Necessary Risk (Bodyguard) (31 page)

Her stomach growled loudly, ruining the moment. She felt him smile against her mouth, and he gently set her down.

“We better get you fed.”

She was too hungry to argue, and they hopped into a cab in front of the hotel. Sean gave the driver the name of the restaurant and laced his fingers with hers. His hand was so wide that it stretched her own hand to fit her fingers through his, but she liked it. More than liked it. A sudden giddiness sneaked up on her, her skin hot and tingling as the cab wove its way toward the water. The sun was long gone, but the humid air lingered, filtering through the open windows of the cab. Heavy clouds obscured any stars, and a soft flicker of lightning lit up the sky several miles away, so far that the rumble of thunder never reached them. The entire city glowed in the night, buildings striped with blue and green neon lights, palm trees lit up from below.

They arrived at the restaurant, which looked out over Dinner Key Marina. Yachts bobbed in the dark, lights from the shore shimmering against the water’s surface. Their table was outdoors on the edge of the patio, but sheltered by gauzy fabric that hung from the patio’s steel rafters. The fabric fluttered dreamily around them, matching the tempo of her heart as Sean held out her chair for her, his hand lingering on the nape of her neck for just a second before he sat down across from her.

The waiter came, and they each ordered a glass of red wine, falling into easy conversation. Before long the waiter returned with their wine and took their orders. Sean picked up his wineglass and clinked it softly against hers.

“I want to know everything about you.” He leaned back in his chair, and he looked so sexy that Sierra almost couldn’t breathe. The breeze ruffled his thick hair slightly, and his brown eyes were soft and warm in the candlelight from the table. The top buttons of his shirt were undone, leaving it open at the collar. He smiled at her, that lopsided smile she loved so much, and she took a mental picture of this moment.

She took a sip of her wine, hoping she’d be able to swallow it. Her heart was so big right now that it was pressing up into her throat. “I want to know everything about you too.”

“We haven’t had much time to just…talk…with everything going on.” It went unspoken that, when they were alone, they were usually too busy going at it like teenagers to talk, but she felt the flicker of heat pass between them. She knew he was thinking the same thing.

“Why don’t we play firsts?” Sierra took another sip of her wine, looking at him over the rim of her glass.

“Firsts?”

“Yeah. First job, first kiss. That kind of stuff. Rock-paper-scissors to see who starts?” She held out her fist. He smiled in response, holding out his own much larger fist.

“One, two, three!” Her fist sprung open, making the symbol for paper, covering his rock. She closed her hand over his, letting her fingertips linger against his knuckles. Faint bruises were still visible from when he’d punched Jack, and she felt a tug deep in her stomach.

“Hmmm. So what do I want to know about Sean?” She leaned back in her chair and tapped her mouth with her fingers. “First job.”

He took a sip of his own wine before answering. “Washing dishes at a restaurant when I was sixteen. I really wanted a car, and I knew I’d have to save up for it myself.” He smiled, remembering. “God, what a shitty job that was. It was hot as hell, and a lot of the dishes were really gross. I had to wear these rubber gloves that smelled like old tires, and my hands got so sweaty they looked like overgrown prunes by the end of my shift.”

“Did you save up enough to buy a car?”

He nodded. “Yep. I became the proud owner of a 1987 mud-brown Chevette. It was a total piece of shit, but I loved that car. What was your first car?”

“Uh…well, I had a Mercedes CLK convertible.” She looked down into her wine for a second.

He let out a low whistle. “Nice.”

She shrugged. “I bought a car because all of my actor friends had cars.” She waved her hand dismissively. “First crush? Like, real crush. Not playground crush.”

He sat back in his chair and rubbed a hand over his mouth, remembering. “Laura Zimmerman. Freshman year of high school. She was cute. Blond. Sweet. It took me weeks to work up the courage to ask her to the movies. She ended up being my girlfriend for three whole weeks, which is pretty serious when you’re fourteen.” He winked at her, and she smiled, melting a little. “Same question to you. First real crush.”

