Beloved Bodyguard Read Online Free Page B

had nothing to do
with his decision.
    “All right. Where do you want to go?”
    * * * * *
    They ended up at a restaurant, in a back
corner booth where he could keep his eye on all of the entrances
and the people at the other tables. Since not even the security
staff at the estate knew where he and Leelah were, it was probably
pretty safe here. Ja-hun had checked in with Nigeri to say he had
Leelah with him and they would return shortly.
    Leelah ordered a surf and turf platter,
Mahene crab and Korat steak. Ja-hun chose greens and fruit.
    “You don’t eat meat?” she asked.
    “A little fish sometimes.” He’d also eaten
rat and beetles for protein when he was starving in a D’jeering
prison, but he wasn’t going to mention that.
    “Interesting. I wouldn’t have pegged you as a
vegetarian.” She rested her chin on her hand and leaned against the
table. “Actually, you do have a sort of austere monk vibe going, so
it’s not too surprising.”
    He didn’t reply to her nonsense, just sipped
his water and scanned the restaurant.
    “You know, dinner conversation is more
interesting when there are actually two people talking.” She cocked
her head and caught his gaze. “You already know everything there is
to know about me. Tell me something about you. How did you get into
the bodyguard business? What was Crin-tai like? Yes, I did my
homework, and I know guarding him was your last job. But what did
you do before that?”
    You don’t want to know. “Other jobs.
Other clients.”
    “Mm. That’s very illuminating. Thank you,”
she said dryly. “All right, let’s try something less complicated.
What’s your favorite color?”
    He paused. No one had ever asked him such an
inane question. A favorite color? Who had time to think about such
things? “Gray.”
    She burst out laughing. “Why am I not
surprised?”
    “What about you?” he asked in an effort to
participate in her ritual of small talk.
    “Oh, shenje , that’s too hard. Any bold
primary color. Royal blue and indigo are so satisfying and rich,
but sometimes I’m more in a sexy scarlet mood, you know? Then
again, sunny yellow is a real spirit lifter, and a primeval forest
green speaks to the soul.”
    She rattled on in a crazy monologue about
colors. He’d never heard anyone sound so passionate about something
so banal, and he nearly smiled at the absurdity.
    “Are you smiling? You think colors don’t
matter?” she demanded.
    He shrugged. “They’re colors.”
    “Color is life. Anything that touches our
senses and stirs us to feel is important. And feeling is
everything.”
    Ja-hun remained silent.
    “Go ahead. Say something. Your mind isn’t a
complete blank, is it? You must be thinking something.”
    “Most people I’ve known are passionate about
either money or power, or both. You’re the first person I’ve ever
met who could get excited about the qualities of colors or even
suggest that colors have qualities.”
    “I guess you’ve led a sheltered life.” She
folded her arms on the table and leaned toward him. “What about
you? What are you passionate about?”
    “Nothing. Except doing my job so no one gets
killed.” A far cry from the days when doing his job meant someone
definitely got killed.
    “That’s a noble thing, but what about your
life outside your work? What stirs you?”
    You. “I prefer to keep my private and
professional life separate.” He straightened the flatware on the
table.
    “I’m guessing your private life doesn’t exist
at all.” Leelah’s voice lowered and softened. “I think your life is your job, and you’ve forgotten how to do anything
else.”
    Ja-hun was saved from having to answer by the
arrival of their food. As he picked at his fruit plate, Leelah
packed away a trough full of food that would’ve choked a sumo
wrestler. Where she put it in her slender frame, he had no idea,
but her plate was empty and polished clean before he’d finished his
salad.
    “Guess you really were hungry,”