Chapter One
Rome
Ihad missed the streets of New York City. They were full of millions of people, all lost in their own worlds, hoping to fulfill their dreams within the concrete jungle we called home. Life moved around you fast here, with people rarely stopping to take in the moment.
It’s where I grew up, learned to walk and read, had my first kiss, and my first job. This city, while cold and unforgiving to most, was my home.
Although I was born and raised here, I had moved away when I was only eighteen years old and enlisted in the Army. I had visited over the years, but hadn’t stayed long enough to truly appreciate the city for what it was.
Despite my years away, the skills I had learned growing up in the city had always stuck with me.
I could navigate the subway systems as easily as breathing.
I knew where to go to avoid tourists, and was still unfazed by the random rodents that passed me by on the streets.
It was just another day in the city that never slept.
My skills with the subway came in handy with my current commute.
I was back to living with my family in Morris Park, in the Bronx, while working in the financial district of Lower Manhattan.
Most mornings, I took the opportunity to run part of the distance and hop on the subway for the second half of the commute… but today was not that kind of day.
My sister's car had refused to start, and I spent the better part of the morning troubleshooting the engine on that old Beetle. Why did Livia still insist on driving that hunk of metal? I wasn’t sure, but I was eventually able to get it up and running.
The fix wouldn’t last long, but I was hoping it would survive until the weekend, when I could truly dive into the mechanics of the failing engine.
I had a sneaking suspicion it would need to be fully replaced…
a project that would cost more than the car itself.
I had managed to get Livia on the road on time so she would still make it to work… but I was running late. Very late.
Well, by any normal person's standards, I was on time. By my boss’s standards, I was falling very behind schedule. If I wasn’t fifteen minutes early, I was late.
I changed from my workout gear—which hadn’t been used, but was covered in grease and oil— and into my work suit in the lobby of my boss’s apartment building. I gave the poor doorman quite the show, but he didn’t seem to mind too much. I could have sworn I saw him blush.
Bec wouldn’t care that I had changed; she had called my suits ‘off-the-rack junk’ a handful of times now. I thought they were perfectly fine, and they didn’t break the bank, which was an additional win. Especially since most of my paycheck went to my family.
“You’re late,” Bec clipped the moment the elevator doors opened, not sparing me a glance.
She never walked anywhere without a purpose.
She was dressed in her usual black dress with her dark brown hair flowing behind her.
She was always dressed to the nines in outfits that were more expensive than my entire wardrobe combined.
Her red-soled heels clicked on the marble floors, and I followed behind, dutifully as always.
When I agreed to take on this job, becoming Bec’s full-time bodyguard and head of personal security, I wasn’t prepared for the snark and eyerolls she’d throw my way.
It was my own fault. I had made it exactly two sentences before accidentally flirting with her during our first meeting.
It wasn’t intentional; it was simply my typical form of communication.
My best friend, Malachi, would always joke that I flirted with anything that had legs, and he wasn’t wrong.
Hell, I had hit on him more times than I could count.
The flirting did, however, put me and Bec on very bad footing, and she had despised me ever since.
Technically, she wasn’t my boss at the time…
her brother was. Thank God for that, because I wouldn’t have a job otherwise.
She had the power to fire me now, though… but I chose not to broach that subject.
Better job security.
“It seems you’re running late, too,” I retorted as we made our way out of the door and into the waiting car.
She threw me a glare over her shoulder with those steel blue eyes of hers, before sliding into the car.
One of the perks of working for Bly Enterprises was that, while I was on the job, I was driven around in luxury cars everywhere. I had even managed to take one of the cars through a McDonald’s drive-through a couple of months back. Whoever said money couldn’t buy happiness was full of shit.
I was a whole lot happier eating my cheeseburgers in a car that cost more than my family’s home than in Livia’s beat-up Beetle.
Damn, I really needed to buy a new engine for that thing.
I took my seat next to Bec and handed her the coffee I always brought for her, as the driver pulled away and began our route through the city streets to Bly Enterprise’s headquarters.
It was a massive skyscraper in the middle of the financial district, and Bec worked on the top floor…
meaning I worked on the top floor. The view was incredible, but thank God I didn’t have a fear of heights.
We were truly on top of the world up there.
“Anything new on the agenda for today that I need to know?” I asked, trying to break the current tension between the two of us. As usual… it didn’t work.
Bec flipped her sleek hair over her shoulder as she turned to me with a look of indifference. “Andi will give you my updated schedule. She’ll know if anything new has been added.”
I groaned, “Can you talk to her for me?”
Bec snickered softly, enjoying my pain as usual. I was convinced she was purposefully setting me up to be alone with Andi just to make me uncomfortable. “She isn’t that bad.”
“She can’t look me in the eyes without blushing like a tomato,” I complained.
Andi was incredible at everything she did…
until we were in the same room together.
Which wasn’t ideal, seeing as she all but ran Bec’s life, and it was my job to spend nearly every waking hour with Bec.
Andi’s crush was obvious, and it had gotten to the point where it made it difficult to work with her.
“Well… you could ask for a transfer,” Bec sing-songed.
I smirked, “You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.”
“Oh trust me, I know. I’ve tried,” she mumbled as she pulled out her compact and began touching up her makeup. She was always perfect, but she had to be. The moment she stepped out of the car to march into the office, all eyes would be on her constantly.
