12. Chapter 12
twelve
L ina reread the text she’d typed: All is calm here. The only trouble I foresee is Curtis getting bored if I don ’ t allow him out of the compound sometime soon. Any updates on your front?
She sent the text but stayed where she sat in the courtyard. It was a pleasant crisp winter evening, and she felt perfectly comfortable outside. She’d always had a fast metabolism, which was great for her energy levels, but it also made her run hotter than most.
Maybe that was the reason she melted so easily when Curtis had kissed her last night, she reasoned. After all the rest and good food, her body had just needed to release all that energy, for sure.
God, Lina. You ’ re smarter than that.
Rolling her eyes at herself, Lina pushed off the bench and headed to the studio where Paul had informed her Curtis was. She’d left this morning before Curtis had gotten up from his beauty sleep so she could get to her own bed. But there was no avoiding him anymore.
He probably has no recollection of what happened.
Remembering how he’d plopped down after the kiss and started snoring, she was pretty sure he couldn’t possibly realize he’d given her one of the best fucking kisses she’d ever experienced.
The man had skills. If he could melt her brain and control her body with a kiss when he was drunk, she wondered how he’d do while sober. If he were the enemy, she was doomed. But it didn’t matter because it wouldn’t happen again.
Stay professional, Lina , she reminded herself as she was about to knock on the studio door. Music streamed out of the space, and her knock went unanswered. She heard laughter along with the sound of guitars playing.
“That’s it, buddy,” she heard Curtis’ encouragement as the music continued.
Lina pushed the door open and peeked in. Curtis sat on the blue chaise where she’d spent some of the night last night, meditating and keeping watch. He was playing his guitar in unison with Luc, the eleven-year-old son of Madeleine and Julien.
The concentration on Luc’s face was adorable as he kept up with Curtis’ well-trained fingers. But it was the proud smile on Curtis’ face that triggered Lina’s own smile. She entered and stood by the door, watching the musicians, not wanting to disturb their flow.
She recognized the melody as one of Canis Major’s songs, but Curtis must’ve made it simpler for Luc because she remembered that song, “Untouchable,” started out slow but picked up to a pretty complicated guitar solo. Watching Curtis perform that solo on tour had been pretty epic.
Wait. Untouchable?
Hadn’t he said some people had called her that?
“Lina!” Luc waved at her. “Did you hear me play?”
Lina quickly smiled at the thrilled, very proud boy. “I did! You sounded great, Luc.”
“He did, didn’t he?” Curtis echoed her sentiment. “If you keep practicing every day, you’ll master the solo in no time.”
“You think so?” The boy beamed.
“Absolutely,” Curtis said.
“Thanks, Curtis. I’m so glad you’re Callie’s brother, so you get to come here all the time!”
Curtis laughed. “Me too, bud.”
“I have to do my homework before dinner, but maybe we can do this again tomorrow?” Luc asked.
“Sure.” Curtis nodded and offered the boy a fist bump before he ran out with his guitar.
Lina noted how the French boy was so fluent in English and American customs. Pretty sure having access to American rock stars had something to do with it. And seeing how handsome Luc was at eleven, Lina thought he’d probably break some hearts in a few years as easily as his idol did.
“Were you that excited about music at his age?” Lina asked.
“Pretty much,” Curtis answered with a half-smile. He replaced his acoustic guitar—the one he’d insisted on bringing—into its case.
“You were great with him,” she said. “I think you made his day, teaching him that song.”
“It was a pleasure teaching it to him. Though I’m not sure how appropriate it is.” Curtis chuckled as he sat back and spread his arms on the chaise’s back, looking like the laid-back rock star he was, as if he was untouchable. Which reminded Lina of her earlier line of thought.
“That song,” she started. “Does it have anything to do with—”
“You?” Curtis grinned. “You just figured it out?”
“You’re shitting me?” Lina glared at him. A few lines of the refrain came to mind. “‘Ice runs through her veins. She turns me into a rock with one frosty look’?”
He nodded with the melody as he sang the lines and grinned. “Yup.”
If ice really ran through her vein, it dripped through her voice now. “Is that what you guys really think of me? An ice queen? I can’t believe Brandon would write something so insulting—”
“Insulting?” Curtis frowned at her. “No. It’s a compliment. And Brandon didn’t write that. I did. I can string together a word or two. Brandon doesn’t write all our lyrics.”
Lina cocked her hands on her hips. “You? You wrote that song?”
“Yes.”
“About me?”
“Yes.”
“Being untouchable?”
“Yes.” His voice got more amused with each yes.
“How is that a compliment?” Lina demanded.
“It’s right there in the line. Plain and simple,” he said. “Nothing rattles you, like you have ice in your veins. And that turns me on. Big time.”
“What?” Lina frowned at him.
