Chapter 5 Kolton
Kolton
Unbelievable.
One minute, I’m meeting my idol and making an absolute fool out of myself as I stumble through the most awkward moment of my life.
The next, I find out I’m going to be Sloane Rivera’s fucking bodyguard.
My brain can barely compute.
One minute, I’m wiping her lipstick stain from my cheek.
The next, the woman is glaring at me like I kicked her puppy.
I don’t even know if she has a puppy!
“Is everything okay?” Monica Greer asked as Sloane stared at me, open-mouthed and beautiful, from just inside the doorway where she stopped.
I knew exactly how she felt. Her song, “Starstruck,” pounded through my head.
You stole the words out of my mouth, kept me from seeing anything but you.
The world around us faded away.
Sloane lifted a finger, pointing it in my direction as she pressed her lips together and turned her pretty face toward her manager.
“Him?” Her voice cracked on that single syllable, making it sound like two.
Monica’s brow furrowed, her eyes darting my way. “Is something wrong?”
Remembering my manners, I rose from the table. Sloane’s gaze fell down from my chest to where I’d shoved my hands in the pockets of my pants.
Shit.
I pulled my hands out, offering up a little wave. “Hey.”
“You know him?” Monica asked, her whole body alert—the same way Lee’s was.
Sloane shook her head. Handed over one of her winning smiles. “No. No, we just, um, met in the hallway earlier.”
Lee made an incoherent noise as he dragged his hand down his face before leveling me with a glare.
Sure, I’d come back from the restroom all flustered as fuck after meeting the woman who probably meant more to me than both my sisters combined, but I sure as hell hadn’t told Lee that the woman of my dreams kissed my cheek in the hallway.
No, I chalked it up to nerves and tried to pretend—for his sake, at least—that nothing happened.
I didn’t expect this beauty would actually be the woman I’d come here to protect.
“Is this going to be a problem?” Lee asked, a tight edge to his voice.
It was my turn to shake my head. “No. Not at all.” Not unless reliving that kiss every day for the rest of my life could be considered a problem. “Like she said, we just met earlier when she bounced off me in the hall.”
Monica’s brows disappeared beneath the fringe of dark hair covering her forehead. Sloane ducked her head and pressed her fingers to her temple. My heart thumped in my chest, kicking my ass into gear. I stepped sideways around the corner of the table.
“Are you okay?”
Sloane looked up at me—damn, she really was beautiful—her pinched face smoothing slightly. “Fine.” Her lips twitched when she said it, the same way Kacie’s did when she was lying out of her ass.
I wasn’t an idiot, no matter how foolish I looked when I bumbled my way through meeting her. I’d seen the label on her pill bottle and knew enough to recognize zolmitriptan as a migraine medication.
Lee’s hand gripping my shoulder was the only thing stopping me from rushing to her side as she pulled out a chair and plopped down into it.
He gestured to the seat I’d vacated, giving me one of those looks I’d seen him give Rylan and Van multiple times.
I’d dreaded having that look turned on me, which was part of the reason I went out of my way to make sure I never did anything that might disappoint him.
Slinking back to my seat, I lowered myself gingerly to my chair, as if that look had been a belt across my backside.
Focusing on anything Lee and Monica talked about was damn near impossible with Sloane in the room. Every movement she made, down to the tiniest twitch on her face, kept my rapt attention. And when she peered up at me, her pretty brown eyes stole my breath away.
Lee cleared his throat. “Kolton?”
Had he not gone over how the meeting would go before we left his office this morning, I would have been lost. But with that clue, I jumped into gear, opened the folder I’d brought with me, and said what he’d coached me to say over the past year.
“We’ll start by doing a walkthrough of your residence, checking for any weaknesses and noting where security cameras and other equipment need to be installed. The install will be our first priority after that. The sooner we have that in place, the more secure you’ll be. Ne—”
“And you’ll be doing that?” Sloane asked, speaking for the first time since she sat down and derailing my train of thought.
“The… uhh… install?”
She flicked her fingers in the air beside her. “The install. The devices or equipment or whatever?”
Was that relief on her face when Lee responded?
“Yes, we’ll take care of all of it. You’re welcome to be there when we are, but it’s okay if you’re not. We’ll just need a few moments of your time once we’re finished so we can explain how to work the alarms and monitors.”
When Sloane looked at Monica, I couldn’t see her face, but her shoulders dropped a good inch when Monica smiled and patted her arm.
“We have a few questions to help streamline things on our end,” I continued when she’d turned back to me and I’d unscrambled my brain enough to find my spot. “Are you in a house, apartment, or a secured building?”
Sloane pursed her lips. I tried not to think of that kiss. “At the moment, I’m in limbo. But by the end of next week, I’ll be in a condo in a secure building.”
There was no stopping my brow from pinching, my head from tilting to the side. Lee jumped in once again, stopping me from asking a question and likely saving my ass.
