“Why wouldn’t I?” Carly sounded confused.

Blowing out a breath, I shifted my gaze to Jake. He was the logical one of the bunch, and definitely the one in charge. If Carly would listen to anyone, it’d be him. He looked tired today, but what did I know? “Talk some sense into her.”

“I’ve been trying to do that since she was just a kid, Bobby.” He shook his head, a fond smile on his face. “It’s not going to happen.”

She rolled her eyes at him, and came toward me. “Look, you think I’m going to change my mind because some asshole cop decided to jerk your chain? I’m not.” She made a dismissive motion with her hand, her expression serious. “All it does is make me that much more determined to keep you with me. I bet you anything he did this because he thought it would make me write you off.”

Carly came closer, so close now that I could smell something soft and gentle on her, something that complemented the apple shampoo. Maybe the lotion she’d put on a few minutes ago. I didn’t know what it was, but I liked it. It was...soft. Soft and gentle. There was no room for soft and gentle in my life. Maybe it was stupid, because standing there, close to her while the wind teased her hair and she studied me, I felt that loss keenly. My mom hadn’t been soft, but she had been gentle. Sometimes too gentle. Life had chewed her up and spit her back out, too. I’d learned young that gentle didn’t survive in the real world.

Carly had a look in her eye now, the kind of look that made me think that life had tried to do the same to her, but it hadn’t worked. Still, she had that soft and gentle feel to her. Not weakness. Hell, no. She was one of the strongest people I knew. With her, it was caring, compassion. Hope. Some people, they never really lost it, no matter what the world did. Somehow, they just kept believing in things. In people.

And, for some crazy reason, Carly had decided she was going to believe in me.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, my voice gruff.

“Because.” She shrugged and turned away.

“That’s not an answer,” I said to her back.

She swung around, walking backward with a grace that belied the four-inch spikes she called shoes. With a wide, easy smile, she said, “That’s the best you’re going to get for now. Ask me again in a few days.”

***

That night sucked even worse than the morning had, and it was far worse than the past night. It was so bad I was ready to gouge out my eye with the dessert spoon before we’d been there thirty minutes. I knew it was the fucking dessert spoon because Jake had hammered that fact, and several others, into my head over the span of two hours. We were attending a dinner banquet, and while Jake, Ryan and the ever-silent Ridley would get to stand in the shadows, I would, apparently, be dining with Carly.

“If I’m supposed to be a bodyguard, why am I sitting at the table and eating?” I asked during a break in the conversation. I kept my voice low. I was getting the hang of the subtle thing, I thought.

Carly didn’t seem to agree. She kept a smile on her face even as she leaned in closer and murmured, “Not here.”

I pinned a glare on her, but I didn’t ask again.

She picked up her wine glass and took a sip. Then she held it to her lips and sighed. “It’s complicated. You’re doing more than being a bodyguard at the moment. I’ll explain later.”

Before I had a chance to press her to explain now, some guy who had to be twice her age said her name. He was standing on my other side with the sort of look that said he fully intended to take the seat at her side as soon as I moved.

Carly clutched at my arm and gave him her signature smile. “Oh, it’s so good to see you, Hank. I hope you understand if I keep Bobby with me, though. It’s his first time to one of these and he’s nervous.”

“Of course.” The smile Hank gave back didn’t fit his words.

He walked around the table and took the seat across from her as I pulled out her chair, pushing it back in the way I’d practiced.

I sat next to her, stiff and uncomfortable, but ready to do what needed to be done for my job. When I felt her tense ever so slightly when Hank leaned forward, I realized that I no longer needed her to explain why she wanted me to sit next to her. Although the width of the table separated them, something about her body language was subtly broadcasting it was nowhere near enough space.

I shifted my attention to the guy, my jaw clenching.

Hank was staring at Carly the same way I would have stared at her if we’d been alone back up at the hotel. He didn’t let the fact that he wasn’t alone with her bother him. Nor did he let the fact that she was clearly not interested bother him. This guy didn’t know how to take a hint. My hands curled into fists. Maybe I needed to make the hint a little less polite.

“I’ve been hoping we might have a chance to have a drink together while you’re in town. It’s been a long time since we’ve talked, Carly.” His voice was so oily, I could’ve run a car on it.

I didn’t look directly at her, but I could see how her nails were digging into her palms. Going on instinct, I curled my arm around her shoulder. She leaned into me and I felt the tension drain out of her body. Carly smiled at Hank.

“My schedule is pretty full this trip, Hank. With the foundation meetings and the opening of the school, I’m slammed.”

Then to my surprise, she reached up and touched my cheek. Electricity shot through me and I tried to keep it from showing.

“I had a little bit of time, I thought, but...” Her thumb brushed against my bottom lip. “Fate sort of intervened.”

When I tipped my head down to look at her, she was staring up at me. The look on her face was enough to remind me that it had been a damn long time since I’d had a woman beneath me. Or on top of me. Or caught between me and a wall. Bent over a table. Any position at all.

Her breath caught, a blush rising on her cheeks and I forced myself to look away. Shit. This was definitely not the time or the place.

“You look at a woman like that for too long, she’s going to start thinking she needs protection,” Carly said, her voice soft and silky.

I tensed. She couldn’t think I’d ever hurt any woman, let alone her. “I would never–”

“I meant a different kind of protection.” She tossed me a quick look. “I feel like you already know what size bra and what color panties I’m wearing.”

I sucked in my breath as I caught her meaning. Then her fingers brushed my thigh under the table. Fuck. My muscles tensed and jerked in response to that light touch.

“Bobby?” she said my name in a low voice.

She was going to be the death of me.

Instinctively, I tipped my head closer. She reached up and laid her hand on my cheek. Now my instincts were fighting a war. One part of me was telling me to put my mouth on hers. It was a damn nice mouth, wide and soft and lush, the kind of mouth a guy could spin entire fantasies around. And I’d already had a taste of it.

But the other part of me was saying all the things I already knew. She was out of my league. I didn’t deserve her.

Ryan and Jake would kill me.

Plus, we were in public.

But then she took the matter out of my hands, leaning and pressing her mouth to mine. I could’ve stopped her then, but I didn’t. I kissed her back. Her lips parted, and I traced the entrance with my tongue. She sighed and opened wider. When her tongue came out to tease mine, I closed one hand into a fist. My cock started to pulse, stirring to life. The scent of her, the taste, went straight to my head, and just as I was about ready to reach out, catch one of those curls she’d left trailing down her neck, Carly pulled back.

A flash of white out of the corner of my eye had me tensing. I’d forgotten we weren’t alone. She put a hand on my shoulder.