Protecting His Assets by J.K. Coi Read Free Book Online Page B

join Nolan in the ring. It had felt amazing to put on a pair of gloves, and before she’d known it, she had almost completely forgotten who he was supposed to be to her. Just a job.
    She looked at the digital time glowing from the dashboard and sighed. It wasn’t so bad being a bodyguard. The pay was decent, and she was good at it. If only she weren’t so distracted by the subject of this particular assignment.
    Steve Nolan.
    The way he’d looked in a pair of loose-fitting gym shorts and boxing gloves, the promise of sex in every pull and flex of muscle, had made her mouth go bone dry and kicked the attraction she’d been fighting since the moment she walked into his office into high gear.
    She’d put on the gloves as an excuse to keep from standing there drooling over him, watching all those muscles rolling and bunching and tensing, but with her body humming from the physical exertion, loaded with adrenaline, begging her to give it another outlet, she hadn’t stood a chance.
    Your reaction had nothing to do with the fight.
    It was still begging for release, and she couldn’t get him out of her head. The whole package. Corporate suit guy and hot athletic guy had merged into one irresistible guy so that now, even with his clothes back on, it was impossible not to notice that he’d been blessed by the gods of broad shoulders and tight asses. Or that his hair had a stubborn kink in the front that looked devilish, but had to drive him batty. Or that there was so much energy buzzing off him, he was like a live wire threatening to shock her every time he came within a foot of her.
    It was heady stuff, making her aware of him in a way that made her aware of herself in a way that she hadn’t been aware of in a long time.
    If that made any sense at all.
    Don’t acknowledge it. Stay professional. Letting herself think of Steve Nolan as anything other than a responsibility would be disastrous. Jeremy had lived in his same world, and for a while, he had been her dream come true. Good-looking and charming. Passionate and attentive. Smart and full of ambition. She was dizzy with love right up until the moment it all came crashing down. The moment she’d overheard him telling a big group of his buddies at a party he’d taken her to at the country club that he was just slumming it for a while before settling down with someone connected, glamorous, and worthy of being the future governor’s wife. There hadn’t even been one among them who’d disagreed with him. Every one of those guys had nodded and clapped him on the back like it was the only thing to do.
    After that, there’d been no doubt in her mind what guys like him were really all about. Princes who came along and fell in love with girls who’d grown up in a rundown gym that smelled of sweat socks and stale air didn’t exist. Since Joey had taken it over from her dad, he’d cashed in on the upswing in the sport’s popularity. He’d put in all the best equipment and started charging an arm and a leg to new members, but when all was said and done it was still just a gym.
    She swore and closed her eyes, leaning over and briefly bashing her forehead against the steering wheel. The hard-molded, rubbery scent made her nostrils flare, but it didn’t distract her nearly enough. She might have had better luck getting Steve Nolan out of her head if she hadn’t enjoyed herself with him so much. His laughter and his energy made her shiver with anticipation. The heat in his eyes when he looked at her was enough to melt her resolve down to nothing. It was a fight to hold on to it.
    She checked the clock for the third time. It was closing on eleven. She glanced out the window and finally saw the valet bringing Nolan’s Mercedes back around, so she got out of her car and jogged across the street. She pulled up just short of the curb just as he was exiting the restaurant with a tall, drop-dead gorgeous redhead clinging to his arm, but a honk from the Cadillac behind her reminded