The Alpha Bodyguards Books #1-3

Chapter Thirteen

W ith his kiss lingering on my lips, I fought every muscle in my body, telling myself to step away from him, but I couldn’t.

Blindly walking toward the morning room, my heels clicking on the terrazzo floors, I didn’t know how I was standing, let alone walking. No one had ever kissed me like that. Curving his huge body around mine, taking me in his arms, it was as if every part of his body had touched me in some way. But when his mouth had closed over mine, I completely forgot about the letters and the explosion.

His tongue had invaded my mouth, then all of a sudden, my body wasn’t mine.

I shook my head to dispel the memory.

“Problem, Princess?”

He’d stopped saying princess with an attitude, and now the way he said it made me wonder what his voice would be like in the bedroom. I pushed away the thought. “You can unhand me now.”

He smiled his sexy-as-sin smile. “If I had my hands on you, you would know it.”

“Your arm then,” I snapped, desperately trying and failing to embrace any real irritation at his cockiness.

He lifted his arm from my shoulders, and the air-conditioned cold shocked my system as his fresh-laundry scent trailed away. Inhaling, not sure if I was hoping to smell him or get a breath untainted with his masculinity, I walked into the morning room.

Mr. Sherman stood from one of the plush lounge chairs I had chosen. “Ms. Paradis.” He smiled. “So good to see you. ”

“Mr. Sherman, I am terribly sorry we’re late.”

His elderly face wrinkled in a smile. “Pfft. My store does not open for another hour.” He glanced at Damian. “Is this your young gentleman?”

Damian held his hand out. “Tyler, sir. The tardiness was completely my fault.”

Mr. Sherman chuckled. “Yes, well, if I was a few decades younger, I’m sure I would be distracted with regards to time around Ms. Paradis as well. So you need a tuxedo for the event tomorrow?”

“Whatever she says I need, I need.” Damian smiled.

Mr. Sherman laughed outright. “Oh, my son, you will go far with the ladies with that attitude.” He walked over to his rack he had brought with him at my request. “I was not sure what size you were exactly, but I have a few options. Unfortunately, I do not have enough time to make something from scratch, but I think you will find what I do have satisfactory.”

I went to the rack and fingered a dark navy blue wool tuxedo jacket. “See if this one fits, Mr. Sherman.”

“Ah.” The elderly tailor nodded. “One of my favorites.” He pulled the jacket off the hanger and held it open for Damian. “This will match his skin tone and eyes perfectly.”

Damian shrugged into the jacket with a smirk as Mr. Sherman fussed over him.

“I will have to let the arms out quite a bit, and take the waist in, but yes, yes, this will be perfect.” Mr. Sherman pinned the back.

My cell phone vibrated with an incoming call, and I looked at the display. Unknown caller.

“Babe,” Damian called.

My heart rate sped up with anxiety as I debated not answering.

“Calandra,” Damian stated with a firmness that was all alpha.

My whole body shivered. Rough and strong, the three syllables passed his full lips with no apology, and I almost forgot about the incoming call as I looked up at his too handsome face.

His brow furrowed. “Everything okay?”

“Yes, of course. ”

He stared at me a moment. “You going to answer that?”

I sent the call to voice mail. “It’s not important.”

Holding my gaze a moment longer, he slowly smiled. “How do I look?”

Mr. Sherman had pinned the single button jacket to fit perfectly. “That will do.”

Narrowing his eyes, he glanced at my phone then back at me. Inhaling, he spared Mr. Sherman a glance. “Make sure there’s a little extra room on my left side for my holster.”

Mr. Sherman didn’t even flinch at the request. “Of course, sir. Now the pants.” He handed them to Damian. “I believe there’s a washroom just down the hall. If you slip these on, I can mark the hem and adjust the waist as needed.”

My cell started ringing again.

With his eyes on me, Damian reached for his belt. “Here’s fine.”

My feet were moving before words formed in my mouth. “I-I’ll be outside,” I stammered. “I need to take this call.”

“Take it in here,” Damian ordered.

Halfway to the door, I glanced back at him, carefully keeping my gaze on his eyes. “I won’t be long,” I added, attempting to placate him.

“Babe,” he warned, giving me a look that said he knew something wasn’t right.

“Be right back.” I rushed into the hall and quickly answered the unknown caller.

A metallic voice came on the line before I could say hello. “Are you screening my calls?”

My blood ran cold. “Who is this?”

“Do you understand now what is going to happen if you get in a car with another man?”

Oh dear God .

“What are you talking about?” My voice shook.

“Do not test me again. That was a warning. The next time, I won’t detonate early. ”

Anger mixed with the crushing fear. “Who is this?” I demanded.

“You know exactly who.”

“You’re sick.”

The male, boxed, metallic voice barked out a laugh. “Have your outfit ready for tomorrow. I told you to wear white.”

I lifted a second hand to the phone to help stop the first one from shaking. “You’re a coward.”

