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  “Yeah, I know. Best laid plans and all that.”

  His voice had deepened, hoarsened. She opened her eyes. “Damn. I forgot about dinner. Have you eaten?”

  “No. Wasn’t sure what your plans were for me.”

  “I’m sorry. Sometimes I’m so tired when I get home, I forget to eat.” She struggled to stand.

  “I can take care of myself,” he protested. “I’m thirty-five. I know how to fix my own dinner.”

  She waved at him with the glass in her hand. “Help yourself to whatever’s in there.”

  Trevor had thoroughly explored the condo when he’d arrived, not out of nosy curiosity but for safety concerns. And no, he hadn’t looked in her underwear drawer. Not that he didn’t want to because holy hell, he wanted to know if she still wore thongs, but this was a job and he was supposed to be a professional.

  Still, the temptation to look into every corner of her life had been there.

  In the kitchen he found a note on the counter that was signed Dominick, Home Manager. He didn’t know what a home manager was, or exactly what the job entailed. However, he had left a Caesar salad, fresh garlic bread and a baked lasagna in the refrigerator. Microwave instructions were taped to the aluminum foil covering the lasagna.

  Damn, he needed a home manager, he mused as he placed hunks of lasagna on plates and then into the microwave. He watched the plates circle and thought about the woman in the other room. Still gorgeous, even with the exhaustion that was etched all over her face. She was too thin, and he suspected she was working too hard and not eating enough. That would be the girl he remembered. Nothing but straight A’s would do. Extra credit? Yep, she’d do that, too.

  After zapping the bread for a few seconds, he carried the two dinner plates back to the sun room, or rather, the” moon room” at this time of the night. He paused in the doorway.

  Risa was asleep, her head still resting on the back of the couch, her right hand on the sofa holding the glass of wine, which was now empty. At some point, she’d pulled the elastic band from around her hair, and now, it was spread out behind her head.

  A memory of her in his bed, her hair flowing over his stomach, replaced the vision in front of him. That’d been a long time ago…hell, a lifetime ago. They’d both been different people. He swallowed hard. There was no going back and thinking about what could have been. Life moved on, and so had they.

  But he had loved her like no other woman then or since. They’d been so young, so sure they could face whatever life threw at them. How wrong they’d been.

  A pang of jealousy rolled through him. Did she have a lover? A special friend with benefits? He knew there was no husband. His pre-assignment research hadn’t revealed any men in her life, or at least her public life. And knowing his mother, she’d have told him if Risa had married. She’d been so disappointed when he and Risa had split.

  His search of the condo had found no masculine soap, shampoo or cologne. None of the closets held men’s clothing. Every surface and cupboard said Risa lived here alone.

  He set the two plates on the coffee table separating the two facing sofas. He hesitated waking her, but she didn’t look that comfortable with her head tilted back. Surely she’d get a crick in her neck.

  And she would die if she knew she snored in front of him just then.

  He sat beside her. “Risa.” He touched her shoulder. “Risa, do you want to eat?”

  She jerked awake and narrowly missed his nose with her head when she straightened. “I’m sorry. I might have fallen asleep.”

  “Uh-huh. More like definitively fell asleep.”

  She yawned then slapped her hand over her opened mouth. “What is wrong with me? How rude. Sorry.”

  “Not a problem. I brought you something to eat.”

  She looked at the plates. “That’s so sweet, but it’s too late for me to eat dinner.”

  “Seriously? When did you last eat?”

  Frowning, her eyes shifted up and to the right as she thought. “Um, maybe twelve hours ago.”

  “You’re too thin.” He picked up a plate. “Eat.” When she opened her mouth to speak, he assumed she was going to argue with him. “Eat.” He pushed the loaded plate toward her. “You’re not going to make me eat alone, are you?”

  She shook her head but there was a smile on her lips. “Okay. Maybe some salad.” She took the plate.

  “Maybe all of it.”

  She took a bite of the lasagna and let go a deep moan. “Damn, that is good.”

