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“They don’t know me. Not the real me. I’m just some image in their heads. The reality of me would never live up to the fantasy. Most of those people have zero interest in the real me.”

“Don’t be too sure,” Hunter muttered. His attention swung back to her. He squared his shoulders. Took a deep breath. “I am worried about you.”

Those words sank through her. When was the last time someone had said that to her? She stopped herself before she told Hunter just how sweet she thought that was. He probably wouldn’t appreciate being called sweet.

“I’m worried,” Hunter said again. “But it’s your choice. Your home. Your life.”

Their gazes held. Tension seemed to deepen around them.

Hunter swallowed. “I would very much like to spend the night on your couch. Not asking for anything sexual here, okay? Just me, sleeping on the couch and keeping an eye on you and your house.”

She could feel heat rising in her face.

“I’m not trying to seduce you or take advantage,” he continued. The man was really driving that point home, wasn’t he? “I just want to stand guard.” Hunter’s dark gaze gleamed. “You were threatened today. I have instincts about these situations, and my instincts say that you’re in jeopardy.”

The look in his eyes pierced her. She wanted to glance away, as he’d done moments before. Shift her attention anywhere but on him, and yet, Shelby didn’t. She could not look away. “I knew it wasn’t sexual.”

A faint narrowing of his eyes.

“I get that this is simply a professional relationship.”

His teeth seemed to snap together. “Professional.”

But she didn’t want to be professional.

They stared at each other.

The bed was right behind her. And, once again, she could way too easily imagine him picking her up. Tossing her on that bed. Kissing her frantically, passionately. There wouldn’t be any talk. No discussion about stalkers or fear or death or protection. It would just be desire. Need. The kind of need that made you go wild and forget everything else.

The kind of need that she’d never, ever felt before.

Only that wasn’t happening. “I didn’t think it was…sexual.”

He didn’t move.

“You staying with me,” she rushed to add, nearly tripping over her words. “I know that our partnership is just professional. We just met. You don’t have any interest in me that way⁠—”

“The fuck I don’t.”

What?

Her hand rose automatically and slid along her hearing aid. Had she just misheard?

He rocked back on his heels. “Probably shouldn’t have said that, huh?”

Could you say it again? Perhaps directly into my good ear?

“But why not?” Hunter shrugged his powerful shoulders. “I have interest. But I know better than to push. I can keep things as professional as you want them to be. You hired me for a job, and I’ll do it.”

I have interest. She was not going to ask how much interest—nope, not doing it.

“Do I stay? Or do I go? But, hey, full disclosure…if I leave the house, I’ll probably just wind up staying in my vehicle out on the street. Definitely not as comfortable as your couch, but I’ve certainly had worse.”

She didn’t want him in the SUV all night. And…

Maybe she was more shaken than she was letting on. Because she liked the idea of him being close. Of not being alone in the house again. I’m alone all the time. Though, Hunter did deserve a warning. “I’ll probably scream.” There was no probably about it. She would be screaming. “That doesn’t mean you need to come running.”

“Uh, yes, yes, it does.”