by Cynthia Eden
“Harper.”
Her head lifted.
“I…have a new case for you.”
“What?” She gaped at him. “Are you listening to anything that I am saying to you?”
“I just got the call on the case a few moments ago. Would you like to hear the details?”
Did she look like she wanted to hear the details?
“It’s a long-term position,” Eric added as he slowly released her hand. “The client is a reclusive billionaire. He wants round-the-clock protection. He’s asked for a live-in bodyguard.”
“Find someone else,” Harper said without hesitation. “I prefer to guard things, not—” She stopped.
There was something about the way Eric was looking at her…
“You might want to guard this person,” he murmured.
Her heart slammed into her chest. “How long term is this position?”
“It’s as long term as you want it to be. The client said you could try it on a test run. A six-week probationary period, if you will.”
Six weeks. That was how long Eric had originally told Harper and Roman that they would have to be partners.
“I have the case arrangements. You go in for six weeks with the client.” Eric’s voice held no emotion. “If the job isn’t something you wish to continue after that time, you can switch out. New security can be put in place.”
She had to blink because her vision had become all foggy. She knew what was happening. Roman didn’t think that she’d want to stay forever with him. He was giving her an out. Setting things up so that she didn’t have to leave her life behind if she didn’t want to keep being with him.
He thinks I’ll change my mind. “That’s just damn insulting.”
Eric’s brows climbed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
She straightened from the desk. “I’ll take the case. When do I leave?”
“When can you be packed?”
“When do I leave?” she repeated.
A smile tugged at his lips. “I can have you wings up within the hour.”
***
Another mansion. Typical. Did the man ever stay in anything else? Harper was in Colorado, the wind was howling around her, and she was staring at what could have been a massive hotel, but it wasn’t. It was her client’s new home. It sort of had a spooky, gothic look. And deep down, Harper had to admit that she loved the place.
Or maybe she just loved the man inside.
Her bags had been dropped off at the door. The driver had left—rushed away. She’d gotten a clipped, former-soldier vibe from the driver, and she’d wondered if he might work for Dex.
Might? Hah.
A shiver shook her as she lifted her hand to press the buzzer near the door. “Come on, come on,” she mumbled as she stared into the little camera that she could see. “Do you want me to turn into a popsicle out here?”
The door was yanked open.
A tall, blond, handsome stranger stood before her.
Harper blinked.
No, not a stranger. The hair was a whole lot lighter and longer. The stubble was completely gone from his jaw. He looked thinner. Leaner. The lines near his eyes were deeper. And his eyes were a different color. Bright. He was wearing jeans and a dark sweater. And—
“Harper.”
His voice was the same. Just the sound of her name on his lips made her whole body ache. She wanted to throw her arms around him and hold on tight. Never let go. But they had to get a few things straight. Rules for the partnership.
“I missed you,” he rasped.
“Yeah, can you get the bags?”
He blinked.
“You know what? We’ll get them later.” She just left them out there. Screw them. She crossed the threshold. Slammed the door. Locked it.
He backed up.
Harper saw that his hands were clenching and releasing. Clenching and releasing. Was that a good sign?
“You came,” he breathed.
She lifted one brow. “Five weeks. I trust that you’ve recovered fully?” Her stare darted over him. “I was worried.” Lower. A little angry. Maybe a lot angry. Did he know how many nights she’d stayed up thinking about him? Praying that he was safe and getting stronger? Every night. Every single night.
“I’ve recovered fully.” His right hand lifted toward her, then dropped. “I didn’t know what Dex had planned. I would never have put you through that, I swear it. I would never want you to think that I had died like that.”
She brushed by him. It was either brush by him and get into a room where they had more space or—or just tackle the guy. And once she did touch him—or tackle him—there would be no holding back.
“I tried to get to you,” Roman said as he trailed behind her.
There was a fire crackling in the giant, stone fireplace. She winced when she saw it.
“But I was weak from blood loss and Dex knocked my ass out.”
Harper spun toward him.
“I would not have let you think I was dead. I would not have let you watch that if I had a choice.” His shoulders squared. “Your name was the first word I spoke when I woke up in the hospital. Dex told me you were safe. He promised me that you knew the truth.”
“Portions of the truth. I guess with Dex, that’s all we get, isn’t it?”
His gaze drifted over her face. “You are so beautiful.”
Kiss him. Hold him. Never let him go. “I hear you’re the new client. A mysterious, reclusive billionaire.”
“I thought about you every day.” His focus drifted down her body.
“And yet, you only offered me a six-week contract.”
His stare snapped back to her face.
“Six weeks.” She crossed her arms over her chest. The better not to grab him. “What do you think, that I’ll get tired after the first couple of weeks? That I will decide this isn’t the case I want?”
He swallowed. “I want you to have a choice. I-I needed to see you, but I didn’t want to put you at risk. I didn’t want you to have to give up your life. This way, you can have closure if you—”
“Just shut that dirty mouth.”
He blinked.
Her breath huffed out. “Don’t you talk to me about closure.”
“You…don’t want closure?”
“Is that why you think I’m here?”
