Free Spiked Lemonade: A Bad Boy Sailor and a Good Girl Romantic Comedy Standalone by Shari J. Ryan

cockroaches scared away the owners,” I giggle. “Plus, I sort of imagined maybe an apartment or something of that sort when you said you got your own place?”
    He settles himself into the back of the couch, placing his hands behind his head. “I did. I got a motel room. My own motel room, which you are completely correct about. I took one step inside last night and found a dude passed out on the bed. About an hour later, he was pronounced dead. So yeah, I’m not so eager to run back there. Though, don’t confuse my distaste for the motel with me pressing you to make a decision.”
    A decision . I’m supposed to make one of those right now when I can’t even get my thoughts straight? I don’t want people controlling me, yet when offered a chance to make my own decisions, I can’t seem to do that either. What a mess. “I’m not sure I know what the right answer is,” I say, joining him in leaning back into the couch. “I don’t know you at all, and part of me is thinking that agreeing to a ‘bodyguard’ is just as foolish as thinking Landon was a decent man.”
    “I can respect that,” Jags says. “Why don’t you think about it?”
    “Okay,” I agree. I appreciate not being forced into a thoughtless decision.
    “Y’all done flirtin’ in there?” Tango shouts in.
    My gosh, why is he always so brash? Jags grins at me as he likely notices the color change I’m feeling on my cheeks.
    Yup, he’s noticed. He reaches over and gently pinches my cheek. “You’ll get used to him someday, doll-face.” It’s already been five years.
    Jags might be right about that, but I don’t know if I’ll get used to the sensation his fingers just pulsed through my body when he touched me. That, I won’t get used to because that is not happening. He is not remotely close to my type. I don’t think. Why is this the only thing I can think to keep saying to myself about him?
     

CHAPTER FIVE
    JAGS

    “I GIVE IT a week,” Tango says, grinning, as he backs us out of his driveway now that Sasha is secured as their prisoner again.
    “A week for what?” I question him.
    “Until you’re hittin’ that.”
    “Bro, she’s wound so tight, I’m guessing that is not in my future. Plus, I’d probably break her,” I laugh.
    “She is pretty small,” Tango agrees. “I’m just messin’ with ya, man.”
    It’s not like the thought hasn’t crossed my mind a thousand times in the past week, but a girl like that doesn’t end up with a guy like me. “You don’t think she’s going to get a little stir crazy being held a prisoner in your house?” I know Tango is typically a little headstrong with protecting people, but ripping a girl out of her house and dragging her to his house is caveman-esque.
    “Cali’s home,” he says. “She’ll be fine.”
    “Doesn’t she have a job or anything? She doesn’t strike me as the type who sits around all day, especially since she was ironing her clothes at six thirty this morning.”
    “Yeah, she manages a restaurant, but we told her to quit. That dick, Landon, was a chef there, so it’s no good now.” Yikes. I’m starting to feel sorry for the poor girl.
    “Look, maybe this is none of my business, but you guys are a little rough with her. She’s a grown woman who can likely take care of herself. Maybe you should let her make at least some of her own decisions.”
    Tango looks over at me with a cocky grin, “You do want to get with her, you dog.”
    I throw my head back against the seat and groan. “Some things don’t change with you, man. I figured with your disappearing act for six years, you would have loosened up a bit but that’s not the case, is it?”
    Tango whips us into the job site and throws the gear in park. “Look, man, I have a family to protect. Cali has had too much crap following her around for the past ten years, and I’ve been on the defensive since the day I met her. Sasha being in the picture now adds another layer to this. I know you don’t