I stare up at Graham.
He shakes his head at me. “Don’t ever do that again.”
I blush. Crap. “Which part?”
“All of it,” he instructs harshly. “You don’t cover me with your body. Not ever. You freeze if there’s trouble. I cover you with me. You really need to move your hand. Your fingers are where my gun is. Please, relax your arms and step back now.”
“Gun?”
He grins. “No gun. Not in Australia. I just thought it would get you to move your fingers from my ass faster.”
I grimace and release my hold on him.
“We’re leaving. Now, Kaley.”
The way he says that leaves me no room to argue. But in honesty I don’t want to stay any longer. The last few minutes have pretty much a buzzkill.
Graham is right. Galling, but right. This is not my type of scene. Most of the guys are definitely losers. I should never have come here.
I let him guide me out of the club. The cool air outside sends the alcohol rocketing through me. I’m suddenly feeling off-balance. I must have drunk more than I realized. I’m buzzed. Nope, beyond buzzed. I’m sloshed.
Graham’s hand closes around my arm and I’m shoved into a black SUV, the door slams behind me then he climbs in up front beside the driver. He won’t even sit with me, and I hate riding alone in back.
Nice touch. Message received. You’re pissed off. Fine.
It’s a short drive to the hotel. My door is jerked wide and I climb from the backseat to join Graham on the curb. The lobby is nearly empty when we enter. I’m escorted into an elevator and he uses his card in the panel so he can select the penthouse floor. The ‘P’ lights up and it flashes in my head. Why I broke the rules and cut out tonight. Why I don’t want to return tonight to my dad’s suite.
The doors close and the elevator starts to move. I push the hair from my face. I lean back against the wall. Graham looks totally disgruntled.
I stare up at him. “I don’t want to go to my room. Can we go hang around in your room for a while?”
His eyes flash. “No way. You are not going to my room. I like my job. I need it.”
I push off the wall and step into him. “You also like me,” I whisper. “Don’t take me back. Not yet.”
He eases away from me and shrugs. “Not doing it. And of course, I like you. I wouldn’t risk taking a bullet for a client unless I liked them.”
My brows hitch up. “Bullet, my ass. You probably haven’t carried a gun since you became a bodyguard.”
The dimples appear in his cheeks.
My eyes widen. “Busted. Can’t we just have some fun for once.”
“Kaley—”
“I want to go to your room. Spend the night there.”
He shakes his head and doesn’t look directly at me. Fuck, he’s a gorgeous guy. I sink my teeth into my lower lip, then wet it with my tongue, and his breathing changes. A thrill pulses through me.
He’s saying no, but wants to say yes.
He needs a push. “If you want to keep your job, taking me back to my dad’s suite drunk isn’t a good move. It’s better to let me sleep it off somewhere.”
We stare at each other wordlessly. His jaw flexes. His muscles tense, but his gaze doesn’t lower from mine and I’m not sure what he’s debating: the point I just made or whether he wants to risk his job and fuck me. Then I watch as he takes me in from head to toe, and then stopping at my eyes again.
He leans around me, his arm brushing against me as he hits a button for a different floor.
“Just for a little while,” he groans in warning. “And only if you promise to drink some coffee to sober up a bit.”
I ease my body into him. “Anything you say. Coffee. I’m up for anything.”
The doors open and he jerks back from me.
He motions me out of the elevator and into the hallway. The floor is noisy and crowded. I recognize more than a few guys, roadies and security, traveling on tour with us. I lean against the doorframe as he slides his card into the lock.
He looks at me. “A few cups of coffee then I’m taking you up to the penthouse. That’s all I’m up for tonight. Are we clear?”
Graham’s eyes are serious.
Probably worried about his job again.
“Roger that, solider,” I say in a silly way.
I step around him and into the room.
Graham switches on the lights and locks the door behind him. I start wandering around the mini-suite. It’s nicer than I thought it would be, considering he’s just a bodyguard. I look through an open doorway. Separate bedroom. King-size bed. Nothing like the penthouse, but it’s nice.
I drop down to sit in front of a coffee table. I hear water in the next room. Christ, he really is making me coffee.
“The security guys. Do you work for my dad all the time or are you contractors?” I ask.
“Contractors.” He pokes his head out of what I assume is some sort of small kitchenette. “Your dad hired me from mercenaries’-world-dot-com.”
My body goes cold. The way everyone takes drive-by pokes at me over Kaley’s-World.com is past old. Worse, it reminds me why I’m trapped on tour with my dad, what I did to both my parents, why I lost Bobby, and why I feel so miserable all the time.
I lift my brows and struggle for a neutral response. “Very funny. Ha, ha. Did you think that up on your own or did one of the PR assistants write it up so you’d have that one handy to use tonight?”
His smile fades.
His gaze softens.
“I didn’t mean anything by it, Kaley. I just wanted to make you laugh.”
I stare down at my fingers. “Well, it didn’t work.”
“I’m sorry. How do you want your coffee?”
“Just black.
He disappears from view.
Graham comes back into the sitting room and sets two mugs of coffee on the table.
I close my hands around mine. The warmth burns. It feels good. I can almost not feel the tears threatening in my throat.
“So why are you a mercenary for hire? Being a bodyguard must be a little dull after Delta Force,” I tease and earn for the effort the dimples back in his cheeks.
He laughs. “Dull? Hardly. You are anything but dull, Kaley.”
My stomach flutters.
“Then why don’t you want me here with you?” I whisper. “Why don’t you ever make a move on me? I can tell you like me, but you don’t do it.”
Oh crap.
I didn’t intend to ask that.
Graham studies me for a moment and then climbs from the chair. He settles on the ground near me, his posture open, accessible and relaxed, but his body a neutral distance away from me.
“Because I’m not the right kind of guy for you, Kaley. I know it. But more importantly, you know it.”
My cheeks burn.
I brush at my face.
Damn.
Tears.
I feel an arm slip around my shoulders. My body is eased into his. His lips are in my hair. “It’s going to be all right, Kaley. What happened tonight to get you upset enough to take off?”
I peek up at him.
I sniff.
The words gather in my head.
No, don’t say them.
I sink into his chest, sniffling more. The words start fighting their way out. “My dad hates me and he should. I’ve destroyed my mom’s happiness. I’ve ruined their marriage. My dad’s out fucking Jen tonight. My mom won’t forgive that when she finds out and my family is a mess and it’s all my fault. And I’m surrounded by people all day every day and I have never felt lonelier in my life. I don’t even have anything to go home to when I’m finally free of this tour. My boyfriend dumped me…”
He tightens his hold on me. His hand moves on my back in comforting strokes.
“Shush, Kaley. Your dad doesn’t hate you. That’s the first thing you’ve gotten wrong. Also, he’s not with Jen tonight. So you can forget that worry. I can’t tell you where he is, but he’s definitely not doing anything you should blame yourself for. Your family is here and together. That’s more than most families are. If you don’t want to be lonely, stop walling everyone out and try letting people in. As for your boyfriend, crap, I don’t have anything to say about that. He’s an idiot if he dumped you—”