Read Protect Me for Free Online

she
rounded the corner and her door came into view, Hope pulled out her phone. She
stared dubiously at it. Both of Rick’s messages continued hovering in the
middle of the screen when she poked at the buttons.
    There
were way too many buttons on this phone and they all had multiple characters on
them. And it was a touchscreen. Hope thought mournfully of the simple black
brick she'd used during her last gig. She tapped a glowing blue center button
experimentally and everything went dark.
    In the
middle of her mental swearing streak, Rick's bedroom door swung open and he
walked out bare-chested.
    The two
of them froze and stared at each other. Hope was too well-trained to drop her
phone, but Rick wasn't so lucky. He'd been carrying a shirt, and it fell
straight onto the floor, where he proceeded to step on it.
    "Oh
for..." Rick recovered from his surprise and reached down to grab the
shirt.
    Hope
wasn’t some sheltered choir girl who had never seen skin before, but her eye
was immediately drawn to Rick’s body anyway. He tended to wear clothes that fit
the shape of his body and clung tight enough to give her a good idea of his
form. She’d already gotten used to him walking around with his sleeves shoved
up his arms to bare his forearms like some Victorian striptease. But even
though Hope could approximate a reasonable idea of what he’d look like naked,
it didn’t matter. She wanted to stare at the bare skin on display; wanted to
read the small white scar on the back of his left shoulder and the exact curve
of his hips.
    Rick
held up the wrinkled shirt and eyed it like he was thinking about putting it on
anyway, but there was an odd bluish shoe print right in the middle of
the fabric. Hope frowned at it. What could he have been walking in to put that
strange dust on his feet, she wondered? And what was he doing in his room at
all, when he’d told Hope he was going to be on the opposite end of the mansion?
These were delicate questions. She should probably approach them with care.
    “What
were you doing in your room?” Hope asked. Tact was for people who didn’t know
what they wanted.
    Rick
had already turned the broad plane of his back to Hope. He curved his neck to
shoot a glance over his shoulder at her. Owning a few beaches clearly did him
good; he was tan all over. He wasn’t heavily muscled, but his shoulders looked
developed and capable, and there was a curve indicative of strength around his
biceps.
    “Couldn’t
find the game I wanted to play,” he said easily, and caught her eyes with a
smile. “Thought I’d look in my room.”
    “Did
you… ” Hope trailed off as Rick slipped through the door to his bedroom and
clicked it shut behind him.
    “Find
it,” she finished, alone in the empty hall.
    After
just a minute the doorknob rattled and Rick came back out. He was buttoning up
a loose-fitting black shirt with one hand and used the other to pull the door
swiftly shut behind him.
    “Sorry
about that, didn’t want to offend your delicate sensibilities,” he said with a
wink. He started to stride down the hall and Hope had to scramble to keep up
with him, with no idea where he was headed.
    “What
were you doing all that time?” she asked. “Where’d the blue stuff on your shoes
come from? I can’t do my job properly if you don’t give me adequate
information, you know.”
    Rick
flashed her a wide smile, all dark hair and sparkling eyes. “I’m sure you could
MacGyver the hell out of your job if you needed to, darling. You’re very
impressive.” He even leered a little to add to the effect. One of his hands
came up to fix strands of hair that had come loose around her face; as Hope
pulled away from his fingers she felt the heat of his touch brush by her
temple. Rick let her go without comment, but couldn’t hide the satisfied set of
his mouth. He thought he’d put her off.
    Actually,
Hope found this act far less distracting than a quiet Rick Stone with gentle
eyes who watched her carefully