Page 23 of What Doesn't Kill You…

When she came back out, he was standing beside the bed wearing a pair of soft, red, tartan pajama pants and a gray T-shirt. Why the get up should look sexy, she didn't know. She glanced at his feet. Bare, but no hairy toes. Shame. Hairy toes would have killed any thoughts of sexy dead.

He picked up a pillow as she hung her dress in the closet. "You take the bed, I'm good on the sofa," he said.

"I'm taking the sofa," Violet corrected. "It's in the living room, which has the best view of the front door and the bedroom." She took the special hairbrush she'd packed out of her suitcase.

Max was shaking his head. "I can't let you sleep on the sofa. My mother would kill me. In situations like this, a lady takes the bed and that's final."

"I realize you think you're being a gentleman," she said as she closed the distance between them. "But I'm not a lady. I'm your bodyguard."

His eyes did a sweep of her body from head to toe, making her hyper aware of him, in ways that had nothing to do with his protection. "No, you're definitely a lady. I'll be fine on the sofa. I promise not to answer the door or do anything stupid. Okay?"

"I'm going to give you one last chance to change your mind," Violet said. "Get into bed and go to sleep. You're obviously overstimulated and need your rest."

His eyes went wide. "What am I? A toddler on a sugar high? This isn't a big deal. You sleep on the bed, I'll sleep on the sofa, and we'll both be happy."

"I did warn you." Violet pressed the end of her hairbrush to his abdomen and hit the button on the handle. An injector popped out and pumped a lovely dose of sedatives straight into Max.

"What the hell?" Max slapped a hand on his stomach. "What did you do? Did you stun me?"

"If I'd used a stun gun on you, you'd know it." She shoved him back onto the bed and removed the pillow from his hold.

"You drugged me," he said sounding incredulous, and slightly disorientated. Good, it was working. "That's illegal."

"So, sue me." She hauled his legs up onto the bed and pulled the thin cover over him.

"This is so wrong, Vi," he slurred the words.

"And it's going to get worse," she told him as she put a pillow under his head. "Because not only have I drugged you, I'm also going to handcuff you to the bed."

Once he was settled, she went back to her suitcase and returned with some fluffy blue handcuffs. She'd wanted to travel with regulation silver ones, but Katrina had pointed out that the fluffy ones would raise fewer eyebrows if someone at the resort saw them in her luggage. Apparently kinky handcuffs were common at weddings. Who knew? Violet didn't think there was anything kinky about cuffs. Cuffs were meant to restrain bad guys, or to stop obsessive clients from doing something that could get them all killed while his bodyguard got some much-needed sleep.

Max saw the cuffs and a loopy grin spread across his face. "You wanna tie me up, Vi? I can do that." He raised his hands above his head. She cuffed one of them to the ironwork bed frame. "What’re gonna to do with me?" he drawled seductively. "I'm all yours. Climb on board the love train, honey. I'll let you ride me anytime."

She couldn't help it, she had to laugh. "You are a doofus when you're drugged."

"Dunno, never been drugged before." He tried to frown but couldn't quite pull it off. "I feel kinda floaty. And horny. C'mere Violet, climb aboard the Maximillian. Toot! Toot!"

She was laughing hard now and part of her considered taking a video of him to use later. In case she needed to blackmail him in to behaving sensibly. Because she doubted she'd seen the last of his bad decision making.

"Go to sleep, Max," she told him as she gave into temptation and smoothed his unruly hair back from his forehead. His skin was warm to the touch and his hair felt like satin against her fingertips. She didn't know why, but she was fascinated by his overgrown hair and hoped he never cut it shorter. "Tomorrow will be better," she promised.

As she turned to go, his free hand shot out to grab her arm. He held her gently. For a moment, they stared at each other. Slowly, he released his hold and reached up to trace the curve of her cheek.

"So beautiful," he whispered. "Beautiful and scary. But you don't scare me, Violet Lee, because I've figured you out."

"Is that right?" she sounded breathless as she drank in the look of wonder on his face.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "You've got a soft center." He ran his thumb over her bottom lip. "I could eat you up."

A slow, sensual smile, that made her stomach clench, spread over Max's face. Then his hand fell to the bed, his eyes closed, and he was out cold.

It took longer than it should have for her to leave him there and head to the sofa. As Violet settled in for the night, she fell asleep to the sound of his gentle snoring. It was oddly soothing.

"I can't believe you drugged me," Max said for the millionth time the next morning. "Do you even realize how unethical that is?"

"Don't care," Violet said, praying he'd let it go.

Unfortunately, he showed no sign of doing so.