Forever Guarded

by Kathleen Brooks

  Nailah and Jamal beamed with happiness as the crowd went absolutely nuts. The king quieted the crowd and turned to Nailah and Jamal. “And for this special occasion, I have a gift. With the blessing of my council and family, I present this proclamation.”

  King Dirar turned to the crowd, opened a folded piece of paper and began to read. “I, King Dirar Ali Rahman, with the blessing and approval of the council, hereby enter into law absolute primogeniture for those born in the line of succession from this date forward.”

  Piper sucked in a breath as Nailah’s mouth dropped open a moment before the king turned to her and handed her the paper. “I, on behalf of the people of Rahmi, celebrate you and wish all our blessings on our future king or queen.”

  Tears rolled down Nailah’s face as the king and queen hugged her and Jamal. The crowd gathered at the palace was cheering and Piper heard fireworks and shouts coming from the town outside the palace walls. For the first time in history, the people of Rahmi could have a queen ruling them.

  Piper looked to Aiden and found him scanning the crowd, but then his eyes landed on hers. She could only describe them as hungry as he looked at her. Would she have this someday? Not the crown, but the celebration of love that created a new life? An image of Aiden standing next to her with his hand on her swollen belly flashed through her mind. And just as fast it was replaced with the gossip columns she read about Aiden having new semi-famous society girlfriends every month.

  Her smile slipped and Aiden strode toward her. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she said as she turned to look at Jamal and Nailah waving to the crowd. Music started up and the royal couples took to the floor to open the dancing.

  “I know enough about women to know when they say nothing, it is absolutely something.” Her smile fell more and she knew the second Aiden put it together. “We need to talk.”

  “No, we don’t. It was a silly feeling brought on by our circumstances,” Piper said, suddenly feeling as if her heart were breaking.

  “I won’t let you do this,” Aiden said sternly.

  “Do what?”

  “End us before we even begin.” Aiden looked at the dance floor now filling with couples. “Dance with me.”

  He didn’t give her a chance to argue. He took her hand and pulled her from her seat. “Aiden!”

  “I’ll have you crying my name in pleasure, not disappointment.” Piper’s heart and body tingled at his proclamation. “I’m not the best with relationships. It was hard to want one when I was always being shipped out at a moment’s notice, and after, I was too busy building my company. But I know enough to know the real thing when she’s dancing in my arms. Give us time, Piper. I can’t commit right this second to a future together, but give me time. I need to end the threat against you. Then I want you to get to know me. Give us time to make something together. Something real. Something lasting. Will you give me that?” he asked as he stopped their dancing.

  Piper’s breath had caught the second he started talking. And now, standing together in the middle of the dance floor, Piper felt like a queen when he focused all his feelings on her. “Yes. I’ll give you that. But, Aiden, I’m not a one-night stand. If I wanted that, I would have been with Cody.”

  “Cody? The deputy?” Aiden asked between clenched teeth. “I never liked him.”

  “So, where does that leave us now?” Piper asked, ignoring his posturing.

  “It leaves me with a job to do and one hell of a first date to plan the second Phobos is dealt with.”

  Aiden pulled her close to him as she rested her hand against his chest and they began to sway to the music again. Piper felt his heartbeat under her hand. She felt every breath and the way it quickened as the hand holding her waist began to dip lower. And she felt the way her body heated as his eyes communicated everything they weren’t able to say since the future was so unsure.

  They could have been the only couple on the dance floor for all Piper knew. She heard the music weaving a cocoon around them as Aiden masterfully led her around the floor. Their bodies brushed against each other, and his eyes never left hers. Piper could feel the heat from them as her breathing quickened in response. By the time Aiden brought her to a stop at the end of the song, Piper was heated, flushed, and her heart pounding as if Aiden had just made love to her.

  “Promise me you’ll give us a chance, Piper.”

  Piper didn’t know what they had, but even a scientist like her could feel the chemistry. And it was off the charts. “Yes. I promise.” Aiden lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss on her knuckles before holding out his arm to escort her back to her table.

