Keep Her Safe, page 6
“You don’t want kids?” I can see why he may not want them but that seems like a shame because I’m sure he’d make an amazing father.
“Again, not while I’m doing this. I have my reasons, but if and when I’m ready to start a family, whenever that may be, my focus will be on protecting them.”
“Going to leave me high and dry at some point, huh?” I tease but I feel a pang of disappointment at the thought of not having him in my life down the line.
“Rarely do I stay with the same assignment. Usually, every few years I change it up.”
I frown. “You’ve been with me for five years.”
He takes another long sip of his drink. “You’re different.”
I tuck one of the strands framing my face behind my ear, which is my nervous habit that I’m sure he’s picked up on. “Why am I different?” He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and gives me a look that I’m able to read. “Right. Because my parents died?”
“I wasn’t ready to leave you on your own after three years.”
“I’m an adult, you know. I would have been fine.” I turn away slightly embarrassed that he feels like he has to babysit me because of the trauma I’ve been through. A memory of collapsing into Damian’s arms when I’d learned that my parents were killed in a car accident flashes through my head. “I’m stronger than people give me credit for. Including you, apparently.”
“That’s not how I meant it.”
I look down at my drink. “Sure.” I get up, planning to go upstairs and change into sweatpants and wait for Veronica to show up when he says my name. I turn around and I’m shocked to see him right behind me even though I know he can move stealthily and quickly. He’s rarely been this close to me except in extreme circumstances. I smell his cologne and it’s sexy and clean and I find myself pressing my legs together because a vision of me laying between sheets that smell like him flashes through my brain. His eyes move across my face from my eyes to my nose to my mouth and I briefly wonder if he’s going to touch me when he takes a step back. I let go of the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
“That’s not how I meant it,” he repeats. “I know you will be fine and you are stronger than any person I’ve been assigned to.” He narrows his eyes and sucks in a breath before looking away. “I just…care about you and I don’t know very many people that I would trust to watch out for you.”
A tiny gasp escapes me before I sink my teeth into my lips to quiet the sound. “I—well, that’s nice.”
He clears his throat and for a moment I think he’s nervous. Part of me wants to press him to see what he’s thinking, but that’s also the part that just got her heart broken and is a little needy for male attention.
“So, you’re in for the night?” I nod. “Right, well you know where to find me. I’ll probably come by again to check on everything once Veronica gets here.”
He starts to walk away. “You could stay, you know.” He freezes in the doorway and turns around. “I mean, I’m going to change but I was probably going to come back down here to wait for V.”
His sharp jaw tightens, and again he seems like he’s at war with himself over what to do. “I have some things I need to do tonight,” he says and while it’s not cold, his tone is definitely more clipped than it was moments ago.
“Oh okay.” I nod. “Sure.”
“Some other time,” and then he’s gone without another word.
Jesus Fucking Christ, Hunt. Get it together.
I’m outside heading towards my house when I decide to do a walk of the perimeter. I don’t often anymore since I’ve taken all the measures to ensure the property is secure at all times, but the past hour has me more keyed up than usual and I could use the distraction. I walk down the long driveway towards the gate and grab the flashlight that is stowed at the entrance.
I can’t believe that little fucker has been cheating on her. I stomp along the boundary of the gate, searching for anything that seems out of place. How the fuck could he do that to her?
Seeing those tears in her eyes when we were in the bathroom of Rush fucking gutted me. It’s so rare that she cries and seeing those tears stream down her face felt like someone had knocked the wind out of me.
And then…back here. Why the fuck had I said all of that? Calling her pretty and perfect and even telling her about my ex-girlfriend, Simone? I had never told any of my clients anything personal. I kept everything professional. No lines were crossed. Even the times that I was assigned to a man, I never allowed him to think we were friends. I was there to do a job and nothing else.
It has been years since I’ve even thought about Simone. I’d thrown myself into work when I ended things and found a new assignment guarding a man in the running for senator that may or may not have had a dicey past. I was with him for a few years before I’d essentially been recruited by his lawyer—the father of television star, Shay Eastwood.
It shocked me how much I liked her instantly. She was fiery and had this energy that was different than anyone I’d ever known, let alone guarded. Despite being eighteen, she was pragmatic and mature and while she liked to go out, she rarely got into trouble. I saw the way men looked at her. The way their heads turned and ran their gazes all over her. I’d seen the pornographic fan mail and the emails and the way some men would even touch themselves when she’d walk by. It was fucking ridiculous that she’d become so numb to it all that it barely fazed her.
She was and is beautiful and she knows it, but she doesn’t come off arrogant. She’s confident which is a fine line to walk and it’s sexy as fuck.
She is sexy as fuck.
And it drives me fucking crazy.
I had never been attracted to anyone that I was protecting before. I knew the trouble that came with getting involved with a client and I had made it my cardinal rule to keep my distance and not get too close.
It’s why I didn’t touch her unless I absolutely had to.