“We’ll want to get a list of guests who are allowed in so we can coordinate with the building security. They’ll be the frontline in this case, but we want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
Sloane brushed her fingers across the tabletop. “That’s easy enough. Just my mom, sister, and grandmother. Monica and my best friend”—I sat forward to speak when the next thing out of her mouth pushed me back in my chair—“Olivia Li.”
Something, perhaps the deep drone of Lee’s questioning voice, stopped me from speaking the words that went screaming through my head.
What about Brooklyn O’Dell?
Everyone knew Sloane and Brooklyn had been nearly inseparable since they were both thrust into the limelight as kids. The two, along with Beckett Giles, were the sweethearts of Sidney Studios, cast in every musical the studio could possibly come up with.
Then Sloane and Beckett became a thing and…
Well. I had a whole host of thoughts about that I’d never shared with a soul.
Had their breakup caused a rift between the two friends? None of the tabloids were reporting anything of the sort, and I would know. I mean, I only devoured every bit of information that came out about the pop star in the tabloids or news.
The women shook their heads in unison, and I tried to focus back on the conversation as Monica spoke. “No, no travel in the immediate future. Sloane is”—she glanced to her right, pausing to give her client a tight smile—“staying under the radar for the time being.”
Lee gave a nod. “Probably for the best. I’ve seen things like this get out of hand before, but the media has a short attention span. The more out there for them to latch onto, the worse it can become.”
“We’ll do our best to stay ahead of things and let you know if anything changes.”
“Good. We appreciate that.” Lee closed the folder in front of him, prompting me to do the same. “Do you have any questions?”
“None that I can think of,” Monica answered. “I’ll be in touch as soon as we get access to the condo so you can begin your setup there. In the meantime, we’ll see you at the Rivera family home for you to get started on that install.”
We stood, and Lee scooted around the table toward the door, stopping to extend a hand to Sloane. They shook hands before he offered the same gesture to Monica.
Sloane stepped aside, and my palms started to sweat.
I tried to play it cool, but then she smiled at me and my mind went blank.
Somehow, I stepped forward. She edged my way, offered her hand like she had to Lee, and all I could think of was that she was going to think I was a creeper because my hands were trembling, and my stomach had taken flight.
Her hand was as smooth as silk, her grip firm for that brief touch. I found myself bumbling like an idiot.
“It’s so great to meet you. Again. To have met you. Because we already… I mean…”
Her tight smile stopped me in my tracks. I clamped my jaw shut and reminded myself no one needed to hear my thoughts.
“Sorry,” I muttered as she pulled her hand away. “About earlier. I hope you’re okay.”
“Fine,” she said again, and it felt like a bigger lie this time than when she said it before. She stepped back and Monica came forward, shaking my hand as though trying to shake Sloane right out of my mind.
Nothing she could have done would have erased her client from my memories.
Absolutely nothing.
“It was great to meet you, Kolton. We’ll see you soon.”
Had I been paying attention to Monica instead of watching Sloane’s every move, I wouldn’t have noticed the way my idol rolled her eyes as a grimace cut across her face.
“Can’t wait,” I managed, though it felt like the furthest thing from the truth. I got the feeling Sloane didn’t want to be within a fifty-mile radius of me, and that didn’t bode well for my career.
Back out in the hallway, Lee pressed the button to call the elevator. The minute the doors closed us inside, my boss turned an angry glare my way.
“What the hell was that?”
I didn’t mean to cower, but there was no stopping me. I raised my hands in front of me like it could possibly ward him off. “What’d I do?”
“She ‘bounced’ off you? What the hell does that mean?”
My words came out far too high pitched for a man my size, but my tight throat really didn’t give a fuck about that. “We rounded the corner at the same time, and she crashed into my chest!”
“And you didn’t think to tell me this?”
“What was I supposed to say?” I tried to straighten my spine and force myself to look him in the eye. “I didn’t know Sloane was the client, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to make a fool out of myself in front of you and Monica by gushing about meeting her on the way back from the restroom.”
He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes, then dragged his palms down his face. “You’re right. I’m sorry. This was a bad idea.”
“What was?”
He gestured to me, one broad hand jerking my way as if to say all of me.
All of me was a bad idea.
I’d heard that plenty of times before.
“It’s too early,” Lee said as I lurched away, only to find the elevator door blocking me from walking off. “You just passed your tests. Taking on such a high-profile person as your first client isn’t—”
Clenching my hands into fists, I spun back around.
“I can do this.” I stepped closer, until I had to turn my head up just to see his face.
“Don’t take this away from me because I ran into someone in the hallway.
You trusted me enough to bring me here today.
Let me prove you didn’t make the wrong choice. ”
He looked away, and my chest grew so tight it hurt to breathe. He had no such problem. He let out an audible breath. “You’re a good kid, Kolton. Don’t make me regret this.”
My gaze snapped to his, and my mouth dropped open. I swallowed, then licked my lips. “I won’t.”
I only hoped that wasn’t a lie.