Rock Your Body: A BWWM Romance

by Susan Westwood

  “How?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “Probably not, but you’re not willing to share it with me. I bet it has something to do with your reluctance to be romanced.”

  She shrugged, then concentrated on her salad. Maybe he’d give up if her mouth was full.

  ***

  Colin made a mental note to talk to Larry about Tamra and her company. This was the crux of her reluctance to be with him.

  The first course dishes were cleared and the second course, a hazelnut butternut squash soup, arrived. He watched Tamra dip her spoon into the liquid. She ate it and her eyes closed. So she had been paying attention or was getting back to the food as a diversionary tactic.

  He’d come too close to something in his line of questioning. He’d have to pursue that again when they knew each other better. Which they would. He was now even more determined. He wanted to know Tamra. Her likes, her hates, her favorite color and even what she sounded like when she came.

  Oh yes, the last one for sure.

  He imagined that when she finally did let loose that it would be spectacular. He wanted to be the one to make it happen. This would take a while.

  “So what do you think of the soup?”

  “It’s good. My mother used to make this in the fall every year. We would search for farm markets and take a trip outside of the city on a weekend. She’d get some squash and make this from scratch.”

  A childhood memory. He could play on this. “Where is your mother now?”

  “She died a few years ago.”

  “Siblings?”

  “Two.”

  “Where are they?”

  “In jail. My brothers chose to be gang members.”

  She looked at him with a challenge in her voice as if she thought he would back away when she mentioned jail.

  “How did you escape?”

  “I got a scholarship to college. I knew once I was out of the city, I could never go back. I only did once, for my mother’s funeral.”

  Tough life. Wow. No wonder she was so hard. She had a lot to lose in letting someone in. He would tread carefully. He didn’t want to break her heart.

  “That was the most you’ve ever told me about yourself.”

  “Enjoy it. I don’t talk about myself too much,” she said.

  “I know. So ask me anything.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Tamra put down her spoon, thankful for the culinary trip down memory lane. She missed her mother in that moment. “Anything?”

  “Yes, anything. I have no secrets.”

  Tamra’s mind went to something dirty. A true testament to her need for her vibrator. She hadn’t brought it. Damn. She didn’t usually think sexy thoughts. She had no use for romance and she hadn’t found a way to have a friend with benefits.

  So her vibrator was her best friend. She let out a breath.

  “How much are you worth?”

  Colin laughed. “From anyone else I’d find that insulting, but from you, not at all. You have no interest in me yet, so you aren’t fishing for details.”

  “Will you answer the question?”

  “Yes. I’m worth thirty million dollars.”

  Tamra was glad that she wasn’t sipping her wine. She might have spit it out all over him. She hadn’t made that much money in her whole lifetime.

  “Is that more or less than you thought?” he asked.

  “I really had no idea.”

  “Between royalties and other ventures, that’s a ballpark figure. I don’t assess the number, but once a year.”

  “You do it yourself?”

  “Yes. I have an accountant, but I like to keep an eye on what’s going on.”

  “Don’t trust your accountant?”

  “Actually I do. Most of the people who work for me are childhood friends. Those are the people I can trust. I just like to have an idea where I am.”

  “For your ego?”

  “No, to see if I can trim places, and just to have a feel for what’s going on. Too many stories of rich stars blowing all of their money on stupid things.”

  “So, you’re rich. Don’t drink or do drugs. Do you love your mother?”

  He smiled as if thinking of her. “I love my Ma and my Da. I wish I could see them more, but they moved back to Ireland.”

  “You bought them a house.”

  “I did. They live well over there. I get to see them a few times a year.”

  “So, rich, handsome, loves his mother. What’s the catch? You can have anyone in the world. Some supermodel or movie star. Why me?”

  “Ah, I see your line of questioning now.” He shrugged. “There’s something so real about you that models and movie stars don’t have. Besides, I think it might be tough to have two big egos together. It’s never worked for me before.”

  “You want to be the center of attention.”

  “In essence, yes and no. I put a lot of effort into my career and supporting someone else in an insane business like mine might be too much for a relationship.”

  “So you’re interested because I’m not a star. I’m some nobody.”

  “You’re not a nobody. You’re good at what you do. Professional. Serious. What you do is no more or less important than what I do. You just take it very seriously. I like that quality. I’m serious about what I do, too.”

  She cocked her head, mulling that over. She wasn’t satisfied with the answer. “I still don’t get it. Why me?”

