Her Temporary Bodyguard

(Part 6) Chapter Five

Tara woke up when the car stopped moving. She blinked, taking a moment to register where she was and what had happened. How had she possibly fallen asleep again? Looking out the window, she saw the sign that read 'Office' over a door to what seemed like a cheap motel.

"Where are we?" She asked, undoing her seatbelt and sitting up in her seat. Her left palm still tingled from his touch, though she didn't doubt that Logan had let go of her as soon as she'd fallen asleep.

"Just outside Denton." The rough rasp in his voice made Tara turn to look at him. Really look at him. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked pale and slightly haggard. It was only then that she remembered he'd been injured in New Orleans. How could she have forgotten that he'd been shot at trying to save her? She likely hadn't helped matters by taking off on him, making him save her again or making him drive for the better part of the day.

"Why don't I go in and get a room? You can wait here," she told him, reaching for the door handle before he could think to protest. She pushed the door closed, trying to think up a quick backstory, and scowled when Logan got out of the car.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

"I'm not going to leave you alone," he said firmly. Tara inhaled sharply, trying not to take offence.

"I'm not going anywhere, except inside to get a room key."

"That's not what I'm worried about."

"I promise, if anything happens, I'll scream and you can come running. Why don't you just conserve all of that macho energy for that moment?" She turned on her heel, giving him her back as she strode toward the door of the motel.

The man at the desk was balding, wore thickly rimmed glasses and was rocking a serious beer belly under his stained t-shirt. Tara tried not to cringe as he looked up when a bell jangled over her head. He gave her a long, lingering look that made her skin crawl.

"Help you?" He said as he put down his magazine and got to his feet.

"I need a room for the night," she said, putting a lot of effort into using her stage voice. Everyone loved Holly Davenport, especially the men, and she really needed to not be herself right now.

"We only got one left. Number thirteen. No one wants it cuz it ain't lucky," he told her, though the sleezy grin he flashed her suggested that he would more than consider helping her to change that. Tara fought back a shudder and sidled up closer to the desk.

"Fancy that," she drawled, "thirteen is my boyfriend's lucky number. He'll be pleased as punch." The man scowled at the mention of a boyfriend, which made it a little bit easier for Tara to breathe normally. She'd been through too much in the past twenty-four hours to have to worry about the advances of a motel desk clerk.

"It's a hundred for the night," he said sharply. Tara bit back a grin. She didn't doubt that she could have gotten the room for considerably less if she'd told him she was single.

"A whole hundred? Sugar, you're breaking my wallet," she told him, making sure to pop her lower lip in a pout. She watched his eyes drop to her mouth and linger for a moment. Then he gave himself a shake and looked up at her face with a scowl.

"You got two people, it's a hundred."

"But I'm just a bitty little thing. I don't take up much space. Isn't there something you can do for me?" She fluttered her eyelashes as she had seen Laila do when she was dealing with a man who'd reached his limit and was trying to deny it.

Logan couldn't help the grin that spread across his face as he watched the desk clerk drool over Tara. She was playing him a good one and the man didn't stand a chance. She was channelling the bartender at The Red Cat, he recognized the look, and using her Holly Davenport voice. Logan had barely held it together when she'd used it on him and he'd been preoccupied. Tara thought on her feet, he'd give her that.