Bodyguard by Melanie Shawn

16

Savannah

Gage closedthe bathroom door behind him, and I reached out and locked it. There was no reason for him to stay in the room with me while I took a shower. He could guard me just as effectively from the other side of the door.

I was disappointed, somehow. It would have been nice to have him right there while I showered. There was something so vulnerable about being naked. Having him just a few feet away would have made me feel protected.

Don’t kid yourself. That’s not all it would’ve made you feel.

I couldn’t deny it. He turned me on. He still did.

And it was more than that. So much more than that.

My feelings for him had never gone away. Hell, they’d never even faded. If I had thought that being back in his physical presence was going to change that, I’d been dead wrong. It had only intensified my longing for him. My love.

I knew it was ridiculous to be wasting time and mental energy on this when I had so much to worry about. And when I needed to remain sharp. But I couldn’t help it. My emotions were too strong. And the terror and exhaustion I was still feeling the effects of had sapped too much of my strength to control it.

I climbed into the shower, letting the hot water sluice over my body, feeling the pulse of the spray massaging my scalp. I tried to let the tactile sensations take me away, to focus my mind just on the heat and pressure that the stream of water provided.

It was no good. The heat only made me think about what Gage’s hot breath would feel like on my skin. The pressure only made me think of his strong hands all over me.

Yeah. Not working. Not at all.

So, instead, I just focused on getting myself clean as efficiently as possible. Having a task to concentrate my energy on—something that I had to accomplish—it helped. Marginally.

I didn't truly think that anything was going to take my mind off of Gage. That was like expecting a mint to distract you from being starving when you hadn't eaten in three days. It might be better than nothing, but in the grand scheme of things, it was a rain drop in the ocean.

I climbed out of the shower, dried off, brushed my hair, and dressed in the tank top and sleep shorts I had bought at the small department store we stopped at.

Well, that Gage had bought. Just one more way he was taking care of me.

I stepped out of the bathroom to see him sitting on the edge of the bed. On high alert, as always.

I could have sworn his eyes flickered as they swept over my body, but I wasn’t sure if that was real, or if I just wanted that to be true so badly that I saw things that weren’t there.

The one thing we know for sure is that you’re worrying about things that don’t matter, I chided myself.

I crossed the room to the bed.

The only bed in the room.

“You take the bed,” I said. “You need the rest more than I do. I’m not the one protecting you, after all.”

I had a small smile on my lips as I spoke, but I could hear the undertone of fear and desperation even in my own ears. The danger I was in, the incredibly recent loss of my father, the shock to my system of Gage’s presence after so many years—it was all taking a toll.

“No,” Gage said. “You can sleep under the covers. I’ll be sleeping on top. If I need to take action suddenly in the middle of the night, I can’t waste time untangling myself from sheets.”

Or from me.

I nodded and tucked myself between the sheets. He laid down next to me, on top of the covers as he’d promised. He closed his eyes. I noticed he didn’t turn off the dim lamp. Not that it gave much light, anyway. But I figured it was just one more precaution against being taken by surprise in the middle of the night.

I closed my eyes, too, but sleep wouldn’t come. Every time I started to drift off, I’d jerk awake as the memory of something horrible flooded in.

Damn. It was going to be a long night.

Then, I felt something entirely unexpected. Gage’s large hand, encircling my small one.

Immediately, an overwhelming sense of peace took me over. Gage was here. Nothing was going to happen to me tonight.

In fact—and I had absolutely no basis for believing this, other than the gut feeling that engulfed me whenever he was around—I thought that maybe nothing bad was ever going to happen to me again.

Not on Gage’s watch.