“Think about it.” He sang the line again, “She turns me into a rock with one frosty look.” And he slowly turned his gaze to his crotch with a small smile.
Lina froze as her eyes followed his. Heat flooded her face.
“Do I finally fluster you?”
She quickly snatched her gaze away from his very interesting groin and schooled her face before she forced herself to meet his eyes.
“No, you don’t.”
Curtis just smirked. “It’s okay, y’know.”
“What’s okay?”
“You don’t have to be formidable all the time,” he said as he stood and approached her. “Not with me, at least, because I already know you are.”
Lina let her arms fall from her waist as she watched him come closer. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as he looked into her eyes.
“Now, can we talk about that kiss last night?” he asked.
Did I fucking misread her?
It wouldn’t be the first time Curtis fucked up with a woman. He imagined it wouldn’t be the last, either. Lina’s initial shock was short-lived. Her face was once again controlled and showed little of what she was thinking.
She backed away from him, stood ramrod straight with her arms locked behind her back. She stared at him with a steady, sharp gaze he imagined she’d used to address her underlings when she’d been in the Army.
“I’ll let that one slide because you were drunk,” Lina said levelly. “But that can’t happen again.”
Curtis folded his arms at his chest and studied the woman standing in front of him. In a pair of snug black pants and black sweater, she should look boring, but her five-nine stature, combined with a disciplined body, made the look alluring. Add in the superior expression she sported, she looked as if she was about to order him to drop to the floor and give her twenty. The thought made him hot.
A new kink, activated , he mused.
But he was never the obedient type. “Why not? You liked it.”
“It can’t happen again,” she repeated firmly. Curtis noted she didn’t deny his statement.
“It’s not professional,” she said when he only smiled at her. “You’re my client. I’m here to keep you safe. It wasn’t professional of me to let you do that. I should’ve stopped you.”
Curtis tilted his head and couldn’t help but smile as he listened to Lina trying to excuse him kissing her last night.
“These things happen,” she continued.
He frowned and finally asked, “Wait. What do you mean, these things happen?”
“This client-bodyguard infatuation. Your life has been turned upside down. You’re going through a situation that’s scary and unpredictable. I make you feel safe. It’s normal for you to mistake that feeling for something else altogether,” she stated.
“You think I kissed you because I have some kind of bodyguard kink?” he asked.
Lina, without batting an eye, nodded. “It happens all the time. It’s temporary, so it’ll fade. I won’t worry about it. That’s why we can just forget it ever happened.”
Curtis admitted he probably had the bodyguard kink for Lina, but this began when she’d joined their tour four years ago. He’d brushed it aside as a summer infatuation and moved on each time a tour ended. But every time he saw her again, that same primal reaction to her roared inside him. Last night had been the only time he’d done something about it.
“Do bodyguards get the hots for the clients sometimes?” Curtis turned the logic around.
Lina licked her lips and visibly swallowed. “Sure. It happens.”
“To you?” he pushed.
“That’s not important. The point is, I’m here to do a job. And that job is to protect you from Serafina Stiletto’s grasp. I need to keep my focus on that. If you can’t respect that, I can get Paul to replace me.”
“Wait, you’ll quit on me?” Curtis did a double take.
“I don’t want to, but if you keep distracting me with your flirtation, I can’t be effective at my job. I need my focus solely on your safety.”
So, she ’ s saying I do affect her.
Curtis pressed his lips together tightly to stop from smiling. “I don’t want Paul. I want you.”
“Then do we have an understanding?” she asked stoically.
Oh, we do, darling.
“Yes,” Curtis said, as stoic as she was, though he had to dig his nails into his palm to stop himself from grinning.
“Good.” Lina nodded.
A phone rang. Curtis knew it wasn’t his because she’d taken it away in New York.
Lina pulled a phone out of her back pocket. “Marcus?”
She listened to whatever Marcus was telling her without giving hints of what was being said. Just the slightest movement of her brows betrayed she was concerned about the news she was hearing. It was enough to make Curtis’ hands sweat.
“What is it?” he asked.
Lina raised a finger for him to wait. But now he started getting agitated. He couldn’t deny the kiss and the conversation about it had kept his mind off the Stilettos. But Lina was right, the threat was still out there, even if they were safe here. Maybe he needed to put this thirst for her aside. Was getting under her skin worth risking his life or his family?
Grow up, Curtis . This isn ’ t a game .
Knowing what he had to do, Curtis pushed down his earlier revelation about Lina. He couldn’t act on it. Not now. It just wasn’t the right time or the right place. Would there be a right time or place?
He didn’t know. What he knew for sure was he wanted Lina by his side. He felt strongly she was the one who could keep him and his family safe.
“Curtis,” Lina called. She’d hung up.
Curtis knew something was up from the resoluteness in her eyes.
“We need to go,” she said.