Chapter 2
Killian
I step outside of Celani’s front door just as my driver, Asher, brings around one of our blacked-out SUV’s. He parks next to me on the circular driveway and swings open the driver’s side door.
My eyes scan around the fenced, spacious, front yard that sits on a private road just outside of the city, before I walk over to greet him. He lifts his chin walking over to me donning the all-black uniform that our whole team wears.
We shake hands. “Same ol’ routine today, huh boss?” he asks boredly.
I nod. “Looks like it. Unless she gets a little wild and decides to go to the coffee shop too.”
Humor flits through his dark eyes before they look past me, and slightly narrow. “She’s a good woman, but something about this job feels off to me, Kill,” he says quietly.
“I still find it hard to believe that this guy got so spooked from some rando CEO gettin’ popped outside of his office in another state. Did he really feel that much in danger that he needed to hire a crew like us to babysit his woman, this McMansion, and follow him to work all day?”
My jaw tightens listening to him voice the words that I’ve already thought a thousand times now. I trust Asher’s instincts, and that’s why he’s been on my team since I created it six years ago.
A driver working in the situations we find ourselves in has to be capable of doing more than just navigating through streets quickly. It’s his job to find the quickest way out of bad situations when we need him the most.
He has to be able to watch and read our surroundings whether we are in the car with him, or in a building while he waits outside. It takes good intuition to do his job well.
I release a slow breath. “It’s not sitting right with me either,” I admit. “I’m checking some things out again with Lucian, but sometimes these corporate assholes just like to hire people to make themselves feel important. You know how it is.”
Asher stares at me for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh, and scrubbing a hand down his face.
“Yeah, that’s true,” he mumbles. “Thanks for keeping on top of it though, boss.”
I pat his shoulder. “Just keep your head on the swivel like always. Jules gave me the ‘all clear’ for Lillian’s Boutique, so I’m going to bring Celani out now,” I say.
He nods and I walk back into the house, my mind already made up to make another phone call to Lucian later tonight when I’m off duty.
Twenty minutes later, I’m opening the back door to help Celani out of the SUV. I extend my hand to take hers and try not to stare too long at her as she hops out of the car.
Her brown eyes slide up to mine, “Thanks, Killian,” she says, squeezing my hand before letting it go.
I swallow the irritation I feel when she takes her hand away from mine. “You’re welcome, Celani,” I respond gruffly.
I look around us one more time before walking her to the front door of the boutique. I spot Jules, sitting casually next door on the patio of the chocolate shop sipping a drink. She lifts her chin slightly at me before I take Celani inside.
Celani heads right over to the manager that is standing by the front counter. She’s been to this boutique three times in the month since I started working for her, so the manager already knows who she is, and is more than eager to help her.
I stand near the front door and watch them walk over to a row of dresses towards the back of the store. Celani speaks animatedly with her hands while sliding the hangers on the rack full of dresses.
I have spent nearly the last eight years of my life discovering and eliminating anyone who threatened the people in danger who hired me. I have scars that remind me of the battles I’ve endured.
And now, here I am, spending my day..shopping.
I look back out of the front windows of the shop to check the street again, and see people hurrying up and down the sidewalks, blowing by like the red and yellow leaves around them.
I normally find shopping to be a mind-numbing experience, but today I feel unusually interested watching Celani float around the store until she disappears into a fitting room.
I step away from the front door and walk closer to the fitting room area. I always get uneasy when my eyes are not directly on her. So much so that I’ve found it increasingly difficult to even fall asleep at night once I’ve left her for the day.
I stay awake in the large guest house behind her home tossing and turning until I finally get up and go next door to the pool house. I spend a while checking the outdoor security cameras with Floyd who oversees the night shift security for the house.
His constant reassurance that the only activity going on is a few deer, or rabbits scurrying around does little to calm the unfamiliar anxiety I feel without her being in arms reach.
I wanted cameras inside of the house but Pierce refused, saying that it was too much of an invasion on their privacy. So all I can do is hope that she is ok when she isn’t in my immediate care.
“Would you like something to drink, Sir?” A voice purrs from behind me.
I turn around and look down to see one of the saleswomen grinning up at me like a Cheshire cat.
“Excuse me?” I ask, having barely registered her words.
“I was just asking if I could get you some water, or a glass of champagne while you wait for your wife, Sir,” she asks again.
“Wife?” I rasp, my eyes darting back over to the fitting rooms.
A strange sensation runs through me saying the word even though I know it’s not correct.
“No,” I respond, my voice coming out strained before I clear my throat. “I’m fine.”
“Ok, then. Just let me know if you change your mind!” she chirps, eyeing me curiously before heading off to help another woman that has wandered inside.
I crack my neck and push down the adrenaline spiking through me from the mere thought of Celani wearing my ring. Would we be doing things like this if she was mine?
Who am I kidding?
I would be doing whatever the hell she asked me to do.
I hear a door opening and my head snaps over to see her coming out of the fitting room. She’s wearing a tight, red dress with thin straps that stops right above her knees. It looks like it was custom made for her beautiful figure.
All of the blood in my body rushes to my cock, and I suddenly feel light-headed as she locks eyes with me. Her hands pause from smoothing down the front of the dress and her face lights up.
“Killian!” she exclaims, gliding over to me, “What do you think about this dress? Is it good for the business dinner Pierce is dragging me to next week?”
I try to keep my eyes on hers and not let them wander back down over her perfect breasts, or wide hips that I want to get a good grip on.
A moment of insanity flashes across my mind and I temporarily consider taking her back to one of the fitting rooms to show her exactly what I think about her little dress.
Instead, I swallow down the wild response that threatens to leave my mouth and take a step back from her.
“It’s fine,” I respond, my voice rougher than I intended.
Her full lips pout up at me, obviously dissatisfied with my lack of enthusiasm. “Oh. Well..I love it,” she mumbles, turning away from me to the mirrors nearby.
She studies her ass in the reflection and for a moment I swear that she must be fucking with me.
I drag my eyes off of her and attempt to hide the evidence of my thoughts that are tightening my pants. My shoulders relax when she finally struts back over to the manager and goes into the fitting room to change.
I move back to my position at the front door and consider how much more of this I can handle before I lose my mind.