“Hell no!” Tyler said, slamming his fist on the tabletop. “I’ve met your sister, Shane. I don’t want that psychotic delinquent within a hundred yards of Beth! The goal is to protect my sister, not corrupt her.”
Shane didn’t take offense at Tyler’s characterization of Lia. Lia was indeed a wild child – there was no point in denying that – although she was neither psychotic nor delinquent. Lia was one of Shane’s best undercover operatives. And she was exactly what Beth needed.
“All right,” Shane said. “We’ll play it your way.”
For now.
Chapter 2
two weeks later...
The moment Beth walked into Clancy’s Bookshop on Friday evening, a week’s worth of stress simply melted away. This was her happy place. Being surrounded by books was like a balm to her frazzled soul. While most of her friends were out clubbing, she was happiest alone with a good book.
After work, she’d gone home and grabbed a quick dinner. Gabrielle had left her a plate of lasagna to warm up, a salad, and – best of all – a dish of chocolate mousse. Then she’d hopped a cab downtown to spend the evening in her favorite place.
The store was packed as usual for a Friday night. She worked her way over to the New Releases table to check out the hardbacks. She scanned the shiny new covers and even picked up a couple of them to read the inside jacket copy. Then she moved on to the racks of newly released paperbacks.
After making a circuit of the first floor, meandering through the magazines and newspapers, Beth reached her favorite part of the store – the Romance section. She’d always been a diehard romance fan, ever since reading her first romance novel as a teen. She loved the intense passion, but mostly she loved the happily-ever-afters. They made up for her own abysmal track record in the romance department.
When it came to intimacy, she was a complete disaster. Guys didn’t take kindly to their girlfriends crying in bed – or even worse, screaming at them to stop. It was a mood killer every time. She was destined to end up alone because she had more issues than any one man could handle.
At least she had her book boyfriends and her vibrator. They never let her down. But more importantly, she never let them down.
After browsing the display of new romances, she picked up a couple of paranormals that looked promising. She was always in the mood for some hot alpha heroes. Then she drifted over to her guilty pleasure – the erotica aisle. She skimmed the new releases, and an anthology of spanking stories caught her eye. She pulled that one off the shelf and tucked it with the others in the crook of her arm.
* * *
Shane knew he was in trouble the minute he laid eyes on Beth Jamison. Her photograph had rocked him, but seeing her in the flesh had sealed the deal. She was just as stunning in person as he’d feared.
As he watched her from across the room, he had to admit he’d never wanted a woman more. Just looking at her now made his body feel hot and his skin too tight. His dick twitched in his trousers, and he had to shift his stance to accommodate his growing erection. Fuck!
He wasn’t even supposed to be here in the first place. He’d been working late at the office when Miguel had called to tell him that Miles Bennett – who’d been scheduled to watch Beth that night – had been taken to the ER with a severe case of food poisoning. Shane had jumped at the chance to take Miles’s shift just so he could get a look at this girl with his own eyes.
He had absolutely no business sniffing around Tyler’s little sister, and he damn well knew it, but he couldn’t get the image of her out of his head. Every time he looked at her photograph, he felt the ground shake. That had never happened to him before, and now he needed to see her in person, if just to get her out of his head once and for all. Innocent little blonds simply weren’t his type.
Just a half-hour earlier, he’d been sitting in his office with Jake going over the latest surveillance report on Howard Kline. Jake’s team had been tailing Kline for the past five days and had next to nothing on the guy. After being released from prison, Kline had moved in with his elderly, disabled mother in a low-income neighborhood on the south side. Since then, he almost never left the house, other than to meet with his parole officer and his court-appointed therapist. Other than that, he’d been living in complete seclusion with his mother. That alone was a red flag.