There were always a few members of the paparazzi waiting for us at the office entrance. Then you had Bec’s employees, and the members of the board who were often dropping in for a quick chat. They were trying to find her weakness, which I wasn’t so sure she had.
Bec was technically in a probationary period in her role for six more months. During these six months, she had to be perfect or she would be at risk of being removed as the CEO of Bly Enterprises. The extra eyes on her also made my job a bit harder.
Bec wasn’t thrilled about having me as a bodyguard, but I had learned she was against the idea of any bodyguard.
I had wanted to expand her security team countless times, but she adamantly refused.
Bec wasn’t against the additional protection, but the additional people who would be required. She wasn’t a people-person.
She could command a boardroom like no one’s business.
I had seen it myself on numerous occasions over the last three months.
But when it came to interpersonal communications, she was abysmal.
She tended to stick to facts over feelings, which was beneficial for business, but not necessarily for the more personal side.
One of the accountants, Stacy, recently threw a baby shower. We had all been invited, and it was one of the first work events Bec had decided to attend. Unfortunately, her less-than-stellar interpersonal skills really made themselves known during the party.
While I did agree with Bec’s sentiment that every newborn either looked like a potato or an alien, I also knew that you didn’t share those details with an eight-month pregnant mom-to-be… in front of the entire team… at her own baby shower.
The driver pulled the car in front of the building, and as I expected, there were a few members of the paparazzi waiting outside. I heard Bec sigh. She hated them. I wasn’t positive she liked anyone.
I helped her out of the car and followed behind her into the office building as questions were screamed her way.
“Rebecca Bly, over here.”
“Rebecca, any comments on the new investment in Singapore?”
“Rebecca, any comment on Jackie James’ recent article?”
It was an interesting life I lived these days.
By day, the wealthiest people in the world surrounded me.
I overheard conversations about major trades that could result in the creation of hundreds of jobs or the loss of even more, and was always surrounded by luxury.
At night, I was in my family’s brownstone, surrounded by my sisters, and helping my mom and her husband prepare food for their restaurant. The dichotomy was jaw-dropping.
My life before this—before my military retirement—had also been vastly different.
Here, I had my pick of luxury cars and catered meals.
In the Army, I spent many nights on desert floors, cuddling up to the members of my team for warmth, and eating MREs we were forced to pack out of locations to leave no trace.
In this world, I barely opened my own doors. There was a doorman and even an elevator attendant in the office building. It was a bit ridiculous that these people assumed that if you hit a certain level of wealth, you couldn’t push your own elevator buttons.
“Executive floor,” Bec mumbled as we entered the elevator. The attendant, an older man in his sixties, dutifully listened to her command, and up we went—to the land of luxury and inability to press buttons.
I had managed to get the updated schedule for the week without having to talk to Andi.
Did it involve me sneaking onto her computer while she was donating blood?
Maybe. But I also learned her password was her own name, which was concerning.
I was going to update all password requirements by the end of the week.
I also donated my blood to make amends for my behavior. You know…giving back and all.
My days at Bly Enterprises were usually quite boring.
Bec had minor control issues, meaning she and Andi still managed certain security practices that should have been passed to me months ago.
I wasn’t complaining. I spent most days reading and working out in the onsite gym.
And today I had even gotten to meet Stacy’s new baby when she stopped by this morning.
The majority of the team on the executive floor had taken to me quickly. The floor was made up of C-suite executives, vice presidents, and their direct support staff. I went out with the support team once a week for drinks and played golf every other week with a couple of the board members.
My family and the friends I had made here kept me busy most days. My life now, compared to my time in the Army, was night and day. For the years I had been on active duty, I could admit I was a playboy. I was a dumb kid in my twenties, seeing the world, and away from my parents for the first time.
Did I fuck my way through most of the cities I was stationed in? Yes.
But I was turning over a new leaf. I had stopped dating and sleeping around when I moved back three months ago.
My life outside of work was rather dull.
Tonight was sourdough night with my sister, Aria.
She was an elementary school teacher, but helped with the baked goods at the family restaurant.
I had promised to help her, and it helped keep me busy.
I didn’t enjoy downtime. I was convinced that’s why I had my playboy years. It was a distraction…and something to do when life got boring. Being busy was easier than stopping and thinking about everything that had happened to me over the years.
“Rome!” Bec called from outside her office.
I held in a sarcastic retort, knowing it would only piss her off. We were nearing the end of the day, and I had only managed to make her mad at me three times. That was far below average.
I stood and wandered out, leaning in her doorway. It was after seven o’clock, and I was hoping she was finally ending her day. “Ready to go?”
She rolled her eyes, looking down at herself and back at me with a glare, “I have my coat on, my purse, and the lights are off. Yes, I’m ready to go.”
I laughed despite myself and grabbed my suit coat from the hook on the back of my office door. “You could have asked nicely.”
She rolled her eyes again. I guess I was up to four times.
I followed her out dutifully, actively avoiding Andi’s gaze, but I could feel it on my back as she waved us out. I pressed the elevator button, and we waited side by side in uncomfortable silence for it to arrive. It had been three months of this same routine.
I pick her up, she’s bothered by me, we spend the day at the office, she’s annoyed by me, we head to her penthouse or any random events she has, she rolls her eyes at me, I head home, and then we do it all again. It was starting to feel like Groundhog Day.