Wild About The Bodyguard Read Online Free Page A

upper arm and
bringing the machine’s tip close, “you won’t need to beg him for
help. He’ll come looking for you.”
    Sammy was
digesting that when Laycee turned her motor off again.
    No tattoo
today.
    Magic Mike had
passed out.

Chapter 4
     
    Monday was
Chase’s day off. Time to relax. However, try as he might, he
couldn’t shake Samantha Mayne and her plight from his mind. So,
he’d made a phone call. While he waited for that contact to phone
back, he began a new project.
    Thirty minutes
into it, an insistent knock at his Priest Street address
interrupted. As Chase fanned back the front door, the boys
sauntered in.
    “ What’s with
the goggles?” 6’4” Taylor Wild studied the protective glasses
perched on his cousin’s head. “You sanding again, Chase? You’re
always sanding.”
    The youngest
of the three single-sibling cousins, Leo announced, “We come
bearing gifts.” He offered over a cold six-pack and then frowned at
Chase’s perplexed look. “You are aware the Giants blitzed it last
night.” Leo followed Taylor toward the living room where he started
his search for the widescreen remote. “Replay starts in
five.”
    “ It’s a
weekday. Why are you two playing hooky?” Chase shut the door and
tore off a can.
    “ I ran into a
high school classmate last night.” Combing a hand through his dark
hair, investment extraordinaire Taylor whistled long and low. “Man,
has she changed. I didn’t get to sleep till dawn. I decided to put
my feet up for the day and simply bask in the
afterglow.”
    Chase handed
Taylor over the beers. “You slept with her the first
night?”
    “ She’s a
virgin.” When Chase arched a brow, Taylor ripped off a can looking
offended. “It’s true. They do exist. She’s saving herself for the
marriage bed.”
    Smirking,
Chase lifted the beer to his mouth. “That counts you
out.”
    “ That’s what
I keep telling myself,” Taylor groaned.
    “ And Leo?”
Chase asked. “You’re here for moral support?”
    “ I have a new
assistant who’s driving me nuts,” Leo said, at the same time Taylor
tossed over a can.
    “ So, get rid
of him,” Chase said, finding the remote under a throw
cushion.
    “ It’s
a her . Catalina,”
Leo murmured like the name tasted of honey. “And I admit to hiring
her for all the wrong reasons. If I hadn’t got out of there this
morning, I might not have been able to defend my actions
later.”
    Taylor
wandered over to the worktable displaying Chase’s most recent
project. He nudged his beer at the mess—what was destined to become
a stained glass panel.
    “ Well, now,
this looks almost arty,” Taylor said.
    “ It’s more
about attention to detail,” Chase said. “Adding a truly personal
touch.” When Taylor eyed the snapped pieces of glass—the bits
that hadn’t worked—Chase explained. “It’s not as easy as you’d
think.”
    A distant look
came over Leo’s face. “Ignoring Catalina’s legs isn’t easy,
either.” He shook himself. “Sorry. That happens a lot lately. Carry
on.”
    “ I’m using
opaque glass so the words “Chase’s Place” will show up day or
night.” Transparent glass, both textured and cut with bevelled
edges, would frame the piece.
    Taylor picked
up a pair of cutters. “These look downright dangerous.”
    Chase set
down his beer, lowered his protective glasses, took the self-oiling
glass cutters and, planting his feet shoulder-width apart, gave a
demo. He scored a simple outline, and then, using his hands,
applied enough pressure to snap the glass. Only it snapped and
broke in the wrong place. Again .
    Taylor lifted
the beer to his lips. “Looks like fun.”
    “ It is,”
Chase said. “In a two steps forward, one step back kind of
way.”
    Attention on
the TV, Leo dropped back on the sheet-covered couch. “Game’s
on.”
     
    At the
seventh-innings stretch, the two boys cracked open another beer
while Chase opted for coffee; he could live on the stuff. In the
kitchen, rinsing the