Forever Guarded

by Kathleen Brooks

  “Good morning, handsome. I just got done with a meeting and thought I’d see how you are doing being a superhero to millions. Have you been working on your project today? I’m excited to see you tonight.”

  Dudley’s red-rimmed eyes looked up as he bit his lip to stifle another sniffle. “How could I have been so dumb?”

  “No,” Nabi said as he typed out the response. “I am working on something new. Piper is solely working on the project now. Is that what you would say?”

  Dudley looked even more deflated as he instructed Nabi to insert a frowny face.

  “That sucks. What a bitch to take away your project when you were so close to figuring it out. Where is she? I’d like to give her a piece of my mind when I see you tonight. She should respect you more.” Nabi read.

  “I have to hand it to them, they’re excellent at manipulation. The way they’re hiding the question in the anger for your loss of the job is perfect,” Aiden said as he moved closer to take a look at the messages. “Tell them Piper left town. Let’s see how much they know.”

  “Piper left town this morning. I don’t know when she’s going to get back, but when she does, I’m going to talk to her about it.”

  “Add an angry face,” Dudley told him. “I use a lot of emojis.”

  “Don’t we all?” Aiden deadpanned.

  “Maybe she went to Rahmi? Did she take the project with her or can you work on it while she’s gone? That way you can solve it and rub it in her face when she gets back,” Nabi read before looking to Aiden. “How do you want to handle this?”

  “Vagueness is good. And we don’t want them coming after Dudley here. So tell them you don’t know where it is. She cleaned out her office here,” Aiden told Nabi who started to type.

  “Have to go. Just got a text that I have to fly to Paris tonight. I’m sorry I won’t get to meet you tonight. Talk soon, handsome.”

  “I’m thinking you’re not going to hear from her again. Sorry, mate,” Aiden said as he clasped Dudley on the shoulder.

  Piper drew a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Dudley, but for now you’re suspended. I’ll reevaluate when this all gets resolved and someone isn’t trying to kill me. Until then, I need you to get your things and leave.” Piper had never felt so awful as she did watching Dudley pack up his things and leave the lab.

  “I’ll turn off access for his keycard. He won’t be able to log on to the website or enter the building. I’m sorry, Piper,” Nabi said, grabbing Dudley’s electronics. “What do you want to do now?”

  Piper wanted this over, that’s what she wanted done. She didn’t want to wait until who knows when. And there was one way she knew to hurry this along. “They know I’m not here. I could go to the Rahmi lab, safely away from all those I care about, and ambush them when they come after me.”

  “I don’t like that idea,” Aiden said, his voice low and stern.

  “I don’t either,” Nabi added. “It’s bad enough they would be able to get to you, but also the virus? That’s too dangerous.”

  Piper grinned as the idea came to her. As much as she wanted to keep the virus in her grasp, she had a better idea—one that would keep her alive if she ever got caught. “Anyone have a refrigerator I can borrow?”

  12

  “You want to hide the virus that could kill millions, if not billions of people, in someone’s fridge?” Aiden asked with disbelief.

  “Yes, preferably someone with zero connection to me or Keeneston.”

  “A bargaining chip in case something happens to you,” Nabi said, putting the pieces together as they drove back to Keeneston.

  Aiden let out a sigh as he drove the car to Desert Sun Farm. Nash was going to meet them there so they could formulate a plan. But Piper had a good point. They needed to get the virus someplace safe. Damn, and he knew exactly where to go. “I know where we can store the virus. It’s even on our way, kind of, to Rahmi.”

  “So, it’s a go then?” Piper asked as she tried to sound brave.

  “It’s a go. But I don’t like it. I want to keep you safe, not make you a target,” Aiden said, hoping she’d change her mind, but it was to no avail. Soon they had dropped off Nabi, talked to Nash, gotten permission to use Prince Mo and Princess Dani’s private plane that night, and were already back at Piper’s packing in no time.

  He made her pack with the bedroom door open so he could hear her as Aiden placed his phone call. “Hello, mate.”

