THE (UNSOUGHT) BODYGUARD

CONSEQUENCES OF BEING FAMOUS

One Month Later

Annika was tying her hair back in a ponytail when her phone rang. She finished her hair and picked up. "You're not downstairs," Shivaay said without preamble.

"I slept through my snooze alarm," she admitted. "I'm almost ready."

"Hurry up," he said, then hung up and the girl rolled her eyes. She'd come to terms with her undeniable attraction to Shivaay, because once she'd gotten to know him better, she'd realized he was kind of a pushy, arrogant jerk. Even if he was hot and funny, and even charming if it suited him. By the time she got downstairs to the front door of her parents' massive home, Shivaay was already waiting in shorts and tee, lifting a brow at her.

"What?" she asked, looking down at herself. Black sports bra, black stretch leggings. Perfect for a March morning run.

"Nothing. Let's go." She preceded him out, spent a moment stretching herself out, put her music on and then headed out at a light jog. She knew without looking that Shivaay was precisely five paces behind her, matching her pace even if it was nothing to him, and she focused on her running. By the time she made it to the park she had pushed herself a little faster and decided, since the sun was shining and the breeze was pleasantly warm in the sun, she would head a little further than normal, she slowed a bit. Shivaay moved a couple paces up when she kept going to the pier, pushing herself faster still then cooling herself down the length of the long boardwalk. She took her earbuds out when she reached the end.

"You made good time today," Shivaay said without seeming to be out of breath as the girl sucked in air rapidly.

"I figured you wouldn't mind if we changed it up," she said, then put her hands on her knees, unintentionally giving him a better look at her cleavage. "Fuck, I'm out of shape. I used to be able to go here and back without stopping last summer."

"You'll get there," Shivaay said easily, then passed her water. She drank some.

"Thanks." She wiped the sweat from her brow. "I'm hot," she breathed, fanning her face. She didn't see the way Shivaay eyed her.

"Take a minute, walk around," he said easily.

Annika focused on breathing then stretched out and looked back at the bodyguard. "Back home then," she sighed, and only put one earbud in. "You know," she said conversationally, even as very loud music blasted from the earbud, "you can run beside me if you want."

He grinned. "Better vantage point from behind," he said and the girl shrugged, inserted her earbud, and started in a light jog back. Shivaay fell into step behind her, glancing again at her perfect ass in her tight black leggings, seeing in his mind's eye her lovely breasts in her running bra lifting and falling in time to her pace. Oh dear God.

It didn't matter that he'd gone running with Annika precisely twenty two times. Or that he'd seen her nipples poking through her shirt at least seventeen times. It didn't even matter that he'd gone, embarrassingly, with her into a goddamn lingerie boutique and tried not to be overtly observant of her picking out scraps of lace that were meant to constitute panties. He still wanted her in every way, and the more time he spent with her, the more he was beginning to realize she was not only a ten in looks, but personality too. She was witty and sly and sometimes surprisingly thoughtful, but most often, she was mischievous. Always trying to outwit him by doing something sneaky like purposely getting lost from him in the vast library downtown, or going for a walk without mentioning it. And the longer Shivaay spent with her, the more he realized that when this job ended, and Ram came back, he was going to thoroughly and completely miss Annika Trivedi. And not just her fantastic ass, either, although that would make running alone seem awfully dull.