“I don’t know why you’re here.” A flash of hunger, of desperation, slid over his face. “I should have let you go. I should have—”
Screw it. She pounced on him. Closed the distance between them in a flash and grabbed tightly to his arms. “You said you loved me.”
A jerky nod. “I do. I will. I will always love—”
“Then why are you talking to me about closure? You love me, I love you. From where I stand, that’s not closing anything. It’s starting everything.”
“You love the life you had in Atlanta. You love the job. The people. You—”
“I love you. I want to be with you. I’m not giving up anything. I’m going in a new direction. I’m sure Dex can put both of our talents to work if we feel the urge to do some off-the-books jobs. I’m sure we can meet new people. I’m sure that we can—”
“I have a painting studio set up for you upstairs. The whole second floor. It’s stocked and you can work up there to—”
She shot onto her toes. Hauled him toward her. Kissed him as deep and hard and passionately as she could.
Roman.
He kissed her back the same way. His hands curled around her hips. He lifted her up higher. Worshipped her with his mouth. “I missed you,” he grated against her lips.
“Don’t ever do that again.”
His head lifted. He kept holding her.
“Don’t doubt me,” she ordered him.
His lashes flickered.
“I told Dex to give you a message. Did he?”
“You said you’d go to hell and back for me.”
“Damn straight I would.”
“I would do the s
ame for you,” Roman swore. “In a heartbeat.”
She stared into his eyes—different shade, same Roman. Her Roman. Dex had delivered her message, and she remembered the warning that Dex had given to her…
“So when you make your decision, Harper, be sure. He can handle attacks. He can handle betrayals. But…I don’t think he can handle it if he thinks he’s getting a life with you, then you decide two months in that it’s just too much. If you decide that it—he—isn’t something you can deal with. The glow wears off, and suddenly, you’re not so sure it was love, after all.”
When she spoke again, her voice was low and very certain. “I have never felt this way about anyone else. I know our life won’t be perfect, but I am not looking for perfection.”
“You are fucking perfect to me,” he said.
Sweet, but… “I will love you when things are good and when they’re nightmares. I’m not going to turn from you. I don’t want you to turn from me. The past—you are not responsible for your father’s crimes.”
The pain that came on his face…Oh, my Roman…
She brushed her mouth over his again. “I told you before that we can’t change the past. Let’s focus on the present. On the future. Our future together.”
“I don’t want to be like him.” Low. Gruff.
“You are not.” Certainty. “You never could be.”
“Baby…”
“I want you. I’ve done a really good job of holding onto my control, but it’s been a helluva long five weeks. I’ve thought about you every single day, and I don’t want to ever go through that again. This partnership isn’t for six weeks. It’s for keeps.”
Hope. Bright. Burning. It lit his face and had a slow smile sliding over Roman’s lips.
“You have the best smile,” Harper told him. “It is absolutely gorgeous.”
He laughed. The sound was rusty, but warm. “No one has ever told me that before.”
“That’s because no one else knows you like I do.”
The laughter faded. “No. No one else does.”
“No more secrets?”
“Not ever from you.”
“And no six-week time limit?”
“I thought you might like that. You know, since you tried to get out of the partnership before.”
She shook her head.
“No time limit,” he whispered.
“And you’ll make love to me? Right now?”
“I’ll go crazy if I don’t.”
“Can’t have that,” Harper said. She twined her arms around his neck. “Definitely can’t.” They kissed again.
“I have the kitchen stocked with chocolates for you,” he revealed. “Every kind you can possibly imagine. Anything that you want—I’ve got it.”
Her lashes lifted. She stared into his eyes. “You’re what I want.”
“I love you so damn much.”
There was no more talking after that. He carried her to the bedroom. She worried about Roman hurting himself because the man had been shot, but he just kissed her more. They ripped each other’s clothes off. His kisses became even hungrier. Even more desperate.
So did hers.
His hands slid over her body. Teased her breasts. Stroked her nipples. She arched into his touch even as a moan built in her throat. This first time wasn’t going to be slow. Their need for each other was far too acute. They could be slow the second time. Or the third. Or the million times after that.
Her fingers caressed his chest. When she found the new scars that marked him, Harper pressed tender kisses to them.
“I’m trying to hold on to my control,” he warned.
“Don’t.”
And he didn’t.
He tumbled her back onto the bed. He shoved her thighs apart, and the heavy head of his cock pushed at the entrance to her body.
“Fuck. Need a condom. Sweetheart, hold on—”
“I’m on birth control, but we can stop it when we’re ready for a baby.”
He froze. “You’d…want a baby with me?”
“Roman, I want everything with you.”
“But…who I am…my father…the danger—”
“I want everything with you,” she told him once more. “I figure between the two of us, we can handle any threat that comes our way. We can keep our baby safe.”
“Harper…”
He drove into her. They both moaned. He withdrew, thrust deep, and her legs locked eagerly around him. The passion was wild. Their need ferocious. There was no stopping or holding back. She needed him too much. Harper knew he craved her with the same desperation.
When the climax hit her, she shouted his name.
