Page 24 of Being Bold (Tactical Operations & Protection (TOP) Security #1)

Selene

Selene woke to the sound of voices. Disoriented, she waited for her mind to clear. When it did, images from the night before filtered in. Remembering what Bo had done for her, she flushed. Especially as she found she was still naked on his couch. At least she had a blanket covering her.

Last night had surprised her. She wasn’t sure what had come over her to beg him like that. Or what had made him give in to her request. But, boy, was she glad he did.

She’d never dated a bearded guy before, and she’d been missing out.

The scrape of his beard against her was .

. . electrifying . She’d never come so quickly or easily.

The hair had tickled and teased her as it rubbed against her sensitive skin.

It was simply another layer of his incursion—one she’d welcomed with absolutely no regrets.

He can storm my castle any day.

With a soft chuckle, she stretched like a contented cat. Then a thought intruded. She hadn’t meant to drift off without taking care of him, but the sleep eluding her had drifted over her like a fog. She’d welcomed its dampening blanket, closing her eyes as she’d slipped into its embrace.

Where is he?

Lifting her head, Selene saw Bo gatekeeping at the cabin door. He spoke to someone— no, more than one person —as two sets of unfamiliar voices met her ears.

Who would be here?

Her heart started to beat faster when her brain jumped to the likely answer to that question. It had to be Mr. Dao. Or someone he’d sent after her. She told herself to get up and hide in the bathroom, but her legs refused to move. What if they saw her when she passed by the door?

Worrying about that possibility, she curled into a ball and pulled the covers over her head.

Please go away. Please. Please.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been cowering when Bo’s deep voice broke through her invocation. “Selene? Some of my team’s here. You probably want to get dressed.”

Her breath rushed out in a massive gust of relief.

Not Mr. Dao.

As the tension left her body, she sat up, pulling the blanket together to hide her nakedness. Although why she bothered when he’d seen her bare on more than one occasion, she wasn’t sure. But a sudden shyness swept over her, heating her skin. “Hi,” she breathed like an idiot.

His eyes took her in, lingering on the fists she’d made around the blanket clutched to her chest. Something flickered in his gaze, and she prayed it wasn’t regret before he backed away from her.

“Morning.” She thought she saw heat flare in his eyes before he looked away.

Then, he cleared his throat and said roughly, “You should get dressed.”

Selene chewed her lip. Was he mad she’d fallen asleep on him? Ready to apologize, she opened her mouth.

“Last night can’t happen again.”

Deflated at his statement, tears sprang to her eyes. She blinked furiously to keep them from falling. She wanted to ask why not, but she gathered what remained of her pride and stood up. “Fine. If you’ll excuse me?” Brushing past him, she hurried to the bathroom.

When she made it inside, she collapsed against the door. Losing her battle with the tears, they streamed down her face. Dropping the blanket, she hugged her arms around her middle. His rejection made her sick to her stomach with humiliation. He had no right to make her feel this way.

Damn him!

And damn her! As anger surged, she swiped the tears from her cheeks and took a deep breath. She was a mess because she cared about him. He deserved so much more than he gave himself credit for. But with his past haunting him, how could they ever have a future? Falling for Bo would be hopeless.

Despair weighed her down, nearly pulling her to the floor.

She stumbled to the sink and leaned against it.

Physically, Bo wanted her, but emotionally .

. . his trauma was a third wheel, preventing their relationship from going anywhere.

Lifting her eyes to the mirror, she cursed.

Crying had made her skin all splotchy. She let the water warm up, then cupped her hands and splashed it onto her face.

Pull it together, Selene.

If he wanted to push her away, perhaps she should let him because having her heart crushed as the alternative wasn’t the least bit appealing. If she were to weigh the pros and cons, that one tipped the scales.

Hearing male voices, she quickly brushed her teeth, then put on another of the outfits Yumi had packed for her, more jeans, a sweater, and a pair of hiking boots.

Oh God, Yumi.

She hoped her friend didn’t run into trouble when she returned to Saber Tech today. Combing her fingers through her shoulder-length hair, Selene tried to ignore the worry stewing in her gut. Yumi would be fine. She was a freaking CIA agent.

Unreal.

She shook her head. Her life was unrecognizable. It was as if she’d fallen into a Tom Clancy novel. But there was no going back.

Determined to appear calm and utterly unaffected by Bo’s brush off, she squared her shoulders and placed her hand on the doorknob.

