Page 36 of Possessive Bodyguard Summer

CLAY

I learned a lot of things in the Marines.

How to disarm an IED. Hostage Rescue. Advanced surveillance detection. How to negotiate with hostiles.

One thing I wasnottrained for?

How to install three additional security cameras around your own damn house while the beautiful woman living under your roof was outside wearing a turquoise bikini and playing with your daughter.

I tightened the last screw on the mounting bracket a little harder than necessary and it made that stupid sound that happened when you couldn’t push it any further.

“Did you strip that screw too?” Sloane's voice crackled through the earbuds I'd shoved in while we talked.

“No. Asshole.”

“Are you distracted?” he asked.

“No.” I lied.

Sloane laughed.

“Okay. Maybe.”

“I take it Monroe’s still in the pool with Kaleigh?”

Why did I even bother telling him that when I called to check in and get a progress report?

I carefully looked back to where Kaleigh was playfully splashing Monroe.

The turquoise bikini hugged every dangerous curve she'd been hiding beneath oversized T-shirts for weeks.

It wasn’t like it was revealing. It was more the fact that she looked so comfortable in it. In her own skin.

Sunlight caught the loose strands of strawberry-blonde hair she'd pulled into a messy ponytail.

She laughed at something Kaleigh said and for a second my brain stopped working.

What the fuck was wrong with me?

"...Clay?" Sloane repeated my name

"Huh?"

"I've been talking for thirty seconds."

"Sorry."

“I bet you are,” he chuckled.

“Call me when you’ve got something useful.” I tapped the earbud and disconnected the call.

“Daddy!” Kaleigh called out, waving me over toward the pool. "Come swim with us!"

“No can do kiddo. Not right now.”

She immediately stuck out her bottom lip and pouted. “But why not?”

"Because Daddy's working."