3
Trevor
One Week Later
It was opening night. After a week of intense rehearsals with the American cast, it would actually be a relief to only work the four or so hours that evening. I quickly checked myself in the full-length mirror in my hotel bedroom. Since I was wearing comfortable workout clothes and no makeup, there wasn’t much to check.
I got my garment bag out of the closet with a sigh. There was a VIP meet-and-greet after the show as well as a press conference about the movie. Khalil had insisted that I take a nap after lunch, and he’d been right to do so. I fell asleep right away and woke up refreshed. The man was such a mother hen. Just one of the many things that made him attractive.
In case you were wondering, yes, I had a crush on my bodyguard. You didn’t get much more cliché than that. I couldn’t help it. The man was gorgeous, kind, attentive, and he had a wicked sense of humor when he wasn’t in bodyguard mode. It had only been a week, and I was already jerking off to thoughts of him bending me over any piece of furniture he chose—I wasn’t picky. Sadly, the man remained annoyingly professional.
Khalil was reading a book when I walked into the living room of our suite. He looked up at me and smiled. “All ready?”
Have I mentioned that the man’s smile should be illegal? Well, it should be. It was very impolite to make a man’s knees go weak like that. And my goodness, could he fill out a suit.
I nodded. “As I’ll ever be. Is Rory here?”
He nodded. “He’s got the car out front.“
He held out his hand for the garment bag. “I’ll carry that for you.”
I didn’t bother arguing with him anymore. The man got his way every time. Oh, how I wished that could extend to the bedroom as well. I’d caught him staring often enough to know he was attracted to me. But, as I mentioned, annoyingly professional.
We’d just gotten in the elevator when Khalil’s phone vibrated with a call. He frowned when he saw whoever was calling and swiped to answer. “Michael, did you find something?“
The furrow in his brow deepened as he listened. “Got it. Rory and I will take care of it.”
He ended the call and blew out a breath. “Our IT guy picked up Simon Davies and another guy he identified as Oliver Robertson from Daily Mail at JFK airport.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Bugger. I guess it was wishful thinking to hope they’d given up.”
“Yeah. Not today,“
he said quietly.
A change had come over Khalil after he ended the call. Gone was the easygoing, pleasant companion. The man beside me was the bodyguard. The protector. He squared his shoulders and shook out his hands.
When the elevator doors opened, Khalil put his hand out to stop me from exiting right away. He scanned the lobby and finally nodded. “All clear.“
He stopped me again just at the edge of the bank of elevators and got the attention of one of the staff. He held up the garment bag. “Would you mind carrying this to our car out front? I need to have my hands free.”
The young woman smiled and nodded. “Of course.”
Khalil waited until she’d taken the bag before following her to the front entrance of the hotel. Even during our short walk through the lobby, his eyes were scanning the space, looking for problems.
He paused once again just outside the automatic doors, scanning the sidewalk and street before gesturing to Rory. The other man got out of the car and opened the back passenger door. Khalil offered his arm and escorted me to the car, handing me the garment bag after I slid into my seat. I hung up the bag after he closed the back door and got in the front passenger seat.
“Change of status?“
Rory asked as he pulled away from the hotel.
Khalil filled him in. “They’ll most likely turn up at the press conference, where they’ll have to behave themselves. We’ll just have to make sure they don’t find out where Trevor is staying.”
Rory nodded thoughtfully. “Tony can talk to the hotel about changing the alias in case they look into the security company.”
I leaned forward. “Tony will be at the theater tonight. I gave him tickets. He said he was bringing his boyfriend.”
Both Khalil and Rory grinned widely. “Yeah, we heard,“
Khalil said. “We’ve been rooting for him.”
No one was on the sidewalk in front of the theater when we arrived. Khalil got out first and opened my door. I grabbed the garment bag and took hold of his arm. We went around to the cast entrance, where the stage manager, Maggie, was waiting for me. “Let’s get you set up in the dressing room and then go for your warm-up.”
She took the garment bag from me and led me down the corridor to the room they’d assigned me. Khalil followed quietly behind, did a quick check of the dressing room, and went to stand outside the door.
Once the door was closed, Maggie looked at me with wide eyes. “I thought he was hot before, but in a suit…“
She fanned herself. “That man is fire.”
I sighed forlornly. “Yes. And he’s my bodyguard, and therefore, off-limits.”
She waved me off. “Pffft. Don’t you read romance novels? Bodyguards fall for their clients all the time.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course I read romance novels. But those are fiction. In real life, Khalil could lose his job.”
She pouted. “Real life sucks.”
“You’re telling me,“
I agreed. “Why do you think I’m in this business?”
But it would be nice, just this once, if fantasy could become reality.