  Even though his brain knew the moan was due to the food, the sound echoed through him all the way in his gut. Blood mobilized and marched from his brain to his groin. He hopped up from the couch and turned his growing erection away from her. Not good. This job required he use the head on his shoulders and not the one between his legs. He had to get himself under control because the last thing he was going to do was let someone else—anyone else—protect Risa.

  “Forgot something to drink. Want me to get your wine for you?”

  “Water. I need a large glass of water.” She set her plate on the table in preparation to rise.

  He held out a hand, stopping her.

  “I’ll get it.” And going to the kitchen would give him time to get his lust under control.

  She leaned back. “This is my house. I should be waiting on you.”

  “I’ll add it to my bill as services rendered.”

  Risa pulled the overhead bar down and slowly released it on a ten-count.

  “Ten,” she counted.

  As she pulled down again, the door to the gym opened and Trevor walked in. She almost dropped the weights in surprise. Whoa. Dressed in a gray T-shirt with ripped-off sleeves, gray shorts, and carrying a black gym bag, he was devastating. She held her breath—which was a bad thing—as she reset the heavy weights. He looked sexy in his ratty gym clothes and morning beard. She released the overhead bar and rubbed her glove-covered hands on her thighs to soothe the itch to scratch her palms on his cheeks.

  “Good morning,” she said.

  “You should have woken me.”

  His morning voice was thick and a little rough. She could only imagine what that would sound like in her ear, not that she had any plans to find out what it would really be like.

  With a shrug, she said, “Why? You were dead to the world when I looked in, so I let you sleep.”

  “Do you always get up at five to work out?”

  “No. Some mornings I get up about four-thirty.”

  “The military would have loved you.”

  She laughed.

  “You don’t need to lose any more weight,” he admonished.

  “I know, but I’m not here for that.” She flexed her right arm to pop up her bicep. “I’m trying to build more muscle.”

  He nodded. “Mind if I join you?”

  “Of course not.”

  He headed toward the treadmill, and she had to forcibly make herself pull her gaze off his legs. Man, he had great legs.

  Leaning over for a better look, she frowned. “What happened to your thigh?”

  A bandage covered about two inches on his upper, outer thigh area.

  “Knife,” he said without pausing

  She wiped her face with the towel she’d hung over the machine. “Do I need to take a look at it?”

  “Nope.”

  “Was it deep?”

  “Yep.”

  “Stitches?”

  “Ten.”

  He stepped onto the treadmill and pushed the start button.

  “Let me look at it.” She walked over to the treadmill and stood.

  The treadmill belt sped up as he picked up his jogging pace.

  “It’s fine,” he answered, his voice steady.

  “So you get into knife fights now?” She narrowed her eyes. “Does your mother know you play with knives?”

  He laughed. “She probably knows. Now, go do your own workout and leave me to mine.”

  “I’m going to want to have a look at
the wound when you finish.”

  “Risa. Let it go,” he said with a long sigh. “It’s just a wound. It’ll heal.”

  Stubborn man.

  “Hmm.” She placed her hands on her hips. “I thought I saw a slight limp last night, but decided it had been my imagination. It wasn’t, was it? You’re still having pain from that wound.”

  “I can do my job, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  She huffed. “No. I’m a doctor. Of course I worry about people who have knife stabbings.”

  He looked at her with a wide grin. The effect was dazzling, almost blinding. Her stomach flopped over like a fish out of water.

  “See a lot of stabbings in your line of work, do you?”

  “I’ve seen a ton,” she lied. “One more won’t bother me.”

  “I’m sure. Now, let me finish my warm up.”

  She finished her weights before he did, but he quit to go up with her.

  “You could have finished,” she chided. “I’ve been riding up to my condo by myself for a while.”

  “Not with me as your bodyguard you haven’t. How long will it take to get to our meeting this morning?”

  “We should leave here by seven-fifteen.”

  “We’ll take my car.”

