“Wow, she really does have nice legs,” Olivia said, but as Dean lunged for his phone again, she was up and away—her arm outstretched as she scrolled down the page. “Okay, I think it means like…taking a walk. There’s a couple of responses with a hashtag about southern style and southern girl.”
Mollified, he held out his hand, nicely this time, and she slid his phone back into his grasp. He didn’t miss her wink.
“What?”
She grinned. “You’re awfully concerned with Liana Hansen.”
“She’s my new client. My first client. I’d like to get this right.”
“Creeping on her Instagram is part of the professional obligation?”
“It’s not creeping. I’m more interested in what other people are saying about her than…” Her legs. Except he hadn’t made it down to the comments, had he?
He’d lock that down better tomorrow.
Olivia just patted him on the shoulder. “Can you give Rafe a ride home after the fireworks? I’m pretty sure they’re going to terrify Sophie, so I’m going to jet now.”
“Sure. Of course.”
She gave him a friendly smile that didn’t say anything like,ha, caught you peeving on your clientorreally? You haven’t noticed she’s drop dead gorgeous?
Because of course he had.
And it was immaterial to the case.
It wouldn’t be the first time that Dean had to work around inconvenient attraction. He’d worked with attractive fellow officers, interviewed attractive suspects…no big deal.
Except he couldn’t stop hearing that breathyhelloin his head.
It wasn’t just that he’d noticed she was attractive. That he could put in a box.
But she was so…raw. Vulnerable. And yet strong, still, and he’d found himself wanting to soothe her in ways that went way beyond the professional.
He knew this was a saviour complex rearing its ugly head. He rarely stumbled into it. He wasn’t that nice of a guy. But any time there was a power imbalance, it was a risk. And Liana Hansen trigged all the major points for him.
He could see, clear as day, that her ex was an asshole.
And Dean wanted to be the anti-asshole for her. Stand between them, as she said. Hell, that’s what being a bodyguard was—she was casting him as the white knight herself, and he didn’t have the rules that he’d been bound by in uniform.
Temptation curled and coiled in his gut, dark and hot and unexpected.
She’d already offered herself once.
But he couldn’t save her and creep on her legs at the same time. No matter how nice they looked against the sunset.
— —
The bonfire wasdown to coals by the time Sean showed up, reminding Dean he hadn’t had a chance to talk to Dani.
Fuck it. He needed to tell Sean he was worried, and then leave it alone. He was going to be gone for a while, anyway. Give his kid brother a chance to figure shit out on his own.
He got up and grabbed a Coke from the cooler, because he had to work in the morning and drive home sooner than later. “Hey man,” he said, raising his voice. “You want a beer?”
Sean gave him a wary look that Dean totally deserved for mothering him earlier. “Grab me a Coke instead.”
Dean tried and failed not to show his surprise to that, but he grabbed another pop and made his way around the fire, joining his brother on a wide, flat log. “Here.”
“Thanks.”
