by L A Dobbs
“That was last week. Are the e-mails threatening?”
“No, not exactly. The phone calls always disconnect the minute I pick up. And the e-mails…”
“What about them?”
“Whoever’s sending them seems to know an awful lot about me.”
“You’re famous now, cupcake. Strangers digging into your life are part of the deal. I warned you about this, remember? The first day you came into my office. You said you had nothing to hide.”
“I don’t.” She crossed her arms. “That doesn’t make it any less creepy.”
Lou’s face softened. “I know these calls are bothering you, and I don’t mean to make light of it, but unfortunately, creepy doesn’t cut it with the cops. If your stalker hasn’t threatened you, then we can’t go to them.”
He looked away, gnawing on his thumbnail like he always did when he was stressed. He’d been her manager for two years, and she could read him like a book. If he was stressed out about these calls and e-mails, that meant she should be too. Lou stopped and swiveled back toward her. “You’re not going to like this, but hear me out. And please remember I only have your best interests at heart.”
Any sentence that ended that way was never good. Her pulse raced, thudding louder than the bass line in the tune Lou had been listening to earlier. “What?”
“We need to handle this somehow, so I think we should hire a bodyguard.”
“Bodyguard? For me?”
“No, for me.” He shook his head, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “Of course for you.” He walked back to her and slipped his arm around her waist, his tone low and placating as he led her to sit on a nearby sofa. “I want to make sure you’re safe, just in case. Not to mention that it’s affecting you in the studio."
With Lou, it was always about the bottom line. "I don’t need a babysitter," Jan said.
Lou’s mouth pursed into a tight line. "You’ve been under a lot of stress, and maybe you should take the rest of the day off, enjoy the fresh air, sit in the sun.”
“I don’t want to take the rest of the day off. And I don’t sit in the sun.” She pointed at her pale arms. “I’m Irish, remember? Sunburn city.”
“Then I don’t know, do a movie marathon or something.”
“Why?” Her shock over Lou’s bodyguard suggestion quickly gave way to skepticism. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing’s going on. I’m just trying to keep my star burning bright, that’s all.” His ingratiating tone made her want to punch something. Namely, him. “Can’t I just want you to be happy for a change?”
“No. You never do anything without some kind of angle.” She tried to get up, but he wouldn’t let her. “And I don’t want a bodyguard.”
"Look, you said the phone calls were making you nervous—wouldn’t having a bodyguard make you feel safer? Improve your performance? Not to mention the boost you could get in the press."
“The press?” She scooted to the farthest corner of the sofa and tucked her legs beneath her. “What does the press have to do with this?”
“Listen, cupcake. You’ve got a new song about to hit the charts. The publicity of a stalker would get your name in headlines. It wouldn’t hurt sales. Even if the stalker is just some ghost …”
“It’s not a ghost. The stuff this person knows is too personal to be a ghost.”
“What kind of stuff?”
An involuntary shudder ran through her at the memory of opening that e-mail, seeing the words that flooded her brain with unwanted memories of the past.
“Just some poetry I wrote when I was younger.”
“So you think this person knew you, growing up?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” She supposed a lot of people could have access to those words. It wasn’t like she’d kept her poems and lyrics secret. Though she wasn’t sure who would remember them. Only one person had ever seemed to care that much about her music.
She pushed away wistful memories of afternoons spent in her room, riffing on the guitar, tentatively playing her new songs for the one person who’d brought stability to her life. The one person who’d cared—or at least seemed to care. Dino Machiavelli. The name brought on a flood of painful emotion, which she pushed away. That had been fifteen years ago. She was over it. Over him.
Anyone who had been digging into her past might have been able to dig up that poem, or anyone who had been in her house, which wasn’t many. She kept all of those poems and lyrics locked away in a box in her closet. Just like she kept her memories of Dino locked up safely in her heart. Locked up tight where they couldn’t get free and hurt her again. “I suppose maybe one of the cleaning people could’ve gotten into my stuff or something. It would have to be someone who has access to my bedroom.”
“Any boyfriends you’re not telling me about?”
“No.” She gave him a disparaging look. “You know I’m too busy to date right now.” Date? Jan hadn’t dated in a long time. She was more interested in her career. And other than one semi-serious relationship, there really hadn’t been anyone.
“Hmm.” Lou picked up his own phone. “What about booty calls?”
“I don’t do booty calls.”
“Everybody does booty calls.”
“Well, I don’t.”
The PA system in the studio crackled to life, and the receptionist’s voice echoed through the soundproof room. “Mr. Tanner, there’s a man from Rockford Security here to see you.”
Lou’s dark-brown gaze dropped from the overhead speaker to her, his eyes wide. “Jan, cupcake, listen. I—”
“You already called somebody?” So that was why he’d been angling for her to take the day off. He wanted to get her out of the way, give her time to mull over hiring a bodyguard, make her think that it was her idea. But he’d already hired someone. Had he been interviewing security companies all along? Is that why he’d been so vague about all of his mid-day disappearances over the past few weeks? Somehow Jan doubted a bodyguard was solely for her security. Lou probably wanted to find the most high profile company so he could use it as a publicity opportunity.
