Barefoot With a Bodyguard Read Online Free PDF

security company for my own protection, though it’s you I’m worried about.”
    “But no one knows I’m here, and this absurd charade with a husband—”
    “It’s not absurd if it keeps you safe.”
    “I don’t have to be locked in a guarded cell to stay safe,” she countered, glancing at the cascade of water over stones in the pool and the breathtaking beach vista beyond that. She shoved away some remorse at calling paradise a prison, but no matter how beautiful it was, she was still trapped. By a man. Men , actually.
    “Look, Katherine, I know you hate the feeling of not being in control of your destiny.”
    She snorted at the understatement.
    “Please, for me.” Dad’s old pain was back in his voice, as clear as the day…the day she’d caused it. “Won’t you just stick this out, Kate? Give the FBI some time to investigate?”
    And, of course, she buckled with one more sigh of resignation. “Until we can figure out something else.” Her words sounded as weak as her body felt. She was giving in only because of guilt and obligation and a daughter’s love, right?
    “I’m sure the FBI will nail this guy very soon, and then you can come home.”
    Suddenly, Kate was aware that the door behind her had opened. She was no longer alone on the sunny patio. She turned to face the man behind her, and once again she had to force herself to keep from taking in an audible breath at the sight of him. The martial arts jacket thing was open wider now, ink-decorated pecs on display.
    “So you’ll go along with it?” Dad’s question sounded like it was coming from underwater, drowned out by the hammer of her pulse. “Please, I need to know you’re safe. One week, two at the most.”
    Two weeks locked in a villa with a man who made her feel…off-balance? No. No way. Except… Dad . He was her weak spot, too.
    “All right. We’ll talk soon, Dad.”
    “Thank you, sweetheart. I’m sure you’ll work things out with this…bodyguard.”
    Kate made the huge mistake of meeting the bodyguard’s cool, direct gaze. Three heartbeats of eye contact, and her chest felt like a fist had gone through it and her stomach flipped like she’d fallen off a cliff. The reaction made no sense, since she wasn’t afraid of him. But he was just such a big… presence .
    “I’ll do my best.” Ending the call, she gripped the phone, forcing herself not to turn away from the man a few feet away. She felt sweat prickling her skin, a result of the sun bearing down, of course. The splash of the waterfall and the distant cry of a gull from the nearby beach were the only sounds, other than her own strangled breathing.
    He stood stone silent and still, a man who she imagined never wasted a word or made a move that wasn’t absolutely necessary. She searched his face, lingering on protruding cheekbones and a strong jaw, a flattened, crooked nose, and lethal blue eyes.
    “So, what is it?” she finally asked.
    “What is what?”
    “Your real name.”
    He gave his head a quick shake. “Not going to tell you.”
    “Don’t dismiss me.” She took a step closer, despite the fact that getting even an inch nearer to him made her pulse quicken and added to that frustrating sense of vulnerability she hated so much. Probably because he was just so damn big and strong. Anyone would feel a little…what was the word he used? Defenseless .
    “You really don’t need to know my name.”
    “I don’t need a lot of things,” she fired back, working for the composure that he somehow erased from her arsenal just by standing there and breathing. Was he breathing? She was damn near panting, while everything about him was still. “Starting with a bodyguard, a fake husband, a new name, an overprotective father, and an eighty-year-old man calling the shots. But evidently, I have them all. So, humor me, and tell me your name.”
    He took a measured step closer. “My name is Benjamin Carlson.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Your real name.”
    “You