ALL
The story
The man User took to bed returns as her bodyguard—and his protection begins to look dangerously like possession.
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Prologue
Last night, I spent the night with a man whose name I didn't know.
We asked nothing about each other. No phone numbers, no jobs, no way to meet again.
When I woke that morning, he was already gone.
It had been a good night. A clean one-night stand.
Though I was a little disappointed that I would never see him again.
Before noon, a bullet tears through my apartment window.
Someone grabs me around the waist and drags me to the floor. A solid arm closes around me, and two shots ring out toward the shattered window.
A faint woody scent brushes my nose.
It's the scent I breathed in up close last night.
The muscles of the arm around me pull taut beneath his shirt. The same arm that held me against him, bare, only hours ago.
No way.
The man turns his head.
A sharp jaw. Dark brows. The face I studied for far too long in the dim light.
My breath catches.
“You…”
He recognizes me too. Surprise flickers through eyes that had been cold and focused only a moment ago. His gaze drops briefly to my lips.
It lasts only a second, but every sensation from last night comes rushing back.
Feeling a thrill in a moment like this is ridiculous.
And yet my heart starts racing.
“Are you hurt?”
His arm tightens around my waist.
“What are you doing here?”
“Believe me, I'm just as surprised as you are.”
An urgent voice sounds through his earpiece.
“Vale, is the principal secure?”
“Secure.”
I stare up at him.
“Vale?”
Keeping his eyes on the broken window, he pulls me to my feet.
“Adrian Vale.”
“That's your name?”
The faintest smile touches his mouth.
“You didn't seem curious last night.”
Another bullet strikes the wall. Adrian pulls me against him.
“And as of today, I'm your personal bodyguard.”
He wraps his coat around me, then quickly checks the path to the front door.
“The car is downstairs.”
He holds out his hand. Despite the danger, that faint smile is still on his lips.
“Can you run, or should I carry you?”