  “There’s some element of this that is unexplainable and you’ll just have to believe that I don’t have an ulterior motive.”

  ***

  The man from the restaurant left with a large tip from Colin. The food had been amazing. The company even better.

  He and Tamra sat on the couch overlooking Manhattan. She swirled her wine in her glass. “I’m very full.”

  “Good.”

  She was slumped on his couch, the wine glass almost resting on her stomach. He had no designs on her tonight other than kissing her. If he went any farther without a green light, he’d get his ass kicked.

  He was sure.

  Though at the moment, she only looked like a threat to his libido. She wasn’t drunk. Just sated, he assumed. Probably more relaxed than he had ever seen her.

  “I can see why you like this place.”

  “Oh?”

  “The view is great. I’m not a city person. I love trees and grass, but this isn’t bad either. Up here it is as if we aren’t in the city. We’re on some island in the sky.”

  “How whimsical.”

  She laughed. “Must be the wine.”

  “You didn’t drink more than a glass.”

  “I know, but it’s sort of how I get. Better than maudlin.”

  “So if I need to break down your barriers, I give you wine?”

  “If you want an unfair advantage,” she said.

  “No, I want your surrender to be because you’ve chosen it.”

  “Surrender, huh?”

  She laughed.

  “I want you to choose it. I would never insult you by demanding it. I want you to want to be there as much as I want you to be there.”

  “Do you have any filters?”

  “No. I didn’t get this far in my career because I waited for things. I went and got them. Can’t do that with a woman. On the other hand, I can make my intentions clear.” He leaned closer to her ear. “And I always get what I want.”

  She shivered. “Uh. That’s kind of hot.”

  He laughed. “Now, who has no filter?”

  “Right. And I’m going to regret all this in the morning so I’m going to do something else not like me, but something that I won’t mind thinking about tomorrow.”

  She stood, her hands out, as if testing her legs.

  “What’s that?”

  “I’m going to take a long hot bath in that amazing tub in my bathroom.”

  His mouth went dry. Now he’d have the vision of her wet and soapy. He watched her walk out, wishing he c
ould join her.

  ***

  Tamra didn’t feel tipsy, but she didn’t feel right. Not bad, but she would so regret her conversation with Colin. She had to admit she was attracted to him, but she was still willing to take one for the company and stay as his bodyguard.

  Even though she wanted to guard his body up close. Naked preferably.

  “Where are these thoughts coming from?”

  She ran the water into the giant bathtub and then poured some bubble bath into it. She took off her clothes, folding them on top of her suitcase. She’d already pulled out the t-shirt she was sleeping in.

  Not too short. Not too long. She’d never thought of herself as sexy. In her neighborhood that had no cache. It was all about what you could do for someone or how many babies you could pop up.

  Not interested in having children, but very interested in going to college, she was an outcast.

  Her friends had been so few that when she reached college and made friends she was heady from it all. Not that she’d stayed in touch with any of them besides Kelly. That woman knew her darkest secrets.

  The tub filled. Tamra slid gently into it, her muscles sighing. This felt great.

  That’s when she remembered she had to call Kelly about what she’d seen on the video. How had she forgotten that?

  She’d brought her phone into the bathroom so she didn’t have to leave the warm soapy water.

  Kelly picked up right away. “Hey Tam.”

  “Hey. I’m in New York, but I told you that.”

  “Was there something else?”

  “Yeah. I saw something strange on the video of Colin’s house. This was earlier when we found the front door open.”

  “Okay. What was it?”

  “The person was covered up as if they knew we were filming. The cameras are not obvious and the person didn’t seem to look for them on the video.”

  “So, how did they know they were there?”

  “Right. I feel this is an inside job, but only a few people knew about the camera setup.”

  “Okay. Any ideas?”

  “Actually, one huge one. I think that this is a publicity stunt.”

  “You think Colin is making this up?”

  “Not Colin.” Hopefully she didn’t say that too fast. She really didn’t think he was part of this, but someone on his staff was. “He genuinely didn’t feel there was a threat until this door incident.”

  “No way to I.D. the person?”

  “No. Nondescript clothing. Hood over his head. I know it’s a guy, but that’s all I know.”

  “Why don’t you send the tape to the lab? Maybe they can sort it out.”

  “Yeah. I’ll do that when I got out.”

  “Out of what?”

  Tamra giggled. She felt silly. “I’m in the huge tub in Colin’s penthouse.”

  “Must be nice. You are getting some serious fringe benefits.”

