Chapter 3 Marfil
My father made arrangements for Logan to fly with me back to New York the next day, where Mr. Moore would be waiting to meet me. We weren’t able to take the private plane because my father would be leaving for Puerto Rico very early. Not that I cared.
I couldn’t help but feel safe with Logan seated beside me in first class.
I wasn’t a huge fan of flying, so I always preferred to travel with someone else.
But beyond my fear of flying, I was also still shaken by what had happened, which was at the forefront of my mind.
I just wanted everything to go back to normal, but I’d been kidnapped so close to home that the city I loved so much now felt like an enemy.
As I got off the plane and switched my iPhone out of airplane mode, I received a message from Liam saying he would bring dinner over and not to worry about anything because he would take care of me as if I were his girl.
That made me smile. Sometimes I wondered why we weren’t a couple, but then I thought about our friendship, and any ideas of taking it further vanished from my mind.
I was not at all excited about sharing my apartment with a stranger, and if this Moore character had to be around, I’d feel more comfortable with Liam there, at least until I got used to him. Bodyguards made me nervous; they were a constant reminder that something bad could happen.
When my mother was killed, my father tightened up his security to an extreme.
He never went anywhere without Logan, even if he was just stopping to buy a bottle of water.
Gabriella and I had never had our own bodyguards, but only because we were locked up at boarding school where there was no need.
Also, unlike our father, a well-known figure, we had always been hidden from the public eye.
Things changed when I moved to New York.
It wasn’t like back in England, when my father was more permissive than I had expected.
But now that I had been kidnapped, there wasn’t a person on earth who could convince him not to assign me a security detail.
This annoyed and relieved me in equal measures.
I’m not going to lie, the whole thing scared me, and it was even scarier knowing that the reasons for my kidnapping were still a mystery.
And I still couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that the worst was yet to come.
I tried to push those thoughts aside as I followed Logan down the long airport corridor. So much had happened in such a short time, and all I wanted to do was take a steaming hot bath and crawl into bed, then wake up and discover it had all been a bad dream.
“Miss Cortés, I won’t be seeing you back to the apartment—my flight leaves in two hours. Mr. Moore will take care of you from here on out, all right?”
He’ll take care of me? I suddenly felt like I was three years old.
I nodded and remained silent until we reached the automatic doors that opened onto the arrivals hall, full of travelers and men in suits holding signs with names on them.
As I walked toward the very handsome person who would now be my bodyguard, holding a sign with my name on it, my heart began to pound.
Logan stepped forward and clapped the man on the back as if they already knew each other, while I stood there unable to breathe, all the air suddenly sucked out of my lungs.
Never before had a man’s physical looks caused my body to react in such a way.
Ever. I could try to describe it, but words wouldn’t do it justice.
“Miss Cortés,” he said, holding out a hand, “I’m Sebastian Moore. I’ll be in charge of your security from here on out.”
Sebastian… Fuck. Did his name have to be so incredibly sexy, too?
It took me a few seconds to snap out of it and lift my hand to shake his. My stomach did a flip as our skin made contact. Was this the feeling Liam had told me about?
I felt clumsy, small, and insignificant… a sensation that was totally foreign to me. Sebastian, on the other hand, stared blankly at me, like someone looking at a freaking park bench, utterly indifferent.
I hurried to put on my sunglasses. I needed to organize my thoughts and keep from showing how much meeting this man had affected me.
“I’m leaving you in good hands, don’t worry,” Logan said to me before shaking Sebastian’s hand.
I looked on as Logan said something that I couldn’t hear and didn’t care to.
I was drinking in the sight of Sebastian Moore.
He was tall, a few inches taller than Liam—whom I had to stand on my tiptoes to kiss—and looked strong enough to pick me up with one arm…
just the way I liked them. He had light brown hair, a hint of stubble on his chin, which I imagined was prickly to the touch, a square jawline, and an athletic build, with large biceps visible even through his nice suit jacket.
He honestly could’ve passed for one of the millionaire New Yorkers who lived in my neighborhood, although he seemed incredibly young.
How old was he? Twenty-five? Twenty-six? Suddenly, I was dying to know everything about him… What was happening to me?
