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Chapter 1

Ryder

Sexy As Hell Trouble

I’ Hadley Winters pour herself a glass of wine in the chef’s kitchen of the historic Queen Anneme with how her heart-shaped ass perfectly fills out her blue jeans Her body with its perfect curves tes were made to be around my waist But the way she teases me is my punishment for a crime I never committed

What I feel for Hadley is worse than hunger It’s worse than thirst It’s even worse than pain She’s my forbidden fruit that I crave to taste, and yet my duty as chief of security to her father, Senator Gary Winters, makes her inconsumable

Over her shoulder, the trees of Lafayette Park wave in the wind outside theSan Francisco is sunny and bright this afternoon, butbut chipper I try to avoid Hadley at all costs

Today I can’t

I clearher attention, and as she turns, her reen eyes catch mine and widen Warmth and emotion cross her face that’s not unknown to me The attraction is shared between us, and we both know that She becomes all I see, as a soft flush creeps over her freckled cheeks and her perfectly sculpted lips curve slightly

“Blackwood,” she finally addresses th hair behind her ear

“Ms Winters” Iin roin Totally aware of her now, I step farther into the kitchen and toss theonto the counter in front of her “We need to talk about this”

She sips her red wine, taking a good look at the cover of the tabloid ins to read the article: Is Senator Winters’s daughter, Hadley, beco a handful for head security detail and multimillionaire Ryder Blackwood? Our sources say yes! And they also tell us that the kick-ass bodyguard is madly in love with her She s eyes to mine “Unless you’re ready to admit that there’s so to talk about”

I ignore where she’s trying to direct the conversation So

To keep the conversation on point, I, wishing this wasn’t the case, tell her, “The tabloids have taken a sudden interest in my life Sadly, that means both you and your father are likely to come up on the radar because I work for the senator”

Hadley laughs softly and leans against the countertop behind her “Really, Blackwood, let’s be honest here You don’t exactly work for e difference there”

Two things co o After ers, her father had hired me as his chief of security due to his close relationship with etNow Blackwood Security is one of the top private security detail co all over the world for top government officials, diplomats, and celebrities While I have paid back the loan financially, the personal debt for where he’d gotten me in my career so quickly has yet to be repaid

Second, she’s trying to downplay my importance to him to knock down the first boundary between us “Listen, there are things I know about you,” I explain gently, staring into her pretty eyes that hold the power to bring s that, because of the tabloids’ sudden focus on me, could be a problem for you”

Her brows slowly begin to furrow “What things?”

I snatch the eight-by-ten photograph I’d placed in the back of the azine earlier and offer it to her “This, for one”

She visibly gulps at the photograph of herself, bound, gagged, and getting fucked in Afterglow, a local sex club “This happened o How did you…” It’s blatantly clear that she’s never seen the picture before now, and I admit that I’ “To be perfectly honest, Blackwood, this is none of your business”

“Believe ue that point with her, I take the photograph froazine “But let’s discuss this, shall we? If this picture found its way to et ahold of it? Your father doesn’t need a scandal like this”

“I’m well aware,” she cleverly throws my oords back at me

I fight ed men cower in my presence This twenty-five-year-old wo enjoy it