Securing His Vow (Power Security #5)

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

Indigo Elara stared at the logo on the door before turning to her friend and agent, Zara Walsh. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

Zara shrugged. “You’re about to be the face of a major jewelry campaign worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for world renowned designer Jeffrey Courteux.

His first collection in years. You didn’t think you’d be touring around Western Australia without some sort of security following us to every shooting location, did you? ”

“It’s not that. I understand all that. It’s the fact I’m going to be the face of a Jeffrey Courteux collection. That out of all the models around the world, I was chosen. I still have to pinch myself that this is my life.”

Her friend squeezed her arm. “It is, and you deserve it. You’ve worked hard for it. From what I found out, Jeffrey made it clear the person wearing his collection had to be Australian. He’s all about promoting home grown talent and Australian products.”

“A lot of what I’ve got is because of you. You’ve looked after me and have given me lots of opportunities I may not have gotten.” Indigo was living the dream for both her and Zara.

“We can stand here all day and blow smoke up each other’s asses by telling each other how wonderful we are, but we have a meeting to get to.”

That was another thing she loved about Zara, there was no bullshitting with her.

“Fine, let’s do this.” She pushed open the door and walked into the offices of Power Security.

“Good morning.” The receptionist smiled at them.

“Morning, I’m Zara Walsh and this is Indigo Elara. We’re here for a meeting with Steve Power and others.”

“Of course, we’re just waiting for some other people to arrive, but let me show you to the conference room. Can I get you anything to drink? Tea, coffee, water? There are also some pastries in the conference room for you to enjoy.”

“Great. I’ll take a black coffee, and Indigo, what would you like?” Zara always took the lead when it came to meetings like this. When the time came for her to speak up, Indigo would.

“I’ll have a green tea please, if you have it. If not, normal black tea will be fine.” Indigo tried to keep her caffeine intake to a minimum, but when it came to meetings, she liked to have something to wrap her hands around if needed, and tea was her preferred beverage in those circumstances.

“We’ve got green tea.”

“Fabulous.”

“I’ll get those for you.” The receptionist got up and came around her desk. “If you’d like to come with me, I’ll take you through.”

They followed her down a small corridor which led to an open plan office space.

There were desks placed in groups, as if the employees wanted to work close to each other.

She supposed if they wanted to discuss something, they could do so easily, but if she worked in an office, she would prefer to have her own space.

Not that she’d ever worked in an office; she’d been modeling since she was seventeen. The quintessential, unbelievable story of being plucked out of obscurity and thrust into fame. If it hadn’t been for Zara, she was sure she’d have given up long ago.

They were led to a large conference room that had a long table, along with a large television screen mounted to the wall. A bank of windows showcased a beautiful view of the city of Perth and the Swan River.

This was Indigo’s first time to Perth, and she was enchanted by the prettiness of the city, and she’d been to a lot of places around the world.

Her home base was in Sydney, and even though she could afford a place with a view of the city and harbor, she’d chosen to purchase a small studio apartment in one of the outer suburbs.

It was more of a place for her to lay her head, as she was always traveling from one city or another for a photo shoot or to walk in a fashion parade.

There was a man already seated at the table, his blonde head down as he studied the laptop screen in front of him before pushing his glasses up his nose, and then his fingers began to fly over the keyboard.

There was a certain symmetry to his movement.

Almost hypnotic. Her typing ability consisted of pecking at the keyboard like a bird pecked at seed.

She used the dictation function on her phone more often than not to send text messages.

Or she typed out one-word responses if she needed to do so quickly.

Was he someone who did personal security? Or did he just do the computer work for the firm?

His shoulders appeared broad, but it was hard to tell with him hunched over if the rest of him was muscular. Most of the security she’d seen and had been around were beefy, with arms the size of her thighs.

“Indigo?” Zara whispered, and she became aware that she was still standing in the doorway.

Jolted into action, she made her way into the room. The man didn’t look up, and she tried not to take offense.

Perhaps this man was so focused on his task, he had no idea they’d walked into the room.

Otherwise, it was plain rudeness that he hadn’t acknowledged them.

It wasn’t entitlement on her part, just common courtesy, because even though she’d come up with a feasible excuse, he couldn’t have missed her and Zara entering.

It wasn’t her problem though, she doubted he would be the one who would be following her everywhere.

