rock hard
As the daughter of the President of the Free Worlds, Leelah
has spent her life protected by a security force. But no one
has ever cramped her style like her new bodyguard Ja-hun, a
stone-faced, cold-eyed block of a man. The worse part is she
can’t stop fantasizing about stirring up the passion hidden
under that stoic exterior.
When Ja-hun escaped the slums of OldEarth, stowed away on a
transport and landed on NewEarth, he never imagined he’d
eventually become the bodyguard of the President’s daughter.
He’s finding Leelah his most challenging job ever, mostly
because he can’t stop daydreaming about her.
Opposites collide in an explosive fireball. But can Ja-hun
protect Leelah when he’s off balance and distracted by
sex? And can sex become love when two people are so very different?
excerpt
They ended up inside a restaurant in the back
corner booth where he could keep his eye on all entrances and
the people at the tables and booths. Since no one, not even
the security staff at the estate, knew where he and Leelah were,
it was probably relatively safe here. Ja-hun had checked in
with Nigeri to say he had Leelah with him and they’d return
shortly. He hadn’t recommended Pratt’s dismissal
even though he’d disobeyed orders to stay with Leelah
at all times. How could the guy have guessed she’d sneak
out of the house like some teenager meeting her boyfriend?
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, closing her
menu and handing it to the waitress.
“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 tell her 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 that aesthetic monk vibe going
so it’s not too surprising.”
He didn’t reply. He sipped his water and scanned the restaurant.
“You know dinner conversation is more interesting when
there are actually two people conversing.” She cocked
her head a little, and her gaze locked with his. “You
already know everything there is to know about me. Tell me something
about you. How did you get into the body-guarding 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, know what I mean? Then
again sunny yellow is a real spirit lifter, and a primeval forest-green
speaks to the soul.” She rattled on for several seconds
in a monologue about colors.
He’d never heard anyone sound so passionate about something
so mundane, and he suppressed a smile.
“What? Are you smiling? You think colors don’t matter?”
She raised an eyebrow.
He shrugged. “They’re colors.”
“Color is life. Scents, too. 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, 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 even farther across
the tabletop toward him. “What about you? What are you
passionate about?”
“Nothing.” He paused then added, “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, apparently. “I prefer to keep my private and professional
life separate,” he said, straightening 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.”
He was saved from having to answer by the arrival of their food.
As he picked at his fruit plate, he watched in amazement as
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,” he commented.
“Did you doubt it? I burned off a lot of calories dancing.”
“So I saw.”
She smiled and her eyelids lowered. “You like the way
I dance.” It wasn’t a question but a statement,
and he didn’t bother to deny it. “You should’ve
danced with me before we left the party.” Suddenly she
leaped up from her seat and reached for his hand. “We
should dance right now.”
“This is a restaurant,” he protested as he pulled
him from his seat.
“There’s music, though.” It was true. Innocuous
background music for dining played softly. “Perfect for
slow dancing.”
Before Ja-hun could argue, her arms were around his neck and
her body pressed up tight to his. The sweet scent of her shampoo
drifted up from her hair to tease his nostrils. Her body was
incredibly soft and light in his arms, which had slid naturally
around her back. She swayed against him, encouraging him to
do the same.
“Dancing works best if you move your body a little,”
she teased.
He glanced at the restaurant. Most other diners didn’t
even seem aware of them in the dark back corner. The few who’d
noticed smiled a little then returned their attention to their
meals. He shuffled his feet awkwardly back and forth. It was
ridiculous. He was a man with lightning quick reflexes in a
hand-to-hand fight yet he lumbered like a bear around the floor.
Ja-hun looked at the top of Leelah’s head and noticed
there were golden strands in her brown hair. Then she raised
her face to look up at him from inches away--so close he could
see the dark outer ring of her topaz eyes and the brown striations
of her irises. He felt the faint puff of her breath against
his neck, and his gaze zeroed in on her lips, plump, pink and
slightly parted. His tongue swept over his own lips in anticipation
of something he knew he couldn’t resist.
He inclined his head and his lips touched hers, a soft, polite
meeting of mouths that nevertheless sent his heart rate rocketing.
And then her tongue swept out to lick delicately over and between
his lips. He tasted the salty tang of steak sauce and beneath
it the essence of her.
His grip on Leelah’s back tightened, and he stopped shuffling
back and forth. His eyes drifted closed, and he forgot to look
out for danger. Besides, he’d already found it. While
every shred of his intellect warned him he was making a huge
mistake, every fiber of his being yearned toward the woman in
his arms.
He clasped her body even closer and kissed her hard and deep,
surrendering his hard-won detachment to a glittering moment
of passion.
