Accidental Bodyguard (10 page)

He smiled, his green eyes focused on her lips. “There's always the government safe house.”

She shook her head, wishing she could read Jack's mind. He slid his fingers down her arm, pausing close to her right breast. Maybe he was thinking about kissing her, picking up where they left off before he went to drown her car. Did she want him to kiss her again?

More than anything.

His gaze shifted to her chest, and a flare of intense, desperate longing surged through her. So she wasn't numb, after all. Not numb at all. Just crazy. She wanted to be held, to be made love to by Jackson Richards when nothing could be more inappropriate.

She took a deep breath, mentally urging him to slide his long fingers over to cup the swell of her breast.

He lowered his mouth closer to hers, almost touching her lips. “You won't change your mind?” he whispered, his warm breath tickling her chin.

She closed her eyes. What was he asking her? She was only sure about one thing. Jack needed to kiss her. Now.

“You won't go into federal protection?”

The words
federal protection
made her leap to her feet and move away from Jack. What was she doing? She'd find maybe an hour of escape in his arms, but then what? Would he own her? Try to control her the way Carlos had? Dear God, she was behaving exactly as she did with her ex, letting her hormones overrule her brain, eagerly tumbling into bed with a man before she even knew him.

That was what got her into this mess. She couldn't do that again.

She took a deep breath and turned to face him. “We've been over that. I can't go—won't go—into a safe house. I wouldn't survive one night.”

Jack rose but didn't speak. Was that disappointment in his eyes?

She looked away. “Please understand.”

“I'm trying,” he said.

Were they even talking about the same thing? Maybe she'd imagined the sparks between them. No, she hadn't imagined that incredible kiss a few hours ago.

“Do you want me to leave?” he asked.

No!
she silently screamed, meeting his intense gaze again. She hesitated. Yes, he should go. She was beyond weak, and he was a temptation impossible to resist.

But the thought of spending the night alone in this pool house, knowing the Warriors knew where she was...

“No,” she said across a dry throat. She swallowed. “Please don't go. I—I'd feel better with you here.”

His gaze raked her body. She folded her arms over her chest. Was he going to demand sex in return for his protection? Is that what this had come to?

“Okay.” He glanced down at the sofa, his lips lifting into a resigned smile.

She blew out a breath. “I'll sleep on the sofa,” she said. “You can have the bed.”

“I couldn't do that,” he said.

“I probably won't sleep, anyway,” she said.

They stared at each other across the room. Was he thinking the same thing she was, that there were more pleasurable things they could be doing besides obsessing about terrorists alone in the dark? At least there wasn't much of the night left.

“If you're sure,” she said.

“I'm sure.”

“There's extra sheets in the hall closet,” she said, moving in that direction. “I'll get them for you.”

She glanced back to Jack and found him watching her. Feeling another of those delicious tugs on her lower belly, she quickly looked away.

Sex was exactly what she needed, but sex always got her into big trouble.

* * *

W
HEN
J
ACK
WOKE
, the sun beat against the window coverings of Villa Alma's pool house. He'd actually slept—and longer than he'd intended, but he needed the rest for the long drive ahead. Uncomfortably aware of the tiny couch, he closed his eyes and stretched his body, his thoughts drifting to the events of the night before, to Claudia, a woman on the run from her crazed ex.

To protect her, he'd agreed to take her to his home.

He hardened as he pictured her last night offering him her bed. He wanted her, and last night he had come close to losing control and taking her. She was more than willing. He wouldn't have to use any persuasion.

But sex with Claudia couldn't happen. Not while he was protecting her.

His number one rule was never to get involved emotionally with a client. Bad decisions were made when you were too close to someone on the job. When he'd been with the Marion County Sheriff's Department, a partner had rushed into a domestic situation he shouldn't have involving his sister. Because of a disastrous snap decision, the sister had died and that cop lost his job. Jack shook his head, remembering. Bad business. He'd learned from that mistake.

Maybe she wasn't paying him, but Claudia
was
now his client. She was on the run from her ex, a crazed terrorist, and he'd agreed to take her home to Dunnellon to protect her.

If he wanted to keep them both alive, he needed to remember lessons from the past.

And who the hell was Claudia, anyway? Why was he willing to put his life and career on hold for her? She pulled at him with an insistent tug that he didn't understand, brought out all his protective instincts.

But what kind of a woman falls in love with a terrorist?

A jarring thought brought him to a seated position. Had she rabbited without him? No. Surely she wasn't that stupid.

Certain he detected the enticing aroma of coffee, he sniffed the air.
Thank you, Miss Claudia.
Everything could wait until he'd had a jolt of caffeine.

When he rose to his feet, he noticed a duffel bag and boxes scattered around the living room floor. She'd been busy with more than morning coffee. The sound of the refrigerator door opening caught his attention. She was in the kitchen. Had she even slept?

Jack wrapped the sheet around his waist and went to find her. They had a lot to talk about, a lot of plans to go over.

* * *

C
LAUDIA
STARED
INTO
the freezer with cold air chilling her cheeks, hating the idea of leaving all this food behind. But she had no way to keep the frozen meat or vegetables from thawing. She sighed. Why was she worried about a couple hundred dollars' worth of food when Carlos and his friends had found her?

Because she needed to eat. She didn't have enough cash to feed herself for three more weeks, didn't dare access any bank accounts or risk giving away her location and couldn't expect Jack the Gladiator to feed her.

Jack. Oh, God. She closed the freezer door, but left her hand on the handle, picturing him as she'd left him last night, staring at her with those intense green eyes as if he knew what she was thinking. Or what she looked like naked. She shivered.

He'd been asleep on the sofa when she tiptoed past into the kitchen, and the sheets hadn't covered much of his magnificent body. Better he not know what she'd been thinking right then.

