Excerpt
The Bodyguard
Genie Gabriel
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Book Heat Level: 3
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Two weeks before Christmas, Mitch
decided he had waited long enough.
"Come on, mutt." Mitch
grabbed his coat and a pair of work gloves. "Let’s go find the
twins."
Gabe bounded to his feet and bumped the
doorknob with his nose. He sniffed and marked around the yard while Mitch
pulled the Ferrari out of the garage. As soon as the dog jumped into the car,
Mitch drove to a lot selling Christmas trees. He selected one that would fit
nicely in Julia’s small apartment and strapped it to the top of the car.
The mutt hung his head out the window,
riding in silent watchfulness until the apartment building was in sight.
"Woof!"
"You have to be quiet or we’ll get
caught smuggling you in." Under cover of the falling twilight and a bushy
evergreen tree, Mitch and the dog walked quickly toward Julia’s apartment.
As soon as Julia opened the door, the
dog pushed inside and sniffed out the twins, quickly falling back into their
game of hide and seek. Within seconds, the twins’ giggles let Julia know the
dog had found the children.
"I brought a tree." Mitch
stood the evergreen upright.
"I see that." Julia bit her
lip as she walked around the tree. "Nice choice. Bushy all around."
"I had three picky sisters who
trained me in the fine art of Christmas tree selection."
Julia smiled. "They trained you
well."
"I thought we could decorate it
tonight and maybe have cookies and hot chocolate."
The wistful look on Mitch’s face tugged
at Julia’s heart. She didn’t want to disappoint him--or miss the chance to
spend time with him. "That would be great. Except..."
"Except?"
"All the decorations were left
behind."
Understanding dawned in Mitch’s eyes.
"I’m sorry, Julia. I didn’t think--I’ll go buy some."
"Wait--" Julia didn’t want to
owe Mitch anything more, and she couldn’t afford to buy decorations for an
entire tree right now. "Let’s make decorations. We have construction paper
for paper chains and snowflakes, and we can pop corn to string together. I
haven’t done that in years. It will be fun."
"How about the angel for the
top?" Mitch asked.
Julia tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"Origami. We can do a fancy folded paper one." She hoped.
"Sounds great to me." Mitch took
off his jacket. "I did remember a stand."
While Mitch set the tree in the stand,
Julia gathered supplies for ornaments and explained to the twins what they were
going to do. The twins were delighted, as they hadn’t been allowed to touch the
fussy tinsel and glass ornaments on the tree in the West Hills house. Just one
more reminder of how suppressed her children’s joy had been. Julia much
preferred this homemade Christmas tree.
The tiny apartment soon became littered
with scraps of paper, as loops of red and green chains took shape. The popping
of corn rattled a cheerful accompaniment to the giggles of the twins as Julia
brought another bowl of popcorn for Mitch to add to the string the dog snitched
pieces from.
"Why don’t you just give him some
popcorn?" Julia asked.
"He won’t eat it except off the
string." Mitch threw a disgusted look toward the dog. "It must be a
new game."
Julia turned away to hide her smile.
The tree was shaping up beautifully, even if Angelina insisted on hanging all
her handmade ornaments on the same three branches. "Anyone want refills on
hot chocolate?"
When Julia returned from the kitchen,
the room had grown quiet.
"Your helpers are asleep,"
Mitch said.
The twins lay curled like cherubs next
to the dog beneath the spreading limbs of the now decorated tree.
"Do you want to move them to
bed?" Mitch asked.
Julia nodded. Soon the twins were
settled in their beds for the night.
"Sometimes I just want to watch my
children." Julia’s heart swelled with joy as she gazed at Abraham and
Angelina. "If I could have one thing for Christmas, I’d ask for my
children to be safe."
Julia and Mitch lapsed into silence for
a moment, absorbing the innocence of the twins as they slept. "What would
you ask for, Mitch?"
Mitch stared at Julia for a moment
longer. His gaze caressed every inch of her face and finally settled on her
mouth. "A kiss from you."
Startled, Julia tried to cover a thrill
of excitement by folding her hands primly in front of her. "That’s
all?"
"Maybe that kiss could be
delivered early." The hunger in Mitch’s eyes generated a tingle between
Julia’s breasts.
"Maybe it could." Julia
didn’t believe the words slipped from her mouth. However, the expectant look in
Mitch’s eyes confirmed Julia had spoken her thoughts aloud. And now she felt
honor-bound to carry through. She could do this without acting like a fool. It was just a kiss, right?
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