SWNOVELS Bossy Bodyguard: Part 3 – Chapter 37
“Why did you wake me up so early?” Emma grumbled, meeting me outside her room and rubbing her eyes. “It’s the weekend.”
I hummed, checking her attire, and nodded in approval. “Good. This will do. Come on, we have a lot to do today.”
“What?” she whined, but her footsteps followed me downstairs. It was six in the morning and the sun hadn’t risen yet. The weather was cold, so I’d have to train her in her personal gym room. I had been setting it up every evening for the past few weeks between guarding her at school, giving her orgasms at night and wondering why the fuck her stalker hadn’t made a move. Yet.
It was making me uneasy that he still hadn’t showed up. Yes, she was still getting creepy DMs in her social media with lots of fatphobic comments, but none of them were like the stalker who had texted her with a burner phone, giving her a gift that night.
“Why are we here?” Her voice was dull. She crossed her arms and looked at me with narrowed eyes, entering the room with padded floors and all the expensive strength training machines. I had been using the gym every morning before taking Emma to school.
“To make you stronger,” I said and pointed at her to stand in front of me in the center of the room. I had asked her to wear gym clothes, but she was grumbling so I readied a legging with a sports bra for her. Along with being her personal bodyguard, I was now working as her personal maid.
“I am strong,” Emma said, standing across from me. “What now?”
“Your hair.”
“What about it?”
I sighed and walked around her, gathering her soft locks in my hand. “They will get in the way. I’m braiding it.”
“Where did you learn to do that?” she asked, her voice soft as I slowly weaved through her hair.
I shrugged. “I used to help my amma with her hair when I was a kid.”
“Oh, where is she now?”
“Seoul,” I said, tying an elastic to secure her braid. “She doesn’t like American food, so she stays in South Korea.”
“You must miss her.”
Her face was sad and eyes were full of emotion when she whispered those words.
“Yes. Sometimes I miss her,” I admitted, swallowing the lump in my throat.
Even though her mother wasn’t maternal, Emma was close to her. Or else she wouldn’t look so sad.
“Anyway, how are you going to make me stronger?” she asked, raising a brow at me.
“I’m going to teach you how to defend yourself,” I said evenly. “When the job ends, I want you to be able to protect yourself, okay?”
“When the job ends?” Emma frowned.
“Yes. When we catch the stalker.” I cleared my throat and avoided looking into her eyes. “Now stand in this position. Push your weight onto the floor and tighten your core.”
She followed my movements, and I asked her to look at the mirror to see her stance and corrected it, lightly touching her back and stomach.
“We will start with punches, kicks, blocks and then end with stretching,” I informed her when she raised her arms, her hands in fists.
“Can’t I just use a pepper spray or a taser gun?”
I rolled my eyes. Emma shrieked when I took her by surprise and threw her on the padded floor with my hand around her throat and the other pinning her hands. I straddled her waist so her kicking legs were useless.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was so rude that I didn’t wait for you to get your pepper spray out of your bag,” I crooned as she glared at me, still trying to fight me and trying to get her hands out of my firm grip. “Stop squirming. If someone wanted to hurt you, they would hit your head or choke you until you were unconscious and take you somewhere else.”
Even saying those words made bile rise in my throat.
“Or I can moan and tell them to choke me harder, daddy,” she batted her lashes at me even though her face was turning red.
I rolled my eyes and let go of her hands and neck. She gasped for breath and touched her collar. “If someone straddles you like this, there’s a way that you can get out. And if you follow my instructions, you can push me off of your tiny body, hurt me and get some time to get away. Got it?”
Emma nodded, her eyes serious. To teach her, I asked her to straddle me and, despite having her on top, I remained in control and slowly got her off me, telling her exactly what I was doing.
After an hour, her eyes were shining brightly as sweat clung to her flushed skin when we repeated the movements again and again until it was drilled into her skull.
“We will keep doing this for a week and then I’ll teach you how to get out of a chokehold, alright?” I panted, wiping sweat from my face with a towel. I had been doing my reps after instructing her to complete her sets of punches and kicks.
She gave me a thumbs up, heaving and sprawled on the floor.
Shaking my head, I offered her a bottle of water. “Drink a bit. We are not done yet.”
“What!” Emma cried out, and I bit my lip.
“I’m kidding, Doll. I just wanted to see your reaction,” I smirked, winking at her. “But you have to wake up early three times a week so we can keep strengthening you until you can pin me down on the floor, okay?”
She gave me a sly look and said, “I can easily pin you down on the floor, Cillian.”
“I’m serious, Emma.”
She grumbled and sat up. “Fine. I’ll follow all your torturous instructions if you fuck me afterwards.”
I stared at her, blond wisps of hair falling out of her braid and replied, “Maybe. If you behave.”
“Knew it.” She stood up without taking the hand that I had offered and gave me a bright smile that made my heart stutter.
God damn it, Cillian. You barely know this girl for a couple of months and already falling for her.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned away. “You can do whatever you want. Let me know if you are going out.”
“Oh, I’m not going out.”
Thank fuck. I could go back to my home and make sure Caleb hadn’t burned it down or worse—Sean hadn’t moved in. I didn’t want to be around a certain minx who makes me feel like a teenager—
“We are going out,” Emma said, and before walking out of the gym, she looked back. “Wear something casual, Cillian. You’re going to receive your reward.”
Fuck me.