She shook her head. She'd hoped she'd come up with a better plan in the light of day. How could she leave this island with a man who was all but a stranger and travel to a new city under his protection? It was freaking nuts.

But what other option did she have?

“Good morning.”

Claudia whirled around and gaped at Jack's bare chest as he entered the kitchen trailing a sheet behind him. Wow. And there it was. That incredible pull of attraction impossible to ignore every time she was in the same room with him.

She swallowed and managed to say, “Hi.”

“Please tell me I smell coffee.”

She nodded, cursing herself for feeling this awkward around him. But how was she supposed to act? She'd told him her deepest secret, that she'd been foolish enough to marry Carlos Romero. No one else on Earth but her family and Mr. Santaluce knew.

“Cream or sugar?” she asked as she poured steaming coffee into a mug.

“Black is fine.” He stepped close and accepted the mug, brushing his fingers across hers. Her gaze rose to his, and she wondered if he experienced the same jolt of awareness from their casual touch. He seemed unaffected as he took a sip.

“Man, that's good,” he said. “Thanks.”

She added hot coffee she didn't want to her own lukewarm brew and suddenly wished he'd take her into his arms and kiss her. How pathetic was that?

“I see you've been packing,” Jack said. “That's a lot of boxes.”

She faced him again. “They're full of nonperishable food. I've been trying to decide if it's safe to take the stuff that's frozen. Unless you have a cooler, it'll thaw on the drive north.”

“Leave it,” Jack said. “They do have grocery stores in Dunnellon.”

She shook her head. “But I don't have much cash left, and I don't dare access any or risk giving away my location.”

“Do you think I'd let you starve after going to the trouble to save you from Romero?”

“But I don't want to leave a mess for Mr. Santaluce after all his kindness.”

“I'll have maintenance clean the kitchen and donate the food in the refrigerator to a homeless shelter.”

She looked away. “Okay. That'll work.”

Jack took a swallow from his mug. “You need to trust me, Claudia.”

She nodded. “I know. And I appreciate all that you're doing. This is just—” She shrugged, not knowing what to say.
This sucks?
She stole a look at Jack and found him eyeing her intently. She'd love to know what
he
was thinking.

He placed his mug on the counter. “Talk to me, Claudia.”

“You have to understand I've got a lot going on right now.”

“You're scared.”

“I'm terrified. And then you show up looking all...sexy and gorgeous and complicate my life even more.”

He grinned. “Sexy and gorgeous, huh?”

Heat rushed into her cheeks. Had she really said that out loud?

“You've complicated my life a bit, too,” he said.

He stepped close. Too close. She looked down at the floor, certain they weren't talking about the same sort of complications. Ceramic tile was safer to look at than Jack.

“Sorry about that,” she murmured. But she wasn't. Not really. She breathed in the alluring male essence of Jack. She detected a lingering hint of his aftershave and accepted that she needed Jackson Richards. The flat-out truth was, without him, she'd be all alone at the mercy of Carlos's Warriors. They could have come for her at any time, and she'd have never seen the danger coming. She hadn't even known her car contained a bug.

“Why can't you look at me?”

His words catapulted her back to the present. The danger Jack represented was a different kind of scary than Carlos, but threatened her safety just as much. “What?”

“Are you still hiding something?”

“No.”
Not other than my desire to rip off that sheet and attack you.

Claudia closed her eyes against the heated intensity of his green gaze.

“We need to clear the air,” Jack said. “We're going to be spending a lot of time together, and I need to know what's bugging you.”

She took a deep breath and stepped away. He was right. She needed to be honest with him.

“The thing is,” she said, “I'm afraid of you. I don't know you, and I don't understand why you're helping me.”

“Maybe I'm just a nice guy doing his civic duty.”

“This is beyond civic duty. Carlos wants me dead.”

Jack grabbed his mug again. “Maybe.”

“What do you mean, ‘maybe'?”

He took a sip before answering. “I've been thinking about that. They knew where you lived, probably where you worked. Why didn't they put a bomb in your car instead of a tracking device?”

She swallowed. “Gee, thanks. What a lovely thought.”

“I think Romero wanted to keep track of you, know where you were located, but had some reason to keep you alive.”

She stared at Jack. “That's crazy.”

“Just a theory.” He shrugged. “When you went into hiding, they got nervous. Maybe they want to snatch you, not kill you.”

“Snatch me?” She leaned against the counter, suddenly needing some support. “Why? So they could torture me?”

“Or brainwash you.”

Thinking her ex had already forced plenty of his poison into her head, she said, “What would that gain?”

“Your silence.”

“So would my death.”

“So is there any reason your husband needs you alive?”

Claudia shook her head. “I can't think of one.”

“Who filed for divorce?”

“I did, but he didn't fight it.”

“Could he still have feelings for you?”

She gaped at Jack. “You don't know Carlos. The man doesn't have feelings.”

Jack shook his head. “Then why did he marry you?”

“I honestly don't know. Maybe as a cover, you know, a pretend normal life.”

“Is he that sneaky?”

“You have no idea. After the divorce, he left me alone. Everything changed when he saw my name on the witness list and learned about my journal. Suddenly I was being followed.”

“Did you tell the feds?”

“Yes, and they suggested a safe house.”

“Which you refused.”

“Until they trashed my apartment and wrote a warning on the bathroom mirror.”

“I can guess what it said.”

“‘Keep your mouth shut.'”

Jack nodded. “That fits. And then you disappeared, which they may have expected. The Warriors believe in a crazy ideology. Maybe they have some twisted idea that as long as you don't testify, you're worthy of saving.”

“So you think it's twisted to keep me breathing?”

“You know what I mean.”

She looked away, her thoughts churning about Carlos and his possible strategies. “Yeah, I guess I do.”