Close Protection

Chapter 16 Daphne

16 Daphne

Now, I’ve watched Captain America and Superman and all those kinds of films, but I’m happy to report they have absolutely nothing on the man standing before me. When he takes his shirt off, I gaze down his front in the mirror, the current situation forgotten. His strong, toned abs mixed with his light tan gives him the look of a mythical god. Think Hercules.

My eyes trace up his arm and lead me to his broad shoulders, watching them gently move up and down as his breathing steadies. When he starts loosening his belt, I come to my senses and turn around, pulling on the joggers under my dress.

‘Are you sure?’ I hear faintly. I don’t recognize the voice but I speed up, swiftly removing my dress and pulling the tight green top over my head. I turn back around and stuff the dress into the tote just as Milosh is shrugging on his shirt. He crams his old clothes on top of mine and takes out a pair of glasses I didn’t even notice him getting. When he places them on his face, my chest constricts.

The man is a modern-day Clark Kent.

‘Yes, I’m sure they went this way,’ I hear the sales associate say, a little closer this time. I look up at Milosh as he pauses on a shirt button. He glances down at me, an unreadable emotion swimming in his eyes.

‘Fine, you do a lap of the store and I’ll check the changing rooms. Remember, we only need the girl. And don’t hurt her, they want her alive,’ says a deep male voice. I can feel my body start to shut down as heightening tremors take over. Within seconds, Milosh is only millimetres away from me. He pulls my hairband out of my hair gently, allowing it to drop from it’s ponytail and cascade down my back.

‘Do you trust me?’ It takes me a moment to understand what he’s saying until I remember the whole only-speaking-in-Russian thing thing.

‘What?’ I turn to look at the curtain as I hear the heavy steps of what feels like my end drawing closer.

‘Do you trust me?’ he whispers again, cupping my face and turning my body so that his shields mine, conflict brewing in his emerald eyes.

I search them before answering, ‘Yes.’

‘Good.’

He leans down, so close that our breathing intertwines and syncs. My senses heighten and all I can smell is him, all I can see is him and all I can hear is the roar in my ears as he brushes his lips hesitantly on mine. He pauses for a second, breaking the kiss to search my eyes. A small smile graces his lips before he pulls me in again, firmer this time, his hands moving to grip my waist and pull me closer until I’m flush against him.

I part my lips and an unexpected moan escapes my mouth, inviting him in.

And my goodness does he take that invitation.

He starts off with light, torturously unhurried glides, exploring my mouth, but as soon as I tug on his tongue, hungry for more, the atmosphere shifts around us, the kiss growing deeper, harder and more desperate.

Warmth fills my chest as I reach up and embed my hands in his hair, tugging slightly on the soft strands, a small groan falling out of his mouth as I do so. His hands begin to explore my body, one coming up to stroke my arm, the other descending lower, possessively tracing my gentle curves.

‘Oh jeez, sorry man,’ comes the same deep voice from before as I hear the curtain open and close again instantaneously. My hands leave Milosh’s hair and come to cup his face, as his hands rest on my hips. Milosh continues to kiss me for a moment longer before slowly pulling back.

‘Turns out, people hate PDA,’ he whispers softly against my mouth, Russian forgotten. ‘Good job, baby.’

We pull apart and he takes his thumb and runs it across my lips, his eyes darkening as he tracks the movement.

Something about the way he says baby , his sexy Bulgarian accent thick, makes me pull him in again, crashing my lips against his in desperation and haste, my hands exploring his chest this time. ‘I can still hear him,’ I lie into his mouth. I don’t know if I’m ever going to kiss this man again so I might as well make it last.

He catches on quickly, bringing his hands up to my face, his gentle stroking of my cheek at odds with his commanding, dominating tongue. All too soon I slow it down and break away, instantly feeling a sense of emptiness.

Our breaths are heavy and staggered as we stare at each other, taking in what just happened now that the haze is lifting. ‘We need to get out of here,’ Milosh says, switching back to Russian, his eyes dark as they drink me in. I shift under his gaze as that same heat starts rushing back to my stomach. He pulls out his phone and fires off a text before pocketing it again. ‘There are three emergency exits in this part of the mall, but we need to exit through the front of this store in order to get to any of them.’ He switches back into bodyguard mode with ease, checking his phone again when it vibrates.

‘Henry is gonna meet us outside the emergency exit and someone else will come to get your car later. Keep your head down, follow me and stay quiet. Only Russian and no real names.’

