Guarded – Eden Lux

We wandered through rooms of contemporary pieces, his hand steady on my waist as he explained the artists, the techniques, what drew him to each work. I learned things about Hunter I hadn’t expected. He was surprisingly funny and self-deprecating about his own attempts at painting in college. He had strong opinions about modern art but listened when I disagreed.

He noticed small details—the way light played across a canvas, the emotion captured in a sculpture’s lines. After the gallery, we flew over the city again as the sun began to set, painting the skyscrapers gold and rose. Hunter held my hand, his thumb tracing patterns on my palm that sent electricity up my arm. I didn’t want the day to end. I wanted to stay suspended in this bubble where Hunter and I could be something real, something uncomplicated by revenge and guilt and death.

But bubbles always burst. We landed back at the heliport as twilight settled over the city. An SUV waited to take us to dinner at an elegant restaurant with ivy climbing its brick facade, soft jazz drifting through the open door. The maître d’ led us to a private room where a table had been set for two.

Candles flickered. Wine waited in a crystal decanter. The food that arrived was exquisite—lobster and steak and caviar, strawberries with chocolate that melted on my tongue. We ate mostly in silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Just… heavy. Weighted with everything we weren’t saying. “How are you doing?” Hunter asked over dessert, setting down his fork to give me his full attention. “Overwhelmed,” I admitted, surprising myself with the honesty. “This is a lot.” “Too much?” “No. Just different from anything I’ve experienced before.” He reached across the table and took my hand, his thumb tracing those same maddening patterns.

“I wanted to give you a day that felt special. To show you that I enjoy spending time with you.” “Hunter…” “I want to know everything about you, Laura. Every thought in that brilliant mind.” No, you don’t. If you knew what I was really thinking, you’d throw me out of your life so fast it would make my head spin.

“I want to know everything about you, too,” I said instead. It wasn’t entirely a lie. He smiled, soft and genuine. “We have time. No need to rush when we’re just getting started.” But we didn’t have time.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is coincidental. Copyright © 2026 Eden Lux 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.

OceanofPDF.com CONTENTS Also by Eden Lux 1. Laura 2. Laura 3. Laura 4. Laura 5. Laura 6. Laura 7. Laura 8. Laura 9. Laura 10. Laura 11. Hunter 12. Hunter 13. Laura 14. Hunter 15. Laura 16. Hunter 17. Laura 18. Hunter 19. Laura 20. Laura Epilogue About the Author Leave a Review! OceanofPDF.com ALSO BY EDEN LUX 1. Guarded 2. Devoted 3. Restrained OceanofPDF.com 1 LAURA THORNE INDUSTRIES: Building Tomorrow’s Infrastructure, Today. When excellence matters, trust the Thorne name. Serving the Pacific Northwest for over 40 years. The file felt heavy in my hands.

Heavier than it should have been for just paper and ink. I’d been staring at the same page for ten minutes, trying to make sense of Marcus’s scrawled notes in the margins. Follow the money. T.I. contracts—who approved? Check city council minutes 2019-2022. My brother’s handwriting. Still here. Still trying to tell me something. A loud bang shattered the silence. My heart lurched.

The file slipped from my fingers, papers scattering across the hardwood floor of the tiny apartment. Another bang. Harder this time. The door frame shuddered. Before I could even process what was happening, strong hands grabbed my shoulders and yanked me backward. I stumbled, my scream dying in my throat as a hand—warm, firm—pressed gently over my mouth.

I was pulled into the narrow coat closet. The door clicked shut, plunging us into darkness. “Don’t. Move.” The voice was low, male, close enough that I felt his breath against my ear. My pulse thundered in my ears. I tried to speak, but the hand on my mouth pressed down harder. “Those men are here to kill you, Laura.” Four Weeks Earlier “Laura! Did you get those quotes I asked for?” I looked up from my desk to find Derek hovering over me, his arms crossed, and a perpetual look of irritation creased into his forehead.

My desk editor. Thirty-five going on sixty, with the disposition of someone who’d been personally wronged by the concept of enthusiasm. “Yes.”

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: bc290aa0fa63a47a
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 1,291,471 bytes (1.232 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 153
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 203.01 minutes
• Total Words: 40,603
• Total Characters: 230,747
• Average Words per Page: 265.38
• Average Characters per Page: 1508.15

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