HER BODYGUARD

She had to gather her courage to say, “But you do want me”

His expression turned wry. “I’m breathing, aren’t I?” he asked.

Whew. Okay, then. Now they were making progress. “Then react a little” she said. She grabbed him by his upper arms and tried to shake him. Of course he didn’t move.

“I don’t want to hurt you” he said. “I don’t want you to regret any -”

She reached up and covered his mouth with her fingers. “I don’t have any regrets” she said. “I want this. I want you. Just for a few minutes, I want to forget everything that is happening”

She felt the battle of wills within him. Would the man win or the warrior? She waited until the tension in the room made it difficult to breathe. Finally, she decided it was going to be a long, lonely day.

She stepped away from him. “All right. I get the message” she said softly. “Thanks for all your help”

He nodded, he wanted to say something, he knew he should, but his throat felt dry. He coughed, then said, “You are welcome… Ermmm… You have to give me your phone and laptop”

Kimberly stared at him. In the car he had requested that she switch off her phone which she did.

“I don’t understand,” she said. “Why?”

“It’s a safe house,” he said. “And I would like to keep it that way. It won’t be if someone tracks your phone and finds us. What’s the point of coming down here if we aren’t going to be careful”

Kimberly hesitated, then she handed him the phone, “What if I want to talk to my dad.. Or Phoebe?” she asked.

“I don’t think you should be talking to them right now,” Asher replied. “I talked to your father. He knows you are fine. He knows you are safe. I can’t risk someone tracking us here. And you can’t tell them where we are either.”

Kimberly inhaled deeply, “What about my job?” she asked. “I have emails I need to check, especially from the kids I help. I don’t get to see them all the time and the only way we communicate is by email. I don’t want them worrying about me”

“Fine” Asher said. “I will let you have just your laptop. You are untraceable here anyways, but I just like to be extra careful and avoid contact with the outside world as much as possible when I’m here. Even if they figure out a way to know if you are online, any trace will turn up false addresses. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, this place doesn’t exist ”

“Good to know,” Kimberly said. “And seriously, thanks for this. I really appreciate it”

“You’re welcome,” he replied. “But you should know that I will be monitoring your emails to make sure you’re not emailing anyone. Like I said I am very careful about keeping this place safe…” he paused then added. “… Just safety measures”

“Do what you need to do” Kimberly

“Alright”

“I will just unpack then” Kimberly said and turned around. Asher watched her, her long hair fluttered behind her and her snug shorts outlined the faint curve of her hips. For a moment he couldn’t remember why he had resisted her or how he even got the strength to.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want her. He did. He wanted her so bad that it hurt. But he was scared of hurting her. He didn’t do the emotion and relationship thing. He didn’t even know if he could handle it, and he knew a woman like Kimberly wasn’t the type to just have sex continuously just for the fun of it.

Just as well, he told himself. Women like her made things complicated. He would bet a lot of money that Kimberly had never had sex just for the sake of it. And he had a feeling that that one time they were together meant more to her. The act was emotional and spiritual as well as physical. He didn’t know what to think.

Soon she would want more, but he wasn’t sure that he could give her that. His job was dangerous… Took him places… He wasn’t sure she could handle that either.

And she said she had been sad when she realized that she wasn’t pregnant. What the hell did that even mean? She had wanted a baby…. his baby. A part of him had kinda liked the idea too. Though he didn’t tell her that. A baby… How awesome would that be?

He did the right thing. He reminded himself over and over again as he left her room.

But he didn’t understand why it felt so wrong.

————————

Kimberly shifted in her seat after checking some of her emails, thinking about what Asher had told her. He liked her. At least he had admitted that, which was nice. But clearly not enough to get into anything with her. Would it be so bad if they got together? Why did he think it was going to be so wrong? Because he was her bodyguard?

He hadn’t returned to her room all day, except for telling her while standing outside her door that he was going out, she hadn’t spoken to him. And she had stayed inside till evening, acting like she wasn’t hungry. When actually she was just dying from embarrassment. Well, she would have to come out of her room soon, unless she wanted to starve to death.

The house was a bit big, but it wasn’t so big that two people wouldn’t be constantly aware of each other.

Like now, she thought, as she heard the front door open and realized that most of what she’d been doing for a while now was waiting for him to come back.

“Asher? Is that you?” she called out.

He didn’t answer, and she twisted around in her seat, looking down the hall.

From her bedroom in the back, she couldn’t see the front of the house, and a little frisson of fear went through her. Suppose it wasn’t Asher. Suppose it was the guy from last night? What if they had found them.

When the phone in the room rang, she jumped. It was on the bedside table, and she crossed the room to pick it up.

“Hello.” she said.

“Hi.” Asher’s voice replied.