“Steven Simmons.” She bit her lip, waiting for the reaction.

He choked on a laugh. “The guy who played your older brother Brian on
Family Tree
? Isn’t he gay?”

She blew out a breath and shook her head, laughing. “So, so gay. But twelve-year-old me wasn’t picking up on that. He was fifteen at the time, and I had this really intense crush on him. He was older, and he was so cute, and smart and cool. I think I was probably a pretty huge dork about it. First kiss?”

“Laura Zimmerman, again. We went to the movies, and I did the classic stretch and put my arm around her. It was pretty smooth, if I do say so myself.”

“Well, you did date for three whole weeks, so it must’ve been a pretty good move.”

He laughed. “OK, you. First kiss.”

She sighed and toyed with the stem of her wineglass. “It was actually while I was filming a scene for a TV movie. I was fifteen, and…to be honest, it’s always bothered me that this big moment happened while I was pretending to be someone else, with someone who didn’t even want to kiss me, for all I know. So technically that’s my first kiss, but I’m not sure if it counts. I guess it must.”

He laid a hand over hers. “Nah. I don’t think it counts.”

“Really?”

“It was acting, not real life,” he said gently. “What was your first real kiss?”

She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. She hesitated for a second, but she knew she could open herself up to Sean. She wanted to. She wanted to show him all the different parts of her, and it was only fair, because she wanted to see all the different parts of him. “I won’t tell you his name, but I was sixteen and he was twenty-two. I was going through a rebellious phase, and we met at a club. We ended up dating secretly for a while. He was my first real, offscreen kiss, and my first…well, my first everything.”

“You won’t tell me his name?”

“He’s, like, crazy famous now. I probably shouldn’t.”

He scoffed. “Now you
have
to tell me. And then you have to tell me more about this rebellious phase.”

They fell into silence as the waiter set down their meals in front of them.

“He wasn’t really famous at the time. He’s Canadian, and he was on a sitcom that filmed in LA. He…” She looked around, making sure no one was listening. “He may or may not have been in a huge superhero movie that flopped several years ago. He’s married now, and has a daughter.”

“I think I know who it is, but I won’t say anything.” Sean paused, chewing and swallowing a bite of steak. “Is that something that you want?”

“You mean getting married and having kids?”

He nodded, his eyes holding hers, and she swallowed, hoping they were on the same page. She knew she’d come crashing down if they weren’t. So she took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes. Very much. Is that—”

“Me too.” He set down his fork and scooped her hand up, holding it across the table. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her wrist. “For a long time, I thought I knew what I wanted out of life, but I know now that I was wrong.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “What changed?”

He caught her eyes, his gaze full of meaning. “You.” He kissed her wrist again before setting her hand back on the table, her entire body tingling with an awareness that was deeper than sexual.

She’d never experienced falling in love with someone like this before, each moment feeding into the next, making everything bigger and brighter and shinier until she thought it couldn’t possibly get better. And then it did. She wondered how many more untold levels she’d find with him.

“So this rebellious phase…” He leaned forward, his elbows on the table.

“I was working sixty-hour weeks, my dad was dying, and I had no freedom. So I went out and found some.” She told him a bit more about how she’d come to be involved in Choices and how she’d gotten sick of the toxic Hollywood environment.

“Have you decided if you’re going to do the audition?” he asked, slicing into his baked potato.

“I want to, if we can get the timing to work out. There’s so much going on with Choices right now that it’s a little tricky.” She took a bite of her chicken and swallowed before steering the conversation back on track. “My turn. First time you had sex.”

He took a sip of wine before he spoke. “I was seventeen, and my girlfriend and I snuck into the Hollywood Reservoir.” He shook his head, smiling ruefully. “It lasted about forty-five seconds, and while I thought it was awesome, it was probably pretty disappointing for her.”

