In the Bodyguard's Arms

He ran a shaking hand over his face. And then something must have snapped inside him because he shouted back at her, “I don’t want to stay! I don’t want to be in the same room with someone who could think I would sell them out for money.”

“Cole and Dane are right. I must be overly tired.”
He had stayed up the entire night before, guarding her. Maybe that was what she found so attractive about him—his protectiveness—even though he was getting paid to protect her. No. What she found so attractive about him was that he was so damn attractive.
He continued, “I thought I heard you call me...” But he shook his head. “Yeah, I’m too tired. Since Dane’s guarding the outside, I probably should try to get some sleep.”

Everything’s fine. No sign of the stalker. Stop bothering me and get some sleep.
Hopefully it was just sleep deprivation making his friend so crazy.

“Nope,” he said. “You’re not sending me anywhere. I’m staying right here. You need backup.”
“I’m alert,” Manny said. There was no way he would be able to take the nap Cole had suggested. He was too wired, too close to catching this bastard to miss any opportunity.

But he’d had the entire sleepless night to strategize how to catch this stalker.

“We need to bring her back to River City,” Cole said, “and get her into one of the safe houses with around-the-clock protection, each of us taking a shift. You can’t do this alone.”
How bad did he look that his friend was so worried about him?

The entire night he’d stayed alert to movement outside the cabin, to shadows shifting in the night and the fog. He’d also stayed alert to every sound Teddie had made as she murmured and shifted in her sleep.

“You really are tired,” he said. “Why don’t you go in the house and get some sleep?”
Manny shook his head. “I’m fine. It’s not like I’ve never been sleep-deprived before.”
“Yeah, when we were being tortured,” Cole said. “That must be what this entire assignment is to you—torture.”

“Looks like you could use some coffee, too.”
Manny ran a hand down over his face; it shook slightly. “Yeah, I could. I was up all night making sure he didn’t try for her again.”