  “Aiden? What a bloody surprise,” Byron Wickens, or Wick to all his friends, said. “I haven’t heard from you in a month. But your mum said business is going well.”

  “It is, and that’s why I need your help.”

  “Anything,” Wick said without even asking. After all, that’s what childhood chums did.

  “I’m flying into Chivenor tomorrow and need a ride into town,” he said about the Royal Marines’ base that also allowed private planes just a short distance from Lynton.

  “Is that all? Flying fancy in a private plane and you just need a lift?” Wick asked as he teased Aiden. They’d grown up together and gone into the military together, except Wick had gone into the navy and was now back in Lynton, stationed at Chivenor, the British military airfield on the north coast of Devon.

  “There might be a little more to it than that. Does the base happen to have a spare fridge?”

  * * *

  Aiden hung up with Wick as he went off to talk to the base command about storing something for the Americans. Either way, in two hours, they would be in the air, bound for England. Aiden set the phone down and stood up. He stretched as he looked out the front windows and was instantly on alert when he saw a car pulling into the driveway. Aiden grabbed his gun, flicked off the safety, and stood beside the door. He waited, hearing the car doors open and shut. He heard feet on the steps and when they stopped at the door, Aiden flung the door open and leveled the gun.

  In seconds he had two guns pointed at him as he eyed the two men. “Miles and Cy Davies,” Aiden said, recognizing them from their pictures online. “I’m Aiden Creed.”

  “We know,” Miles said as all three lowered their guns. “We’re here to have a little chat with you.”

  Aiden stepped back from the door, and they walked inside. He loved hanging out in the bars back home and listening to retired soldiers tell their war stories. He bet these two had some he had never heard. The fact that Cy had been a spy and not a soldier meant his stories would be even more interesting.

  “What can I do for you, sir?” Aiden asked, standing at attention. It was a hard habit to break when talking to a man like Miles. It was clear he had been a high-ranking officer by the way he comported himself.

  Miles and Cy looked around and then stepped closer so as to not be overheard. “My brother Pierce has been way too slack with his parental obligation toward his daughters,” Miles said as Cy nodded and held out his hand.

  Aiden looked at what Cy was showing him and then back at the two brothers. “Spot GPS trackers?”

  “Put them on all of Piper’s clothing, shoes, phones, and whatever you can get your hands on. Then we’ll know where she is all the time. And I have this great app to hack into her phone so you can see where she is and listen in,” Miles said in a whispered voice.

  “I used them with both my girls,” Cy added.

  “Didn’t one of your daughters secretly date a man for a year?” Aiden asked Cy.

  Instead of anger, Cy smiled. “I also taught them well.”

  “Pierce has never done this. He’s never read their messages, hacked their email, or followed them on dates . . . not that I would do that,” Miles said sheepishly.

  “I did and I’m not ashamed. My daughters are happily married now. I chased off all the pansies who were too scared to face me,” Cy said with pride. “But, the point is Piper wouldn’t be looking out for these things, which would make it easier for you to keep tabs on her.”

  Okay, so they did have a point. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to cover all his bases. Aiden r
eached out and took the handful of tiny spot GPS trackers and shoved them in his pocket. “Thank you,” he told them.

  “Let us know if you need anything,” Miles said, handing over his card. “We are very good in situations like these, and we have connections you can only dream of.”

  Aiden added Miles’s phone number to his phone right then and gave the card back. “I’ll take you up on that. I do need something stored in a fridge at Chivenor.”

  “Consider it done.”

  “It’s good to know there’s someone out there who has your back,” Aiden said to them.

  “I know several older SAS men. Good guys and I’m sure you are too.”

  “You’re just saying that since Layne is married, and you don’t have to worry about her anymore,” Piper said teasingly from her doorway.

  Miles shrugged. “True. Never thought I’d like a froggie, but Walker’s a good guy.”

  “What are you two doing here?” Piper asked as she walked down the small hall and into the living room. Aiden couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She was in black stretchy pants and had on a pale green, long-sleeved T-shirt that hugged her breasts perfectly. She was beautiful. Her hair was down around her shoulders, her eyes lined with a little makeup and her lips seemed to shine. Aiden would give anything to taste them.