You’d expect a guy just getting out of prison after 18 years to go out and live a little – grab a beer, go to a movie, get laid. But not this guy. He was living the life of a recluse. In some ways, that was a good thing. If he was holed up at home, he wasn’t out on the streets looking for Beth Jamison. The downside was Jake and his team hadn’t been able to get a good feel for him. And that was a problem, because they needed to know what this guy was thinking.
When the call had come in that Miles was out of commission for the night, Shane had jumped at the chance to take his place.
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Shane had told Miguel.
“Why you?” Jake had said as soon as Shane ended the call.
Shane had stood, grabbing his phone and keys. “Why not me?”
“Because you’re the CEO of this outfit, and you don’t do field work,” Jake had said.
“Well, I’m doing field work tonight.”
Jake had shaken his head in disgust. “You’re an idiot. This has bad news written all over it.”
And now here he was on a Friday night in a bookstore of all places, feigning interest in a shelf of architectural books two aisles away from where Beth Jamison stood perusing romance novels.
He shifted his position to get a better view. He’d seen her photo, but that was just a head shot. Now he saw the whole package. Damn. She was just as exquisite in person as he’d feared.
He already knew her stats. She was five-eight, 125 pounds. She was taller than average and rather on the slender side. This evening she was wearing a peach dress and a lacey white sweater. Her long legs were bare, and she wore a pair of flat brown sandals. She didn’t have much in the way of curves, but her long blond hair, parted in the middle, framed a lovely face. She looked so... delicate. No wonder this girl needed protection. She didn’t look like she could fight her way out of a wet paper bag. The thought that someone might want to hurt this girl made his chest tighten.
Shane watched her, mesmerized. On the outside, she looked very serene – calm and cool – but he knew appearances could be deceiving. According to her emotional profile, she was anything but serene. Tyler had described her as excruciatingly shy and timid. She was uncomfortable around strangers, and she suffered from severe anxiety and asthma.
And she had nightmares, apparently a lot of them. Gabrielle Hunter had described those in great detail, including the ear-splitting screams in the dead of night, along with the panic attacks that often followed.
Kline had really done a number on this poor kid.
Beth was on the move now, and Shane changed positions again to keep her in his sights. His job suddenly got a whole lot more interesting when she turned a corner and moved into the erotica section. Holy shit. He hadn’t seen that coming.
He watched as she scanned the erotica shelves and selected a book, adding it to the small pile in her arms. When she headed toward the back of the store, he followed, more intrigued by the second.
When Beth took a seat in one of four oversized armchairs positioned around a low table covered with discarded books and magazines, he moved into position. She set her stack of paperbacks on the table in front of her and tucked her purse beside her in the chair. When she picked up one of her books and started reading, Shane tried to catch the title – his curiosity thoroughly aroused – but he couldn’t see it from his current vantage point.
When the young couple seated around the table got up and walked away, leaving Beth alone, Shane did the unthinkable. He took the seat directly across from her.
She was so engrossed in her book, she didn’t even seem to notice that someone had sat down at the table. Damn it! Someone needed
to teach this girl to be more aware of her surroundings.
Sitting so close to her now, he had no trouble reading the title of her book. An anthology of spanking stories? Really? His dick shot hard as a pole, and he had to shift in his chair to ease the pressure in his trousers. Never in a million years would he have guessed that little Miss Jamison liked a bit of kink. It was almost enough to make him rethink his stance on innocent little blonds.
As Shane watched her, he noted her flushed cheeks and quick breaths. She was getting aroused! He almost had a heart attack when her tongue slipped out to wet her bottom lip. Fuck!
She shifted restlessly in her seat, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Watching her body’s response to that damned book was causing him serious physical pain. He had to cross one ankle over his knee to hide the obvious erection tenting his trousers. Honestly, he wasn’t a stalker, but right now he sure as hell felt like one.
The girl was lost in her own world, completely oblivious to the fact that his gaze was locked on her like a heat seeking missile locked onto a bonfire. It was a good thing Tyler had hired protection for her, because she was doing a lousy job of taking care of herself. He could be anyone sitting here ogling her. Hell, he could be Howard Kline, and she probably wouldn’t have noticed.
