HER BODYGUARD

“The minute I saw you, I knew you were special,” he whispered in her ear, his breath reeking of stale beer. “All ladylike on the outside, hotter than a bottle rocket underneath, just begging for the right man to set you off.” Gary David said.

It was too much.

“That’s enough. Release me, now.” she said.

Past Gary David’s shoulder, Asher appeared. She saw nothing but stillness and calm intent in his eyes. He was no more than a foot away.

Gary David seemed to have no clue that Asher was there.

“Aw, now, sweetheart, don’t go getting riled,” he whispered. He nuzzled her hair. “You and me got chemistry.”

Asher reached out.

“So you might as well-” Asher touched Gary David’s shoulder and Gary stopped talking. The cowboy’s mouth formed a round O and his eyes went flat. He let go of her, his arms dropping boneless to his sides as his knees crumpled and he collapsed to the floor.

Kimberly blinked down at the unconscious cowboy, not really sure what had happened. “Is he… Dead?” she asked, her eyes wide with disbelief.

“Ten minutes from now he’ll be fine.” Asher replied.

Kimberly looked around. No one else in the bar seemed to have noticed. They were behind a pillar, just off the dance floor, out of the light.

And then, for the first time since he became her bodyguard, Asher touched her. She wasn’t expecting it. She gasped as he took her in his arms and danced with her, turning her, moving both of them smoothly and swiftly toward the door.

She didn’t argue. Beyond the fact that his touch had stunned her into silence, she was more than ready to leave Rowdy’s Roadhouse behind. She only stared up into his haunting dark eyes and felt the deepest, saddest sense of longing. For him-a man who would hardly speak to her. Her man who didn’t even like her… Maybe even hated her.

The longing made it all worse than ever. She looked in his distant eyes and saw herself: a complete disappointment.

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Asher expected her to resist, to struggle free of his hold, to order him never, ever to lay a hand on her again. But she did none of those things. She let him dance her to the door and then when he released her only to grab her hand, she let him pull her along, out the door and down the steps, all without a single word.

It was snowing hard already and the wind was up. The sky overhead was starless, soot gray, an anvil waiting to drop. He knew what was coming.

More snow. Probably a lot of it.

The temperature was very cold and getting colder. She staggered a little behind him and stared in a dazed way up at the sky.

“You were right. It is snowing. It looks rather bad.” she said.

“Keep walking,” he instructed. “The SUV is this way….”

She lowered her head and did what he’d told her to do. Her hand felt cool and small in his and he had to block out a few too sweet thoughts of the both of them, someplace warm, naked, their bodies wrapped around each other, him deep inside her, her legs wrapped around him, her soft sweet moans urging him on.

He shook his head. Now was not the time.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

He led her down the middle row of vehicles. Since his arrival, the lot had thinned out a good deal. There were plenty of empty spaces now. Evidently, many of Rowdy’s patrons had made their escape before the snow really started coming down.

They passed the red pickup, the roof and bed of which were already wearing a mantle of white. Phoebe was probably going to stay with the cowboy she was dancing with. They seemed really into each other.

And then, at last, they reached the SUV. He opened the backseat door for her and snow slid off the roof to plop at their feet.

She did jerk her hand free of his then. And she said one word, “No.”

He had to actively resist his initial reaction, which was to scoop her up and put her in there bodily. “No, what, Kimberly? No, you’re not going, after all? You want to go back in there and dance some more? What is wrong with you?” he asked.

She wrapped her arms around herself. She was shivering. “No, I’m not riding in the back. I’ll sit up front, next to you.” she said.

He stared at her for a few seconds. Wondering why she suddenly decided that she wanted to be in front with him. She seemed to always want to be far away from him.

But what did it matter at this point? If sitting in front would get her into the vehicle, so be it. “All right. Hurry. We need to get on the road.” He said.

He herded her around the front of the car, pulled open the passenger door for her and waited until she was safely inside. “Put on your seat belt,” he said, and closed the door.

When he climbed in behind the wheel, she was shivering so hard that her teeth were chattering. He got the engine going and the heater running and then he backed out of the space and headed for the highway.

Something wasn’t right. He observed.

And then it came to him. No one else was getting on the road. They had been the only ones leaving when they went out the door. No others seemed to have come out since then. The locals probably had the right idea. Those who hadn’t left earlier were not going. They would wait out the worst of it.

He put his foot on the brake before pulling out of the parking lot and venturing onto the windblown, snow-thick highway. “It might be wiser to wait it out. Everyone else appears to be doing that.” he said.

She didn’t look at him. She had her arms tightly wrapped around herself and her head scrunched down into her shoulders, like a turtle pulled into its shell. At least her shivering seemed to have abated a little. He thought.