I make it to the back of the house and my eyes immediately go to her bedroom. Her curtains are drawn but I see her light on and for a brief second, I wish she’d left it open. She faces nothing but miles and miles of land so there is no risk of anyone seeing her unless someone is in her backyard. Someone like me. I could walk by and see her just for a second.
No, Hunt.
Feelings of shame wash over me thinking about her.
Naked.
I grit my teeth trying to temper the feeling of my dick thickening in my pants as I think about her. I walk through her garden, checking for anything out of the ordinary and take a seat on the bench wondering what the hell I’m going to do now that she’s single. It was much easier to manage this when she started dating Paxton. She’d stopped flirting with me and it seemed like the tension between us came to a halt while she focused on her relationship with him. Frankly, I was grateful for him. It solidified the thought that I couldn’t have her.
But before that? When I had just started my assignment? And right after her parents died? She was very clear that she’d wanted something to happen between us and I had to be the responsible one to tell her that wasn’t going to happen.
Five Years Prior
It’s been six months since I got this job protecting Shay Eastwood who might actually be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. All of the magazines and media say that she is one of the most beautiful people in the world, but seeing her through my eyes is something completely different. I saw her fresh from sleep, without a stitch of makeup, or right after a shower when her naturally curly hair is pulled into a bun. I’ve seen her when she’s sick and throwing up from one too many tequila shots with her friend Veronica and I’ve even seen her cry once after an argument with her father.
She was beautiful in all of those times.
But that’s a problem. It’s a problem that I think she’s beautiful, smart, charming, and talented. Fuck, I could go down a laundry list of all the things that make Shay Eastwood the star of every one of my thoughts while I fucked my hand.
I’ve kept things professional, but my resolve is weakening especially when she walks around in those tiny little shorts that make her smooth legs go on for fucking miles. I love a woman with nice legs and hers are fucking phenomenal. They are toned with muscles from ballet that I’d thought of more than once wrapped around my waist while I drove into her.
I’ve played with the idea of resigning. I could get another job easily. One where I don’t feel so distracted half the time by a woman I can’t even escape in my dreams. A job where I’m not hyper-aware of every move they make for reasons other than the fact that I’m hired to protect them.
I’m sleeping in the guesthouse that is just to the right of Shay’s house tonight. There are some nights I do stay in her house, but it’s been a very quiet few days and I believe her assistant and Veronica are both staying over as she has an early photoshoot tomorrow morning. I’m mindlessly flipping through the channels when my phone pings with a text message. I reach for it, assuming it’s Shay but not sure why she’d be texting me at almost one in the morning, and sure enough, I see the alias I have her under flash across my screen.
Winter: Hi, I need help!
I sit up, wondering what she needs help with but am also pretty sure that it’s not an emergency. I have her stored in my phone as Winter Green. Mainly because of the disgusting wintergreen Lifesavers she eats all the time but also because of her love for snow and skiing and everything associated with winter.
Me: With?
Winter: Please!
Me: You haven’t answered my question. What do you need help with at one in the morning?
Within seconds my phone starts to ring and I bring the phone to my ear. “Yes?”
“Can you please stop being difficult and just come here, please?”
I can hear the alcohol in her voice and I let out a sigh as I pull on my shoes. “If I get all the way there and it’s nothing, I am going to be irritated, Shay.”
“You’re always irritated,” she mumbles.
“What was that?”
“Stop being so cranky with me all the time. I am a fucking deliiiight and you are RUDE,” she says as I make my way out of the guesthouse.
“Is that so?” I chuckle because the tone of her voice is almost comical.
“Mmmhmmm.” I hang up and make my way into the house. I climb the stairs towards her room and I wonder if Hillary and Veronica are with her, but I don’t hear anything as I approach her door. I knock and when the door flies open, I fight the urge to groan when I see Shay standing in front of me wearing nothing but a tank top and boy-short underwear. The tank top has a high neckline so I don’t see any cleavage but I can tell she isn’t wearing a bra because her nipples are poking through the material. So much smooth skin the color of a rich caramel is on display and it’s fucking painful to drag my eyes away from her.
I clear my throat. “Is there a reason that you’ve summoned me to your bedroom?”
She bounces on her toes and points towards the corner. “There’s a bug.”
I shoot her a look, momentarily ignoring that she’s wearing next to nothing so I can show her how irritated I am. “Are you serious?”
“It’s gross.” She wiggles her fingers and scrunches her nose. “A spider.”
I stomp across the room, grabbing a tissue from her nightstand and pick up the very tiny reason I’m living my worst nightmare slash fantasy before tossing it in the toilet of her ensuite bathroom.
She gives me a smile and two thumbs up. “Thank you!” She bats her eyelashes at me. “You’re the best!”
“You’re welcome. Anything else?” I ask, and the twinkle in her eye lets me know that I’m about to regret that question when she hops on her bed making her tits bounce deliciously.
FUCK. I have to get out of here.
“Well, actually there’s one other thing.”
I cross my arms over my chest, balling my hands into fists in the process, and begin running through every unsexy thing I can think of to calm my dick that is about to start rising. “Mmmhm.” I raise an eyebrow at her.
“So, there’s this party next weekend?”