Suddenly Shane wanted to get her attention. He wanted to see those exquisite eyes on him. He wanted to see those lush lips turn up in a shy smile. But more than anything, he wanted to hear her voice.
And that was when he made his second mistake of the evening.
“Is that a good book?” he said.
Beth flinched at the unfamiliar male voice, low and tinged with amusement. A rush of liquid heat surged through her, pooling low in her belly. She was already aroused from reading stories about bare-bottom, over-the-knee spankings, and that provocative male voice had just tipped her right over the edge. As her hands started shaking, she kept her gaze fixed on the book in her lap.
Please don’t be talking to me.
She could see in her peripheral vision that the chairs on either side of her were vacant. So she peeked up under her lashes and cringed when she saw the tip of a man’s black loafer and a bit of charcoal trouser leg across the table from her. It was just the two of them seated at the table, so of course he was talking to her! He had to be.
Oh my God, just kill me now.
Her pulse started racing, and her chest tightened. She pulled in a deep, shaky breath in an attempt to stem her sudden rush of anxiety.
Closing the book, she laid it face down on her lap and covered it with both hands, feeling just like a kid who’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Busted!
She kept her eyes glued to her lap, because she couldn’t bear to look a complete stranger in the face – let alone one who knew she was reading erotica.
Of course it had to be spanking stories she’d been caught reading. That was her deep, dark secret. There had to be something seriously wrong with her. She was an intelligent, educated woman with a bachelor’s degree in literature and a master’s degree in library science, and yet she secretly got off reading about girls having their bottoms spanked.
This was beyond mortifying, and she didn’t know what to do. Maybe if she simply ignored him, he’d get the hint and go away.
No such luck.
“I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.”
The sound of his voice made her tremble, and her heart was beating so hard now she could feel her pulse pounding in her throat. Why couldn’t the floor just open up and swallow her whole? Right now. Please. And why did he have to have a voice like a sex god? It was low and just a little bit rough. Just the sound of it made her belly quiver.
“Hello? Miss?”
In the end, it was his gentle persistence that was her undoing. She glanced up and found herself ensnared by the sight of him: short, thick hair the color of fine chocolate – slightly tousled as if he’d run his hands through it – a sexy five-o’clock shadow on a handsome face with a strong jawline and a perfect blade of a nose. Leaning back in his chair, dressed in a charcoal suit and white dress shirt, sans tie, he looked like a disreputable heart-throb on the cover of GQ. A pair of striking, electric blue eyes held her gaze as he waited for her reply.
God, no man should have such beautiful eyes.
She knew she was staring, but she couldn’t help herself.
And then he offered her the most disarming smile she’d ever seen on a man... a perfect, slightly crooked smile that set butterflies loose in her belly.
“Hello,” he said. He rose from his chair and reached across the table to offer her his hand. “Shane McIntyre.”
The top button of his shirt was undone, and Beth could see a hint of brown chest hair peeking through the opening. Given the suit and shirt, he looked like he’d just come from the office. If so, he must have had a really long day as it was nearly ten o’clock in the evening. He looked at her expectantly, his hand hanging patiently in the air as he waited for her to take it.
She felt like an idiot as she sat there staring at him, still trying to get over the fact that this guy was even talking to her. What did he say his name was? She racked her brain and came up blank. She’d be lucky to remember her own name, let alone his.
Eventually, her engrained good manners prompted her to reach out and clasp his hand, which was warm and dry in hers. His grip was firm, yet gentle, and when he gave her hand a little squeeze, a tingle shot up her arm. She released his hand abruptly, as if she’d been burned by the contact, but he held on to her hand. When he smiled again, the corners of his blue eyes crinkled with tiny laugh lines.
She swallowed, her throat dry. What was he waiting for? Oh, right. Her name. “I’m Beth.” Her voice was little more than a husky whisper.
