Page 4 of The Bodyguard's Fall

I was a little surprised how natural the feelings came back. The brotherly instinct in me to bulldoze any threat to her was high as I moved toward her, but I forced myself to walk at a meander, hands in my pockets so that I wouldn’t draw attention.

Liv still hadn’t seen me yet. She stared at the man.

“How did you know I’d be here?” she asked him.

“You invited me.”

She floundered, moving a hand to her temple, as if she was trying to recall any moment in this life when she would have invited him somewhere. “No, I didn’t.”

She spotted me standing behind the man. For a moment, her eyes clung to mine, almost desperate.

That was enough for me.

I made my move. My first foray into the world of undercover. This felt different than the old days of me and Will sweeping in to force our help upon her. Other than blocking a weak punch she’d occasionally throw my way when she was annoyed, I’d never touched her before. But we needed to sell this, so I just hoped she wouldn’t be too angry.

“There you are,” I mumbled, throwing my arm around her shoulders and squeezing her close. “I’ve been looking for you.”

I almost laughed at the look on her face. But to her credit, she reined in her reaction and attempted to play along. Terribly.

“Hey…you,” she said, patting my stomach.

I grabbed her hand and held it in mine before motioning toward the man in yellow.

“Who’s your friend?”

“This is Leroy,” she said.

“How do you know each other?”

“We’re dating,” Leroy said, staring at our clasped hands.

Liv bit her lip, hesitating before saying, “There’s been a little confusion about that. We went on a date a few days ago. It was just a one-time thing. But it was nice to see you again, Leroy.”

Leroy scratched his head, his movements jerky and uncoordinated. He looked confused and grew more agitated the longer we stood there. Liv also looked confused—along with rattled and uncomfortable. Leroy continued to stare at her with a sad-puppy-dog expression while Liv shrunk into my side.

It was time to clear something up.

Looking Leroy dead in the eyes, I did everything except bare my teeth.

“She’s with me, man.”

It was like staring into a hollow void. I said the words, but it didn’t seem like he understood anything. Nothing registered across his face or in his eyes. It was just blank. Confused and blank. An uneasy feeling came over me, and all I wanted to do was get Liv away from him.

“Let’s dance,” I said. Not waiting for a response, I pulled her to the far corner of the dance floor, making sure to put a few couples between us and him. Leroy eventually slunk back into the shadows, giving me the impression of a little boy who’d just gotten kicked at the playground.

Liv and I swayed back and forth to a cheesy slow song, neither of us putting much thought into the action. I scanned the room, catching Will’s eyes. He held his hands up in a way that seemed to say Why the hell are you dancing with my sister? before his attention was taken by another well-wisher.

“Thanks,” Liv whispered, drawing me back to the task at hand.

“Sure.”

She sucked in a breath and began to make light of what had just happened. “If you don’t want to talk to someone tonight, just give me a signal, and I’ll repay the favor.”

I smiled, unable to help myself. “Who’s going to save me right now?”

She stepped on my foot before peering around my arm.

“Is he still here?”