I lean against the door jamb. “Go on.”
“No paparazzi. They’re even making us check our phones at the door.” This isn’t new. There are often parties she goes to where they want celebrities to feel safe to let loose without the fear of someone leaking a photo so no phones are allowed inside. Usually, security waits outside so we can keep our phones and we have access to some sort of landline.
“But I was thinking…maybe you’d want to actually come.”
“Of course, I’ll come. I’ll be outside like always.” I nod at her.
Her lips form the most adorable fucking pout and I lower my gaze at her. “I mean, like come in…to the party. Have…fun with me?”
Well, shit. “Shay, you don’t pay me to have fun.”
“Okay, well what if I gave you the night off, then will you?”
“If I had the night off, I wouldn’t be going to a party with you. Kind of sounds like work.”
She scoffs and tosses a hair over her shoulder. “Some say hanging out with me is fun.”
“Well, I’m not one of your friends.”
“God, you sound like my parents. You’re not that old, Damian. Don’t you ever let loose?”
“Not while I’m on the job.”
She huffs and puts her hands under her chin as if she’s praying. “Damian, pleeease! I think you’ll have fun, and Veronica and Derek are in their ‘on’ phase and third-wheeling with them is really fucking irritating sometimes.” She rolls her eyes dramatically.
“Shay, I’m not here to entertain you. You have plenty of friends you can go with.”
“Well…yeah, but none of them…are you.” She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip almost to drive her point home that she’s asking me out.
Holy shit.
The most gorgeous woman I’ve ever met just essentially asked me out and I have to tell her no. “Shay.”
“I think you would have fun. I mean I’m fun.” She points at herself. “We would have fun together. I said ‘fun’ a lot, didn’t I?” Her lips form a straight line as she looks up towards the ceiling as if the answer to her question will fall from it.
“Shay, I can’t…we can’t go down that road.”
“It’s just a party.”
“It’s an invitation for lines to become blurry and that’s not how I work.”
She shrugs, and a smile so blinding finds her face it makes an unfamiliar feeling spread through my chest. Shit, she is gorgeous. “I don’t think any lines will get blurry.” I put a hand over my eyes and rub my forehead trying to figure out how to be clearer and also to break whatever spell she’s just cast over me by smiling at me like that. “Why won’t you look at me?”
“Well, for one, because of how you’re dressed.”
She looks down at herself and then back up at me. “What’s wrong with how I’m dressed?”
I shoot her a glare. “Don’t.”
She frowns, lowering her eyebrows and pursing her lips. “I’m in my bedroom, in my house, that I pay for. I can dress however I like.”
“True, but if you’re going to summon me here to kill a spider the size of your pinky nail, put on some clothes.” She scowls at me and I resist the urge to let a chuckle fall from my lips. “Shay—”
“I’ve seen the way you look at me, you know,” she blurts out and I freeze.
“What? I’m not looking at you in any way that’s inappropriate.” I don’t know what she’s seen. I do my very best not to let my eyes linger on her too long or to stare at her with anything but my blank, vacant expression I use while on duty.
“A woman knows when a man is looking at her.” She looks up at me through those full lashes and I know at this moment I have to resign. She’s too fucking tempting. All I want is to sink my teeth into her and bend her over every surface in this room.
I’ll wait until next week to resign so that she doesn’t think it’s in direct relation to this. At the end of the day, I don’t want her to be embarrassed for something I feel just as strongly about as she does. I’ll sit her and her parents down and thank them for the opportunity and offer to help them find my replacement but tell them I ultimately need to step away. I’ll make up something that won’t hurt her feelings. I’ll tell them I’m going back overseas. They’ll never know. But I can’t keep being her bodyguard. I want her too fucking much, and clearly, she wants me too.
Next week, I’ll be done.
The next day, Shay Eastwood lost both of her parents.
Present Day
That day still haunts me. I had to be the one to tell her because news reports got leaked before the police could even get to her, and the last thing I wanted was for the internet to tell her that her parents were dead. I get up from the bench and make my way toward her heated pool. The lights on her pool are always on and I walk around it once. I had planned to quit, but there was no way I could leave her then. Not when her whole life changed in the blink of an eye and she felt like I was one of the few people she could depend on.
There was an instance or two that she’d tried again that I know stemmed from grief given that one of the times was the day of their funerals, but after that, she stopped. Things were polite and appropriate and then she met Paxton which seemed to also halt my feelings as well. She seemed happy and I couldn’t have her, so I forced myself not to look at her. Not to think about her. Not to touch my dick to thoughts of her riding me. I stopped all of it. As much as I could. But now she’s single again and she’s older and stronger…and still off limits.
My thoughts are interrupted by her voice. “I thought you had things to do?” The sound of her flip-flops scraping against the pavement comes closer as she drops her towel down on the chair next to where I’m sitting. She’s wearing a crocheted bathing suit cover-up and I can see scraps of red beneath it and the strings tied around her neck. Her hair is pulled into a sleek bun at the top of her head and though it’s dark, the light from the pool allows me to see that her face is free from makeup.