  “Are you always this bossy?”

  “Yelp.”

  The elevator opened and they stepped out. He pushed her behind him. From his gym bag he pulled a handgun.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Shh. Your door is open.”

  She leaned around him and he elbowed her back. Her heart raced and her muscles twitched.

  “Maybe you forgot to shut it when you left this morning,” she whispered. She crossed her fingers that was what had happened. Was it possible someone thought she already had all the diamond jewelry at her place? After all, the original plan had been to have the jewelry delivered to her house last week, but she’d had to alter that when another surgery had been added to her schedule.

  He cocked an eyebrow. “No. I didn’t. You stay here. Let me go check it out.”

  The door opened quietly. Trevor moved into her living room without making a sound. For a huge guy, he moved like a ghost. She clutched her hands together in a failed attempt to steady them.

  From her apartment, she heard Trevor yell, “Freeze. Don’t move a fucking inch.”

  That was followed by a loud, female scream.

  Chapter Two

  Risa ran through the condo until she got to her kitchen. She was the one who froze at the scene in front of her.

  Vanilla yogurt dripped off Trevor’s chin onto his sweaty T-shirt. Wendy’s arms clung around his neck for support as she laughed. Her sister’s long blonde hair was spread over Trevor’s chest and shoulder. His arms wrapped Wendy’s waist, his gun hanging over her ass. The grin on his face made Risa want to slap him—no, both of them.

  “You scared the shit out of me,” Risa said, her gaze narrowed on her sister. “What are you doing here?”

  Wendy held on to Trevor, continuing to laugh. “Sorry,” she finally said. “I didn’t have anything for breakfast and I knew you’d had groceries delivered yesterday.” She ran her tongue up Trevor’s cheek to lick off the dripping yogurt. “Never tasted better.”

  Trevor laughed, the deep sound flipping Risa’s heart.

  “Never been a plate before,” he joked.

  “Bullshit,” Wendy replied, her face lit with her megawatt grin. “I bet more than one girl has licked something on you before.”

  His responding chuckle sent flares through Risa. Jealousy? Anger? She couldn’t put her finger on the emotion; she only knew she didn’t like it.

  “If you’ve had breakfast, Wendy, Trevor and I need to get ready for a meeting.”

  Wendy licked yogurt from Trevor’s lip. “Yum. Guess that’ll hold me until lunch.”

  Risa rolled her eyes. “Wendy. Let him go.”

  “Wow, bossy much?” She kissed Trevor’s cheek and unwound her arms. “That was the best breakfast I’ve had in a long time.”

  He chuckled again and Risa fumed.

  “You know, Wendy, he’s here for a job, not to be your entertainment.”

  Wendy rolled her eyes. “Wow. Five minutes older and she thinks she’s the boss of me.” She looked at Trevor. “Tell me you’ll have time to see me before you leave. It’s been too long.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “That’d be great.”

  “Have a good day off, sis,” she said to Risa.

  Risa scoffed. “The entire day will be consumed with annoying minutia about the gala. It’s not like I’ll be lounging around eating grapes.”

  “Whatever. See ya, Trev.”

  “You bet, Wendy. Hey, you’ll be at the gala too, right?”

  “Yep, but I won’t be wearing the Breast Cancer Diamond like my sister. I’ll be plain in my grandmother’s diamond necklace and ring.” Dramatically, she jutted out her lower lip. “Poor, poor Wendy.”

  “Jesus, Wendy.” Risa shook her head. “Get out of here.”

  Wendy blew kisses and left. Her sister had always been the lively one, the life of the party. When she left a room, it was as if someone had turned off a light. This morning was no different. The kitchen was duller, dimmer without her in it. No wonder Trevor had agreed to see her before he left. Who wouldn’t be attracted to her sister?

  She turned to leave, but Trevor grabbed her wrist. “I’m sorry I scared you, but you did exactly the right thing.”

  Raising her gaze, she stared into his hypnotizing eyes. “What? Stand here while you flirted with my sister and made a date?”

