Up Close and Personal

by Kathryn Freeman

  ‘You think someone out there still wants to kill me?’

  His mounting panic must have shown on his face because her expression softened. ‘I’m not saying that, not exactly. Just that we should consider all the angles before dispensing with your protection.’

  Okay, that he could cope with. In fact, he allowed himself a small smile. ‘Have you considered one angle might be, you don’t want to let me go?’

  She focused on pouring boiling water into two mugs, and not on him. ‘Why would I want to keep protecting such a pain in my backside?’

  ‘Because you like me?’

  She let out a spluttering noise, halfway between strangled laughter and a sob. ‘Of course I like you, Zac Edwards.’ Before he could push further, she changed the subject. ‘I’m seeing Mark and Jerry after I’ve dropped you off at the studio.’

  ‘Should I start to pack?’ The thought didn’t fill him with any joy.

  ‘Let’s wait until after the meeting.’ She glanced at the clock, her expression giving nothing away. ‘Besides, Mr Punctual, we need to be out of the door in ten minutes.’

  He took the mug of tea and plate of toast she placed in front of him, wondering at how easily they’d slipped into the domestic routine. ‘That’s impressive time keeping, Miss Parker. Next you’ll be putting magazines into racks and hanging coats on pegs.’

  She gave an exaggerated shudder. ‘Please. It’s clearly time you and I parted company. Your nasty habits are starting to stick.’

  Probably it was a joke, yet as Zac took his mug and plate back upstairs to finish getting ready, her words pricked. He was happy, beyond happy, not to have a bodyguard any longer, but he was nowhere near ready to part company with Kat.

  ***

  Kat tried not to wilt under the glares of the two men sitting opposite. She and Mark had met up with Jerry in his office ten minutes ago. That’s all the time it had taken for her to realise she was fighting a losing battle.

  ‘The woman was found in the car park the next day, Kat. The very same car park the shot was fired from. She’s admitted stalking him.’

  ‘Stalking him, but not shooting him.’

  ‘Because shooting him would be attempted murder.’ Jerry pinned her with his hard stare. ‘Of course, she’s only going to admit to stalking, it’s a much lighter sentence.’

  ‘But it doesn’t make sense,’ she argued. ‘She’s been sending notes, that’s all. The last one we found on her said she wanted to see him. Why would she come back to the car park where she’d attempted to kill him, only to slip a note under his dressing room door asking to see him?’

  Mark grunted. ‘Because she’s deranged?’

  ‘She’s not that unbalanced.’ Kat tried to keep the annoyance out of her voice. ‘We need to find the bullet. Only then can we be certain if it was her or not.’

  ‘The police have done a search and not been able find it yet.’ Jerry jumped up to his feet, and Kat fleetingly wondered if it was so he could look down on her, and thus bend her to his will. ‘What are you saying, Kat? That we need to keep a bodyguard on him indefinitely, just on the vanishingly remote chance there’s been a second person stalking him?’

  When he put it like that, maybe she did sound paranoid. But this was Zac’s safety they were discussing with such cold matter-of-factness. ‘I thought you wanted to protect your asset?’

  ‘Look, I’m not trying to be callous,’ Jerry countered. ‘I know we’re talking about a human life here, but we’re also talking about a cost, and putting him under a continued restriction he won’t thank us for. If I felt there was still a real threat, I wouldn’t hesitate, you know that. But we have a woman who’s confessed to stalking Zac, turning up in the same car park where a gun was fired the day before. We’ve even found a gun in her house. If the police are satisfied she’s both the stalker and the shooter, then so am I. It all adds up.’

  Kat ignored Mark’s warning look. ‘Not all of it. There’s still the matter of why she’d want to kill him. She’s stalked before and not tried to shoot anyone. Why kill Zac when she wanted to meet him?’

  ‘Why does anyone try to kill another human?’ Jerry pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced down at it. ‘Look, I’ll have another chat to the police, but for the time being, I’m suspending the contract.’

  Kat had always got on with Jerry. She believed they’d built up a level of trust between them, so it frustrated her that he couldn’t see what she could. ‘I think you’re making a mistake.’

