The Bodyguards Sweetheart

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

COCO AWOKE, EAGER to start the day-a feeling she'd never actually enjoyed before-and rolled over to awaken Rian with a passionate kiss that ended with a mischievous smile. God, he was gorgeous. Those sleepy eyes and stubborn mouth were enough to send her into orbit. There must be something magical about the Bradford Ranch because since arriving she'd been nothing but happy.

"What's that for?" he asked, smiling, still half-asleep. "Not that I'm complaining."

"I can't wait to get up, get moving and start the day. Want coffee?" She started to hop out of bed but he caught her hand and pulled her back. "Oh! Rian!" she dissolved into a fit of giggles when he rubbed his stubble across her neck.

"What's the rush?" he asked, his arm wrapped around her belly and holding her close. She could get used to this. He squinted at the morning sun streaming into the bedroom and sighed as if remembering there was work waiting for him. "There are some things I don't miss about the country," he admitted.

"I figured you'd be out of bed already to feed the cattle."

"That's Kane's job. I left him to it."

She noted the subtle sour note to his voice and she called him on it. "Everything okay between you and Kane?"

He sighed and rolled away, surprising her when he climbed from the bed, fabulously naked until he jerked on a pair of jeans, concealing the view of his perfect ass. He turned back to her, all sense of drowsy softness gone from his gaze. He pushed his hand through his hair in an agitated manner before scooping up a shirt and pulling it on. "Look, we have to talk."

"That sounds ominous."

"Yeah, it's...not a great conversation."

She lost her smile. "What do you mean? What's going on? Is it something with my dad? Is he okay?"

"He's fine. I'm sorry, it's not about the case. Well, it sort of is, but it really has to do with us."

Now she was confused. They'd spent half the night exhausting each other and the rest of the night curled in each other's arms but she got the distinct impression that he was...breaking up with her. "Okay...so out with it," she told him, trying not to show that she was shaking inside.

"We both knew that this was a temporary thing and, well, it was all good as long as no one knew about it, but Kane knows and I can't risk the company's reputation by continuing to mess around with you."

"Mess around with me?" she repeated, stung. "Stop calling it that. I'm not a booty call."

"You know I don't feel that way," he said, with the nerve to glower. "But we both knew that this wasn't anything we were going to publicize."

"Yeah, I know, but I thought that maybe things had changed," she said, cringing at how stupid she sounded. Of course things hadn't changed. She was just a convenient way to dip his wick. Fabulous. Her cheeks flared with embarrassed heat and she wanted to cry. So much for her wonderful morning.

"Things did change," he admitted, seeming caught between a rock and a hard place, but she was out of sympathy. "I like you a lot, CoCo, but you have to admit that our worlds just don't mesh, so what were we doing? We were playing with fire and I can't afford to let the company get burned."

"How nice of you to come to that revelation after we had sex," she said coolly. "You could've let me know last night that you'd come to this decision instead of waiting until after you'd gotten laid."

He winced. "I know it's bad timing. I was going to tell you last night but then you were so excited about your sketches and I didn't want to ruin the night."