Lesson two went just as well.

Now, curled up in the nest of tangled sheets atop my bed, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and sighed, quite smug and satisfied with myself.

“What are you grinning at?” Liam asked, his voice drowsy.

I looked down and found him watching me through slitted eyes.

“I’m just enjoying life,” I said loftily. Skimming my hand back over his short, dark hair, I added, “And considering I almost drowned earlier, I’ve got plenty of reason to enjoy life.”

His face darkened, and he sat up, scowling at me. “You’re going to be more careful in the future, right?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Relax. I learned my lesson.” I bit my lower lip as I

studied him. “Speaking of lessons, do you still think you suck at…this?”

He blushed.

Delighted, charmed, I leaned in and kissed him. “You can’t really think you’re bad at this,” I said against his lips. “But…you know.”

I pulled back and traced his cheek with my finger. “I’ve been thinking.”

“I’m scared already,” he said in a voice so dry, I almost missed the humor.

“There’s a smart-ass lurking under that stiff exterior of yours,” I said, pointing at him.

He caught my wrist in his hand, his thumb stroking over my pulse. It rabbited under his touch, and I shivered a little, enjoying the feel of him against me.

“Anyway,” I said before I gave into the urge to start on lesson three. “I was thinking…maybe you and I can help each other out.”

He gave me that look, head cocked, eyes slightly narrowed as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what I was up to.

I gave him an innocent smile. “Relax. It’s harmless.”

Well, I thought so anyway.

Liam didn’t appear to be as convinced as I was.

I’d change his mind. Confident of that, I started to talk.

“So, you’re offering to help me brush up on my missing bedroom skills if I’ll talk to your father about pulling security detail,” he said in a flat voice a few minutes later.

“First, I don’t think your bedroom skills are missing much of anything except practice.” I rolled my eyes at him. “People aren’t born knowing how to have sex. It’s a learning game. And you learn…fast.”

He didn’t return my smile. “Your life could be in danger. I’m not making some bargain to pull the detail off you until we know whether or not there’s a real threat.”

He sat up, and I moved until I could press my front against his back. Hooking my arms over his shoulders, I kissed his cheek. “I’m fond of life, Liam. But…come on…you’ve been with me almost two weeks, and nothing has happened.”

He covered my hand with his, still not looking at me. “I’ve got a job to do, Mila. I take it seriously even if you don’t.”

“I’ll have you know that I take my life very seriously,” I retorted. “But has anything happened?” I stopped and rolled my eyes. “Okay, you can’t say my stupidity earlier was related to anything but me being stupid. I was careless. It won’t happen again, but that was my screw-up. I wasn’t hauled out to sea by some pissed off contractor my dad worked with.”

He dropped a casual kiss on my hand then untangled himself from my arms. He rose, moving from the room but came back in a minute later with a dry, fresh pair of shorts slung around his hips.

“You didn’t have to get dressed on my account,” I told him.

“I can’t have this discussion naked.”

I leaned back on my elbows, unperturbed by the fact that I clearly still was naked.

He pulled that mask of his back on and stared at me in the eyes, never letting his gaze roam lower.

But he was aware.

I could tell, by the way a muscle pulsed in his chin, by the mad beat of his pulse against his throat.

“What exactly are you suggesting I do, Mila? Go tell your father everything is okay just because we haven’t seen anything?

I chewed on my lower lip for a minute. “How about we compromise? You keep watching my ass…out of bed.” I smiled slowly at him. “And I’ll keep…teaching you in bed. If we don’t find anything out in a couple of weeks, if you don’t see anything, if nothing happens, you try to talk to my dad then.”

He blew out a breath. “This security guard thing really gets to you, doesn’t it?”

“Well…not all parts of it are bad.” I curled my finger, beckoning him closer.

He came, slowly, still clearly reluctant to go along with me.

Climbing out of bed, I went to him and wrapped my arms around him, pressing in close. “What have you got to lose?” I asked.

He caught my arms. “My job. And you could lose your life if there is something out there that poses a threat to you,” he said calmly.

“You’re making excuses. I already told you that you could take a few weeks and see if anything changes.” Chilled now, I let him go and walked over to the bathroom. I had a robe hanging inside the door, and once I’d pulled it on, I turned to face him. “What gives, Liam? I mean, I assume you weren’t interested, but I can tell you’re attracted to me.”

“That’s not the issue,” he snapped. He scrubbed his hands over his face and muttered under his breath.

I heard him though.

“Excuse me?” I demanded, stalking over to him. “Did you just say you knew this was a mistake? What gives?”

Hearing him refer to the past few hours as a mistake left a hollow feeling in my belly, but I much preferred anger so I went with that.

He met my eyes levelly but said nothing.

“What, you can’t say it and look at me at the same time? Come on, Liam. Tell me it was a mistake.”

“It probably was,” he said coolly.

I clenched my jaw tight and locked myself in place so I wouldn’t back away from him. “I think you’re just too afraid to deal with your issues,” I said rigidly.

“Mila–”

“Don’t.” I shook my head at him. “It’s not like I’m trying to make you go run to my dad this second and get me out of this. I said we could wait until you’d had a chance to make sure nothing happens. But if nothing happens, what’s the harm in telling my father just that – that nothing has happened, and I really don’t need bodyguards?”

I waited for an answer.

Liam, after a few seconds of heavy silence, said, “I think I’m going to go to bed. It’s been a long day.”

He turned on his heel and walked out of the bedroom.

I gaped at him.

Then, furious, I grabbed a pillow and threw it across the room.