  Annoyance flashed across his face. ‘Noted.’

  Mark gave her a For God’s sake, shut up glare, and as Jerry’s stance had turned from relaxed to rigid, Kat had to concede this was a battle she wasn’t going to win. Reluctantly she followed Mark out.

  When they reached the reception area, her boss turned on her. ‘Are you trying to piss off our most valuable customer?’

  ‘Are you trying to get Zac Edwards killed?’

  Mark stilled, his expression hard. ‘What’s got into you? You don’t usually overreact like this.’ A pair of piercing blue eyes stared into hers. ‘What’s going on between you and him?’

  ‘Nice. If I was a man, would you still be asking me that? Telling me I’m overreacting?’

  He swore under his breath. ‘Don’t play the sex card with me. You know I don’t give a toss what gender you are.’ His voice softened. ‘I care about you, Kat. And this isn’t like you.’

  ‘Looking after the safety of my client isn’t like me?’

  ‘Come on, you know what I mean.’

  ‘You know what, I don’t. You’re going to have to spell it out for me.’

  ‘Okay.’ He thrust his hands in his jeans pocket. ‘I’m worried you’ve become too close to Zac and now you’re trying to cobble together an excuse to keep being his bodyguard.’

  She’d known the words were coming, but they still felt like a slap around the face. ‘Well, gee, thanks for your faith in my judgement.’

  ‘Don’t.’ Mark’s jaw clenched. ‘You know I trust your judgement. It’s why I gave you the assignment in the first place.’

  ‘And I was right, wasn’t I? I told you I was ready for the step up. I told you to trust me.’ Though maybe he shouldn’t have. The emotion of the last twenty-four hours started to catch up with her and Kat heard the shake in her voice.

  ‘I did trust you,’ Mark said quietly. ‘I do trust you. So much so that I know you’re wrong in thinking you made a mistake yesterday. Most people wouldn’t have been alert enough to react to the shot at all, never mind have time to push the client out of the way.’

  Because she needed to believe him, Kat looked Mark straight in the eye. ‘You mean that? You’re not just saying it to make me feel better?’

  ‘I mean it,’ he answered firmly. ‘But I also mean it when I say your judgement on Zac’s continued need for a bodyguard is wrong. It’s become clouded by your feelings.’

  Tears burnt the back of Kat’s eyes. ‘You really believe I’d let myself fall for another guy, after what you saw me go through?’

  Mark’s shoulders slumped, the fight seeming to drain out of him. ‘You can’t control feelings like a tap, Kat. I believe you don’t want to fall for Zac, but that doesn’t mean you won’t. Or that you haven’t already.’

  Because she was scared he was right, Kat went on the attack. ‘I’m perfectly capable of maintaining a line between professional and personal, and I’ve not crossed it.’ Or had she? Wasn’t kissing her client crossing the line? Ruthlessly she shoved the thought aside. ‘Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and tell Zac that I believe someone out there is still trying to kill him, but we’ll no longer be providing protection.’

  Mark muttered her name, but she ignored it and marched out towards the car park. Maybe Mark was right and she was overreacting, but she couldn’t get the image of the gun firing, and Zac lying on the floor, out of her head. What if it happened again? What if next time, he didn’t get out of the way?

  Fear ripped through
her and she stumbled, clutching at her chest as she tried to draw breath. She felt terrified for Zac, yet also for herself, because she had no other option left but to defy Mark. She’d take annual leave if she needed to, but she wasn’t leaving Zac’s side until she was convinced he was no longer in danger.

  ***

  Zac waited in the doorway as Kat pushed all the buttons on the security panel. He was relieved to finally be back home – he caught himself – back at Kat’s home. Returning to the studio this morning had been harder than he’d imagined. The moment they’d entered the car park, he’d had a nasty flashback and, like a lunatic, had frantically cast his gaze around the rows of cars, only calming when he’d caught the look of sympathy in Kat’s eyes. Thankfully she hadn’t called him out on it.

  ‘Are you going to tell me the outcome of your chat with the merry men this afternoon?’ he asked as he watched her tug off her boots and dump them haphazardly in the hallway.

