Page 9 of Brooding Bodyguard Summer

“He doesn’t see it that way. In his head, they had a secret romance. He’s written hundreds of pages detailing a relationship that happened entirely in his head. He thinks she's waiting for him to 'rescue' her from her current life so they can run away together.”

“He's out of his fucking mind if he thinks that,” I bark as I stand, snatching the phone up as I start to pace.

“Worse,” Atlas corrects softly, seriously. “He's highly trained, obsessed, and completely unmoored from reality.”

Thanking him again, I end the call with a promise to reach out if I need the help. I won’t need help. Being so attracted to her, so drawn to her the way I am, it put me off course, sure. Now that I know how serious the threat is, how dangerous this lunatic is to her, I am right back on track.

No one else will get close to her again. Even if I have to lock her up in her bedroom myself. I glance across the courtyard, watching her wander through the gardens. Fuck, this woman…I understand why Vance got so entangled with her. It feels impossible not to get tangled up by her.

“That call made you very grumpy,” Noemi teases as she comes to circle me, taunting me without even trying.

Biting back a smirk—because damn I smile whenever she’s close—I jerk my head in a nod. “Some intel on the man your father hired me to protect you from.”

Going still in front of me, she cocks her head. An adorable frown forms over her brows, her dark hair spilling down her shoulder in silken waves. My fingers ache to tangle in those chocolate curls so I can kiss the hell out of her pink mouth.

“Hmm…he hired you to protect me from…you?”

Blinking at her, I lose the battle. I smirk at her because damn, she makes me feel shit I never felt before. Shit I shouldn’t feel. I am a threat to her, she is not wrong. But I fear its too late to protect either of us.

“Do you remember a man named Vance?”

From the look in her coffee brown eyes, I see she does. Her body tenses slightly. It might not be picked up by anyone else. I know her body. I’ve spent every moment since I climbed that damn wall learning it. Unable to help myself, I move closer to her.

“That’s a yes. Did you two ever…. have…” Fuck, I can't even say it.

Not just because I know the answer. It was true what she said—she’s never touched a man before me. She won’t be touching another, either. No, I can't say it because I can’t let myself even imagine her being involved with this nutcase.

“What? No…do you think I just…” Noemi backs up, hurt flooding her beautiful eyes. Fuck, I can’t do this.

Giving in, I let my hands get tangled in all those dark waves. I move us both, pinning her to the garden wall. Lowering my head, I crush my mouth to hers. Noemi is soft beneath me, pliant, molding all her curves to me as she opens her mouth to my greedy tongue.

One of my hands slides down to circle her throat, and she cries out, pushing forward. Letting my fingers tighten, I suckle her soft tongue. Her whimpers make me so hard I ache. Notching my cock between her thick thighs, I kiss her deeper, harder, lost in the tidal wave she has me caught in.

Noemi is the not the first woman I risked breaking rules for. She is the first one to take me so deep under I am drowning. I don't care. I've not felt alive so long. Even before Panama. Until this beautiful girl watched me from her window, telling me without saying a word she wanted to be rescued.

"Neko," she whispers against my mouth when we take a breath. "Do I need to be afraid?"

Pulling back a little, I cradle her jaw in my hand. "Not of him. I won't let him get near you again, princess, I promised."

Something hot flares in her eyes, a tiny smirk on her just-kissed lips. "So I ought to be afraid of you?"

Sighing, I drop my head to touch my forehead to hers. "Even if I told you yes, you should be very afraid of me, you would not listen to me. Would you, princess?"

"No," she shoots back, eyes hot with indignation. "You're the first thing that has touched me, Neko. I want it. I want you."

Closing my eyes, I breathe her in. Her sweet lilac and power fresh scent. That softness that she shows just to me. I hate to say I know where her stalker is coming from, but I do. I get it. I was entranced by her the moment I met her and nothing else has mattered since.

I tried to ignore how she looked at me those first days. All I wanted to do was please her, give her whatever she asked of me. At the market she was so beautiful, so free. Upsetting her the way I did wrecked me. Seeing her hurt, hurt because of something I said or did, it changed everything.

I still tried to keep a distance. Tried to do right by her. I am not a right choice for her. I might, in fact, be the very worst choice she could make. Standing here, holding her close, knowing she is unequivocally choosing me is all that matters.

Right or wrong, if she has chosen me, then she has me.

"Then you have me, Noemi. Rules or no rules, right or wrong...I have never wanted anything the way I have from the moment I set sight on you."

"You've had me from that moment, Neko," she whispers, tilting her head to brush her lips against mine.

Groaning, I take over the kiss, sucking greedily at her sweet lips. I bend and she goes with it, letting me hoist her up against the wall. My hand slides up her thigh and I tug at her panties. I touched her the other day after she tried making me jealous—again, not tried, it fucking worked—but I stopped.