Jan took a deep breath. Rockford Security was the top personal security firm in Las Vegas. She’d actually gone to school with the owner. All the big celebrities used them. She should probably feel flattered they’d accepted her as a client. Except right now all she felt was pissed. Pissed at the man staring at her from the opposite end of the sofa with a guilty expression.
“Okay, fine. Yes. I called someone.” He tried to pat her on the knee, but she pulled away. “I know you don’t think I listen to you sometimes, but I do. You were concerned about these things, so I handled it. That’s my job.”
“What if it’s just some harmless fan?”
“What if it’s not?”
Good point. Too bad it didn’t lessen her fury. The last thing she wanted right now was some stranger hanging around, getting all up in her personal business. Not that she actually had any personal business, but her privacy meant more to her than anything these days, and besides, she did not need a babysitter. A bodyguard would be an admission that she needed help, and Jan hated asking anyone for help. She’d handled everything on her own for fifteen years just fine, and she could handle this, too.
“Look. Just give this guy a chance. It will make you feel safer, and having some hunky bodyguard hanging around will put you firmly in the super-diva category.”
Jan exhaled, long and slowly. Much as she hated to admit it, maybe Lou was right. She was under a lot of stress, and knowing someone had her back would help ease that burden and let her focus on what she did best—singing. Maybe this one time depending on someone else couldn’t hurt.
“All right. But only for a few days.”
“Good.” Lou stood and held out his hand to help her up. “Let’s go meet this guy.”
As they made their way down the stairs and out into the sparkling-glass and oak lobby, the heels of her cowboy boots clacked loud on the pristine hardwood floors. Across the open
expanse, she spotted the silhouette of a man with his back to them, looking out the front windows, and a tingle of familiarity skittered through her bloodstream.
There was something about the set of his broad shoulders. The tapering of his shoulders in a V down to his slim waist and trim hips. The slight tilt to his head and the way he tapped the toe of his big black motorcycle boot to the country music playing overhead, just a shade later than the actual beat.
She’d only ever known one person who had that sense of delayed timing…
Time seemed to slow around her as Lou walked forward and greeted the man then led him over to her. Jan blinked several times in the bright sunshine, hoping against hope that what she was seeing was wrong, a mistake, an illusion.
“January Winters,” Lou said, making the introductions. “Dino Machiavelli.”
No introductions necessary.
He looked even more handsome than the last time she’d seen him, standing alone on the sidewalk in front of her house, alone and heartbroken. Of course, they’d both only been seventeen then. He’d brimmed all-American good looks and teenaged jock swagger, and she’d been overflowing with hormones and insecurities. Now, his boyish charms had roughened into chiseled masculinity, all tight muscle and lean sinew. And she’d become a different person, a confident woman who didn’t need a man to complete her. Even one as devastatingly attractive as Dino. He still wore his thick brown hair cut short, she noticed. And his eyes. Those deep-blue eyes were the same, still soulful and sharp enough to pierce right through to her very core.
Dino nodded. “Jan. Good to see you again.”
She stared at him, unmoving, unspeaking, unable to believe that Dino Machiavelli had walked back into her life again, fifteen years after she’d walked out of his. She’d left because she’d known that sooner or later he’d break her heart. If the rumors around school had been true, he already had. But true or not, she knew that sooner or later he’d trade up to someone better, someone more fitting for a pro-football player. And that would have killed her.
And, if the sudden ache in her chest was any indication, she’d been right to cut things off before that happened.
Time to get while the getting was good.
Jan turned on her heel and stalked away from them, calling over her shoulder. “Get someone else. He definitely won’t work.”
3
Jan made it three steps before Dino caught up with her, stepping in front of her to block her path. “Walking out won’t solve your problem ... not this time.”
This close, she could see the hint of dark stubble shadowing his strong jaw, smell the fragrance of his cologne—cedar and spice and something indefinably him. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, memories flooding her exhausted brain. Her heart ached for the innocent kids they’d been. Innocent until…
She opened her eyes and stared at the grown man across from her, a stranger. The boy she’d loved and lost was gone. Gone the minute he’d cheated on her with that cheerleader.
This was crazy—that had happened fifteen years ago. She was over it. One glimpse of Dino, and she started acting like a teenager again? Ridiculous. She wasn’t seventeen anymore, she was a grown woman now. And she sure as hell should act that way.
Jan smiled. “I’m not walking out, I’m just having second thoughts. I don’t need a bodyguard after all.”
“Really? That’s not what I heard.” Dino stepped closer to her, his stiff posture and muscled bulk intimidating. Except she knew him far too well to ever be intimidated. Dino Machiavelli might talk a good game, but there was no way he’d ever hurt her. Not physically, anyway.
Lou, who stood nearby, interceded. “C’mon, Jan. At least talk to the guy before you make a decision. Rockford Security told me he’s the best they’ve got, and you know you do need a bodyguard.”
Jan sighed. Right, she did need one. Just not this one. “Fine.” She forced a sweet smile and indicated for him to precede her. “Why don’t I fill you in in my dressing room.”
