wasn't.”

“Thank you.” He frowns. “I don’t want you lying to Darcy.”

“I don’t want to either. But I also don’t want us to stop. I want to see where this is going.”

He squeezes my hand. “Me, too. I meant what I said about wanting you from the moment I saw you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He smiles shyly.

Dense, late afternoon humidity hangs in the air when we arrive back at Cove Marina. But Ollie’s condo is crisp and cool and obscenely clean. There isn’t a crumb on the stone-slab dining room table where we ate. He wiped it clean after clearing the breakfast dishes.

As soon as Ollie shuts the front door, I step out of my running shoes. Facing into the condo, I pull down my leggings, panties, and socks. I turn for his reaction. He's stopped at the door. His hands are on his hips. His eyes are dark, and his nostrils flare.

“Surprised?” I ask.

“I’d tell you to do it again, but I can’t handle watching you put back on your clothes.”