Free Close to Perfect by Tina Donahue

very strict ground rules.”
    â€œIf he’s such a gentleman why’d you have to do that?”
    â€œI wanted to make it all legal.”
    Freddy jabbed his finger into the contract. “So your ground rules are all in here, right?”
    â€œMy ground rules are what you and Mama taught me.”
    His expression remained hard, but his gaze was beginning to soften, the same as his voice. “I let you become a cop. I let you become a bodyguard. And now you do this to me?”
    â€œWe can’t all be dancers like Mama.”
    â€œYou could try.”
    Aw, Papa. “I like what I do. I’m good at what I do. I got you that contract, didn’t I?”
    â€œThat’s money. You’re my daughter. He’s going to respect you, got it?”
    â€œHe’s a good man, so he will.”
    â€œGood men don’t pose like he did for a tabloid.”
    â€œHe didn’t pose, he was sucker punched, and you know it.”
    â€œI know he’s rich enough to buy trunks.”
    And cover that beautiful body? Now that would be a crime. “I’ve told him he needs to be dressed from now on.”
    â€œTell him he better be fully clothed twenty-four seven while you’re at his place or he’ll hear from me.”
    â€œHe already knows that, Pop. Now really, I gotta go.” Tess kissed his cheek, again, murmured a farewell in Spanish as her mom always had, then moved quickly to the car.
    â€œTessie.”
    She stopped at his tone, a plea rather than a command, and looked back at him. In that moment, a wave of sadness washed over Tess. He looked so alone, so forlorn when what she always recalled was the lightness in his step, his amazing strength. Despite his stocky appearance, he was getting old. He shouldn’t be alone. He should have a woman to watch over him, just as she was going to be watching over Josh—at least for a little while. “Yeah, Pop?”
    â€œYou call me when you get there.”
    â€œI will.”
    â€œAnd when you go inside.”
    She arched one brow.
    â€œAnd when you go to bed.”
    â€œPop.”
    He screwed up his mouth. “You be good.”
    Oh, she would, at least in her actions, but her thoughts?
    They were going to be trouble what with Josh’s scent, his voice, and laughter surrounding her, while memories of his kiss kept playing in her mind tempting her to do more.
    Far, far more.

Chapter Four
    A t five minutes to seven Tess turned into the private drive that led to Josh’s gated estate, then slowed the Mercedes to a crawl.
    She knew she shouldn’t be dragging her feet, not at this late hour, but Tess honestly couldn’t help herself. The Internet photos she had seen of this place had not done it justice.
    Her gaze swept the lavish vegetation that both surrounded and dwarfed her. Live oaks mingled with moss-draped cypress to create a thick canopy of green, which was momentarily still, then fluttering as the ocean breeze whispered past. Towering banyan trees, with trunks as wide as her childhood home, captured the sun’s lowering rays. The air was cooler here, clean, and sweetly scented by all that vegetation and the rich earth.
    Wow. No wonder Josh liked to frolic in the nude here. To Tess’s way of thinking, the Garden of Eden had nothing on this spot.
    She looked to the left and to the right; she even turned as far as she could in her seat to see it all, then finally got a move on. Not that it mattered. The vegetation never seemed to end. After a few minutes, Tess wondered if she had taken the wrong turn and was in a state recreational area. She looked for signs, but instead spotted a red convertible parked to the side.
    Again, she slowed the Mercedes to a crawl, then stopped it just behind the convertible.
    It was a cute little thing with Florida tags. Tess noted the plate number and expiration, then looked up. Ahead, to the left, was an impressive wrought iron gate that was nicely