And when he came, he kissed her.
She held him tight. Felt her heartbeat thudding far too fast in her chest. And Harper knew, she was finally home.
***
She was asleep in his arms. Roman was afraid to close his own eyes. Afraid that if he did, he might wake up to discover that Harper wasn’t really there. She hadn’t chosen him. It had all been a dream.
What the fuck would he do then?
Her hand was over his heart. She was warm and soft. And—
“Stop worrying.” Her eyes remained closed. Her voice was low. Chiding. “I’m not going anywhere.”
So she wasn’t asleep. He pressed a kiss to her temple.
“I’m where I belong,” Harper continued in her sleepy voice. A sexy voice. “And so are you.”
He belonged to Harper. He knew it. When he’d been a kid, he’d dreamed of having a real family. Of having someone who loved him without any limits…
He just hadn’t realized how much he would love, in return. He loved Harper so much that, sometimes, the feeling scared him. He trusted her completely. Loved her totally. Would die for her in an instant.
Though killing for her would probably be way more effective, especially since he wanted to spend the next seventy or so years with her.
The future. His heart drummed faster. He and Harper were going to have a future together. They would have a home. A child. Holidays. Lazy breakfasts. Candlelit dinners. Slow Saturdays. All of the normal things—they would have them. Everything that others took for granted, he would treasure.
Just as he would treasure Harper. “I love you.”
She snuggled closer. “It’s not a dream.”
“How did you know that’s what I was worried about?”
Her lashes finally lifted. “Because I worried the same thing.”
His beautiful Harper.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said again.
“Neither am I. I’m exactly where I’ve always wanted to be.”
She smiled. Her dimples winked, and in his mind, he had a flash of a cute, dimpled toddler. A little girl with her mother’s eyes and smile.
Oh, hell. He was going to be in so much trouble. Wrapped around their little fingers. In love with their smiles.
I don’t deserve any of this, but I will fight like hell for my family. Always.
He pulled Harper even closer, and he made a mental note to send Eric Wilde an anonymous gift of thanks.
You gave me the perfect partner. I can never repay that.
Never.
Epilogue
“So…” Eric Wilde studied the woman before him. “You want to take the job?”
Ella Webb gave him a hard, angry smile. “Absolutely.”
“You don’t sound excited.”
“I am. It will be wonderful to work for someone who doesn’t spend his days and nights lying to me.” Ella Webb rose to her feet. Her sleek, straight hair slid over her shoulders. “Before I get started here at Wilde, I want to personally tell my former boss where he can screw off.”
Eric lifted his brows. “Um, you’ll be telling Antony Kyle to screw off?” God, that would be fun to see.
She nodded. “Long overdue, trust me.” Her shoulders squared. “I will be a good employee, I assure you. I have extensive training that will make me an ideal fit at your security a
nd protection firm.”
“Oh, you come with glowing references.” He was still imagining the scene with Antony. “If anything, though, I feel you should be in a management position, not working as a field agent.”
“I want my hands dirty.” She nodded. “I need it. I need action. I need something to make me forget—” Ella broke off. “It’s time for me to get a fresh start.”
He stood and offered his hand to her. “You’ll find that start at Wilde.”
She shook his hand. “Thank you for the opportunity.”
A few moments later, she was gone. Eric glanced at his phone. He thought about giving Antony a call of warning but…
Nah. Things would be more fun this way.
Antony liked to know everyone else’s secrets. He liked to control every single thing in his life—it was past time for the man to have a surprise tossed his way.
If only I could be there to see the show…
Because Eric was betting the fireworks would be spectacular.
The End
Want to read another Cynthia Eden romance?
Check out Antony’s book, THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY.
The One Who Got Away
He has to get her back.
Antony Kyle can’t believe what’s happening to him. First, Ella Webb—the head of security at his gaming company—quits on him. Then…she kisses him as if she’s never wanted anyone more. They spend one incredible night together—a night that brands him to his core—and he wakes to find her gone. Gone.
No, not happening. Antony is not about to lose her now. Not when he’s been obsessed with her for years. He can’t have a taste and then lose…everything.
She’s done with his lies.
Ella has been in love with her gorgeous, genius boss for far too long. And she’s put up with his lies and secrets…for far too long! She’d fallen for his helpless act, thought that the man needed her, but now she has learned the truth. Antony Kyle is a secret spy, more than capable of looking after himself and taking out a whole army of bad guys. So, she gives in to the need that she’s always felt for him, she allows herself one, unforgettable night with him, then she walks away.
But he follows her.
Antony can’t lose Ella—not when he’s finally had the woman he’s wanted so desperately. But she’s got a new job at Wilde—an elite protection and security firm—and he has to figure out a way to woo her back. So, he hires Wilde. Says that he needs protection. He pulls some strings (because the owner of Wilde happens to owe him about a dozen favors), and Antony gets Ella assigned as his bodyguard. He thinks his plan is brilliant. He’ll have Ella in close proximity again, and Antony is sure that he’ll able to convince her that they belong together. Though some groveling—and a whole lot of seduction—may just be involved in his master plan.