Lisa Childs - In The Bodyguard's Arms

He chuckled as he locked the front door and picked up a backpack she hadn’t noticed sitting next to it. “Good thing for me that nearlys don’t count,” he said. “Or I would have been dead a hell of a long time ago.”

She wondered about that, about how dangerous his life was, after he closed the bathroom door. When the shower started, she wondered about something else—how he looked standing naked under the spray of water.

Her hands began to shake, and it wasn’t just from the weight of the weapon she held. It was because her pulse had begun to race again. The stalker wasn’t the only danger she faced.

She was in danger of becoming entirely too enthralled with her bodyguard. But just as she had never wanted to date famous people, she wouldn’t want to date anyone like him. She wanted a simple life in which she knew her husband would return home to her every night.

She didn’t need another man abandoning her like her father had. Of course, that had been his choice—to never be involved in hers and her mother’s lives. Once he’d gotten what he wanted from her mom, he’d dropped the girl he hadn’t considered good enough for the school’s star athlete.

It probably wouldn’t be Jordan Mannes’s choice to abandon his family. With his dangerous life, he would just eventually run out of nearlys.

* * *

The cold shower had washed away the pepper spray, but it hadn’t washed away the attraction Manny felt for his client. The goose bumps had left his chilled skin the minute he’d opened the bathroom door and found her standing with the gun in her hands, trained at that back door, as if she was protecting him.

Her arms and hands had been trembling as he’d taken the weapon from her. He wondered if she’d even blinked or had stared, wide-eyed, at the door the entire time he’d been in the shower.

“It’s okay,” he told her. “He didn’t come back.”

Yet. But they both knew he would. The disturbed guy who’d sent her all of those threatening notes was obviously obsessed with her.

At the moment Manny could relate. She was something else. And it wasn’t just her beautiful face and goddess-like body. It was her spirit.

She had a fire inside her that matched the color of her long, curly hair. He could just imagine releasing all that passion...

But imagine was all he could do. She was a client. Even if she wasn’t, she would be off-limits to a guy like Manny. Despite her assertion that she wasn’t, Teddie Plummer damn well was a celebrity. He was just a bodyguard, the person the paparazzi never even noticed standing next to the celebrity. Usually the celebrity didn’t notice them, either. Teddie probably wouldn’t have if there were more than just the two of them in the cabin.

“I need to check in with my boss,” he said as he realized he should have done that earlier. But he hadn’t had much of a chance.

Her lips parted on a gasp. “I called him,” she confessed, “when you didn’t come back right away.”

He groaned. Cooper was probably furious with him. Manny had handled nothing about this assignment correctly. He was unlikely to ever get another solo one even if he actually managed to survive this one.

“I was worried,” she said.

About herself or him?

“I thought something happened to you.”

And his heart shifted. Was she a celebrity? Since they’d met she certainly hadn’t acted like one. Not that he had any firsthand knowledge of how a celebrity actually acted. He could only go by what the media portrayed, and even vacuous reality stars acted more entitled and spoiled than this successful supermodel.

“I’m glad you called him,” Manny said even though he had to brace himself as he pulled out his cell phone. The screen was black, though. No wonder Cooper hadn’t tried to call him back. The phone was dead.

Teddie glanced down at the black screen. “That happens up here,” she said. “Trying to get a signal drains the battery.” She picked up a phone from the small kitchen counter. “I researched what carrier gets the best service up here, so use mine.” She held it out to him.

He had learned to never rush off unprepared again. Hopefully his boss wouldn’t think he’d learned that lesson too late.

“Thanks,” he said. As he took it from her fingers, her skin flushed.

Or maybe it had already been red. She had gotten some of the pepper spray on herself.

“Do you need to shower?” he asked her. “Get that stuff off you, too?”

She lifted a hand to her face. “I—I washed it off already.”

But her thick hair looked dry. “You showered?”

She shook her head. “No. I probably should.”

As she headed toward the bathroom, he swallowed a groan. That had been a mistake, suggesting she get naked. He had already been having a hard enough time not imagining her that way.

Forcing his mind back on task, he punched the redial button to call the last number.

“Ms. Plummer,” Cooper responded immediately. “Has Mannes returned yet?”

“Yeah, he has,” Manny answered.

He heard Cooper’s muttered but heartfelt “Thank God” before his “What the hell were you thinking going off and leaving her alone?”

“I was thinking I could catch the sick bastard and wrap up this assignment right away,” Manny said.

“So did you?”

He sighed. “No. The son of a bitch got away from me.”

Cooper must have heard the frustration in his voice because he didn’t berate him. Manny was berating himself, though. He should have just shot the creep, but he would have been lucky to hit him with his blurry vision.

“You okay?” Cooper asked with concern.

Manny shrugged it off. He didn’t deserve it. He had been a fool to leave her alone.

“Yeah,” he replied. “I’m okay.”

“She told me that she mistook you for her stalker and sprayed you.”

“I’m fine now,” Manny assured him. “I’ll be able to fly us back to River City soon.”

“Not tonight,” Cooper said.

“My eyes are fine now,” he said. They weren’t, though. They were sore. But at least he could see.

“The airports are all closed down here,” Cooper said. “Too much fog.”

Manny cursed as he moved to the window and peered through the slats of the blinds. The fog was even thicker here now, too, wrapping tightly around the cabin. “Yeah, it’s foggy here, too.”

“Can you secure where you’re at?” Cooper asked him. “Then I’ll get reinforcements up to you as soon as possible.”

“If I can’t fly into River City, then nobody can get out of it,” Manny pointed out. As he peered through the slats of the blinds, he doubted anybody could see in this fog, either, even if he hadn’t been maced. “I don’t think even Cole could fly in this.”

And Cole was a better pilot than he was. He’d been flying longer.

Cooper snorted. “He’s trying.”

Manny cursed. “Don’t let him! It’s not worth the risk. I scared the stalker away. He thought she was alone up here. That’s why he tried for her earlier. Now that he knows she has a bodyguard, I’m sure he’ll back off.” He was only saying that so his friends wouldn’t worry. Manny didn’t believe a word he spoke. And as he stared out the window, he noticed a shift in the darkness, as if something—or someone—was moving around out there.

Just as he’d suspected, the son of a bitch wasn’t giving up on getting to Teddie. But he would have to go through Manny to do that.

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