“Cole!” Holly said.
“Is it that bad?”
“Yes! I asked you a million times. Why didn’t you tell me?”
He shrugged. “Thought I could take it.”
“If you would have told me at the first hint, we could’ve put some moleskin on it and prevented all…that.” She waved a hand toward his feet.
“I didn’t want to complain.”
She huffed out a sigh. “Wait here.” A second later, she returned with a red plastic first aid kit and sat on the ottoman next to him.
“I already washed ’em,” he said. “I was waiting for you to ask about Band-Aids. I can do it.”
“Just hold still.” She quickly and gently applied ointment and bandages to the blisters. “I told you those boots needed breaking in.”
“It’s not as if we did a twenty-five-mile trek. To me, following you around at workwasbreaking them in.”
“Hm. Still, you should have said something.”
And look like a wuss? No way. “Just tell me they’re broken in.”
“Doubt it. And you’re going to be hurtin’ tomorrow.”
She wasn’t wrong. The next day, he stayed in the car as much as possible, but by the afternoon felt so cooped up, he had to get out. Holly was assisting a family with two little boys who’d gotten into poison ivy.
As he walked over, one of the kids pointed at Cole. “Why’s him limpin’, Mommy?”
Cole ignored Holly’s snicker. And returned to the car.
“So, what are we doing tomorrow?” Cole asked. They’d switched out cars and were heading back to Jen’s.
“Oh, the Fourth of July is a big deal around here. My friends and I do the same thing every year. Parade, lake, BBQ, pie, fireworks, more pie…We’ve got the whole day planned.” She looked over from the driver’s seat and winked.
“What about security? It’s hard to do risk assessment for large crowds.”
“Hadn’t given that much thought,” she admitted. “Just keep an eye out I guess?”
“That’s hardly foolproof.”
“I’m open to suggestions. As long as they don’t cramp my day.”
“And as long as you get pie?”
“Stand by, smarty pants. The Sugar Shack’s apple pie will make you cry it’s so good.”
He chuckled and shook his head. This woman. What an enigma. She’d been through a lot—a broken engagement, witnessing a murder, her life threatened, her house torn apart, being saddled with a grumpy bodyguard—but held herself together remarkably well.
Working with her the last few days, he’d come to respect her tenacity. And it was refreshing to hang around a woman who ate what she wanted and said what she thought. It wasn’t that New York women held their tongues. Not by a long shot. It was just that being assertive and brash came off differently than confident and honest, which was how he saw Holly.
He checked himself. Becoming complacent was dangerous. Daydreaming about what those legs looked like in shorts could get her killed. Paycheck or not, his job was to protect her. And todo that, he had to put away any burgeoning friendly feelings and stay vigilant.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Cole woke the following morning in a pretty good mood. His blisters had more or less healed, no one had seen Edwardo since Wednesday, and Holly had hyped up the Fourth of July so much, he was genuinely excited for the day off.
On the way home from work last night, they’d stopped by Holly’s to pack up all the stuff she needed for the festivities—coolers, blankets, camp chairs. Then they hit the local grocery store.
