The Alpha Bodyguards Books #1-3

Chapter Fourteen

L ooking shell-shocked, but even more beautiful for it, she stared up at me like I was the only person on the planet.

Then she nodded.

I was counting my lucky stars she didn’t tell me to fuck off when the tiny line appeared between her eyes.

Shit .

It was her tell.

I smoothed a finger over the line. “Spill it, babe.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Again, you didn’t have too. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t date,” she blurted.

Reining in a telltale expression of my own, I studied her face for clues. No nervous biting, no shifting eyes, no increase in breath or pulse. She was telling the truth, or she thought she was telling the truth. “You don’t date, or you’re not going to date me?”

“Either.” She threw the knife-edged word out then quickly followed with the stab. “Neither.”

“Good.” I was too old to fucking date like some teenage asshole trying to get under a girl’s skirt.

Her face scrunched up in confusion. “Good?”

“I don’t want to date you,” I clarified.

“But you just said—”

“I know what I said.” Every word. Then, because she was worth it, and because I’d never kissed a woman and felt anything even remotely close to the combustion between us, I threw my intent out there. “I want more than a date. I want to wake up next to you. I want to feel you under me. I want to see you let your hair down, and watch you get your hands dirty eating pizza, but most of all? I want to hear that sexy voice when you let go.” I wanted all of that. “If that feels good, then we’ll move on to the next step.”

“You have steps?”

I bit back a smile at her choice of question after everything I’d just said. “Only one, and only for you.” I didn’t date women, and I’d never had a girlfriend. I hooked up or I rode a hookup until it played out, but I didn’t get serious. Not while I was in the Marines, and not in my line of work. But for the first time in twenty-nine years, I was thinking about a woman in bed on Sunday mornings and a sexy brunette waiting for me when I got home from work. “You like spending time with me, you feel good about it, then it’s you in my bed, and no one else’s.”

Pulling back, she tried to hide her shock, but she wasn’t quick enough. Her gorgeous eyes went wide, and there wasn’t a thing she could do about the heat flaming her cheeks. “That sounds like dating. Or…” Her voice got quiet as fuck. “Casual sex.”

“Trust me, sweetheart, there’d be nothing casual about it.”

Her gaze dropped, her hand went up and she stepped away. “I think we should change the subject.”

“Noted.” I didn’t push. I knew the moment I laid eyes on her, she wasn’t casual. And every second in her presence was making me realize two things. I wasn’t totally fucking averse to commitment, and I wanted this woman, bad. But I wasn’t going to spell that out for her right now. Not any more than I already had, except I was going to let her know it wasn’t a closed subject. “But we will revisit this conversation later.” Because I wanted more. So damn much more, and she hadn’t told me to back the fuck off.

Collins and Sawyer came around the corner with her useless security guard on their tails, followed by the assistant who looked like she’d seen a UFO.

“Ms. Paradis,” her guard called, out of breath .

Jesus, now she was Ms. Paradis ? “Call off the old man,” I muttered to Calandra.

She glanced at Collins and Sawyer, then addressed the old man. “Nikolas, thank you. I’ve got it from here.”

Looking down at her, I tipped my chin toward the closed door behind me. “Give us a second, babe.”

Nodding, she pivoted and walked in to what she called the morning room as her old guard stormed off down the hall with a scowl.

Collins gave me a knowing look. “Bleeder,” he said under his breath.

“Watch it,” I warned.

Collins smirked. “Like I said, bleeder .”

Collins categorized all women into two groups. Bleeders and Trouble. I used to think he was a sick fuck, taking bleeder at face value, until he explained women always fell into two categories, bleeder or trouble . He went on to explain a bleeder was a woman who bled you and your checkbook dry. But, according to him, this wasn’t nearly as bad as a woman he labeled trouble. Trouble meant you were fucked. Trouble had you wishing the woman would only take your money and fuck you over.

