HER BODYGUARD

Kimberly hated the silence between them.

It was back, with a vengeance, as soon as they saw that the condom had broken.

Not much later, as she was struggling with her ruined tights, buttoning up her jacket and trying to smooth her tangled hair in such a hurry.

Asher leaned over the front seat and opened the glove compartment. He found a pen and a scrap of paper, on which he quickly scrawled a series of numbers.

“Here.” His breath fogged on the frozen air.

She took it. “What’s this?” she asked, staring at the paper.

“My phone number,” he said simply.

For a moment, she actually thought that she’d read the silence all wrong. But then she understood. But before that she had to ask. “And why are you giving that to me?” she asked.

“Just in case you are…. Ermmm… You know” he said, unable to meet her gaze.

She didn’t understand at first and then when she did. Her silly heart sank.

“We are staying in the same apartment,” she said. “Why would you be giving me your number?…. Except,… You are leaving. Aren’t you” she asked, unable to understand her disappointment. She wanted him gone, right?

He didn’t reply for a while. Then when she kept staring at him, he said. “We shouldn’t have done… That…. What we did. There could be consequences”

“Oh, seriously. There’s nothing to worry about.” Kimberly said quickly. Though she wasn’t very sure of herself.” I’m not pregnant. The timing’s wrong-plus, you’re being ridiculous. We are not even sure yet and you are jumping into conclusions. Even if I was pregnant, it’s not a reason why you should leave…. I’m a big girl. I can handle myself. I honestly don’t care.”

“You should care. It’s not.. Right.” Asher said.” Just take it ” he gave her the paper again.

She opened her mouth to argue-and then shut it without a word. Arguing with him on that subject would get her nowhere. True, he had just taken her to heaven in the backseat of a freezing SUV. But that didn’t matter. The barriers between them hadn’t changed. Those barriers were unbreachable, even if they were all in his head.

She stuck the scrap of paper in the pocket of her jacket, with her permit and the one unused condom. “All right. What next?” she asked.

“We get out of here and up to the road and see if we can flag down a passing motorist.” he said.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

———————–

The rear door of the SUV opened easily. They went out that way. Asher insisted on putting her over his shoulder and carrying her up the side of the ditch through new snow that reached almost to his knees.

At the top, by the roadside, he gently let her down. “Are you all right?” he asked.

“Perfect.” She replied. She aimed her chin high and gave him a regal smile. Yes, she did know that she wasn’t a pretty sight. But except for her poor, cold feet in her soggy, stained Manolos, at least she was warm.

She wore the blankets for a coat, glad that they covered her to her ankles as she’d had to remove her tattered tights, which she’d tucked into the front of her skirt when he insisted she not leave them behind in the wrecked SUV where anyone might find them.

He’d kept the torn condom and its wrapper, slipping the evidence of their indiscretion into a pocket for disposal later. Heaven forbid that someone might find proof of what they’d done together during the long, freezing night. She didn’t understand why it was such a big deal for him. Why did he regret what had happened between them so much? And knowing that he regretted it so much hurt her even if it shouldn’t have.

Asher’s phone still wasn’t working. He lit more flares and they waited. It didn’t take long. Within five minutes, a snowplow appeared, clearing the drifts of new snow from the highway. Following the plow was a highway patrol car.

The patrolman pulled over and stopped. He’d been looking for them since before dawn, he said. He put them both in his patrol car where the heater was going strong, and he had a Thermos of hot coffee for them. Madison, his team member had obviously called the police when she didn’t hear from him anymore.

The officer called his station on the car radio and reported that he had found Miss Blake and her bodyguard and both were uninjured.

They told the officer about the accident and described the old man and his brown pickup.

The officer shook his head. “I would bet my new quad cab that was Spencer James you almost got killed by.” he said.

“You know him?” Kimberly asked, surprised.

“Yes, everyone in these parts knows James. He’s got some kind of record in the county for reckless driving. I’m thinking he’s had his license for about a week now after the last big suspension.” the officer said.

Asher said, “Last night, after the accident, I got out of the car and walked along the road looking for a sign of him. Judging by his tracks in the snow, he managed to regain control of his pickup and continue on his way.”

“Can’t tell you I’m surprised,” the patrolman said. “James always ends up in one piece. The people he runs into are generally not so lucky.”

Kimberly asked, “Do you think he’ll lose his license this time?”

“That’ll be up to the judge, but I can’t say as how it would be a bad thing if James never got behind the wheel of a vehicle again.” the officer replied.

They returned to town. Asher rode in front with the officer, as was proper-because Asher was all about what was proper, what was fitting.

Kimberly sat in back behind the security grate and tried not to feel like a very bad girl. She probably shouldn’t have seduced Asher there at the end after putting the poor man through hell the evening before.

To have sex with him on top of everything else? Well, it wasn’t very nice. And it was foolish. Worse than foolish. He had said it himself: it was wrong. But she had kept pushing him, whispering to him, teasing him, until he gave in.