THE (UNSOUGHT) BODYGUARD

THE ENDING

Four Months Later

Annika sucked in air rapidly, trying to keep a handle on her heart rate, arms aching. "You're getting better. That was almost four rounds," her trainer, a very buff, ultra gay guy named Rey said, patting her on the shoulder. He was six four, atleast One hundred twenty five kgs of muscle, and upon first meeting him, Annika had almost turned around and walked right back out of the gym. She was glad now she hadn't.

"Thanks," she puffed, chugging some water, wiping her face. "Holy fuck, I'm not going to be able to lift my paintbrush for days, though," she groaned.

Rey grinned, his teeth very white in his dark, coffee colored face. "Get over it, Annika. No whining like a baby." She sighed, rolling her eyes, then hugged him. "See you next week," he said, his stuff packed up, and slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Bye," she said with a wave.

"Annika Trivedi," said a voice behind her and she turned, pasting on a smile in case she was about to have her picture taken, but the smile slipped as soon as she registered who she was looking at.

"Shivaay," she said, then closed her mouth and got up from the bench beside the little boxing ring. She hadn't seen or heard from him in ages and now there he was, in the flesh, six feet away. Still tall, and broad, and devastatingly sexy as his dark blue eyes roved over her. And she still felt that hot primal lust for him she'd felt the first time, and every other time, she'd laid eyes on him. The magnetic, animal pull toward him that made her wanted to get naked and jump him.

S: "Your left hook needs work."

She forced a bland smile and a corner of his own mouth quirked up. "Thanks, I'll let Rey know," she said lightly.

S: "Is he the new muscle?"

The girl shot him a filthy look. "No," she snapped. "He's my trainer." She felt a surge of sadness and hurt that Shivaay clearly didn't seem at all affected by how they'd split, and wasn't remotely broken up over being away from her. Well, good for him. "Well, I have to go. Bye."

S: "I went by your cousins' place. They said you moved out, but they refused to give up your new address."

Annika shrugged. "That's good. I try to keep a low profile, you know." She tossed her water and towel into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "See you around." Annika tried to make her tone light and impersonal, but she felt a sob try to wriggle out, cracking the last syllable.

"I miss you," he said. "And everything that's supposed to smell like you doesn't."

The girl paused at that. "Excuse me?"

"You smell like vanilla," he said softly, closing the gap between them. "But none of the smells are quite right. Everything that should smell like you doesn't, and it's driving me crazy." Annika stared at him.

"It's my shampoo," she said after a beat. "It's vanilla and almond, so that's probably why-" She broke off as he moved into her personal bubble, taking a half step back.

"I miss you," he said again.

Annika tilted her chin up aggressively. "That sucks," she said.

His mouth curved into that almost smile again. "It does," he admitted. "And now I spend my days playing chauffeur and attempting to wrangle, with limited success, two twenty year old twins. So it sucks even more that not only do I not get to stare at you all day, but I don't get to stare at you all night either, and that's a bullshit tradeoff."

She sucked in a deep breath, but that was a bad idea, because Shivaay smelled fucking amazing and she could feel the warmth of him even from a half step back, and it was wreaking havoc on her senses. Annika licked her lips. "The tradeoff being that at least now you don't have to see yourself in some shitty tabloid?"