Protect Me by Selma Wolfe Page A

right?”
    “Right,”
Rick said softly, almost sadly. His head bowed enough that his hair fell into
his eyes, shadowing his face. Hope took a last fond look, gently pulled her
wrist out of his grasp, and gave him a little shove.
    “So
go,” she said, and smiled. An honest smile, even. “Guard it. You do your job
and I’ll do mine. I’ll find you when I’m done.”
    He
raised his head again and his brown eyes found hers, looking deep and black as
wells.
    “Hope…”
he began, and she couldn’t hold back a furtive glance over her shoulder. The
hallway was empty, but she suspected it wouldn’t be for long.
    Before
she could think the better of it, Hope reached out and laid her fingers against
the curve of Rick’s jaw. His eyes widened and the slight movement bristled his
five o’clock shadow against the pads of her fingers.
    “Do you
trust me?” she asked.
    They stared
at each other and Hope found herself willing Rick to tell her yes. Not just
because she needed him to move, but because… well, for other reasons.
    Rick’s
sharply angled face softened improbably as she watched. Hope tracked his hand
as he raised it and cupped her cheek with it, mirroring her position.
    “I
trust you,” he said heavily. “And you won’t be led. Be careful.”
    So
quickly that even her reflexes didn’t have time to react - or maybe they did,
maybe she did, maybe she just didn’t want to - Rick lunged forward and kissed
her, not soft at all but hard, unyielding, and white-hot against her lips. It
felt like forever, a million feelings clamoring for attention in her mind but
nothing able to struggle past the thought of oh my God , though it was
probably only a fraction of a second.
    Then
Rick was pulling back. Before she could do more than catch a glimpse of his
eyes, automatically Hope reached out to shove the door shut and lock it. She
turned on pure muscle memory and started to jog down the hall of the mansion.
    And
this is why you don’t get involved, some detached part of her thought ruefully.
Complicated was an understatement.
    Fortunately
Hope had gotten good at compartmentalizing a long time ago. When you were on a
security detail you had good days and bad days and days where somebody died,
and if you couldn’t put that away then you couldn’t last. There had been far
more real danger from Rick’s lingering in the doorway than there was from the
kiss that still lingered against her lips.
    She ran
near silently along the corridor around to the corner and paused. Hope dropped
all the way to the floor and peered cautiously around the corner.
    The
baddie in the ninja suit was standing outside the balcony bedroom, looking from
side to side, clearly trying to decide which way to go. A tiny smile curved at
the corners of Hope’s mouth. Amateur. If he’d put three seconds into recon, he
wouldn’t have needed to wonder which way to turn.
    As she
watched, Ninja Wannabe made an irritated noise, seemed to make a decision, and
stalked off decidedly in one direction. Her direction. Of course.
    Hope
got to her feet just as he rounded the corner.
    “Nice
to see you,” Hope said brightly, and took a step in close.
    Ninja
Wannabe jumped about a foot in the air. She didn’t watch his legs or his face,
but his arms - and sure enough, the man gave the odd little elbow twitch that
was a telltale sign he was carrying.
    And he
was a leftie. Excellent.
    Before
the man had time to react, Hope lunged forward even closer and snaked her arm
under the guy’s jacket. It didn’t always work but on this night she got lucky;
her fingers closed around body-warmed metal and when she yanked hard, something
gave. She jumped back with the gun in her hand.
    The guy
let loose an inarticulate snarl of rage and leapt at her with one hand. The
other hand went under his jacket at the other side. She knew he had to be going
for a knife, and the only thing more dangerous than a gun was a knife.
    Her
eyes stayed on that arm. Ninja was still grabbing at the