Page 95 of Guarded Knight

“I don’t plan to.”

Rio zips up his jacket by the door. “You’ve got eyes on her, a locked door, two ex-military in the house. If this guy still comes knocking?” He opens the door. “We’ll bury him under the chicken coop.”

Between me, Anton, Rio, and Dad, any threat to Lara would be met with four walls of muscle, grit, and firepower.

Lara lets out a shaky laugh. “You have chickens?”

“No,” he winks, “…but we’ll get a hiding spot if we need one.”

As far as I know, Rio has never done anything illegal, but I wouldn’t put it past him.

Dad pops up. “I’m coming, too. Wait for me, we’ll walk together.”

Their houses are both on the ranch. We’re all neighbors. It’s a concept I once wondered if it was a bit too much, but now, there’s nothing safer than family.

I walk Lara upstairs slowly, my hand warm on her back. The hall’s dark, quiet, just the soft creak of floorboards beneath our feet.

She hesitates when we reach my room. Her fingers tighten on mine.

“G?” she asks quietly.

“Yeah.”

“I need you to protect Freya, too.”

“No one touches either of you,” I say. “Not while I’m breathing.”

She nods. Then takes a single step forward, and when she walks into the room, she doesn’t let go of my hand.

So I follow her in.

And I shut the door behind us.

24

I’m notsure what the hell I’m doing in here, but I can’t make myself leave.

I watch Lara cross the room and help herself to a Navy hoodie I’d left folded over the back of my chair in the corner. She climbs into bed.Mybed. She pulls up her knees and tucks them in under the oversized sweatshirt. She drowns in it, and for amoment, I’m eighteen again, watching her laugh in the firelight, thinking maybe she’d be mine someday.

My feelings for Lara have always been complicated. One part protective. One part friend. One part desire. Or maybe two or three parts, depending on where my raging hormones were at and how funny she’d been that day. One thing was for sure: the most important thing to me when it came to Lara was not losing her.

And I risked that once.

Twice. Hell, has it been three times now?

I broke the rules, but unlike years ago, she’s letting me off easy.

Her hair falls across my pillow like she’s been here forever. Like this is her bed. Her room. Her place in the world.

And hell if my chest doesn’t ache to make it so.

I cross to the window, inspect the latch, then double-check the door. I don’t expect trouble tonight, not with the amount of security in this house and on the property, but habits die hard. I lock the bedroom door.

The soft click echoes louder than it should.

Lara watches me from the bed and breaks the silence. “Are you locking the door because you think Kevin’s coming to get you, or because you think I am?”

A corner of my mouth twitches. “Bit of both.”