Page 75 of Hot & Heavy

" Oh." That is all. She didn't say it wasn't what she wanted. This is probably some female trick.

Bait-and-switch, or something. He explained the mission then, telling her that his teammates had agreed to participate, their primary role being to guard her day and night, waiting for the tangos to attempt to grab her. There would be three men there at all times, one inside, one in back of the house, one in front.

Hidden, of course.

She'd been surprisingly quiet while he'd explained the mission. "Are you asking for my permission, or telling me what is going to happen?"

It was more like the latter, but he fudged a bit and said, "We want your permission."

She smiled slightly, obviously catching his hesitation. "The answer is yes."

Thank God! "It could be dangerous. We'll try our best to protect you. Even so, you'd be a decoy to some mean-ass bad guys."

She shrugged. "I have been in more dangerous spots."

"Someday you are going to tell me exactly who you are."

"When I trust you more. There is still a chance you or your comrades would send me back to Steinolf.

He is a powerful man."

"Maddie, I don't know anyone named Steinolf."

"We shall see. I will tell all when the time is right."

"I'm going in to shower, and then to bed. I've got to be up by five to report to the base by six. Do you want the shower first?"

"I bathed this morning."

He smiled. She'd told him her opinion of twice-a-day showers. "Okay. See you later."

Ian did not realize till later… a short time later… how prophetic his words would be.

When he was in the middle of rinsing the shampoo out of his hair, he glanced through the glass doors of the shower stall, then did a double take.

Maddie was standing there. Watching him.

This is a losing battle. He turned off the shower and stepped out, wrapping a towel around his middle, but not before she'd seen his full-blown boner. What did she expect? When a woman purposely looked at a naked man, his cock interpreted it one way only.

"Maddie, what are you doing in here? You shouldn't go into a bathroom when a man is naked."

"I shouldn't? Why?"

"It's just not done." He glanced down pointedly at the tent in his towel.

"Oh, that! I have seen plenty of those. Sometimes, when the housemaids were busy, it was my job to help the visitors or my warriors bathe. I do not take that condition personally."

"Take it personally, Maddie. Believe me, take it personally."

She tilted her head in question. "As an insult or a compliment?"

"Definitely a compliment."

"Hmmm. Then, thank you."

Holy shit! This is the first time a woman has thanked me for a hard-on. "Why did you come in here?"

"I came to ask you to shave my legs." He hadn't noticed before, but she had a can of his shaving cream in one hand and his razor in the other.