He glanced at Lou, then started walking. Jan silently walked along beside him. They reached her dressing room and she pushed him inside then followed him into the dressing room and closed the door behind her. “Why are you here?”
“Pretty sure we already covered that.” Dino looked around the small space then back at her, speaking slowly as if to a small child. “Lou called the office and said you felt threatened. He requested a bodyguard. I’m here.”
“No. I mean, why you?” She pointed an accusatory finger at him. “You had to know this isn’t okay.”
Dino exhaled, looking as beleaguered as she felt. “I’m here because my boss, Blake Rockford, has a sick sense of humor.”
“So you work for Blake now?” She snorted and shook her head. “Figures.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You two always were thick as thieves in high school.”
“He’s my best friend.”
Anger sparked hot in his blue eyes, and her heart hitched. She looked away. He always was too sexy for words when he was furious.
He sighed and his eyes softened. “Look, this is awkward as hell, and I’m not any happier about it than you are, but it looks like we’re stuck. Blake doesn’t have anyone else to put on this job right now, and you need protection.”
Did she? The fact that Dino seemed to think this stalker thing could be serious didn’t make her feel any better.
She pursed her lips and watched while he turned to inspect some of the photos hanging on her wall. Most of them were of her with her country music idols taken at various award shows or concert venues over the past two years. Every so often, he’d glance from the pictures to her then back again.
Jan rolled her stiff neck and rested her hips against the vanity counter behind her. She wanted nothing more than to get the heck out of there but refused to give him the satisfaction. So instead, she crossed her arms and waited.
“Do you spend a lot of time in this room when you’re here in the studio?” By this point he’d moved on from the photos and now stood in front of her awards shelf. He carefully lifted one of them and inspected the tiny golden gramophone near its top.
“Some.” She shrugged even though his back was to her. “I come in here when I want to get away for a bit.”
“Huh.” He put the award back and faced her once more, his hands on his jeans-covered hips. The move stretched the black leather of his jacket tight across his broad shoulders, highlighting the contours of his chest beneath. “I’d like to get an idea of the rest of the layout here, if that’s okay.”
Life had a funny way of smacking you right upside the head. She’d learned that the hard way. Just when you thought everything was going well, things took a decided turn for the weird or tragic. First her father had to up and die when she was only twelve, leaving her and her mama scrambling for safe cover. Mama had turned to the first guy who’d paid her any attention, and Jan had never felt quite as loved again. Not like when her daddy had been alive.
Dino had filled the void left by her father’s death and mother’s betrayal quite nicely. Until he didn’t. She might not be full of trust for him—or anyone—but she knew she could depend on him ... at least enough to keep away the crazy person who was making those calls.
Resigned, she blinked at him then looked away. “Fine. But this is only for a few days, just until we catch this weirdo.”
“Works for me.” He gave her a bland smile and held the door for her while she exited. He seemed completely unaffected by seeing her again, which made her reactions to him that much more mortifying.
Well, if he’d truly gotten over her, then she could get over him.
The movement of holding the door had pushed his jacket to the side, and her eye fell on the gun at his hip. Her body stiffened. Her uncle, Donny—one of the few family members she’d had left— had been shot and killed five years ago while trying to break up a bar fight, and she’d hated guns ever since. “Do you have to wear that?”
“I don’t like them, not since …”
“Your uncle.”
Jan’s eyes flicked from the gun to Dino’s face, surprised to see a look of guarded sympathy in his eyes. “You know about that?”
“Yeah, of course. I was really sorry to hear about it.” He straightened his jacket so the gun was no longer visible. “The gun is part of the deal, but I’ll try to keep it concealed.”
“That’s okay, it won’t be a problem.” Jan didn’t need his sympathy. Of course he needed to wear a gun. What kind of bodyguard would he be if he didn’t have a gun? She’d just have to deal with it.
She could have pushed Lou to call Rockford Security and demand someone else but that would only make her look like a diva—something she prided herself on not being. Besides, she was an adult and what happened between them had happened a long time ago. She could handle having her old boyfriend as her bodyguard for a few days.
She shook off her distress and continued out of the room then led him upstairs to the second floor and paused near one of the doorways. “This is the main recording studio and the one that I use most often.”
“How many of them are there?”
“Three total.”
“And how many floors?”
“Three. The top floor is mainly offices and storage.”
“What about the dressing rooms. How many of those?”
“Six, I think.”
“All on the first floor?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“No reason.” Dino walked into the studio and ran his fingers over the buttons on the top-of-the-line mixing table. “Just need to get a clear picture of the layout is all. Where are the exits?”
“Other than the front one you came in, there’s a second one on the first floor near the back, and the fire escapes outside for each floor. The place was originally built back in the fifties, I think.”
“Okay.” He followed her out into the hallway again, and they walked to the second recording studio. Small talk had never been her strong suit, but she felt like she should say something to fill the silence. What she wanted to ask him was how he’d been, was he married, did he have kids now. Instead, she stuck to pure business, just like him. “So, how long have you worked in security?”