You got this.

Right. Because she was so cool under pressure. She blew out a breath and dropped her hand. Her stomach surged with nausea. He was her bodyguard now, which meant there’d be no escaping him.

Shit, shit, shit.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the door. Her world had fallen apart, and she’d latched onto him like a safe harbor in a storm. Whatever she felt, it wasn’t real . . . it was just the situation.

Ignoring her inner voice’s call of “Bullshit,” she nodded and pushed off the door.

After another deep breath, she forced herself to open it.

When she stepped into the room, three sets of eyes trained on her, and their conversation came to a halt.

It was so quiet, the scuff of her boots across the floor as she walked to the kitchen sounded like a bullhorn announcing her presence.

Bo was frozen at the stove. If the ingredients strewn across the counter were any indication, he’d been prepping breakfast. Two men, one tall and blond, the other trim and dark, sat at the kitchen table.

Well, this is awkward.

She stopped in the middle of the room, lifting a hand in a small wave. “Hi.”

Her voice broke the pall, and both men jumped up from the table so fast that she almost stumbled backward. They came at her with palms outstretched as Bo said, “Selene, this is Hercules and Romeo.”

Those can’t be their real names.

The tall blond reached her first. “I’m Herc,” he said, gripping her palm in a handshake.

She tensed at the power she felt in his grip, but he released her immediately.

The guy looked like a bodybuilder. His shoulders were twice as broad as hers, and his arms in the tight-fitting ski shirt looked as big as her thighs.

And she knew she had some extra weight there.

He smiled and managed to seem completely nonthreatening despite his size.

She couldn’t help but return it. “Nice to meet you.”

When he stepped back, the shorter man slid smoothly in front of him.

He had brown hair down to his shoulders and was only a couple of inches taller than her.

Still, the way he moved told her he wasn’t any less dangerous than the big guy.

A slow grin spread across his lips as his eyes assessed her.

When he spoke, his voice was like simmering chocolate, warm and dark as his eyes.

“I’m Romeo. Bo didn’t mention how beautiful you were. ”

She arched a brow at his charm and placed her hand in his. When Romeo clasped her palm and lifted it toward his lips, she noticed Bo stiffen out of the corner of her eye. Before the man could kiss her hand, she tugged against his fingers, and he released her.

As handsome as he was, she wasn’t interested. “You’re trouble, aren’t you?”

Herc barked out a laugh. Clapping Romeo on the shoulder, he dragged him away. “She’s too smart for you, Casanova.”

As they settled back at the table, she walked over to Bo, who’d started beating eggs with enthusiasm in a large plastic bowl. “Can I help?”

He tensed, his shoulders flexing into a tight line. With a grunt and a mumbled, “Sure,” he handed her the bowl.

Setting it on the counter, she kept whisking the frothy yellow liquid inside. “What are we making?”

“Nothing fancy. Just scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast.” He wouldn’t look at her, which made her frown. With a shrug, he added, “Better than an MRE anyway.”

Her mouth watered. Last night’s dinner had long since evaporated into fumes. Breakfast might not be fancy, but it sounded like heaven. “Where did this all come from?” Yesterday, his fridge was empty.

Stretching slices of bacon across a skillet, he told her, “I asked the guys to bring it. My resupply’s past due.”

“Oh,” she answered even though she wasn’t quite sure what he meant. How exactly did he get food out here? She doubted anywhere delivered, and the trek into Big Sky or Bozeman was a multi-hour affair. Did he stock up, like, what? A month at a time?

She preferred her produce as fresh as she could get it, which meant she ended up at the grocery store multiple times a week. Cooking with ingredients that didn’t come out of a can only once a month seemed particularly sad to her. In fact, some fresh fruit would be delicious with what he was making.

Almost finished with the eggs, she asked softly, “Is there any fruit?”

Bo scrubbed at his beard, then shook his head. “Um, no. Sorry.”

He still refused to look at her. Her stomach dipped, shallowing out into an unpleasant plateau as she turned away. If he kept this up, she was going to wind up with a complex.

“So, Bo,” Herc called from his seat. “We need a base, man. This place isn’t big enough for the five of us.”

Five?

Selene wondered who the fifth person was. Someone else on Bo’s team?

He grunted but didn’t turn around. He just kept flipping bacon. “Yeah, I know.”

She poured the eggs into a hot pan as Romeo said, “We could put Duke on it. He should be landing at Bozeman any minute.”