Surprisingly, I was able to be coherent enough to say goodbye to Logan. But as soon as he left, I was hit with the realization that I was now alone with my new bodyguard. I began fidgeting with my hair, unsure of what to do or say. Fortunately, I didn’t have to stress for long.
“I didn’t park too far. Come on, I’ll grab your bags.”
Whenever I was with my father, we always had a driver pick us up and drop us off, but in New York, I’d always gotten around just fine by taxi, Uber, or even the subway.
This time, however, Sebastian had a black Audi waiting for us in the airport parking lot.
He walked to the driver’s side as I waited for him to open the passenger door.
“You sit in the back,” he said over the hood of the car.
I blinked several times. It had sounded like an order, which was a bit strange, and he hadn’t opened the door for me either.
It’s not that I was some princess, far from it, but I was so accustomed to my father’s strict protocol for his employees when they were around me, that this guy’s mannerisms took me by surprise.
Lupe was the only one who would drop the formalities from time to time, and only when we were alone.
I rode in the back seat, glancing constantly at his reflection in the rearview mirror.
He didn’t seem to have any trouble orienting himself, and in just three minutes, we were heading into Manhattan.
We still had to cross all of Queens, which would take us over half an hour. Did he ever plan on speaking to me?
“I’d like to know what orders, exactly, my father gave you…” I said after fifteen minutes passed, silent as the grave.
Sebastian took his eyes off the road and rested them on my sunglasses for a fleeting instant. “Orders?” he asked.
Suddenly, the word sounded insulting.
“Well, instructions, directions, guidelines, whatever you want to call them.”
“It’s my job to protect you and keep your father informed on anything that might come up unexpectedly while you’re with me.”
While I’m with him. Of course, not the other way around.
I didn’t want to talk anymore. His cold, clipped tone was starting to irritate me, and at the same time, his deep, baritone voice was giving me goose bumps.
We reached my street in record time. It was clear that speed did not figure among the safety risks he was concerned with protecting me from. We parked the car in the garage and, as he followed me into the elevator, I remembered that I was going to have to share my apartment with him.
Fuck.
The silence inside the small space of the elevator was deafening. Never in my life had I been quiet for so long in another person’s company. Liam would’ve been proud.
Eventually, what felt like twenty minutes later, the ding of the elevator indicated we had reached my floor. Sebastian led the way, stopping in front of my apartment and taking a key from his pocket. Opening the door, he motioned for me to go in first.
So, chivalry wasn’t dead, but…
He had a copy of my key?!
Hold on.
Had he already been here?
“Not now,” he said, as if reading my thoughts. “Come inside.”
I did as he said, and took in my apartment. It looked like it always did, but it didn’t feel the same, and I wasn’t sure if and when it ever would again. The last time I’d left the house, my only concern had been whether or not I should call that guy from the bar whose name I’d already forgotten.
I set my bag on the kitchen island and, feeling restless and uncomfortable, turned to look at my new roommate. “This is strange,” I said.
Sebastian took off his suit jacket and hung it on the coat rack beside the door. It was then I noticed he had a gun in a holster, like a cop.
“Just act like I’m not here.”
Piece of cake! Except he practically took up the entire room.
“Look, I don’t know anything about you, but if you’re going to live here, hovering around me twenty-four hours a day, there are some things I need to know.”
“You can ask me anything that has to do with you and your safety.”
“How old are you?”
Seriously, Marfil?
Sebastian frowned, looking confused. “That has nothing to do with your safety.”
“You’re not going to answer?”
“No.”
I pursed my lips, annoyed. “I don’t like having a bodyguard. I should warn you that it’s going to be hard for me to get used to you.”
“You will.”
I took off my sunglasses, realizing I still had them on. I looked into his brown eyes, bordered by thick black lashes. I had the urge to look away, intimidated, but I remained firm. “So I should just pretend like you’re not here?”
“Exactly. Just let me know if you’re going to go out.”
Great.
“I don’t know if you saw the guest room, or…”
“I didn’t touch your dance studio, don’t worry.”
“I spend a lot of time in there. I know the other bedroom is a lot smaller, but I’d like to keep practicing in my studio, as I’ve been doing.”
“It’s your room. I don’t care how you use it.”