Singe (Guardian Protection #1)

I turned and looked at him. “See, that’s exactly my problem. I want answers. You forget I’m not just working for Rhion. I’m planning a life with her, but it still feels like I’m putting a fucking puzzle together in the dark.”

“Son, women in general are a puzzle. Not just Rhion. I’ve been with Sarah for over six years now, and every day, I get a new piece of who she really is. She told me yesterday that green olives are her favorite food. I’ve never seen the woman eat a damn olive in her life. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t get pissed at me for not knowing. I get it. Rhion’s complex. But nothing you have with a woman like that is ever going to be easy. You want easy, you get a Playboy subscription. They don’t talk back.

“Now, I’m not sure what you had with your ex-wife, but considering she’s your ex, I’m going to assume it wasn’t much. But newsflash: Women make you fucking work for everything. You want answers? Ask the fucking questions. And, if I know Rhion, the payoff for your time will be more than worth the effort.”

I scoffed. Of course Rhion would be worth it. But I hated that, while we talked constantly, it felt like she never actually said anything.

“Well, look at you. Security extraordinaire and Dr. fucking Phil.”

He patted my back hard as hell. “You’re a smart man, Levitt. You’ll figure it out. Besides, everyone knows that the best part of a puzzle isn’t the final product. The real thrill is finding the pieces that match.” He winked.

“Sage advice,” I said dryly.

One side of his mouth lifted in a grin. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go defuse a bomb.” He jerked his chin to Johnson, who was fuming in the corner. Clapping his hands, he called out, “All right, boys. I need a hockey ticket, a tube of toothpaste, a paper clip, and a pair of toenail clippers. McGuyver is going to work.”

Johnson glared.

Leo chuckled.

I went back to staring at the door to the ocean room.





Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. Or maybe I was too tipsy to worry about any possible hitches after drinking wine and laughing with my girls. But, minus two biscuits, which had mysteriously gone missing, we’d had plenty of food and better company. After a few beers, Leo even agreed to give me back my official Thanksgiving host title. I felt like it should have come with some kind of medal or plaque, but Leo told me not to hold my breath.

“Do you still have a voice?” Jude asked as I emerged from the shower in a towel at around one in the morning. Sitting upright against a stack of pillows behind him, he lounged on my bed, the TV remote in his hand while ESPN played without sound in the background.

Jude shirtless was a sight I’d never get tired of.

“Ha. Ha,” I deadpanned. “Yes. Bri and I talk a lot on the phone. My voice has been thoroughly trained over the years.”

I went straight to his overnight bag and hooked my fingers on the hanger holding his pressed shirt, which was still in the dry-cleaning plastic. After carrying it to the closet, I hung it on the doorknob so it wouldn’t wrinkle.

“Did you get her settled in the ocean room?” he asked, his face taking on a pensive expression.

“Yeah. She passed out mid-conversation.” I started digging through my dresser.

“Good,” Jude murmured, pointedly looking to the clothes in my hand with a dark gaze. “You can lose those, then.”

My body immediately responded, a roar of heat spreading between my legs and a cool chill sliding over my breasts, peaking my nipples. I dropped the offending garments back in the drawers.

Silently, he threw the covers on my side of the bed back in invitation.

My side of the bed.

It suggested that Jude had a side in my bed.

A shy grin pulled at the corners of my lips as I padded over, shedding my towel at the last second to crawl in beside him.

“What’s that smile for?” he asked, flipping the TV off and discarding the remote to his nightstand with a clatter. His nightstand.

“You stay here a lot.”

He cocked his head to the side. “You need some space?”

I slid my hand across his chest as I settled my head on his shoulder. “No. Not at all. It’s just you stay here a lot.”

He rolled so I was on my back, and then he propped his weight onto an elbow on the pillow. His thumb brushed my cheek as he swiped my damp hair away from my face. “You already said that. Tell me what you’re thinking, baby.”

Move in with me.

That’s what I wanted to say.

However, what actually came from my mouth was, “I have two closets. I could clear one out for you. Ya know, if you wanted to leave some stuff here.”

His eyebrows popped up. “I do leave stuff here.”

“Yeah, but this way, they could actually have a place that’s not in the middle of the floor.”

“So I’ll shove them in the closet, but you don’t have to clear one out for me. I have a closet at my place. I don’t have enough shit to warrant having two.”

I stared up at the ceiling to avoid his gaze. “But what if you didn’t have your place anymore? It would save—”

I didn’t get another word out because his lips landed on mine. It was a short peck that I presumed was intended to take the sting out when he said, “I’m not moving in, Rhion.”

Blunt. And straight to the point. Pure Jude.

It still sucked. A lot.

“Right. Of course not. Forget I said anything,” I whispered, embarrassment pinking my cheeks.

“Not doing that, either. You put it on the table, and I fucking love that you want that, but the timing isn’t right.”

“Seriously, I get it. No big deal.” I started to roll away, but he shifted his body on top of mine to pin me to the mattress.

“You are quite possibly the most complex person I have ever met,” he stated.

Keeping up my halfhearted fight to get out from under him, I faked a laugh and shimmied to the side. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

He followed me with his upper body, making my efforts to escape futile. “Nope. Just a statement of fact. Every time I think I have you figured out, a new layer is revealed, taking me right back to square one.”

My frustration grew, because while he was using a gentle voice, not a single word of what he was saying sounded good. “What are you talking about?” I asked, bucking beneath him, trying to break free. “Is this because I didn’t tell you about Brianna?”

He didn’t budge, but his lips kept going. “I know you like shoes, reading, and cooking.” Suddenly, he caught the corner of the blanket and yanked it out from between us. His thick cock landed against my thigh as our naked bodies pressed together.

I gasped in anticipation, but he kept talking.

“I know you like fancy beer and the occasional glass of wine. You don’t look at the price tags while shopping for clothes, but you’ll balk at the price of boneless chicken breasts at the grocery store. You claim to like watching movies, but you spend most of it staring up at me.”

I eagerly opened my legs, and his swollen crown slid deliciously against my clit as his hips fell through.

My mouth gaped open as I arched off the bed.