He bursts through the door, his gun out and the safety off. Immediately, I roll Catriona off the bed and cover her with my body. She screams loud enough to raise the dead.
“Fuck, man, sorry,” Fred sighs. “The phone kept ringing and I thought you were both incapacitated.”
I hear the snick of the safety as it slides back in place, count to three, and lever myself off a shocked Catriona. Rising to my feet, I face an unhappy Fred.
“I was about to shoot you, man. You know how that would look on my evaluation form? Not great.” He angrily jabs the gun back into his holster.
“You’re right. I should’ve gotten the phone.”
“That’s not all you should’ve done,” he grumbles, sending me a frown. My erection is hard to miss. I rake a hand through my hair. Fred’s got every right to be pissed. I’ve messed up big time. We’re partners in this protection gig, and if I screw up, I could get both our client and him dead. I owe them both an apology. First I need to make it up to Catriona and then to Fred. I silently let him know that I’ll meet him outside.
He grunts and steps out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
I turn to face the bed, but Catriona is still cowering.
“You can come out now. There’s no danger.”
“Oh, I’m not hiding because I fear for my life but because I’m mortified, and if I stay down here with my head covered, I can pretend that man didn’t walk in on me doing the horizontal mamba with my bodyguard.”
“Horizontal mamba?”
“The table tango?”
I stifle a laugh. “Why are they all dances?”
“Isn’t that sort of what sex is? A dance? You move your hips. I move—you know what? I better answer that call. Nathan might have some important news.” Without raising her head, she reaches up and pats around for her phone. I slide it under hand and resolve to ask her for a more detailed description of this dancing she’s talking about, although there’s one thing I want to clear up before I go talk to Fred.
“How many people does this dance involve?”
There’s a silence followed by a small, “Two?”
“You’re not sure?”
“No. No. I’m sure,” she reassures me. “For me, only two, but others dance in groups and I think that’s fine for them. Have you, ah, danced before?”
“No.”
Her head pops up. “No?”
I think her eyes may fall out, she’s so full of shock. “No,” I repeat firmly. I clasp the doorknob, but before I leave, I turn back. “I only want one other person dancing with me. Even if I suck, I’d rather learn to get better with the same person.”
“I don’t think you could suck at anything,” she says.
I arch my brows. “I can think of plenty of things to suck.” I drop my gaze to her chest. She inhales sharply, and while it’s probably rude as hell, I can’t stop staring. Her tits are gorgeous–high and plump. They felt plush against my chest, and her nipples were starting to harden as I tongued her mouth. I bet her tits taste good. My tongue comes out to wet my lower lip.
Catriona gasps and dips below the bed. “I”m going to make that phone call now,” she says in a muffled voice.
I reach down and rearrange my cock, which is currently trying to drill a hole through my cargo pants. “Right.”
I find Fred outside, smoking on the porch. He takes a deep drag and drops the butt to the ground, grinding it out with the heel of his boot. “Thought I saw you giving our client a tonsillectomy with your tongue, but I’m sure that was an illusion because the Gabe I know wouldn’t be messing with clients.”
I don’t bother to deny it. “The Gabe you know hadn’t met Catriona Hennessy before.”
Fred squints. “Does that mean Ms. Hennessy deserves a lower quality version of our protection?”
Fred was a sharpshooter in the military. He never missed then, and he doesn’t now. “No.”
“What are you planning to do?”
“Find the threat.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I’m not going to be able to keep my hands off Catriona much longer, so in order to make her safe I need to remove the threat.”
Fred considers me. “That’s either brilliant or fucking stupid.”
“Could be both.” I leave him with that and return indoors. I need to talk to Catriona and find out all the people in her life that might want to harm her. Then I’ll review the file. Something will come up. It has to.
“Oh, there you are,” Catriona greets me. Her hair is brushed back, and she has a white lab coat draped over her arm. Her briefcase is at her feet. “I need to go into the office. Nathan said we’ve had a breakthrough in our test results.”