He really did look comfortable in front of a laptop.

She took a seat right opposite him anyway, just to be contrary. She didn’t know why she was feeling this way about a complete stranger. She blew out a breath and directed her attention to the view behind the man.

Indigo had no idea how anyone got any work done looking at the vista every day. She would be constantly distracted. Maybe that was why he had his back to it, so he could concentrate on whatever held his attention on the screen.

“Here you go.” A cup and saucer was placed in front of her, and she immediately lifted it and took a tentative sip. It burned her tongue, but whether it was nerves about the importance of the campaign, or the man sitting opposite her, she needed to do something with her hands.

A couple of other men drifted into the room, stopping to talk to Zara and shaking her hand before coming up to her.

They were both tall, and their shirts stretched tightly across their shoulders. Now, these two she could see as bodyguards.

“Hi, I’m Andy Grimshaw, good to meet you. This is Reed Bolton.” He pointed to the man next to him, who nodded at her.

“Hi, Indigo Elara. Good to meet you both.” She smiled, wanting them to know she wasn’t a diva that some models were. Each job was an honor for her to do.

Would this encourage the computer man to follow in his colleague’s footsteps and introduce himself to her and Zara?

He didn’t make a move, and Indigo rolled her eyes. This guy lived in his own little computer world where nothing existed but a keyboard and a screen.

Reed and Andy gave her another nod and headed to the credenza, where the tempting array of pastries sat. Indigo had seen them when she’d walked in but had resisted the urge to taste them.

Some days she indulged herself, but as she had a big campaign coming up, she kept her diet clean.

It helped with giving her the energy for the long days of standing in one position for hours on end while people fussed with her hair and makeup, and for the photographer who waited for the right moment to get the perfect photo.

Nine times out of ten it was worth the pain when she saw the final result.

The other time was when the photographer was so annoying to work with, that every shot was painful to look at.

Other people bustled in. Was the whole company coming for this meeting? It seemed a bit excessive in her mind. She figured that she’d be meeting with Steve Power, the owner of the business, along with Jeffrey Courteux, and the security specialist who would be joining them on the shoot.

Indigo pushed her chair back and stood as a couple walked in. Jeffrey Courteux had arrived with a gorgeous woman on his arm. From always looking at the gossip sites to make sure her name was firmly off the people-to-avoid lists, she knew the woman was Greta, his wife.

Greta immediately walked over to her. “Hi Indigo, I’m Greta Courteux, it’s a pleasure to meet you, and I’m so excited that you’re going to be the face of Jeff’s newest collection. Everything is going to look spectacular on you.”

“Thank you. It’s lovely meeting you too. I’m very excited to work with Jeffrey, and I can’t wait to see the collection. I’ll do everything I can to make the pieces shine in the photos.”

“I have no doubt you will.” Jeffrey joined the conversation, once again sliding his arm around his wife, as if he didn’t want her far from his side.

It wasn’t done in a controlling matter, because Greta didn’t stiffen when he came up to her, if anything, she melted into his hold and her expression softened.

Right in front of her was an example of what true loved looked like.

A shot of envy passed through Indigo. The secret part of her soul she kept locked away, longed for this type of connection with a man.

To be treasured and adored for who she was, not because she was invited to the right parties or her face graced numerous television commercials and posters in stores around the country and world.

Maybe when she stepped away and her life slowed down, she would find that special person and she could let that secret part out and love as fiercely as she wanted to be loved.

Until then, she would keep doing what she was doing and be the best ambassador for the companies that employed her.

“Shall we get started?”

While she’d been lost in her mind, another man had entered the room. He was older than the others she’d met, and he had an air about him that commanded respect. This must be Steve Power, the owner.

Indigo smiled at Jeffrey and Greta, before taking her seat again, wiping her hands surreptitiously on the fabric of the pale-yellow linen sheath dress she wore.

She didn’t normally get nervous at meetings, but in the last few seconds, butterflies had fluttered to life in her belly, and she had no idea why.

She looked up and was immediately trapped by the bright blue eyes of computer guy.

He’d taken his glasses off, and it changed everything about him.

She’d been completely mistaken in thinking he was too nerdy to know how to protect anyone.

He looked anything but useless. He looked lethal and capable.

Indigo’s mouth dried, and she suddenly wished he would look back at his computer and not at her.