“Are you sure you want to insult me, Princess ? I know exactly how many people are in your house, including your new companion. Say goodbye to him. You won’t see him after tomorrow.”

Hearing his threat made me want to both curl in on myself and get my hands on his throat so I could squeeze for all I was worth. “Tell me who this is, or I’m hanging up.”

Sick, canned laughter came through the line. “You won’t hang up.” Then all the humor left his distorted voice. “You get ready. I’m coming.” He hung up.

I no sooner pulled the phone away from my ear than a large hand covered mine, taking it from me.

Damian dialed a number on my phone, then held it to his ear. “I need you to find out what you can about the last call that came in on this number… Yeah… I know. Copy that. Call me back on my cell.” He hung up and handed the phone back to me. “What did he say?”

“I, um….” I held my phone to my chest. Staring at the imposing man in front of me, and the murderous expression tightening his features, I wanted to cry as much as I wanted to rage in anger. “He’s never called before,” I blurted, letting the fear wash over me for a brief moment.

His face softened, and he cupped my cheek. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Calandra.”

I sucked in a breath. “ He called ,” I whispered.

His thumb stroked my cheek. “I know.”

“He threatened you.”

His jaw muscle ticked, but his touch gentled. “I’ll handle it.”

“I’m scared.” For me. For him. For my staff .

“I’m here.” He stroked my hair. “You’re safe.”

His touch didn’t feel staged. None of the times he’d touched me had it felt staged. And his kiss had felt so real, I was petrified of how it had made me feel, because now I was terrified of what could happen to him. I wasn’t in dangerous territory, I was heading for disaster.

My head was spinning, my thoughts jumbled, I needed to pull it together. I couldn’t afford to let any of this get to me. A memory of my mother flashed, and words she’d said to me sank into my head and my heart.

Never let your enemies get to you, my dear. You will always have adversaries. Be brave, but be stronger .

“I need to be strong,” I murmured, letting the ghost of the memory slip.

“You are strong.” He squeezed the back of my neck. “Tell me what he said.”

Inhaling, I fought to be the person my mother had wanted me to be. “He said the explosion was a warning. He said if I got in a car with you again, it wouldn’t be a warning. Then he said to have my outfit ready. He told me he was coming.” I swallowed past the sudden lump in my throat. “And he said to say goodbye to you because I wouldn’t see you again after tomorrow.”

Damian’s nostrils flared with an inhale. “Outfit?”

I nodded once. “In one of his letters, he said to wear white.”

His eyes closed briefly, then he stepped into my personal space. “You are not wearing white, you hear me?”

I’d never intended to. I knew what it signified. But still, hearing Damian’s reaction, knowing he thought the same thing, it brought everything closer than I wanted it to be. “I never planned on it.” I didn’t plan on doing anything the stalker said, except the supplies on the boat. That I’d had stocked.

Mr. Sherman poked his head out of the morning room, and I stepped back from Damian.

Damian frowned .

Mr. Sherman held up the tuxedo trousers. “Tyler, sir, do you care to try these on?”

“Twenty-eight, forty,” Damian clipped, still staring at me.

“Sorry, sir?”

Damian spared Mr. Sherman a glance. “Twenty-eight waist, forty length.”

“Right, of course, sir.” Mr. Sherman glanced at me. “Anything else today, Ms. Paradis?”

“No, thank you.”

Mr. Sherman nodded discreetly and retreated back into the morning room.

I looked up at Damian. “Your friends, have they arrived?” I needed a new security system, immediately.

His eyes intently on me, he tipped his chin. “They’re out front. The old man won’t let them in.”

I swept a finger across the screen of my phone and dialed Genevieve.

She answered right away, like she always did. “Did I forget something?”

It was the same question she always asked whenever I called her. One day I would summon the courage to tell her an assistant is one who remembers things, not asks what she forgot. “Are you still here?”

She hesitated, then answered sheepishly. “Yes.”

“Can you please let Mr.’s…” I glanced at Damian.

“Collins and Sawyer,” he clipped.

“Can you please let Mr. Collins and Mr. Sawyer in? They are out front with Nikolas.”

“Oh, of course. I didn’t know you were expecting anyone else.” I heard fingers clicking across a screen. “Did I forget something?”

“No. They’re friends of Mr. Tyler.” Staring down the long hallway of my house, looking out the window at the end that was a view of the backyard and intracoastal I once loved, I shivered. Feeling as if there were eyes on me everywhere, I wanted to get out of this house.

“Oh, okay.” Genevieve drew the last word out .

I made a decision. “I’m going to the gallery shortly to check on everything, but meanwhile, since you’re still here, will you please make sure the outdoor tables get set up properly?”

“Of course. Hey, did you want to increase the wine order? A few cases at least? We’ve had a lot of traffic recently on the social media sites for the event. In my experience, that means we’ll get a larger turnout. We don’t want to run out of wine.”

My anxiety level doubled. “How much larger?”

