Close Protection

Chapter 14 Daphne

14 Daphne

‘Goodness, no. Take it off.’ I sip my water and look around the shop again, hoping something else will jump out at me as Milosh goes back into the changing room. ‘How many tops do we have now?’ I ask the sales associate next to me.

‘We have four tops, two pairs of trousers and one jumper so far.’

‘Thank you,’ I reply with a smile. ‘We just need a quarter-zip and a gilet, then we’re good to go,’ I call out to Milosh.

He appears a minute later wearing dark-wash jeans, a navy quarter-zip jumper with a navy blue gilet over the top and some loafers.

He looks good. Really good.

‘Much better.’ I smile, walking over to him so I can take a closer look at the fit. ‘And everything fits you really well!’ I was slightly concerned that we’d have trouble finding something to fit his broad shoulders while also being long enough, but this jumper moulds perfectly to his body. ‘Do you have this outfit but in black?’ I ask the sales associate.

‘Let me go and check.’ She walks off, leaving me and Milosh alone.

‘So, what do you think?’ I ask. From what I’ve seen, he’s only looked at himself once since he walked out of the changing room, and even then it was rushed.

‘It’s fine,’ he states simply, moving a step closer to me. ‘If this is what you want, then let’s get it.’

‘Okay. Do you want to wear this out of the shop?’ I hold my breath when he tucks a few stray hairs behind my ear delicately, his hand lingering briefly.

‘No, I’ll be too hot. Let me go and change into something more weather appropriate.’ I open my mouth to respond, but he beats me to it, dipping down to whisper into my ear. ‘Don’t worry, it’ll still be Daphne Green approved.’

He walks off just as the sales assistant comes back with the black version of his outfit. ‘Thank you. Could you add that to the yes pile, please, and wrap everything up?’

‘Of course, madam,’ she replies, walking off but stopping midway to the till and turning back. ‘I just have to say, you and your partner make such a lovely couple! I wish someone looked at me the way he looks at you and I wish I could look at someone with the same amount of love that’s in your eyes.’

‘Oh… thank… thank you,’ I manage to squeeze out with a strangled smile. ‘That’s very kind!’

The way he looks at me?

Love in my eyes?

I’m sorry, did I miss something?

We haven’t even officially started this whole pretend-boyfriend thing yet, but I’m glad to know we’re really selling it.

‘Oh, no problem at all,’ the sales associate rattles on. It’s actually rather endearing. ‘I just think, you’re so pretty and he’s so handsome. And he speaks to you so gently. It’s like a beautiful fairy tale come to life!’ she finishes, turning back round and continuing to the till.

Huh.

She bought it.

Me and Milosh.

Milosh and I.

Daphne and Mi— ‘Way to sell it,’ Milosh interrupts my thoughts, walking out of the dressing room. My eyes roam his body as I take in his outfit choice.

A black knitted polo with black chinos, paired with a black belt with gold hardware and some black loafers.

It’s still him, but with a touch more… me.

The perfect mix.

‘What are you talking about?’ I respond, once my mind actually registers what he just said.

‘You’re the stiffest person I’ve met.’ He smirks, amusement dancing in his eyes.

‘No, I am not,’ comes my very reasonable answer.

‘Daphne, she complimented us as a couple and you froze up. You need to loosen up.’

‘Says you, Mr Be-downstairs-in-five and I-only-give-two-word-responses-because-I’m-Milosh.’ I use my best Bulgarian accent to really drive the point home.

He frowns, though that stupid smirk stays on his face. ‘I’m sorry, is that supposed to be me?’

‘Not supposed to be, is,’ I say as I start walking to the till. ‘You know what, let’s do a little test.’ I turn back to face him. ‘We’ll see who can be the least stiff. You want a fake girlfriend, well then you’re going to get the best fake girlfriend a man could ask for.’

He studies me for a moment before stepping forward and raising his hand to run two fingers along my jaw.

‘Sure,’ he murmurs into my ear. I’m enveloped in that clean, warm scent of his before he steps away all too quickly, continuing the walk over to the till.

‘We’re gonna take these clothes too, please,’ I inform the sales assistant. She nods and smiles, handing me a pair of scissors to cut the tags off then holding up the card reader to me once I’ve done. I tap without bothering to look at the price, while Milosh takes the bags.