  “I know that look,” Cy whispered to Miles as he pulled out his phone. Aiden looked down and saw it was the Keeneston Betting App.

  “Yup,” Miles agreed, pulling out his phone and placing a bet before looking back up at Piper. “We’re here to offer our help if you need it.”

  “Thank you, Uncle Miles, but I’ll feel better when we get away from Keeneston for a little bit. I don’t want to put any of you in harm’s way.”

  “Sweetie,” Cy said as he put away his phone, “harm’s way is like a fun night out for us. Never worry about that. We’re here if you need us. Always.”

  “Thank you, Uncle Cy,” Piper said with a fond smile. As she hugged Cy, he motioned for Aiden to go into the bedroom.

  Aiden had to fight the grin he wanted to show as he told Piper he’d get her bags while she talked to her uncles. When she protested, Miles smoothly drew her into conversation, letting Aiden slip into the bedroom. He looked at all her stuff and pulled out the dots. He tagged shirts, jackets, jeans, shoes, and bras that sent his mind down a different path from what he should be doing. After a very vivid image of what he’d like to do if he ever got to see Piper’s breasts up close again, he managed to tag all of her electronics before putting them back and carrying out the bags.

  “All ready,” he said, more to Miles and Cy than to Piper.

  Piper took a deep breath and nodded. “Let’s go. I already said goodbye to my parents. Make sure my mom doesn’t kill my dad, okay?” she asked her uncles as they walked out of the house. Aiden locked the door behind them and used the remote fob to activate the alarm.

  “We’ll be watching out for you both,” Miles promised as Aiden rolled his eyes at them. Son of a bitch, they put a GPS tracker on him, too.

  The two older men chuckled as they got into their truck and drove off. “The plane should be ready. Is there anything else you need?” Aiden asked Piper as he put her luggage with his in the back of the SUV.

  “I don’t think so,” Piper said sadly, looking at her house before getting into the SUV. “What if this is the last time I see my house or my family?”

  “It won’t be. I’ll make sure you get home,” Aiden swore.

  “But what if they get me?”

  “Then I’ll come after you. I’ll always come for you, Piper.”

  I’ll always come for you, Piper. Piper sighed as the private jet cruised across the Atlantic toward England. If only it wasn’t because she was paying him to do so. After all this, paying a man would probably be the only way she could have a man in her life. No one in Keeneston, even Cody Gray who had shown interest in a one-night stand, would touch her after all this trouble.

  It wasn’t as if Aiden would either. He was gorgeous. And sexy. And if her Internet search taught her anything, it was that he dated incredibly sexy and sophisticated women who had tea with royalty and wore those beautiful little thousand-dollar hats one time before they stored them away forever.

  And that was not Piper. In fact, that was the farthest thing from her there was. She might rub shoulders with royalty, but it’s not like her friends were the Queen of England. Okay, so they were princes. And princesses. But they didn’t act like it. They were just her friends. And they didn’t invite her to official state business. Aiden was the strong man every mother dreamed her daughter would bring home and only a select few with the right name and political connections had been able to.

  Lady Anne, an equestrian, was the latest girlfriend. Her father was an advisor to the queen. She never had a hair out of place. She raised money for charities. She was the perfect girlfriend. Piper let out a sigh and cast a side-eye glance at Aiden. He was sitting on the couch with his legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles while his head was back and eyes were closed. She found talking to him to be so easy. He seemed to understand her, or maybe that was because she was paying him.

  Aiden Creed, gigolo bodyguard. Piper felt her cheeks flush at the thought of Aiden sitting up and stripping out of his prim button-up shirt. It was hard to believe the put-together man who regularly wore a suit was once a part of the deadly SAS. He seemed more at home on Wall Street than with a gun. Piper had read Jane Austen. Maybe Aiden was the second son of a wealthy family who had chosen to work for a living. In the world of Austen, they were either clergy or military. It would be a damn shame to have Aiden lost to the cloth.