I hadn’t asked what the hell had happened to make him such a jaded fuck, and I never planned on it, not that he’d tell me. Collins was private as hell. And frankly, he’d scared the fuck outta me on more than one occasion.

Ignoring Collins, I glanced at Sawyer. “Did Luna talk to you?”

Sawyer glanced at the assistant coming up on his six with irritation.

The assistant had added a laptop to her mix, and now she was bringing up the rear of our party with her computer, a tablet, her cell phone and a coffee, all held precariously in her hands.

Sawyer sighed and reached over, plucking the laptop from her arms. “Liquids and computers don’t mix,” he clipped.

“Oh!” The assistant looked up at him with surprise. “Um, thanks.”

Sawyer held the laptop in one hand and nodded at her. “Go inside. We’ll be there in a minute.” He looked at me. “Yes. The proposal’s already done, and sent to Luna for approval.” He tipped his chin down the hall toward where the old man had disappeared. “Is that a problem?”

The assistant stood there staring at Sawyer like a deer in headlights.

I eyed her.

Her gaze cut to me, and her cheeks turned pink. With a start, she held up the hand holding the coffee, with three fingers out. “Um, okay. I got it, private conversation.” She looked at Sawyer, and her cheeks got redder, but when he continued to ignore her, she glanced at the door to the morning room. “I’m just going to talk to my boss.”

Sawyer tipped his chin in her direction, as if she needed permission. “Fine.”

The redhead scurried into the room.

Both Collins and I gave Sawyer a look, but I was the one who gave him shit. “Five fucking seconds and you’ve got another bird eating out of your hand?” Did women smell the money on him? “You didn’t even smile at her.”

Sawyer scowled. “I don’t smile at any of them.”

That I believed. “So we’re all set with what she’ll need for a new security system?”

Sawyer nodded. “Done.”

He was a human calculator. What would take me a few hours, Sawyer could walk a building once and tell you exactly how many cameras, how much equipment and how many feet of cabling you’d need. Without writing a single calculation down. “Great, thanks. Luna fill you both in?”

“Yeah,” Collins cut in. “You got the letters?”

I pulled them out of my cargo pocket and handed them over. “I haven’t had a chance to read through all of them yet, but the sick fuck is whacked. He says he’s coming for her tomorrow night, and he told her to get her yacht stocked with a month’s worth of supplies.”

Collins frowned. “You smell that?” He held the letters up to his nose then held them out so both Sawyer and I could smell the paper.

“I got nothing. ”

“Me either,” Sawyer agreed.

Collins smelled the whole pile again. “Seaweed or ocean, definitely something salty or brined.”

I smelled them again. “What the actual fuck?” It did smell faintly of ocean. “What would cause that?”

“No clue.” Collins flipped through the first few letters. “These in order?”

“Yeah.”

Sawyer glanced up and down the hallway. “What’s the deal with her security detail?”

“Her only detail is the old man, and he didn’t even know she’d left this morning to hook up with Luna. He’s next to useless, because the letters are showing up in the residence, outside her office and her bedroom. She said they usually show up in the morning. They’re there when she wakes up.”

Sawyer shook his head. “And she didn’t think to have surveillance put inside the house before today?”

“No, and now we got another problem.”

They both focused on me.

“He called a few minutes ago. Copped to the explosion, said it was a warning.”

Sawyer didn’t react, but Collins’s jaw muscle made a telltale tic.

“What kind of warning?” Sawyer asked.

Unhinged warning. “Told her next time she gets in a car with a man, it’ll be her last.”

Collins shook his head. “I changed my mind. Not bleeder, trouble.”

Pissed at Collins’s asinine bullshit, I refrained from telling him to fuck off and ignored his statement. “This stalker prick isn’t getting anywhere near her or our vehicles,” I warned, not that I had to.

“Copy,” Collins acknowledged. “We’ll keep it tight. What else do we know?”

Sawyer’s eyes narrowed as he stared at me.

