“That we’re strangers, or that we’re going to be spending a lot of time together?” She blinked, then looked away. “How long have you been… ah… doing this. I mean how long have you been a private investigator”
“And bodyguard?”
“Yes.”
There was another bright blush on her cheeks. David wondered how she kept from catching fire as she did that a lot.
“A while,” he said, keeping his answer vague.
“You… you like it?”
Good Lord. He laid down his fork and stared at her. She was the most unpredictable woman he’d ever met. Watching her eyes, he said, “I get paid for it. So yeah.”
She sucked in her breath. The fork she had in front of her held a piece of sausage, ready to fall off. She looked guilty. “I’m sorry that I asked. I just wanted to get to know you better. Just because we’re stuck together doesn’t mean that we can’t be friends, but I get it and I’ll try not to ask anymore personal questions”
She trembled, then put down her fork, folding her hands in her lap. David stared at her. He was sorry he’d ruined her mood because that wasn’t really his intention. In fact he was grateful and touched too that she wanted to get closer, but the thought of getting close wasn’t an option. It wasn’t right because of their situation.
The way he felt about her wasn’t helping either. Right now, he didn’t even feel like smiling; he felt like laying her across the table, tossing the skirt of her dress up around her shoulders and viewing all of her, naked. For him. He wanted to drive into her slim body and hear her scream his name. It angered him, the unaccountable way she could provoke his emotions, leaving him raw.
“Why are you doing this? Why are you being so hot and cold? One minute you’re smiling and getting along with me, and the next you’re… i don’t know… detached” Her tone was breathless, faint. With arousal or humiliation? He slashed his hand in the air, disgusted with himself.
“You said you wouldn’t ask anymore personal questions… That’s another question. Eat your breakfast.” he said simply
“David…”
“I’m sorry, Bonnie. I’m not usually such a bastard. Just forget it, all right?”
She didn’t look as though she wanted to. Instead, she looked ready to launch into another round of questions and he couldn’t take it. He began eating, ignoring her, giving all his attention to his food.
He waited until she’d taken a bite of her muffin, then said, “So what did you come over to talk about?…. Apart from getting to know each other” he added quickly.
Bonnie swallowed and looked at him, her eyes wide. “Well” she began, “Apart from not wanting to get married, one of the reasons why I left home was because I wanted to travel… see the world…on my own… and I’ve been unable to do that because I’ve been hiding…worried about my parents finding me. Since I’m not anymore, I was thinking last night and I decided that I’m ready to do it. And now that you’re stuck with me, I’m guessing that you have to come with me…. You said last night that I wasn’t supposed to go anywhere without letting you know, so here I am…. Telling you about it.”
“No. I don’t think it’s a good idea, Bonnie” He said immediately.
Bonnie stopped eating and frowned. “You didn’t even think about it at all.”
He took a sip of coffee, watching her over the rim of his mug. “That’s because I don’t have to”
“Excuse me? So you just dismiss it because it’s my idea?”
“No. I dismissed it because I’m supposed to be your bodyguard. My job is to keep an eye on you… not to be your tour guide”
David knew the second the words left his mouth, that he’d said the wrong thing. That stubborn look was suddenly back on her face. The look she had last night when she told him that there was no way that she’d be going back home.
Bonnie frowned at him. He didn’t have to sound so surly. And he didn’t have to look so… sexy. He’d annoyed her but she couldn’t deny the way she felt. From answering the door near-naked. Even now, with his pants on, he still looked sleep-rumpled and much too appealing. She cleared her throat and stared down at her plate.
“I don’t care what you think. I’ll go wherever I want to go…and I never asked you to be my tour guide” she said, trying to sound calm.
“Dammit, Bonnie, why do you always have to be so stubborn?”
He shocked her so badly with his sudden shout that she blurted out, “Don’t you dare tell me what to do! You’re not here to keep me in one place and I sure as hell won’t let you”
“Ah…. I get it. You’re so used to being the one giving people orders that you can stand it when things change a little bit.” David rubbed his whiskered jaw, then added, “Must be very hard for you, isn’t it?”
Bonnie stood up and walked away from the table. How the hell did he always get under her skin so easily? She knew she could sometimes get very sensitive, but she hadn’t thought she’d crack so quickly.
When she turned to face David again, she caught him staring at her ankles. Her silence drew his attention, and when his gaze lifted to her face, he didn’t apologize, but merely lifted a dark eyebrow.
Trying to ignore the heat in her face, Bonnie folded her hands over her waist and said, “You don’t know anything about me.” Keeping her voice low, she added, “You have a lot of assumptions about the kind of person I am, and it’s obvious that it will be useless to try to change that so I’m not even going to try.”
David looked down at his feet. He didn’t say a word, but he stood and walked towards her. Bonnie expected him to yell at her again… probably try to force her to listen to him, but instead he did something she didn’t expect. His hand, so large and warm and rough, curled around her fingers and held on. Bonnie started, surprised at the gentleness of his touch, at how comforting it felt to make physical contact with him. She glanced up, and his eyes held hers. There was no more derision, and certainly no pity. Only understanding…. Or maybe that was what she wanted to see… she wasn’t quite sure.