My Protector (Book Three): My Protector, #3

By Layla Valentine and Holly Rayner

He'll do anything to protect her
But stealing her away was the easy part

Him:

I was hired to protect her, but first I had to kidnap her.
I'm a professional; I need to maintain the boundaries,
But keeping my distance is getting harder by the hour.
She doesn't believe me, and I don't blame her.
She says I don't need to restrain her; I can trust her not to run away.
Well thank God for that, cause the image of her in handcuffs is the last thing I need.
I'll take a bullet for her
But can I resist her?

Her:

He tells me I should trust him, that he's the only thing standing between me and the real bad guys…
Would you trust a guy who kidnapped you from the airport?
Didn't think so.
Joel Rust,
Ex-Navy SEAL with a delicious body
Are you my captor, or my savior?

This is the second book in the My Protector series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Layla Valentine
• Release date: Mar 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201640774

Book preview

MY PROTECTOR

Book Three

LAYLA VALENTINE

HOLLY RAYNER

Copyright © 2022 by Layla Valentine

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

CONTENTS

1. Jenna

2. Jenna

3. Jenna

4. Joel

5. Jenna

6. Jenna

Epilogue

CHAPTER 1

JENNA

Joel never sees the attack coming, and Shadow has him on the floor in a fraction of a second. The two men are about the same size, and in a fair fight I think they’d probably be equals, but there’s nothing fair about what’s going on here. Shadow is standing over Joel and pummeling him, not even allowing a break for Joel to get to his feet and potentially fight back. This isn’t a sportsmanlike fight, I realize. Not some manly way of resolving differences. This is a beating up, the kind of thing bullies do in schoolyards, and it hurts to see Joel on the receiving end of it.

I don’t even realize that I’ve been trying to dive in and protect him until I feel my father’s hands on my arms, restraining me. He’s saying my name, over and over, trying to snap me out of my rage and panic. Finally, his voice breaks through. Jenna! Stay out of it!

I calm myself, taking deep breaths, and nod to indicate that Dad can let me go. Once he has, it takes all my strength to keep from diving in anyway. Joel has done everything he could to protect me, and it’s killing me to watch this happen to him. He spits a mouthful of blood on the floor, and my heart wrenches. I look around for something, anything, with which to interrupt the fight. Surely there’s something that can be used as a weapon in here?

Joel attempts to strike back at Shadow, but his fist is loose, and there’s no force behind the swing of his arm. Something is wrong, I realize. His wrist is discolored and swollen. At first, I can’t figure out what could have happened, but suddenly it hits me—the handcuffs, the pipe. He must have injured it in the process of freeing himself. That means it’s my fault he can’t fight back, my fault he’s lying bloody on the floor trying to defend my father and me. I want to scream. I want to fling myself over his body and make Shadow stop.

Shadow pins Joel’s shoulders down and kneels beside him. Stay down, he says.

You know I can’t, Joel says.

I don’t want to keep doing this, Joel. I don’t want to hurt you.

I’m not making you do this, Joel says. No one is making you do this. You made a choice. Don’t be surprised when decent people get in your way.

Decent people, Shadow says, his voice a low snarl. You think you’re the judge of who’s decent and who isn’t? You think everything divides up so simply?

You’re hurting people, Joel says. He’s choking on his own words. Shadow’s hand is on his throat.

I can’t stand it. I feel like I’m going to crawl out of my skin. Dad isn’t holding me back anymore, but his hands are on my arms, and I know he can tell I’m itching to move toward the conflict. He’s trying to keep me in place, keep me sane, keep my focus on the fact that there is no way I could hope to overpower Shadow.

We both hurt people, Shadow hisses. When we served together, we both hurt people. We both did things we never thought we would do.

That was for the greater good, Joel says.

For the greater good, Shadow says. And you decide what the greater good is, right? You decide which causes are worth fighting for and who deserves to be protected?

The law decides, Joel says. Not me.

Laws can be wrong, Shadow says. He shifts his knee so it’s pinning Joel down by his sternum. Trust me, I’ve seen my share of laws abused and taken advantage of. But a good law protects the rights of the people, and it doesn’t put them at risk. It doesn’t allow random agents to come in and look for evidence of wrongdoing without so much as a warrant or a reason for suspicion.

Maybe…there was a reason. Joel’s voice is little more than a gasp now, and I can see that Shadow is leaning on him, putting pressure on his chest. I’m terrified that Joel’s ribs may crack under his weight. Boetsch is…a criminal.

He’s a family man, Shadow says. "He has children. He has a wife. He