Sworn to Protect by Katie Reus Page A

private school where I had male cousins in grades above and below me, even if I’d wanted to get involved with someone…” She shrugged, debating if she should tell him the real reason.
    “Nothing can stop sixteen year old hormones,” he murmured knowingly. When she snorted, he continued. “At least not in my experience.”
    She shifted again, this time rolling back over so that she was still tucked in the crook of his arm, but looking over his chest and out the window. “Okay, being completely honest, I was overweight in high school and the first two years of college. I didn’t want anyone, especially a guy, to see me naked. Sex and dating just weren’t a concern to me because of my own issues.” She’d never told any of the guys she’d dated this truth and it was freeing.
    “My third year of college I guess I semi-rebelled—according to my over-protective parents—and decided to move out of their house. I roomed with this girl who was a fitness nut. Built like a freaking goddess, no joke. Her name was Candy, also not a joke, and she was—is—awesome. She started dragging me with her to jog in the mornings using the excuse that she wanted a workout buddy. I think she just picked up on my insecurities and wanted to be a good friend. From there I started making little changes and…” Athena shrugged again, not needing to give him the breakdown of all the changes she’d made in her life. “I shed twenty pounds that year and started toning and watching what I ate.”
    Quinn kept stroking, his hand steady and strong. “That’s impressive…though twenty pounds isn’t…” He trailed off, as if maybe unsure he should continue.
    She looked up at him. “It’s not a lot, if that’s what you’re going to say, but when you’re five feet, two inches, it kind of is.”
    “I bet you gain it in your tits and ass,” he murmured, reaching down to squeeze her butt.
    She blinked, taken off guard by the blunt statement. “Oh my God, you’re such a guy!”
    “I’m glad you noticed.” The glint in his dark eyes was purely wicked. He turned his body now so that they were flush against each other, his erection pressing insistently against her abdomen.
    She threw her leg over his hip, savoring the closeness. “Now that I’ve been honest… Why did you freak out when I told you I was a virgin?”
    For a long moment, he was silent, his expression so neutral she hated it. Thankfully he answered. “It wasn’t exactly that you were a virgin. But I used that as an excuse.” Now he looked almost sheepish.
    “Why?”
    “The only real relationship I was in was back in my Marine Corps days. It didn’t end well. And I take some of the blame, I’m certainly not perfect, but…she just got pissed at everything I did. Things I had no control of, like training or deployments. We fought more than anything else near the end and it was so damn tiring. Once we broke up it was like a weight had been lifted.”
    She nodded slightly. “Okay, I’m sort of following.”
    “I…I didn’t think I wanted anything serious and since her I haven’t looked or really even contemplated getting serious with any woman. Until you. It scared the hell out of me. And I know that sounds like bullshit, but when you told me you were a virgin, it was easy to make an excuse and end things.”
    “Okay. I can deal with that.” When he half-smiled, she continued. “Now you get to tell me something else real about yourself. Before you said that whole thing that happened with White is part of why you left the police department. What’s the other reason?”
    Sliding his hand up from where it rested on her hip, he cupped her cheek, his thumb gently stroking over her skin. She liked the feel of his faint calluses.
    “I got out of the Corps after six years and going into law enforcement afterward seemed like the logical next step. I started working on my degree while I was in, but it was becoming clear that the job wasn’t for me even before