Chapter 7 #3
The words felt thick and heavy on his tongue. “He’s obsessed with her, right? What if we make it look like she’s off the market?” He held his breath and waited for Knox’s response.
Nearly a minute later, he let out a soft sound. “This could blow up in our faces if we’re not careful.”
“I know,” he conceded. “But think of it like this: if this dude sees her with someone new, he’ll either get the picture and leave her alone, or…” He trailed off, and Knox picked up his train of thought.
“He’ll do something stupid and get caught.”
“That’s my hope.”
“So has Ms. Sterling considered this at all?”
“It was actually her idea,” he said. “She brought it up last night, but I wanted to make sure she didn’t change her mind before I ran it by you.”
“Fair enough. And she’s thinking of having someone pose as her boyfriend?”
“Not a boyfriend—husband.”
Knox chuckled softly. “Even better, I guess. Who’s the lucky guy?”
“That would be me.”
There were several seconds of silence before a bewildered laugh came from Knox’s end. “You’re kidding me, right?”
He grimaced. “Who better than the guy hired to keep her safe? I’m already staying with her.”
“Ink…”
“We can spin some story about how we’ve been engaged for a while but were waiting for her tour to end.”
“It’s not the worst idea in the world,” Knox said, “but… Are you sure about this?”
No, he wasn’t sure at all. This could be a mistake of epic proportions. She was a walking temptation, and he was practically throwing himself at her feet.
“I don’t like the idea of my guys being in the spotlight,” he warned.
Roman didn’t, either. He had no desire to be flaunted around like that.
Personal protection agents were supposed to be silent shadows, and he couldn’t do his job properly if he got dragged into the spotlight.
If the media caught wind of his name, it could create a storm for Vantage.
The only upside to this at the moment was that once the gym on the upper floor of Vantage was set up, he would take over the role of primary instructor for the self-defense courses and wouldn’t be needed in the field as much.
“I don’t want to jeopardize the business, but better me than one of the other guys. We don’t have to release my name to the public,” he said. “Plus, it’ll only be a few months—just until they find the guy, then we can break things off amicably, just like every other twenty-something celebrity.”
“Mhmm…”
Well, it wasn’t an outright refusal. “Here’s what I was thinking.
I’ll take her on a pretend honeymoon someplace—there are a couple quiet beaches on the Gulf coast that would work well.
Airline reservations are next to impossible to get hold of, even for a skilled hacker, so we should be safe enough to fly.
Once we land, we’ll use a hired driver to take us somewhere obscure.
It’ll be far enough away that the guy won’t immediately be able to follow her, even if our location were to be leaked.
Hopefully, he’ll slip up and try something stupid here again. ”
“You’ve been thinking about this,” Knox said quietly.
“I have. I don’t like it, but if it’ll keep her safe…”
Knox fell silent for a moment. “Did you know that marriage records are public?”
He hadn’t known that. Suddenly, this whole thing seemed a little more real. Anyone at any time could check the records to see if they were officially married. If they went through with this whole scheme, they had to go the whole way.
It couldn’t be pretend. He would have to marry her.
“I’ll double check with her and let you know, but for now…” He hesitated for a long moment, then sighed. “Let’s plan for it. Check into reservations somewhere on the beach, and get the studio to sign off on whatever you need.”
“Will do.”
Without another word, Knox hung up, and he stood, then stared at the front door. He had two choices. He could call Knox back right now and pretend like this had never happened.
Or… he could do the right thing. Maybe not right, exactly, but it was the only alternative he had at the moment. Given his options, he knew he didn’t have a choice.
He entered the house, relocked the door behind him, then made his way to the kitchen. Rina stood with her back to him as she operated the blender, and he waited until the whirring noise stopped before clearing his throat.
She jumped a little bit and threw a wary look his way.
Her lips pressed slightly together, and her chin dropped a notch as she regarded him with no small amount of embarrassment.
He was sure she would take back their conversation last night given the chance.
If he let her, she would continue on just like this, ignoring him and pretending that none of this had ever happened.
He, however, couldn’t forget the look on her face when she’d asked him to marry her. Her expression had been hesitant, timid… hopeful. As strange as it seemed, he was the only one who could help her now.
He held her cerulean gaze for a long moment, then dropped the words that he knew would change his life. “Let’s do it.”