‘Where to next?’ Milosh asks, as we start walking out of the shop.

‘Well, we still need to get you a tux, and a dress and some shoes for me. Let’s start with the tux then we’ll go from there,’ I decide, leading him towards our next stop. ‘Now, ideally I would’ve taken you to Savile Row, but the purple label will have to do instead. If we don’t find anything there we’ll go to Cucinelli, as we—’

‘Daphne!’ someone calls. I turn around and spot Isabella walking towards us, bags and boyfriend in hand.

‘Bella, hi!’ I smile, waving to her. We stop walking and wait for them to catch up. ‘Cousin Isabella, same age, basically grew up together, along with my other cousin, Camilla,’ I whisper to Milosh.

‘I know who she is.’

I feel a nauseating pang of something akin to jealousy as he looks over at her.

Unwarranted and unhinged? Absolutely. But me and common sense are on the outs right now.

‘How are you?’ I ask once she reaches us, briefly looking over to her boyfriend and smiling warmly. ‘Hi, Eddie.’

‘Hey, Daph.’ He nods back.

‘Daphne, oh my gosh, I haven’t seen you in an age!’ Isabella drawls.

‘Is, you saw me at graduation a few weeks ago.’ I laugh.

‘Five weeks ago, Daphne. Five weeks. That’s an age in my book,’ she responds, even though her attention is now elsewhere. ‘Aren’t you gonna introduce me?’ she says, eyeing Milosh up and down, as if Eddie is not standing right there.

‘Oh goodness, yes, sorry. Milosh, this is my Cousin Isabella and her boyfriend Edward. Eddie, Isabella, this is Milosh, my bod—’

‘Boyfriend,’ he interrupts. I feel one of Milosh’s hands lace around my waist as he drops the bags, using his other to shake Eddie’s.

Oh, he’s good at this.

I thread my fingers through his at my waist and bring my other hand up to rest on his chest.

‘Yes, sorry. My boyfriend.’ I laugh stiffly. ‘I just can’t get used to saying it!’

‘Boyfriend? Daph, you never told me you were even interested in someone, let alone dating them.’ Isabella frowns.

‘I was going to tell you, but we wanted to keep it really low key,’ I explain, feeling awful for lying to my closest friend.

‘Right… Sure.’ She eyes me suspiciously before looking back over to Milosh and shrugging. ‘Well, you definitely did good, Daph. You definitely did good.’

‘You did good but I did better,’ Milosh says, looking down at me. His eyes drop to my lips for a moment before I feel his hand move to my hip, gently squeezing.

‘Oh, well, good for you both.’ Isabella smirks. ‘How did you even meet?’

‘Monaco Grand Prix last year,’ Milosh answers as I try to hide my shock. How did he know I was at the grand prix last year? ‘We met when I was on a tour of the Greenway Motors cockpit.’

‘Oh, so you’re a Formula One man?’ Isabella questions, looking more than impressed.

‘Something like that,’ he responds, his hand moving to rub soft circles on my lower back. My skin starts to heat under his touch and my breath involuntarily becomes shallow.

‘Where are you guys off to now?’ I ask, trying to keep it together.

‘We were just about to head into Ralph Lauren to see if we can get a tux for Eddie because all of his are still in Switzerland,’ she replies, rolling her eyes.

Eddie and Isabella met at school and have been that typical on-again-off-again couple for the past three years. If Eddie had it his way she’d already have a big fat engagement ring on her finger, but I’ve come to realize they both have very different ideas of how their relationship should be. Isabella gets bored quickly – hence the on-again-off-again – whereas Eddie’s a committed relationship guy through and through.

‘We were headed there too! Let’s go together,’ I suggest. I need a bit of space from Milosh, and if that means using my cousin as a human buffer so be it. I don’t even bother looking back at him, because I know what his expression will be. Unimpressed and uninterested.

‘Daph, I can’t believe you kept this from me,’ Isabella whispers as we walk into the store. ‘I thought we told each other everything.’

Way to make a girl feel awful.

‘I know, I’m sorry, it was just all so new and I wanted to stay in our little uninterrupted bubble a short while longer.’