  The party went well into the night, but Piper couldn’t remember any of it after her dance with Aiden. Her heart was already thinking about love, while her brain was reminding her she’d only known him a couple days. Her heart and mind battled as her mind reminded her he lived an ocean away while her heart reminded her how she felt in his arms. By the end of the night, Piper was hopelessly confused as to what she should do. But one thing she was not confused about. She could easily fall in love with Aiden Creed.

  16

  Aiden scanned the area one last time before opening the door to the SUV. Rahmi guards were stationed all around the nanotech laboratory as he walked with Piper toward the front door. He hadn’t slept much, and it made him jumpy. Deep down he knew it was the revelation that Piper had the possibility of being someone very special to him, and that led to the second reason he was jumpy. Someone in this lab was working with Phobos.

  Piper showed no nerves as she walked into the facility she’d helped build. She knew everyone from the janitor to the receptionist and every scientist she passed. This visit had been announced, and Aiden was on high alert. They had an ambush planned, and Piper was the bait.

  A young woman around Piper’s age smiled as the two women hurried to hug each other. She looked similar to Piper with dark tanned skin, black hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, and a pink set of scrubs.

  “Sada!” Piper said happily as she hugged the woman.

  “Oh, Piper! I am so pleased to see you again. There’s so much I can’t wait to show you.”

  Piper turned with a smile on her face to introduce Aiden to her friend, but her smile fell when she took in his hard features as he scanned the lab. She’d momentarily forgot why she was there. Bait. With Dudley telling Phobos about FAVOR, they had to know she was here by now. Plus, in the back of her mind was the fact that Phobos had been in contact with someone in this lab.

  “And I can’t wait to see it.” Piper felt as if everyone could see her smile turn fake as Sada took her around the lab and caught her up on what everyone was working on.

  “It’s so great you’re here. I’ve missed our talks. I was just telling my boyfriend—” Sada was saying before Piper cut her off.

  “Boyfriend? When did that happen?” Piper asked, excited for her friend. Like Piper, Sada spent way too much time in the lab. The two friends had frequently commiserated over their lack of love lives as they ate lunch while waiting for experiments to finish running.

  “It’s only been a couple of months. I met him on that dating site for scientists I told you about,” Sada whispered as she eyed Aiden standing nearby.

  Piper looked to Aiden and smiled. “Sada, this is my friend, Aiden. He’s very good at keeping secrets. Go on, tell me more.”

  “Well, he just got to town yesterday, and we already had our first date. He’s amazing,” Sada sighed. “In fact, I was hoping you would join us tonight for dinner. I’ve told him all about this totally cool chick I work with,” Sada winked, and Piper quickly agreed to dinner with her friend.

  “He has a friend with him he could hook you up with,” Sada said as she wiggled her eyebrows, which made Piper laugh.

  “No, I’m good. But thank you.”

  “I’ll let him know and make sure he’s free. Tonight at seven at our usual place?”

  “It’s a date.” Piper hugged Sada before
heading to her office with Aiden hot on her heels.

  “There’s a dating site for scientists?” he asked as he closed the door to her office.

  “Yup. Sada told me about it, but I was too busy to check it out.”

  “You won’t be needing to anymore either,” Aiden said, and Piper realized he was jealous of a site she hadn’t even joined. It made her feel good in a slightly wicked way. “Anyway, as you were touring, we ran diagnostics on the network. No ingoing or outgoing communication from that IP address in the last couple of days. We also didn’t catch anyone trying to use their cell phone or their computers while you were there.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know,” Aiden said truthfully. “So, what do you need to get here? I want to get you back to the palace. I don’t like having you out in the open.”

  “I have some paperwork here, and I need to grab some equipment from the lab. That’s all I need and then we can go back to the palace until dinner.”

  “Where is your regular spot? I need to check it out after I drop you off.”