  ‘In a minute. Just let me sort out what we’re having for tea and check in on Debs.’

  ‘I thought you said she was having a sleepover at Anna’s. Something about it being her friend’s birthday?’

  ‘That’s what she told me, yes.’

  ‘You don’t believe her?’

  ‘I want to, but I also know how fourteen-year-old girls think.’

  Perhaps this was why Kat had been so unusually quiet in the car on the way back. ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’

  She gave him a wan smile. ‘I’m going to phone her, but if I hear a loud party going on in the background, or the sound of male voices, I might take you up on that offer.’

  ‘Well, as I didn’t get a chance to shower at the studio, I’ll take one now. I spent so much of the day being thrown in the lake, I fear I’ve got trench foot. Let me know if you need my muscle.’

  He expected a comment along the lines of her being able to handle a bunch of teenagers, but instead he received a distracted nod of her head.

  Fifteen minutes later he bumped into her on the landing as he was doing up his shirt.

  Had he deliberately decided to walk out of his room before getting fully dressed? Quite possibly. His days with her were numbered – might actually be over already – and he was prepared to use all the ammunition he had to convince her what they had was worth exploring.

  ‘How’s Debs?’

  ‘All good. I heard Anna’s mum in the background.’

  When her eyes didn’t stray above his neck, he felt a dart of satisfaction. ‘Should I do my shirt up?’ he inquired mildly. ‘You seem a little distracted.’

  ‘Oh no, it’s fine.’ She took a step back, her gaze bouncing guiltily away. ‘I told you before, I’m immune to all that now.’

  ‘You are?’ Her expression told him something else. ‘What if I do this?’ He reached for her hand and placed it on his naked chest, experiencing a scorching wave of heat where her fingers touched his skin.

  ‘Still immune.’ But her breath came out in short, choppy breaths, and her cheeks were flushed.

  Slowly he moved her hand to cover his heart. ‘Feel my heartbeat?’ It was racing, thumping madly against his ribcage. ‘That’s how immune I am to you.’

  He heard her sharp intake of breath and watched as she swallowed convulsively before finally raising her eyes to his. And snatching her hand away. ‘We need to talk.’

  Frustrated, he began to do up his shirt in stiff, jerky movements. ‘Fine.’

  ‘Please, don’t be like that.’ When she met his gaze, he was shocked to see the plea in her dark eyes. ‘You know what you do to me, but that isn’t important right now.’ She drew her shoulders back. ‘I need to tell you about the meeting with Mark and Jerry.’

  Well, that successfully put a pin in his seduction hopes, and in his ardour. He wasn’t sure which he dreaded more; being told the two men thought he was still at risk, meaning he’d keep Kat as a bodyguard.

  Or being told he was no longer in danger and could go home.

  Chapter 22

  Kat was glad when Zac buttoned up his shirt. It was hard enough to tell him Vision Films no longer wanted to protect him, but she did. To do that when it was so blatantly obvious she couldn’t take her eyes off him? That would raise more questions than she was ready to answer.

  She waited until he’d sat down on the armchair, one leg neatly crossed over the other, hands resting loosely in his lap.

  ‘Jerry believes you are no longer in danger, so he’s terminated the contract with UK Security. Well, technically he’s suspended it, pending any further information that might come to light, but it amounts to the same thing, I guess.’

  His jaw tightened a fraction, but other than that, his expression remained frustratingly enigmatic. ‘I’m free to go home then?’

  ‘Yes.’ Holy cow, where had these nerves come from? Her belly was alive with them, wriggling around her insides. ‘But I don’t think you should.’

  His eyes snapped to hers. ‘Why?’

  ‘Because I don’t believe the woman who’s been stalking you is the same person who tried to shoot you.’ She paused, taking care over her next words. ‘I’ve asked you before, and now I’m asking again. Can you think of anyone who might want you dead?’

  Her heart sank as he fidgeted on the sofa, his eyes avoiding hers. ‘You think I’m that obnoxious?’

  ‘I guess even at your most irritating, I wouldn’t call you that. Annoying though? That I could go with.’

  He arched a brow. ‘Am I supposed to be grateful for that assessment?’