Isabella sighs, squeezing my hand in that comforting way she did when we were kids. ‘That’s okay. As long as I’m the first to know I guess it doesn’t matter.’

‘Girls,’ Eddie interrupts, looking through the tuxedos on display, ‘do we need tails or not?’

‘No tails,’ Isabella and I say at the same time.

‘All right,’ Isabella says, dragging me off to the side, ‘tell me everything!’

‘There’s nothing much to tell, Bella,’ I say, very aware that Milosh can still hear us. ‘I met him, we started talking, he asked me out and now here we are.’

‘Okay, but tell me, what’s he like? I kind of expected to see you with someone a little more…’ She trails off, sneaking another look back at Milosh.

‘Like Eddie?’ I finish for her.

‘Well… yeah, kind of.’ We both look over to Eddie and Milosh, silently comparing them. They’re around the same height, with Milosh being an inch or two taller, dressed pretty similarly, and are both white. That’s where the similarities end. Where Milosh is obviously very muscular, Eddie is slimmer. Think the Flash and Captain America. Both strong but in vastly different ways. Eddie has a very sweet, kind, boy-next-door look to him, with fluffy blond hair and blue eyes, whereas Milosh looks like the guy your mother would warn you to stay away from. Dark hair and sharp features. He’s one tattoo sleeve away from a biker-Bruce Wayne crossbreed.

‘He looks like he’s a heartbreak ready to happen, Daph.’

‘I know how it looks, Bella, I really do, but he’s not like that. He’s kind, protective and soft with me. That’s all that really matters.’

‘What do his parents do?’ Meaning – does he come from money?

‘They’re in commercial real estate,’ I lie.

‘Well, all right then.’ Bella looks sceptically at him for a moment before turning back to me. ‘I’m happy for you. Just be careful, okay?’

‘Of course.’

‘All right,’ Eddie interrupts as he and Milosh walk over to us, suits in hand. ‘These are the ones we’re starting off with. Are they good?’ He holds the tuxedo up to show Isabella and Milosh does the same, holding his up to show me. He’s picked out a traditional, single-breasted, black wool tuxedo with sharp lines, a crisp finish and silk lapels, whereas Eddie’s tux is a double-breasted cream jacket and black trousers combo.

‘Looks like a good choice,’ I say to Milosh. ‘Yours too, Eddie. Why don’t you guys go and try them on and we’ll look for some pocket squares?’

‘I’m not wearing a pocket square, Miss Green,’ Milosh states.

‘Correction,’ I breathe, turning to him and rising up onto my toes to whisper into his ear, my lips brushing his lobe. ‘You’ll wear whatever I want you to, boyfriend .’

‘Is that so?’ he responds, eyebrow rising ever so slightly as he turns to look at me, green irises burning right through me.

Is that so?

How three little words can sound so… charged… is beyond me. But nevertheless, here we are.

When I don’t respond, Milosh dips down again, angling himself so now his lips are barely brushing my lobe.

Jeez, it’s like a game of cat and mouse, but I don’t know who is who at this point.

‘I’ll wear whatever you want me to, Miss Green, but not a pocket square. Okay?’

‘Fine.’ I breathe out. Why is he so hung up on a pocket square? To be honest, I really don’t care, he can be hung up on whatever he wants to be as long as he whispers into my ear like that again.

‘Good,’ he says, smirking slightly before he takes his eyes off me and glances over to Eddie and Isabella who are staring at us with the same weird look on their faces. ‘You ready?’ Milosh asks Eddie and he nods, before walking with Milosh towards the changing rooms.

As they disappear I look back over to Isabella and can’t help but chuckle when I see the current expression she’s sporting.

‘What?’ I ask mid-laugh.

‘Daphne, how did the two of you make a conversation about a pocket square so…’ She walks over to the seating area opposite the changing room, still trying to find the right word. Honestly, so am I. ‘Dirty?’ she settles.

‘What are you talking about?’ I breathe out a laugh, hoping I sound nonchalant.

‘Daph, the tension in the looks you two were sharing was one thing, but the whispering? The stares? Even me and Eddie were starting to get turned on.’

‘I don’t know what you mean, Bella.’ I sigh, turning my face away to hide my smile. One thing about Milosh and I is that we can definitely put on a good show.

Because that’s what this all is. An act. A show.

Right?