While he waited beneath a maple tree, several female guests sent smiles his way. But Suzanne was the only woman who got his engine running now.
Suzanne spotted him immediately when she left the ladies’ room. She hadn’t looked his way since she’d accepted Buck’s invitation to dance, giving Roman the cold shoulder he more than deserved. But instead of heading off to have a drink with the movie star, she made a beeline for Roman.
“Do you have to follow me everywhere?”
She already knew the answer, and he knew she was simply venting, which meant the professional response would be to let her question go. But she wasn’t the only one who needed to vent.
Making sure no one was close enough to overhear, he said, “I do. Which is why you should tell me if you’re planning to sleep with any movie stars tonight, so I can get my background checks done before your clothes come off.”
Her eyes went big, as if she couldn’t believe what he’d said. Hell, he could hardly believe it. He’d never spoken to a client this way before. Never come close.
“Did you really just ask me if I’m planning to sleep with Buck tonight?”
Her question was loud enough that Roman said, “Unless you want people to talk, we’d better finish this conversation in a more private location.”
“I can’t wait to finish it.”
He followed her behind the building and off into a grove of birch trees. Soon, the branches around them were thick enough that the sound of the band and guests was only a low hum.
She spun around to face him. “I already told you, I’ll sleep with whomever I want, whenever I want. And just so you know, I wasn’t even the slightest bit interested in sleeping with Buck. But now that you’ve made me consider it…” She shrugged and bared her teeth at him in the faintest possible approximation of a smile. “Maybe it would be a good idea to let off some steam with someone who isn’t always pushing me away and seems to want me.”
He knew he should count to ten inside his head before replying. Knew he should get his goddamned heart rate down. Knew he should try to muster up even the barest shred of professionalism. But there was no way to hold back anymore.
Not when it felt like he’d been holding back with Suzanne for an eternity.
“How many times do I have to tell you, every guy here wants you!”
“You don’t!”
Roman had never yelled at a client before. But Suzanne had stopped being just a client almost from the very start. And whether he wanted it to be true or not, he wasn’t just her bodyguard either. He had always been way too close to the line with her. Closer now to falling over the edge than ever before.
He needed to back away. Needed to find another bodyguard to take his place. Needed to turn around and never look back. Needed to shove thoughts of Suzanne out of his head—and desire out of his body—forever.
But he couldn’t. Not when the most brilliant woman in the world seemed to believe something so stupid. So utterly idiotic.
“Are you kidding me? Of course I want you. I’ve wanted you from the first minute I set eyes on you. Your mouth, your brain, your body—all of you is irresistible.” He couldn’t stop the words from coming. “That’s why I’ve been hellbent on staying your bodyguard. Because you need someone to watch over you, someone to make sure you don’t end up with the wrong guy. A guy like me, who doesn’t deserve you.” His lungs were heaving as if he’d sprinted around a track. “But not kissing you is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
He didn’t realize how still she’d become until he finally shut up. Didn’t realize until it was too late to take his confession back that the gleam in her eyes had shifted from anger to desire.
“Do it.” Where he hadn’t been able to modulate his voice down from a roar, hers was barely above a whisper. “Kiss me, Roman.” She licked her lips, moving closer. “So I can know how you feel.” She lowered her gaze to his mouth. “How you taste.”
Every moment since the night at the gallery when he’d started working for her, he’d been fighting. Fighting his desire for her. Fighting to remember all the reasons he couldn’t have her. Fighting to convince himself that they shouldn’t cross any client/bodyguard boundaries.
But tonight, after a wedding steeped in the kind of romance he’d never believed was true, after seeing Suzanne with her close-knit family, after being eaten up with jealousy while watching her dance with another man—he couldn’t fight it a second longer.
Still, as one hand moved to tangle in her hair and the other curved around her hip, he made himself give it one last shot. “You’re going to regret it.”