“A lot if we’re lucky.” She laughed. “Word must have gotten out you throw a good party. That or you know the local artists, always looking for free booze.”

I refrained from making a comment about the artist headlining the show and his near constant state of inebriation. “That will be fine on the extra cases of wine. And please, do not forget Mr. Collins and Mr. Sawyer are waiting out front,” I reminded her.

“Right, got it. I’m walking there now. Anything else?”

“No, thank you.”

She gave me a small laugh. “I guess it’s good I didn’t leave yet.”

Regret at hiring her, regret for not hiring Mr. Luna sooner, it consumed me. Genevieve was more at risk now than ever. “Thank you, Genevieve.” Wracked with guilt, I hung up.

Damian eyed me. “Extra guests?”

I nodded. “For the after-party.”

“I need a copy of that guest list, ASAP.”

“Yes, sorry, of course.” Bringing up the document from the online storage folder Genevieve and I shared, I glanced up at him. “What e-mail should I forward it to?”

He rattled one off.

I sent the file. “It should be a complete list, even though we sent out the invites in several batches and had some last-minute additions.” Genevieve was good at keeping that sort of thing organized, despite her proclivity to look like a deer in headlights. “But we also have social media pages for the event, and those have open invitations. ”

“Send me those links.” Taking his phone out, his thumbs swept across the screen a few times.

I forwarded the links. “Sent.”

He nodded then made a call. “I just sent you the guest list for her party tomorrow night and social media links for the event that have open invitations. Can you have one of the guys go through it, see if anything stands out? …Yeah.” He glanced at me. “Hold on.” His hand holding the phone dropped to his side. “There’s a lot of single male names on that list, babe.”

I wasn’t without suitors. Single men bought art from me. I had had dinner with a few of them. I had never led any of them on, but I also did not discourage a source of revenue. “I am aware.”

Looking slightly pissed off, Damian raised an eyebrow. “Any I need to know about?”

“There’s no one I’m seeing, if that’s what you mean.”

His shoulders relaxed, and he brought the phone back up to his ear. “We need to check them all out.”

I frowned, wondering what exactly he meant by check them out.

Reaching for me, Damian stroked his finger between my eyebrows. “Copy that.” He hung up and shoved his phone back in his pocket. Without taking his eyes off mine, his voice softened. “What’s making you frown, gorgeous?”

Disarmed by the gesture, by the softer tone in his voice, by his kiss, by him, I dropped my gaze.

He caught my chin and tipped my face back up. “I asked you a question, babe.”

I sucked in a breath and said what I should have an hour ago. “You don’t need to use terms of endearment. No one can hear you right now.”

His head cocked to the side. “That’s what’s bothering you?”

I told myself he probably called all the women he interacted with, personally and professionally, pet names. “Yes,” I lied.

For a long moment, he stared at me.

Then his hand slid around the back of my neck, he lowered his tall frame to get closer to me, and his voice turned quiet. “You worried about how you feel when I call you gorgeous, or are you worried I call other women gorgeous?”

Shocked by his spot-on assessment, I bit my lip.

“Or?” His fingers massaged the tension in my neck like he knew exactly how tight those muscles were. “Do you want to get real and admit what’s really bothering you?”

“What’s really bothering me?” I repeated his words, stupidly asking the question I had no business asking.

His thumb stroked across my bottom lip, and he answered his own question. “You’re wondering if that kiss was real.”

I sucked in a sharp breath and pulled back.

Still holding on to me, he advanced forward. “I’m gonna tell you two things, so pay attention, beautiful. One, when you grow up with four brothers, you learn to be a multitasker. Watching my back, watching theirs, juggling shit that needed to get done, I learned how to do two things at once, and I learned it well.” He paused, his gaze holding me captive. “I can protect you on a professional level, and I can call you beautiful on a personal level, and mean it.”

“Damian—”

“The second thing you need to know? I didn’t get up this morning expecting to meet a beautiful woman who’s got me thinking about a whole lot more than taking down the piece of shit stalking her. So know this, when I catch him, and I will catch this asshole, I’m still going to be standing here. The second I heard your sexy voice and that sweet accent, I was wondering what it’d be like to wake up next to you. And, babe, I don’t ever wake up next to a woman.” He inhaled then exhaled, studying me for a reaction. “But if you tell me you’re not feeling it, this conversation never happened.”

I swallowed, not sure what to say.

A slow smile spread across his face. “That’s what I thought.”

“I-I didn’t say anything.”

His smile got wider. “You didn’t have too, gorgeous. It’s written all over your face, which is another thing I find sexy as hell about you. No pretense. Keep that up.” He leaned down. “And know this—if I kiss you?” His lips touched my forehead. “I mean it.” He pulled back. “But until this thing is finished, don’t hold me responsible for the shit I might say in front of other people.” His hand still on my neck, he applied pressure. “You hear me?”

My mouth suddenly dry, my nerves shot, not knowing what the hell I just got myself into, I simply nodded.