  ‘Grateful, no, but you are supposed to think very carefully about my question. You see, there are things I know you keep private, things you refuse to tell me, that might be relevant.’

  ‘As has already been pointed out, there are things I don’t know about you, too.’ Her gave her his trademark crooked smile. ‘Ms Parker, is this your way of saying you’re worried about me?’

  Don’t fall into his trap. ‘I wouldn’t be much of a bodyguard if I wasn’t. Having spent the last month trying to protect you, I don’t want all that hard work going to waste in one unplanned, careless moment.’

  He shifted, sitting a little straighter. ‘I’m torn between fear that you really think I’m in danger, and delight that you like me enough to worry about me.’ He met her gaze. ‘But if it takes me being a target to keep you close, then I’ll happily accept it.’

  ‘Jesus, Zac.’ She leapt to her feet, the image tearing her up. ‘Don’t say things like that.’

  ‘Don’t say that I want to keep you close?’

  His soft words caused a further squirming sensation in her stomach. ‘I meant the target bit.’

  He nodded, glancing down at his hands before looking back up at her. ‘So it’s okay to admit that, aside from the danger part, I’m very, very happy to hear you say you don’t want me to leave?’

  It had all been leading up to this moment, she realised. A month of attraction, of sexual tension, of near kisses, and two actual, humdingers of a kiss. She couldn’t continue to put her head in the sand, to hide away from it. ‘Yes, it’s okay to admit that,’ she whispered, half afraid, half thrilled by where this might take them.

  Slowly he unfurled his long body from the sofa and stepped towards her, his eyes never leaving hers. ‘Is it also okay to admit that I want you, Kat Parker?’ His hand came up to clasp her face. ‘And that once won’t be nearly enough. In fact, I’m very afraid I’ll find you utterly addictive.’

  The warmth from his hand, combined with the intense heat from his gaze, made it hard to think. ‘It’s sounds like you’re saying I’m a bad habit.’

  His answering laugh was low and seductive. ‘Nothing about you could be bad.’ With a quiet intensity that made her skin prick, his eyes roamed her face before landing on her mouth. Then he bent and kissed her, very gently, on the lips. ‘You realise you’re not technically my bodyguard anymore, don’t you?’

  The husk in his voice made her knees buckle. ‘Yes.’

  ‘So
the only thing stopping us now, is you.’

  Her pulse rocketed, and as her legs began to shake she wondered if she was really ready for this. Really ready to make herself vulnerable again. Because no matter how much she might kid herself this would just be sex, sleeping with this man could never be ‘just’ anything.

  ‘Kat?’ His lips teased hers again, their touch like a drug, melting her from the inside, blurring her thoughts. ‘Are you going to stop this?’

  She should, it had disaster written all over it. Kat Parker and the hot film star from the privileged background. It didn’t make any sort of sense. Yet how could she possibly care about that, when her hormones were dancing and all these delicious feelings were coursing through her. ‘No.’ It was barely a whisper, so she cleared her throat and repeated it more firmly. ‘No, I’m not going to stop it.’

  His face broke into a smile as desire flared in his eyes. Then he pressed his lips to hers again.

  This time there was no teasing. This time, when his mouth claimed hers, she felt his hunger, his need, which only served to heighten her own.

  ‘Let’s go upstairs,’ he breathed, running his hands down her arms before capturing her hands in his. ‘I want you on a bed, so I can take my time and enjoy you.’

  As he led her up the stairs her heart began racing like the clappers, excitement mixing with nerves. Yet when he opened the door to her bedroom and turned to give her the small, sexy smile he was famous for, the nerves suddenly started to take over. Oh God, she was about to go to bed with Zac Edwards, heart-throb film star. What was he expecting when she took off her clothes? She didn’t have the sort of loose-limbed, elegant body he must be used to. She was strong, not soft. Athletic, not graceful. And even if that went okay, if he liked athletic, it had been … holy shit, a scary long time since she’d had sex.

  ***

  Zac took one look at the way Kat was chewing at her bottom lip, and his heart sunk like a lead weight. She was going to tell him to stop.

  ‘Talk to me, Kat. What’s going on in that head of yours?’