Page 151 of The Bodyguard

I remember it in snapshots of feeling. Tenderness, and tension, and warmth, and connection. The stubble on his neck, and the tightness of his arms, the smell of cinnamon, and that incomparable feeling of being held.

Of being cherished.

I’d been longing for that kiss for so many weeks, so many days, so many endless hours—and I’d thought all along that it would never happen, that it was impossible.… So when it did happen, out of nowhere, no matter what it was, or what it meant… there were no decisions to make. There was nothing to do but go all in.

It was as easy as flipping him on his ass.

I didn’t think about the thousand dollars. I didn’t think about Robby. I wasn’t trying to prove anybody wrong.

I just wanted that kiss.

And this was my chance.

And I wasn’t going to waste it.

Before I knew it, we were working our way through the door, lips still touching, him still holding me, me still wrapped around him, and stumbling our way through the living room—off balance, colliding with a sofa and then almost toppling a ceramic rooster on the breakfront—toward Jack’s bedroom.

Then we stopped beside his doorway—him pressing me against the wall as he searched for his bedroom doorknob with one hand.

A good kiss eclipses everything else.

Everything except touch and longing and each other.

And this was one hell of a good kiss.

When Jack didn’t find the doorknob right away, he let it go and just fell back into the moment. His hand behind my neck, his body pressing up to mine, his mouth on my mouth. It was like no one and nothing in the world existed besides the two of us.

That is—until we heard Doc’s voice from the master bedroom down the hall.

“Jack? Is that you?”

That broke the spell.

We froze, opened our eyes, and stared at each other, still breathing.

“That’s my dad,” Jack whispered.

“I know,” I whispered back.

Jack shook his head as if to clear it. Then he lifted his head and tried to sound coherent. “Yes, sir?”

“Go spray the hose on the fire pit to put out the embers, will you? It hasn’t rained in weeks.”

“Yes, sir,” Jack called back.

“And Jack?”

“Yes, sir?”

“While you’re out there, can you take a look around to make sure all the food came back in and there’s nothing to draw the coyotes into the yard?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And Jack?”

Jack sighed at me, like Really? “Yes, sir?”

“Go find that girl something to sleep in and send her off to bed.” Then Doc added, “Alone.”