I had no idea what had come over me. Where the hell had I come up with the balls to come on to Saint Wilde? One minute I’d been salivating over him in the showers, and the next minute, I’d been climbing all over him half-naked and shooting my load down his freaking throat.

Even though we’d held on to each other and calmed down, I still felt my heart thundering wildly in his company. And now that I knew he was coming home with me? I thought maybe I was going to lose my mind.

I’d never had anal sex. Not because I hadn’t wanted to, but more because I hadn’t trusted a random stranger enough to try it. But Saint wasn’t a random stranger. And I wanted him to fuck me pretty damned badly.

We walked to our cars side by side, and just as we were about to separate, Saint grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me behind a large truck I assumed was his at the same time he stepped in front of me to shield me from view.

My heart stuttered from the sudden movement, and I opened my mouth to ask him what the fuck was happening. I couldn’t see past the wide expanse of his back, and he had one arm holding me in place behind him while he pulled a gun from who-the-hell-knew-where.

Nerves lit up my entire body, and my eyes locked on the weapon with sudden tunnel vision. “Saint—”

“Shh,” he snapped.

I felt the cold metal of the truck against my back and the warm fibers of Saint’s shirt under my palms where they’d landed on his waist. He shifted his weight, inadvertently pressing me back farther into the cold metal of the truck’s door until my entire front was plastered against him. He felt amazing, and I could smell the shampoo wafting off his still-damp hair.

It seemed to take ages before he must have decided the coast was clear. As he turned around to face me, he slipped the gun in the back of his waistband and reached out to run his large hands up and down my upper arms.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a low voice. “You look really pale.” Concern wrinkled his brows, and I was speechless for a moment. When was the last time someone had been worried about me?

“I… ah… yeah. I’m fine,” I stammered. “What happened?”

“There was a man in a car. It looked like he was watching you.”

My throat tightened and my heart sped up. “What?” I stepped out of his grasp to look around the parking lot frantically, as if the car was still there and I could get some answers. “Who? What kind of car? What did he look like?” My words came fast and breathy as my brain spun through possibilities and I kept looking around the lot.

Who the hell would be following me? Could it be the person or people who’d broken into my house? The person who’d broken into my car? Surely not.

“Shit,” I muttered when I didn’t see a single hint of what Saint was talking about. I turned to look at him and caught him staring at me. “Are you sure?”

“Augie, what the hell is going on? What aren’t you telling me?”

“What? Nothing,” I said, clamping my mouth shut. “I’m sure it was nothing. Probably just someone lost.”

“It wasn’t nothing. And it wasn’t someone lost. A man in a silver four-door sedan was definitely looking at you,” Saint said. His voice wasn’t harsh or anything. In fact, it was sweet and concerned. As if he was genuinely worried about my safety. While that was nice and all, I didn’t need some big tough guy looking out for me. I wasn’t a wuss. I could take care of myself. That was why I was taking the lessons, after all. And as my grandfather always taught me, Stiels were strong as steel. And I’d be damned if I was going to be the first in generations to prove that assertion wrong.

I shrugged. “I’m sure it’s nothing. And if it is something—just think, maybe I’ll get a chance to practice my new moves.” I tried to smile up at him, but the creases in his forehead only deepened.

“Are you being followed, Augie?” he asked.

“Of course not,” I replied, hoping like hell I was right.

He continued as if I hadn’t said anything. “Is that why you signed up for this training? Something more than the break-in? Has someone been threatening you?”

The concern on his face caused my chest to tighten. I wanted to tell him I was scared. I wanted to step forward and lean my face into his chest. To ask him to take over watching my back so I could stop being nervous and scared for one goddamned minute.

Or lonely, for that matter.

But I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. Because Stiels were strong as fucking steel. If I’d heard it once, I’d heard it a thousand times. It was especially drilled into me by my grandfather after my dad’s murder. He’d made sure I’d understood it was my job to be the strong one for Rory’s sake. I was the one who was supposed to be strong, supposed to be brave. I was the one responsible for protecting my mother and sister once my father was gone. It was my job. And I could do it like I always had. I just needed to remember to toughen up.