  “If you continue staring at me like that, I’ll start to think you want me.”

  Piper didn’t blush. She turned redder than a dog’s nose after sniffing a porcupine. “I don’t want you,” Piper said as she hoped God didn’t strike her dead with a lightning bolt for lying.

  “The lady doth protest too much,” Aiden said, quoting Hamlet. And okay, an Englishman quoting Shakespeare was sexy enough to cause the embarrassing blush to spread down her neck and heat her insides. “Oh, if I knew I’d get that reaction, I’d have quoted Shakespeare earlier. Or Byron? Had to learn both in school as a lad.”

  Get it together. He’s just a man. A drop-dead sexy man. And she knew exactly how to get him to stop teasing her. “Did you know that researchers at the University of Washington Health Sciences found the immune system generated a molecule, nitric oxide, inhibits Staphylococcus aureus’ transformation from its benign quiescent colonizing state to virulent form? I just read that in Science Daily and found it fascinating.”

  “No, I didn’t know that. Of course, if my science teacher looked like you, I might have paid attention more. Why do you find it fascinating?”

  Piper’s mouth fell open before she snapped it closed as Aiden leaned forward and focused his eyes on hers. They didn’t appear to be glazed over from boredom like all the other men she dated. “I’m sure you don’t want a girl to explain it all to you. Most men hate when I talk about things they don’t understand.”

  “I’m not most men. I think it’s incredibly sexy how smart you are.” Aiden sat back and patted the couch next to him. “Come. Tell me all about staph infections. You know, they’re actually a real problem in the military since we’re all in close quarters together. Especially when someone gets one that is resistant to antibiotics. It can ruin his career.”

  Piper stared at the man. He knew what she was talking about. Sure, staph was in the name of the virus, but most men would have zoned-out to even pick up on it, nevertheless ask her to talk about it.

  “Really?” she asked.

  “Really.” Aiden patted the couch again and she stood, took a few steps, and then sat next to him. Aiden put his arm across the back of the couch and Piper leaned back, resting her head against his arm as she talked about staph and the results from the research the article had told about.

  Aiden asked questions, l
istened, and by the end of the explanation, his hand was cupping her shoulder as his thumb drew lazy circles on her arm while she rested her head against his shoulder. “You’re doing this because you’re being paid, right?” Piper asked suddenly.

  “Doing what?” Aiden asked as his body stayed completely relaxed next to hers. And oh God, the smell. His smell. It was intoxicating. Maybe he was doused in pheromones.

  “This,” she said, pointing to his hand on her shoulder. “Talking to me, feigning interest in viruses and my work, feigning interest in me. Because you don’t have to do that. I can just as easily work on FAVOR without you making me feel all . . . well, just all. Which I should probably be doing anyway, working on my project, that is. I know you’re not my friend. And I know you’re not my boyfriend.” Piper almost stopped, but while she was the quiet one with a bad track record in dating, it didn’t mean she’d fall for the first man to show her any interest.

  “I can’t be,” Aiden said tightly even though he didn’t remove his hand from her shoulder.

  “So then, why all the pretending? You’re a good guy, Aiden. You don’t have to flirt with the lab nerd to make me feel better.”

  Aiden grabbed her shoulder as he sat up straight, bringing her with him as he turned her to face him. Piper was shocked at how angry he was. She guessed he didn’t like being called out for it. It wasn’t as if he depended on a tip at the end of this like a bartender who flirted with the single women. She didn’t understand why he was so upset.

  “Listen to me. I’m only going to say this once, so pay attention. You are bloody amazing. You’re smart, beautiful, and any man should roll over and thank his lucky stars to have you with him. But it can’t be me, even if I want it to be me. And I do. But not while you’re my client. Emotions cloud my judgment and reaction time. I’m already attached more than I should be. If we did all the things I have been thinking about, I wouldn’t be doing my job. Instead, you’d be too exhausted to make it out of bed, much less work on fixing your project. So, until you no longer need me to protect you, we will have to suffice with dreaming. But never think I’m not interested.”