“Well, I think it’s safe to say your skills have improved greatly over the years.”

“I should hope so.” He winked and signaled to the waiter for more wine. Thunder rumbled softly in the distance, and they started comparing favorite books, movies, TV shows, and music, finding things in common and teasing each other about the differences.

Even though they were doing things backward, it was the best first date Sierra had ever had.

*  *  *

Water lapped against the docks as Sean and Sierra walked around the marina, the air cooling significantly around them as the storm rolled in across the water. Palm fronds rustled quietly, and although he could practically smell the rain in the air, the last thing Sean wanted to do was bring the date to an end. With Sierra’s small hand tucked into his, he’d be perfectly content to walk like this with her for hours. He’d have been hard-pressed to believe it could feel so damn good just to be with someone, but now he knew better. He felt as though all the pieces of his life were falling into place, and it was all because of her.

She tugged him to a stop, and they sat on the edge of one of the slips, their feet dangling above the water below. The soft floral scent of her perfume mingled with the night air, and he inched a little bit closer, wanting more.

“Will you tell me about your mom? About what happened?” Her voice was quiet, and she looked straight ahead, giving him the tiniest bit of space.

It wasn’t something he wanted to talk about, especially not tonight, but he also knew he owed her the truth. She had the dots of the story, and she wanted to connect them. In her shoes he’d probably feel the same way. So he ripped the bandage off, willing to show her his scars.

“It happened ten years ago. I was living in Fresno, playing for the Giants’ farm team. My mom came up to visit me, and that’s when the accident happened. We’d gone out to dinner, and I was driving us home. It was raining, and another driver ran a red light. I didn’t see him in time, and he smashed into us.” He swallowed. “Into the passenger side of the car. We were pinned against a lamppost, and I couldn’t get out of the car. My left leg was stuck, and I couldn’t reach her.”

Sierra’s hand had tightened on his, but she stayed silent, listening.

“I…she was three feet away from me, and I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t get to her to stop the bleeding. I let her die.”

“Oh, Sean.” Sierra’s voice was barely a whisper as she slipped an arm around his waist, and he leaned into her, taking the comfort she was offering. “It’s not your fault. I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have to carry that.” She held him tighter. “I’m so sorry for putting you through all of this.”

He closed his eyes, waiting for the usual crush of pain, of guilt, of regret that came with thinking about that night, but it didn’t come. There was a distant kind of sadness, but nothing more, and he knew it was because of her. Because of Sierra.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, sweetheart.” He turned, his heart beating fast and hard in his chest, and kissed her. A loud thunderclap startled her, and she pressed closer to him. Even though his eyes were closed, he saw another flash of lightning burn through the sky. Raindrops, soft and warm, started to fall on them, and he broke the kiss.

“I think I’m in love with you,” she whispered, and he didn’t care that the rain was falling harder around them now. He crushed his mouth to hers and pulled her against him, amazed at how light he felt. How free.

“I think I’ve been in love with you since the day I met you,” he said, speaking the words against her mouth, not wanting to break the connection. She made a soft whimpering sound and kissed him back. She must’ve been able to feel his heart beating, it was going so crazy trying to leap free of his body and into her hands.

They sat on the edge of the dock, kissing as rain fell around them, and Sean felt both lost and found at the same time. Lost in her, but found with her, and he knew he never wanted to let her go.

Another clap of thunder echoed through the sky, and Sierra jumped again. He pulled her to her feet and, laughing, they ran down the dock and out to the street, where he flagged down a cab. They tumbled in, soaking wet, and his mouth didn’t leave hers the entire ride back to the hotel.

Chapter 25

T
he door to their hotel room had barely latched behind them before they began quickly shedding their soaking-wet clothing. Naked, Sean ducked into the bathroom and grabbed two of the fluffy white towels from the rack. He handed one to Sierra and then dried himself off, racing to finish before her.