Read Online Burn: A South Beach Bodyguards Book by Erin McCarthy - Free Book Online Page A

Give yourself a twisted ankle or a bruise on your ass, sure. But not knock yourself out.”
    “You don’t know how klutzy I am. I fell off the stage at my ballet recital when I was seven. That was the end of my mom’s dreams of me being a professional dancer.”
    “Your mom wanted you to be a stripper?” Unbidden, images of Isabel naked, those luscious thighs wrapped around a pole, popped into my head. It immediately morphed into her giving me a private lap dance and I hated myself for mentally going there, but I couldn’t stop myself. I had seen things I couldn’t unsee and it was messing with my head.
    “No!” She glared at me over her shoulder. “She didn’t want men ogling me. She wanted me to be a ballerina. Though I have to say, there are times I envy my mother for having been so confident that she was able to take her talent for dance and make money from it. I’ve seen video footage and she was good at it- her style was more burlesque than shock value. I could never been virtually naked in front of strangers. I’m too self-conscious. Not to mention, I have my dad’s looks, not hers. She has always been beautiful.”
    I pried my eyes away from her ass, hovering in front of me as she took the stairs, and tried to process what she was saying. Self-conscious? The night before she had been anything but self-conscious. In fact, she had seemed to crave nudity. Or Julia had anyway. Was her personality really that split? Was Isabel repressed but deep down inside her she had a wild woman raring to go? It seemed a little nuts. A lot nuts.
    If I were a nice guy, I wouldn’t call her out on it. I respected women and normally I did consider myself a decent human being with moral boundaries. But the fact that she could say any of that with a straight face after I had told her she kept taking her clothes off, and after yanking her T-shirt off in front of me an hour earlier, was ridiculous.
    “I have seen every inch of you naked,” I told her. “Without any hesitation on your part. So maybe you don’t give yourself enough credit. Maybe inside you there lurks a secret stripper.”
    In the doorway of a bedroom- my old bedroom- she whirled around. “I highly doubt it. I wasn’t in control of my actions.”
    I raised my eyebrows and gave her a smirk. “You looked pretty damn in control to me. Especially when you bent over my kitchen counter and gave my beer bottle a rim job.”
    Her cheeks bloomed pink. “I did not!”
    “The hell you didn’t.” Then because I was feeling moody and selfish and horny as hell, I added, “You have a very talented tongue. And a cute little birthmark on your thigh.”
    She hunched her shoulders forward and crossed her arms over her chest. “Don’t make fun of me. Please.”
    That surprised me. “I’m not making fun of you. I’m just trying to figure out who you are, Isabel. You seemed shy and quiet the few times I’ve met you, but last night you were anything but.”
    “I had a head injury.”
    “I don’t think a head injury makes someone want to be sexy.” I glanced down at her full lips, wondering what they would taste like. “I think you should let Julia out to play more often. Maybe merge the two of you together. And for the record, you’re just as beautiful as your mother.”
    I expected further blushing and demurring. But she just met my stare, nostrils flaring. “You just told me to keep my clothes on back at your apartment. Which is it? Do you want sexy Julia or shy Isabel?”
    The truth was, I wanted both. I wanted a merger, just like I’d suggested. I wanted Julia to stroll around my apartment naked and do amazing things with her mouth, and I wanted sweet Isabel to show concern for me, have a conversation with me. It was the perfect combination if I were looking for a girlfriend, which I wasn’t.
    I didn’t know how to do a real relationship and if I attempted it, I was going to fuck it up, and I could never do that to Isabel. She deserved a good dude, some