“Not much,” I answered Collins. “Luna’s having her guest list combed over. We’ll flag any potential threats. But otherwise, the plan is to draw him out at the party. I’ve asked for reinforcement. We’ll have to cover the grounds as well as the house during the event.” I turned to Sawyer, who was still staring at me with singular focus. “What?”

“Draw him out how?”

My hands went to my hips. “I’m going in as her new fiancé.”

Sawyer stared at me. Hard. “When did you cross the line?”

I glared at him. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

His hard stare didn’t waver. “From protocol to unprofessional.”

Collins looked between us.

“You don’t need to worry about me being unprofessional,” I warned.

“The client know that?”

“What the fuck crawled up your ass?”

He kept fucking staring. “Just making sure you know you’re getting paid.”

“You got something to say, say it,” I ground out, suddenly pissed the fuck off.

His usually quiet voice got quieter. “I’m not your boss. I don’t give a shit who you bed, but don’t be stupid. I grew up around all kinds of royalty, and if there’s one thing I learned above all else—” He paused, leveling me with a look. “—they don’t play for keeps on the wrong side of the tracks.”

“You insulting me?” I was fucking furious.

“No, I’m looking out for you,” Sawyer countered. “You’re out of your league.”

“And you’re not?” I challenged.

He looked at me like he felt fucking sorry for me. “I gave that life up a long time ago, brother.”

“You’re not my fucking bro—”

“Fucking can it.” Collins stepped between us and glanced at Sawyer. “No one asked your opinion.” He turned and leveled me with a look. “Don’t get your dick wet till after we catch this stalker fuck.” He stepped back. “What are our obstacles with this thing? ”

I didn’t take my glare off Sawyer, but I got back to business. “The after-party here is the weak spot. Open floor plan, huge grounds, no RSVPs so we don’t know who’s showing. I’m assuming the gallery will be a smaller, more finite space to control. I’ll do recon on the place when I take her there after this, but in the meantime, the house isn’t secure. I want twenty-four seven on this place and backup on me and her until the party is over. That stalker fuck is getting in and out of here somehow.”

“Two guards on the grounds will be enough for the party,” Sawyer interjected. “There’re a couple of vantage points where you can cover half the property. We can rotate patrols between the three of us until then.”

Not going to let personal shit get in the way of protecting Calandra, I nodded. “Then I want the three of us inside for the opening and the party. The front of the house will also need someone for the party. I’m assuming she’s hired a valet service.” Parking was nonexistent in this neighborhood.

Sawyer pulled his phone out. “I’m texting Luna. Who do we want?”

I wanted someone who wouldn’t hesitate pulling the trigger. I knew that described all of us who worked for Luna, but I didn’t want to take a chance with this bullshit, not after the car bomb. “I already asked if he could get Dane Marek or Jared Brandt in on this.”

Sawyer looked up. “They don’t work for Luna and Associates.”

André had done them favors, so if they were available, they’d help. And not that Sawyer or Collins knew, but Dane was a mercenary. I wanted him covering the yacht if anyone went near it. “They’ll pitch in if they’re around.”

The maid walked back through the opposite end of the hall with the two furniture dudes.

Collins watched them then glanced at me. “How many fucking people she got around here? Have any of them been vetted?”

“Working on it.” I needed to touch base again with Luna. “Which reminds me, there’ll be a caterer tomorrow night. We need any servers vetted along with the valet service and anyone else she’s hired. ”

Collins glanced at Sawyer. “I’m nominating you as point with the redheaded assistant.”

I nodded in agreement. “She should have a list of everyone we’ll be dealing with.”

Sawyer shook his head. “Collins can deal with her.”

Collins smirked. “No fucking way, Romeo. I’m taking the grounds starting now.” He fit an earpiece in, then handed us each one. “Hit me up on the comm if I need to know anything. I’m going to check all the vehicles before we wind up as fucking barbeque.”