  His mouth gaped. “What? No. Of course not. She’s your sister. I had to be nice.”

  She scoffed. “Thank goodness being ‘nice’ didn’t include offering her other places on your body to lick.” She jerked away. “I need to get a shower.”

  Why couldn’t she be more like Wendy? Funny and carefree. Sexy and alluring. She didn’t really blame Trevor for being a dog after a steak.

  While she would never admit it, she took a little extra care with her hair and makeup, not for Trevor, but because she was the head of the committee for a very important event.

  Once she was dressed in a pair of linen pants and a light-weight sleeveless top and sweater, she went looking for Trevor. She found him standing in her sunroom, looking out over the tall buildings of Dallas. He wore a pair of black jeans and a black T-shirt that stretched tightly over his broad shoulders but was loose at his waist. Over that was a light windbreaker. His feet were clad in a pair of black sneakers. Everything about him screamed bodyguard, exactly what she didn’t want.

  “Quite a view,” he said.

  “I know. There are lots of things I love about this place, but this room ranks pretty high.”

  He frowned. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

  She sighed. “The only way you could look more like a bodyguard is if your windbreaker had bodyguard printed across the back in big, white letters.”

  He looked down at his clothes and when he raised his head, a smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. “Yeah. This is one of my ‘go to’ outfits. Want me to change?”

  “We don’t have time. Dallas traffic is going to be a nightmare as it is. I’ve already called down for my car, so we have to go.”

  “Well, call back down and tell them to forget it. I told you we’re taking my ride.”

  “What difference does it make?”

  His jaw firmed. “We’re taking my car.”

  She bristled at his bossy tone but let him have his way.

  Fine. Let him burn his gas. She didn’t care.

  On the ride down, he asked, “So, if I’m not your bodyguard, I guess we need to talk about how you want me to act. Boyfriend? Lover? Distant friend? Cousin?”

  “Cousin?” She laughed. “You still haven’t forgiven me for that college sorority joke, have you?”

  “Nope. You know what they say…revenge is best served cold.”

&n
bsp; Chuckling, she said, “I think attentive is the right approach. Like a date or something. Can you do that?”

  That’s what she said, but her mind was screaming lover!

  Wrap your arms around me. Throw your arm over my shoulder and pull me tight. Make every other female die with jealousy.

  As though he’d heard her thoughts, he put his arm over her shoulder as the elevator doors slid open. “I can do that.” Leaning over, he whispered, “Don’t put your arm around my waist. You’ll block access to my gun.”

  Her eyes widened and she looked up at him. “Seriously?”

  With a grin sexy enough to melt panties, he said, “Seriously,” and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Valet’s watching,” he whispered.

  Her eight-year-old Volvo sat in the building’s drive with the valet standing in the driver’s door. And yes, the man’s gaze was glued to them.

  “Of course he’s watching,” she said, a forced smile on her face. “He’s never seen a man come out of my condo in the morning. He probably thought I was gay.”

  Chuckling, Trevor kissed her hair again. “Good.”

  She didn’t know what he meant by that, but if he kept kissing her, she was going to start turning her head to intercept his lips with her own.

  And she knew that was a bad idea.

  The valet took her car back to the parking garage while they climbed into Trevor’s black—of course it was black!—SUV.

  “Nice.” She rubbed her fingers over the interior black leather.

  “It’s safe, and that’s what’s important.”

  The final meeting with all the various factions of event security lasted a couple of hours. Risa was pleased that all contingencies appeared to have been covered. There’d be cops and hotel security in uniform and undercover. All of the EyeSpy team would be undercover, either as wait staff or in the crowd as attendees. While she’d met a number of times with the police and hotel security, this was the first time she’d laid eyes on the extra muscle from Trevor’s company. After comparing Trevor to the other guys, she felt quite smug. She’d had the foresight to hire the best-looking man in the room, not that she’d intended to, but she was happy with how it had worked out.