The Protector (Barrett Boys #3) - Jordan Ford Page 0,40
and everything, but hopefully once this stalker crap is dealt with, you’ll be on your merry way. But… then I won’t have anyone to show me how to make a bed. You said last night that I needed your help. And maybe you’re right.” Her cheeks darken and she looks to the tabletop. “I need you to teach me how to run a house. To at least look after myself.” She sucks in a breath, like saying all this is a huge effort. Then she sighs and murmurs. “I need to prove that I’m not some spoiled princess, that I have what it takes to live my own life.”
I’m actually kind of impressed. She must remember more of our argument than I thought she would. With a shrug and a smile, I agree. “Okay.”
She looks surprised that I’ve said yes so easily, but then her lips turn up at the corners just a little and she straightens her shirt. “Okay, then.”
“When do you want to get started?”
“How about right now? I’m kind of hungry, and Loretta usually makes me pancakes on a weekend morning.”
I snicker and wipe my mouth. “I’m no pancake expert, but I can make some pretty delicious toast and scrambled eggs. Let me show you.”
It seems so junior, and I worry that I’m patronizing her, but she soaks in everything I’m saying and is soon munching her eggs on toast and looking pretty damn triumphant.
Wow. How cute is she?
This might be the most fun I’ve ever had.
A dangerous thought, maybe, but damn enticing.
18
Time to Get Schooled
Brody teaches me everything he knows, from cleaning a toilet and shower (kind of gross) to making nachos and baking chocolate brownies (kind of fun) to ironing a shirt (although he wasn’t great at that one). I’m thinking a weekly trip to the dry cleaners might be in order.
By the time classes officially start, I’m feeling way more confident. Between all the mandatory activities Mont U makes you attend, plus the stuff I’ve been doing with Brody, I’m feeling more empowered than I ever have.
I’m doing it.
I’m actually starting to feel like an independent young woman.
It’s foreign and new and… freaking fantastic!
Brody is super sweet, and I love how he doesn’t judge me for not knowing anything.
He’s easy to talk to as well. I don’t usually open up very easily with people, and I guess I haven’t with him either, but we’ve had some fun chats about the surface stuff.
Pizza is his favorite dinner. We ate it last night while watching episodes of Alias together. It’s this old show from like the twenty years ago, and neither of us has seen it, but it’s so good. Sydney is such a cool character, and I love the way she gets to dress up and become someone else for each of her covert missions.
We ended up talking late into the night, making up our own stories for the covert missions we’d do. It was super hard not to bust out laughing, but my laugh is kind of embarrassing, so I kept it in check, sufficing with a throaty giggle.
My stomach trembles again as I relive our conversation about sneaking into North Korea as undercover spies and stealing Kim Jong-un’s collection of porcelain cats. I have no idea if he owns a collection of porcelain cats, but the way Brody laughed when he came up with the idea added another layer of crazy to the story. Unbelievably, it got even weirder from there.
Swallowing down my laughter, I shift in my seat and try to focus on what Professor Busch is saying.
“So if we look at this from a molecular level…”
Brody changes position in the seat beside me, his long leg brushing mine for an instant. An electric current buzzes through me and we glance at each other, then quickly look back to the front.
Forcing my eyes to my laptop screen, I try to catch up on the notes I’m missing.
This is insane. How can I be so unfocused?
Chemistry has always sparked my interest, yet here I am thinking about Brody’s powerful thigh, less than an inch from mine.
We’ve been jogging together in the mornings. It’s not really his thing—so he said—but it’s my favorite form of exercise, and since he’s my bodyguard, he has to come too. We ran an easy three miles this morning. I came back energized; he came back sweating and out of breath. His face was so red, it made me giggle.