I’d been an idiot to beg Saint to stay with me like I was some kind of baby.

“It’s fine, Saint. I promise,” I said. “But maybe it’s not a good idea for you to come over. This whole thing kind of ruined the mood.”

I walked toward my rental car without looking back at him.

“That isn’t your car,” he called across the space between our vehicles. “What happened to your SUV?”

Saint didn’t know about the broken car window from my jaunt to Dallas.

“In the shop,” I called back. “It’s fine.”

I ignored whatever other question he called out and got into my car to begin the drive home. It wasn’t until I was a mile away on the drive home that I realized Saint was following me in his truck. Just the idea of that control freak feeling like he needed to babysit me set my teeth on edge.

As I continued down the road, I was tempted to pull over and scream at him that I was fine. But there was a bigger part of me that wanted the tall muscled Adonis in my bed more than anything on earth. I knew I shouldn’t want him, but I did.

So fucking much.

It had been a long time since I’d had to talk myself down from being attracted to another man, but that was the situation I’d found myself in with Saint. I didn’t want to want him. I didn’t want to have to deal with this shit when everything else was blowing up in my life. Even though I was out of practice, I knew what I needed to do. Call Lanny and ask for a different trainer. Stop exposing myself to Saint. Stop tempting myself with the man I couldn’t stop fantasizing about. Forget what it felt like to touch his bare skin and take his tongue into my mouth.

The idea of training with someone else made my heart thunder with a feeling of absolute wrongness. Maybe I didn’t need to change trainers. And why couldn’t I let myself be attracted to another man? Where was the harm in following my true desires, especially now that Rory was happily in a relationship? It hadn’t escaped me that I made a terrible role model for my pansexual sister. But I’d always been torn about encouraging her to be out with our family since I knew it would bring nothing but scorn and stress.

The streets I passed grew darker as I left Hobie for the more rural area where the farmhouse was. Finally I reached the end of the small road and turned into my driveway. I glanced in my rearview mirror in time to see Saint’s truck pull in behind me. Motherfucking asshole thinking I needed protecting like some kind of victim.

But it was sweet, right? I had to admit to myself it made me feel cared for, looked after. And if I ever stripped away the bravado bullshit, I might just admit to myself, and only myself, that it was my wildest dream to have someone else take charge for once. The idea of someone else protecting me was a deep, dark fantasy that had always been there despite my wishes to rid it from my subconscious.

Instead of pulling around back to the garage, I slammed the car into park in the driveway and got out, storming over to his vehicle. His face remained neutral as he stepped out and closed the door behind him.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I shouted at him. My anger took me by surprise, and I suddenly realized I was terrified of him seeing the state of my house and learning the truth. That I hadn’t been brave enough to clean up all the mess yet. That I’d pushed all the furniture around late the night before to be able to cover the doors and windows inside. “You think I can’t protect myself? You think you can just follow me—show up here like you’re some kind of… what? Bodyguard? Concerned lover? Or were you just looking for the booty call I promised?”

“Augie—”

“No. Go home, Saint. I don’t need your help. I don’t need anyone’s help.” I turned to walk toward my front door when I heard him say my name again.

“Augie!” he called.

I spun around and glared at him, trying desperately to ignore how badly I was shaking. “What?”

“I was worried about you. That guy set off my alarm bells. He could have followed you home and gotten to you once you were alone. I just wanted to make sure you were safe. I care about you.” Saint’s eyes had stopped appearing neutral and now looked worried again. “Why aren’t you more concerned about this?”

“Maybe it’s just what comes with having lots of money and a big name, Saint. Or maybe someone is secretly lusting after me and decided to stalk me. Did you ever think of that?” The suggestion was so stupid, we both should have laughed. But we didn’t.

He looked worried for another moment before his face transformed into one of determination.

“Bullshit,” he said in a low growl. “You’re terrified. Something’s going on that has you on edge, but you’re too damned stubborn to ask for help.”

I wanted to tell him to go to hell, but I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. Instead, some base part of me decided to forget all that bodyguard/danger nonsense and just kiss him right on the damned lips.