  Piper told him about the small restaurant she and Sada always went to near the lab before enlisting some of the Rahmi guards to help her carry her lab equipment. She got some questioning looks from the other scientists, but no one asked why she was taking the equipment. One of the benefits of being the head scientist, she guessed. Either way, she was back in the palace in short order with the equipment she needed to take back to England so she could work on fixing FAVOR. At least now she felt as if she had a place to start.

  Aiden walked from the palace to the restaurant. He wore jeans, a T-shirt featuring Rahmi’s professional cricket team, and a baseball cap down low over his eyes. He took a seat on the outdoor patio and ordered a drink as he watched people come and go. There were three exits, although more likely four: a front and back door, and a window in the men’s restroom, which he guessed matched a window in the women’s room.

  Aiden smiled at the pretty waitress who brought him a refill. “I’m visiting the science lab and they recommended I come here. The drink is excellent.”

  “Thank you,” the woman, who was probably twenty, blushed as she leaned forward across the table to put an extra napkin down for him, giving him a good view of her pert tits.

  “How long have you worked here?” Aiden asked as he let approval show in his eyes. The woman preened and Aiden sat back waiting for her to talk.

  “Forever. My parents own it and all of the family works here. I’ve been here since I was six, I think.” She laughed as she bit her lower lip and batted her eyelashes at him.

  “Must be hard working with your family all the time.”

  She shrugged a shoulder. “But I get to meet many fascinating people. Like you scientists from the lab. They come from all over the world to work here and most stop by to eat so I get to know them.”

  “I’m coming back tonight with some people from the lab. Sada set me up on a blind date with the head of the lab . . .” Aiden pretended to forget Piper’s name and the waitress quickly jumped in.

  “Piper? Is she back in town?”

  “I guess. We’ll be here tonight. Is she nice?”

  “So nice! Sada was talking to her new boyfriend last night about Piper hopefully coming back soon. I can’t wait to see her.”

  Aiden nodded along as she continued to tell him all about Piper. “So, I don’t have to worry about finding an emergency exit in the back?”

  The woman laughed. “Oh no. You won’t need the back door or the kitchen for Piper. She’s very lucky to have a date with you.”

  “It sounds like I’m the lucky one.” Aiden stood up and put extra money on the table. “Thanks for calming my nerves before my date. I’ll see you soon.”

  Aiden walked around the back of the building and took in the area. City alleys filled with large trash cans and employee parking filled the space behind the restaurant. A small marina was a couple blocks away. Then around the side of the restaurant was the main strip of the city lined with shops, clubs, and places to eat. Across the street were businesses, including the lab, and a large park. He’d post men at every exit, in the park, and in the nearby alleys just in case.

  Aiden walked back to the palace, flashed his credentials at the gate, and found Piper sitting in the gardens talking with Nailah. Not wanting to interrupt, he took position behind them and began to scan the area, but he was in trouble. His eyes kept going back to his principal. He might not have officially crossed the line and started a relationship with her, but he’d be lying to himself if his feelings for Piper hadn’t begun to affect his work.

  Aiden stepped into the shadows and pulled out his phone. “Eddie, it’s Aiden. How fast can you be in Rahmi?” Aiden asked his trusted employee.

  “Let me see. You need backup?” the older man, who had done four tours of duty, asked. He was in his mid-forties now, ten years older than Aiden’s thirty-four years, and had been happy to leave his training job in the British Army to take the protection jobs he wanted when he wanted. And it paid a hell of a lot more.

  “Not exactly,” Aiden hedged. “It’s personal.”

  “The scientist turned out to be too high maintenance for you, huh?” Eddie chuckled.

  “No. Like I said, it’s personal.”

  “Oh. I see. That’s a first for you. I can be there in ten hours.”

  “Thank you,” Aiden said before hanging up. He wasn’t one to ask for help, but he also cared too much for Piper to put her at risk because of his feelings for her.

