Wild About The Bodyguard by Tabitha Robbins

know
her?” she asked quietly.
    “ As a matter
of fact,” he said, heading back, “she’s the woman who sneaked in
here the other week.”
    Tessa coughed
out a laugh. “Chase, it’s one thing to sleep with someone like
that—”
    He cut her a
look. “Someone like what?”
    As Tessa’s
lips pressed together, he dropped the gun back in its drawer. When
their eyes met again, her expression was veiled.
    He didn’t want
to hurt her, but maybe now she would quit with the moves. He liked
Tessa, appreciated her work. But that other stuff just wasn’t
happening.
    After Tessa
had left, Chase found his cell and dialled Sammy again. This time
she picked up.
    “ I stank,”
she said down the line. “The guy cut in halfway through and told me
I could leave.”
    He held his
stomach. Fuck .
But it wasn’t over yet...was it?
    “ They do that
sometimes, don’t they? They have a lot of actors to get through.
They get an idea of how good you are and then call
back.”
    “ I’ve done
this dozens of times before. Hundreds . He thought I
sucked.”
    Chase shut his
eyes tight as his gut dropped more.
    He needed to
be there, hug her and tell her that asshole today was a cross-eyed
moron. She lit up rooms. Damn it, she had star written all over
her.
    “ I gotta go,”
she groaned.
    He pressed the
phone harder to his ear. “I’ll come around. I’ve booked dinner at a
restaurant on the water. It’s new.”
    “ I don’t want
to go out.”
    “ It’d make
you feel better.”
    “ Just because
I feel like crap doesn’t mean I should bring you down, too. I’d
rather be a grump on my own.”
    Chase was
pacing the room. He understood about wanting to escape to lick
one’s wounds, more than Sammy could ever know. On the other hand,
wouldn’t his company, holding and soothing her, help even a
little?
    “ Why don’t I
come over—”
    “ Please,
Chase. I’m limping and sour and—” Her tone lowered. “Look, I’ll
call you next week.”
    Next week? It
was only Monday for Christ’s sake. “What about the case?”
    “ I don’t
think anyone’s going to bolt and leave the country, do
you?”
    “ Well, no.
But at some stage, we need to sit down with your sister and her
husband. And I was thinking, I need to interview Fay.”
    “ I’m sorry,
but I can’t talk now. Okay? I’ll call.”
    After she
hung up, Chase thought it through. Sammy was upset about missing
out on the part. She didn’t feel like company and wasn’t enthused
about anything much. But finding out who had stolen the heirloom
ring meant the world to her. Nothing would stand in her way. Hell,
she’d got him on
board, hadn’t she?
    And then a
thought struck like a mallet to the side of the head.
    He didn’t want
to be like Tessa–need to be told point blank.
    Was he
imagining it?
    Or had he just
been dumped?

 
     
     
     
     

Chapter 11
     
    By the time
Chase called later in the week, Sammy felt better about her
audition flop, probably because she had come to a painful
realization—a tough understanding about where she was going and how
fast, or slow, she would get there.
    When Chase
suggested she join him for a boat ride around the bay, just the two
of them on a forty-foot luxury catamaran, she found her missing
smile and accepted. A good dose of sunshine and smoldering Chase
Wild had to be a good thing.
    Sunday,
mid-morning, they arrived at the marina and boarded Free and Breezy .
    “ You own this
rig?” she asked, feeling all Nicky Hilton as he helped her on
board.
    “ It belongs
to a wealthy patron. This is a tugboat compared to his real yacht.
Harry and I have enjoyed many a conversation about the property
markets. I swear he owns half of California,” Chase said as he
retrieved a massive rope from a pylon. “He’s been overseas in Asia
for months, putting together a squillion dollar deal. He said if
ever I felt the urge to warm up the motors, be his
guest.”
    Set out on the
galley table inside the cabin, champagne was chilling in an