‘Okay,’ is all I can reply as my mind works a mile a minute to process what he’s saying.

‘Daphne, this is important. I need you to listen to me, okay?’ He cups the side of my head, bringing my attention back to him. ‘Look down, hold my hand and walk fast. No English and no names. Yes?’

‘Yes… Yeah, okay.’ I clear my throat and properly refocus. I would prefer to get out of this mall alive so now’s definitely not the time to lose focus. He breaks the security tags off the clothes, before piecing them back together and placing them in the tote bag on the floor, so the alarm won’t sound. ‘Wait, what about our clothes and all the stuff I bought earlier?’

‘We need to leave them here.’

‘Oh, okay.’ I’m not too sure why I’m sad. I know Daddy will buy them back for me but it just feels like a shame.

‘We’ll get everything back, okay?’ Milosh’s voice is oddly comforting and I start to feel at ease, giving him a small nod. ‘All right, let’s go.’ He looks back down at his phone. ‘Henry’s five minutes away.’ He takes my hand in his and guides me through the store, exiting via the children’s section, just to be safe. With both of us wearing glasses, our new outfits and my hair down, we’re pretty hard to recognize. Apart from the fact that we’re a pretty distinctive bulky white guy and dainty black girl combo. And the fact I’ve still got my very pink sandals on with my very dull, very stolen outfit doesn’t help. Keeping up with Milosh’s long strides is okay at first, but the faster he moves the more I have to work sustain his pace.

‘Mi…’ I stop, remembering what he told me about names. ‘ Rodnoj ,’ I say instead, gaining Milosh’s immediate attention. ‘ Slishkom bystro .’ I smile weakly as he slows down a little, still walking with purpose but at a more manageable speed. ‘ Spasibo .’ He turns to look at me and gives me a small lopsided smile, and I think it’s the first time I’ve seen him properly smile. I’ve never used the nickname darling in Russian before, but if it results in smiles like that I’d happily do it over and over again. I need more. The way his lips tip up, light crinkles gathering around his eyes, makes me want to stretch up and kiss him again.

Whoa.

Nope.

Not doing that.

That kiss was an act. It wasn’t real, it was just a diversion, but goodness was it one heck of a show. I shake off my thoughts and focus, but just as I do, someone bumps into me. If it weren’t for Milosh grabbing me quickly I would have ended up on the floor.

‘Sorry, miss,’ the culprit says, but he’s not looking at me. He’s looking at my feet. My sandals, to be exact. Milosh and I seem to realize at the same time because, after a quick nod, we both start picking up speed again.

‘He’s following us,’ Milosh says quietly, spotting the guy’s reflection in a shop window.

‘We need to lose him quickly,’ he continues, pulling me through another shop and exiting out the other side, momentarily losing the man behind us. He hauls me into a small maintenance room at the side of the shop, leaving the light off. We stay completely silent for a moment, the only sound coming from the rise and fall of our chests as we catch our breath.

‘The emergency exit is about thirty seconds away.’ This close, I can feel his warm breath caressing my skin, bringing me back to the kiss that happened only moments past but somehow feels like a lifetime ago. So much has happened since we entered the mall, my brain is working overtime trying to place everything. ‘We’re gonna wait here a moment then we’re gonna run. And I need you to really run, okay baby?’

‘Mm hmm.’

He grabs my hand. ‘Good girl.’

I have no time to process what just came out of his mouth because he immediately yanks open the door, the light outside almost blinding me with its brightness, and starts to run. Well, it’s more like a jog for him, but I’m running – and that’s not an easy feat in sandals. We reach the exit and emerge into a corridor, closing the door behind us. Milosh looks around and finds a discarded construction pipe on the floor, shoving it between the handles to secure the door.

Fire hazard? Yes.

Does he care? Not in the slightest, apparently.

He takes my hand again, at the same time pulling out his phone, before guiding me down the corridor that leads out onto the road. We pick up our pace again as we emerge onto the street, where Henry’s car is now in view.

‘Let’s go,’ Milosh says, opening the door to the back seat for me, before sliding in next to me.

‘Daphne, sweetie, why is it that I can’t leave you alone for a second without something happening?’ Henry says from the front as he performs a quick U-turn, driving in the complete opposite direction to the house.

‘Honestly, Henry, I don’t know,’ is all I can muster before I switch off as Milosh begins to explain what just happened. I can feel my adrenaline crashing as I close my eyes and try to steady my breathing. The combination of Milosh’s deep, almost melodic voice and the soft hum of the engine lulls me to sleep before I can resist.