  If it were up to Colin, she’d be getting regular sex. She chose not to mention that to Kelly.

  “It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.”

  ***

  Sean, Colin’s driver, took them to the door of the building that housed Perfumer Solutions. Tamra got out and looked around. No one noticed them, except for a woman, really a young girl, standing at the doorway. There was no doorman to deflect her.

  She made eye contact with the girl, then whispered to Colin. “Stay put.”

  The girl ran over to where Tamra stood. Tamra immediately went onto the balls of her feet.

  “Is that Colin Brennan,” the girl said.

  She squealed in a high enough octave that Tamra thought the glass doors on the building would break. She grabbed the girls arm. “Be quiet.”

  “Oh, shhh. Right. Is it?”

  Tamra was surprised by the girl’s compliance. “It is. If you be quiet, and go into that building’s lobby, you can meet him.”

  The girl glanced over her shoulder then nodded. Tamra let her go and the girl went in the front door.

  “You can get out. You have a fan waiting for you.”

  “Okay.”

  Colin followed her into the lobby. He greeted the girl. “Hey Carie.”

  “Hi, Colin. It’s been awhile.”

  “You know her?” Tamra said, as she looked around the lobby.

  No one paid them any attention. She blessed the cynicism of New Yorkers at the moment. They were not easily impressed.

  “This is Carie, President of my fan club. We skype once in a while.”

  “I wanted to ask a few questions,” Carie said.

  She didn’t seem like a threat to Colin, so Tamra let them chat for a few minutes. “Your appointment is in five minutes.”

  “Right. Thanks. Carie, did you get enough info?”

  “I did, thanks, Colin.”

  “How did you know I was going to be here?”

  “I didn’t. I just happened to be walking by.”

  Tamra didn’t believe her, but she’d do some research on Carie while Colin was in his meeting.

  CHAPTER 9

  Colin surveyed the boardroom. Roger had shown up not long after he reached the company’s floor. His assistant sat to his right. Across the table was the perfumer who would make the fragrances he’d choose from. Several other people sat with them, but he wasn’t completely sure of their jobs.

  Anyway, he’d smelled a few things and knew what he wanted in his perfume. Well, both perfumes, for men and for women. He’d liked the process. The perfumer, a guy with a mustache and aviator glasses, had explained things in terms even Colin could understand.

  This was going to be fun.

  The perfumer and Roger were comparing notes of what ideas they had, though Colin had the final say no matter what they wanted. He cleared his throat and Roger, knowing what that meant, stopped talking.

  “I’ve decided musk and wood in the men’s fragrance and citrus and musk in the women’s fragrance.”

  Roger typed that into his tablet. He never went anywhere without it. Roger’s tablet had saved Colin more than once when he’d forgotten some appointment.

  Colin’s mind wandered to Tamra. Was she out there working feverishly to come up with dirt on the president of his fan club? Probably. She was thorough, if nothing else. She’d probably appreciate him being thorough, too.

  He’d remember that when he got her in bed. Leave no inch of skin unkissed. He blinked as he realized the room had gone silent and all the inhabitants were looking at him.

  “Sorry. Drifted off.”

  “We asked if you had any other preferences,” Roger said.

  “No, I think that’s it. When can I smell the final product?”

  “We’ll give you three options to choose from, but this will take me a week to get them done,” the perfumer said.

  “Then I’ll come back, then. You can make an appointment with Roger.”

  Colin realized that he’d gotten so caught up in having dinner with Tamra that he’d never played that piece of music in his head. It was now back again and he had no way of recording it. Wait. He’d brought his iPad with him this time.

  He smiled, shaking hands as he left, but his mind was already on the song. He walked past Tamra, forgetting that she was there for him.

  “Colin, wait.”

  He stopped, but his mind was gone. The music was in his head. So clearly, he could see the notes and hear the riffs.

  Tamra came up beside him, but he must have had a strange look on his face, because she didn’t speak. She took him by the arm and led him to the elevator. When they reached the lobby, she had already called Sean to pick them up.

  Colin climbed into the limousine. Tamra followed. Roger poked his head in.

  “Bad news. Photo shoot is today, not tomorrow,” he said.

  Colin frowned. “Okay. I just need my iPad.”

  Roger pointed to Colin’s backpack he’d carried from his apartment. “Tamra, it’s in there.”

  She looked at Roger then slid it out of its pocket, ha
nding it to Colin.

  “I’m right behind. In fact, Tamra, ride with me.”

  “No way. I stay with Colin.”