PROTECTOR

Crew Lacroix signed a bodyguard contract to protect Tessa Hale because she’s writing the story that could burn Merrick Holdings to the ground. If she lives long enough to publish, he gets closer to the firm that took his sister.

He moves her into his condo. He fixes what’s broken without a word. Then he reads her draft and stops on a name she didn’t know she’d written. A connection to his missing sister.

Tessa chooses him with the whole ledger open.

Dark bodyguard romance. Ticking-clock suspense. Dual first-person POV. Full HEA. For readers of Penelope Douglas, Devney Perry, and Pepper Winters.

Dark bodyguard romance. Ticking-clock suspense. Dual first-person POV. Full HEA. For readers of Penelope Douglas, Devney Perry, and Pepper Winters.

Trope Stack

🛡️ Bodyguard / Protector

🏠 Forced Cohabitation (His Condo)

⏰ Ticking Clock (Exposé Must Publish)

🤝 Reluctant Allies

💥 Trauma Bond

😈 Morally Black Hero (Chosen, Not Redeemed)

🔪 Touch Her and Die

🖤 Possessive Obsession

🔒 Dual First-Person POV

❤️ Guaranteed HEA

Trigger Warnings

⚠️   High heat, one on-page death (operative, calibrated), hit-and-run, assassination attempts, trafficking subtext, surveillance, weapon use,  Pet death (referenced, off-page), contained violence