Page 38 of A Texas Hero

“That’s because I thought it was too much and unnecessary.”

“Do you still think so?”

Maybe, but this assignment was an easy transition for him, and that was the point. She wanted to help with that. The poor guy mistook someone’s brother for a stalker, and his phone for a gun. Here in Charming, he was almost getting a paid vacation. But there was something else going on with Archer. Overall, he carried himself with confidence, but there was also something deeply vulnerable about him. Something he hid from the world.

“I don’t know why, but he keeps asking me to cancel the party. He thinks it’s too dangerous and even did background checks on all my guests. Is he overreacting?”

“I don’t think so. You should trust his judgment on this. He’s been properly trained.”

“Yes, but…so Peter was in town and dropped in to say hello, and he said something interesting.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. He said something to the effect that Scott wasn’t the real danger, and then he corrected himself. Like somehow I’d heard him wrong, but I didn’t. Daddy, please tell me the truth—is the real danger that I might actually meet someone else and you’re still intent on us being together?”

Her father laughed like the idea was ridiculous. “No, I gave up on you two a long time ago.”

She wanted to tell him that Peter didn’t want to give up on them, but she didn’t want the conversation to take another turn.

“Honestly, I don’t need a bodyguard,” she said. “But I appreciate the thought. Archer’s a good guy.”

“Yeah? I got close to my bodyguards. We’re still friends to this day, even if they no longer work for me. What’s yours like? Does he like football?”

Zoey rolled her eyes even if he couldn’t see her. Her daddy thought the world revolved around football.

“He’s young, about my age. And he likes soccer but calls it football.”

He laughed hard enough to hack up a lung. “One of those.”

“Having a bodyguard and a chauffeur has certainly brought back memories.”

“I’m sorry about all that, baby girl. Football fans have been known to be unreasonable at times.”

“It actually brings back good memories of you, me and Mami. It was sort of like we were the Three Musketeers and it was us against the world. Every time someone said something terrible about you on ESPN, I could literally see the fumes coming out of her ears. She was your biggest champion. But then she got sick, and everybody loved you again.”

“God, I miss her. Every day.” Her father’s voice broke.

She hadn’t meant to bring up painful memories. Thinking of her mother made Zoey happy, but with her father it was different. He only fixated on what he’d lost, not what he’d had.

“I want what you two had, Daddy. My person. The one who will always be there for me, who will be on my team. I need my own team.”

“And I want that for you, baby.”

“Then you’re going to have to accept that you can’t choose that man. I will need to date plenty of men to find the one, eventually.”

“I don’t have a problem with that. But maybe you need to screen them better. Maybe I should have them screened for you.”

“No thanks, because no one is going to be perfect. He just has to be my kind of perfect, not yours. Only I can screen for that.”

Her father chuckled. “You mean he might not appreciate American football?”

“What I’m saying is that’s not a qualifier.”

“Makes sense to me. All I want is for him to be someone who puts you first, who won’t hurt you, who will never leave you and will always protect you.”

Zoey rolled her eyes. “Interesting. You’ve just described a bodyguard.”

“Well, he won’t get paid to do it. How about that?”