  Aiden put away his phone and stood quietly in the shadow of the breezeway watching Piper. His mother had said she’d fallen in love with his father in the blink of an eye. Aiden had never believed it possible, but despite trying to keep his feelings professional, the quirky, smart, and sometimes disheveled Piper was slowly making a home for herself in his heart. Now he just needed to keep her safe so he could finally ask her out.

  * * *

  “I can’t say I blame you. That is one handsome man. And Jamal couldn’t stop talking about him last night. He impressed Jamal very much,” Nailah said as she cast a quick glance over Piper’s shoulder. “And by the way he’s looking at you. Goodness. Is it hot out here?”

  Piper fought the urge to look behind her. Aiden had occupied her thoughts more than she wanted him to. After dancing with her the night before, he’d gone back to being a professional bodyguard. Even while she was trying to work this afternoon, her thoughts kept turning to Aiden. She wanted to bounce some ideas off him. He didn’t even know about her work, but she found that talking to him about her project opened her mind to new ideas. He saw things differently than she did and asked questions she wouldn’t think of. Because of that, she found herself putting down her work this afternoon and going in search of him. Instead, she found Nailah who wanted to spend a little time together. And they had, until Nailah had pointed out Aiden was behind her. Ever since, Piper only heard every fifth word Nailah had said.

  The clock chimed and Nailah said something. Piper smiled, wondering what it was she’d said. Then when Nailah got up and kissed her cheek, Piper figured it out.

  “I’ll see you after your dinner. I want all the details,” Nailah whispered before heading into the family’s private wing. Piper didn’t need to turn around to know Aiden was there.

  “How did scouting go?” Piper asked, closing her eyes and lifting her face to the warm sun. The smell of flowers, fresh-cut grass, and fruit trees mingled with Aiden’s masculine smell. For one moment, Piper let herself soak it in.

  Aiden sat next to her, his body brushing against hers. “Good. I got to know the waitress. She gave me information on the exits. I have guards posted just in case. I talked to Nash, who said everything from that IP address has been quiet. There doesn’t appear to be any communications with anyone outside of the normal from the lab. We may have to do something big to draw them out.”

  “I trust you. Just tell me what to do.” Piper felt Aiden’s muscles
tighten. Something was wrong. “What is it?”

  “I’ve become compromised. In ten hours I’m going to resign as your security detail and my second in charge, Eddie, will take over. While I have some ideas, I need to wait for Eddie’s arrival and discuss them with him.” Aiden turned to her. His eyes pinned her to the spot as his jaw clenched and unclenched as if he were battling some inner demons. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  Piper felt as if she’d been punched in the gut. “You’re leaving me?” In such a short time, she had begun to think of Aiden as part of her team. For some reason when they were together it felt as if they would always be together. But now, her body was ravaged at the idea of him leaving, and she felt oddly alone. And she didn’t feel like being alone anymore. Aiden’s hand came up and cupped her cheek. Piper instinctively leaned into his hand and let out a shaky breath. “It’s okay. I understand. I’m a strong, independent woman, and I will get this done with or without you. Besides, we don’t know for sure if Phobos is even behind this, and he certainly isn’t here. I’m good if you need to leave now.”

  “Babe, I’m not going anywhere.”

  Piper’s heart did a double take. “What? You said you are resigning.”

  “As your detail, not as your friend, and not as what I hope to be as more than your friend. My emotions are compromised. They’re fully occupied with you, and as such, I can’t protect you to the best of my ability. That’s why Eddie is coming.”

  Aiden took all questioning from Piper’s mind as his fingers slid from her cheek to the back of her neck, and he pulled her forward and took her lips with his. The kiss was slow, deliberate, and dreamy. His gentleness had her collapsing into him as his strong hands trailed lightly down her spine. He didn’t push her or hurry the kiss. Instead, it was a slow burn that left Piper breathless. Aiden groaned when he pulled away.

  “Ten hours. Right around midnight tonight. Then I’m all yours,” Aiden said as his thumb caressed her cheek. Suddenly, Phobos was the least of her worries. In ten hours she’d open her door and her heart to Aiden.