When she attempted to pull her hand free from his, he released hers and sat back down. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Beth.”
Just hearing him say her name did something wickedly wonderful to her insides. Her heart beat frantically, though. God, why did she have to be like this? For the millionth time, she wished she was more like Gabrielle. Gabrielle would smile and flirt with him and not think twice about it. Instead, Beth sat there trapped in her own insecurities, poised to run.
She felt the tell-tale signs of rising panic as her chest constricted painfully and her heart pounded. The adrenalin rush had started, and it was fight-or-flight time. And for her, that meant flight. She carefully laid the spanking book face down on the table with the rest of the books she’d picked up and shot to her feet, clutching her purse. “Excuse me. I have to go.”
As she walked past him, Shane reached out and gently caught her hand. “Beth, wait. Please.”
She froze, staring at the long fingers that enveloped her hand. He wasn’t hurting her; in fact, he wasn’t exerting much pressure at all, and yet she felt utterly trapped.
“Don’t go,” he said, rising to his feet.
Now that he was standing, she realized how tall he was. He had to be at least six feet tall, maybe taller. His shoulders filled his suit jacket well. For that matter, his entire body filled his suit well. Just looking at him made her flush with heat from head to toe.
“Stay a while,” he said. “Why don’t you join me in the café? Can I buy you a cup of coffee? Or a bite to eat, if you’re hungry. Whatever you’d like.”
He gave her an encouraging smile, and she just stood there staring at him.
She looked down at their joined hands, and when she tried to pull her hand free, he released it.
“Sorry,” he said, giving her that damnably charming smile once more.
She looked away as her chest constricted painfully. The last thing she needed was to have a full-blown panic attack in public. She wanted so desperately to stay, just for a little while, but she didn’t dare. She already knew how it would end.
“It’s getting late,” she said, looking away. “I really should go.”
“Please don’t,” he said. “I didn’t mean to chase you off. I
’m sorry.”
She felt a delicious fluttering low in her belly, and she was so tempted to try. But she knew it would be a waste of time. She shook her head. “No. I’m sorry, I can’t.”
“It’s okay, Beth.”
She looked up at him, astonished by the compassion she heard in his voice. It was almost as if he knew. But how could he know? He didn’t even know her! It wasn’t okay! She wasn’t okay! She would never be okay.
“I haven’t eaten since lunch,” he said. “Keep me company in the café while I wolf down a sandwich. You don’t even have to talk to me if you don’t want to.”
Was that his idea of a pick-up line? Surprisingly, she laughed. In addition to being drop-dead gorgeous, he was funny, too. Self-deprecating. And kind.
“Take pity on me and say ‘yes,’” he said.
Shane reached for her hand again, and this time she let him hold it, simply because it felt so good. It was such a simple thing, to hold hands with someone, but she honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d done it.
Her gaze was drawn to the heavy silver watch on his wrist – a Rolex, she noted, with one of those complicated watch faces with the tiny dials that men seemed to love so much. There was a dusting of brown hair on the back of his hand, and his fingers were long and tan, his nails clean and trimmed bluntly at the tips. When she wondered what those long fingers would feel like on her body, her belly clenched tightly.
“Just one sandwich,” he said. “I’ll eat fast, I promise.”
She grinned, unable to help herself. To her surprise, her panic began to subside. His fingers felt so good against hers, so warm and solid. She studied their joined hands, his much larger one engulfing hers.
His thumb slowly stroked the back of her hand, and her erratic heartbeat slowed. Her body was responding to him, to his voice, to his touch. She was shocked when she realized he made her feel... safe.
Feeling safe was the one thing she craved more than anything. It was such an elusive goal, always just out of her reach. Right now, she was so desperate to hold on to it that she was willing to take a risk.
Vulnerable: (McIntyre Security Bodyguard Series - Book 1) Page 2