by K. M. Scott
Her gaze traveled from Paul to this Hunter person and then down the full length of his body, from head to toe. Her first impression was he looked like a cop. Or someone who could play a cop in the movies. He had short brown hair a little too much like that ex of hers, but his face had a rugged look she liked in men. This Hunter certainly didn’t have a pretty boy appearance so many of her co-stars had lately.
He didn’t smile, which unnerved her. There he stood in her home and he couldn’t even crack a tiny smile on their introduction? That seemed rude. He was probably one of those stereotypical overly serious bodyguard types she’d never liked.
She did like how that rugged look made him appear tough, so maybe she could tolerate the sour puss thing he had going on. For once, though, she wished the men who came into her life didn’t look like stone cut outs of real men.
As that drifted through her mind, her gaze slid down to his body again. He looked hard there too, like he could protect someone. Well, if his job was going to be doing just that for her, he fit the bill.
“Alexis, did you hear me?” Paul asked, tearing her out of her thoughts about Hunter.
She stood up and extended her hand to shake his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Hunter. How long have you been a bodyguard?”
He shook her hand for a moment and then pulled his away abruptly. “I’m not a bodyguard. I spent time as an LAPD detective, and now I work for Project Artemis as a specialist helping people who need protection. A bodyguard is what the world will think I am, but trust me. I’m far more than just a mere bodyguard.”
She stood shocked at how terse he’d been. Unnecessarily terse considering she’d been more than polite with him.
Cocky men were top on her list of things she didn’t want to deal with in life, so she needed him to understand she wouldn’t be treated rudely like that, no matter how much Paul thought of his boss.
“Well, if you’re anything like the cops in LA now, I don’t see what you could possibly do for me. They haven’t been able to find out the identity of my stalker for months, and I’ve had to move clear across the country because they couldn’t do their jobs.”
Hunter remained stone-faced as she spoke, and when she finished, he said nothing to her. Not a single word. Instead, he turned toward Paul and said, “I need to know the layout of this whole place. Anywhere someone can get in, I want to know about it.”
Then he walked out, leaving her standing there feeling insulted and wondering what made this guy think he could pull that cocky shit on her. How dare he ignore her like that! He worked for her. Who did he think he was?
Paul remained behind, smiling as if things had gone swimmingly. God, did he ever not think everything was just fine?
Pointing at the door Hunter had just walked through when he left so rudely, she asked, “And you think that person is going to be the one who helps me get my life back?”
He looked away and nodded. “Well, he isn’t exactly the chattiest guy in the world, but I trust Persephone. If she thinks he can help, I say give him a chance.”
“Says the man who promised me that moving cross country to this awful place would solve my problems. I’m guessing this Persephone finds his Cro-Magnon routine perfectly acceptable, but I don’t. If you think I’m going to take being treated like that in my own home by some for-hire security guard, you can forget it. Tell him to go find a job at the mall because I’m not having it!”
Alexis sat back down on her comfy chair and folded her arms across her chest as steam practically shot out the top of her head she was so furious at Paul for bringing that man to her home. She wouldn’t be treated like some insignificant thing who didn’t even deserve an answer by any man, least of all some stranger in her own home.
“Lexi, just listen to me. Give him a chance. I promise you Persephone wouldn’t have sent him if she didn’t think he could help. Just give him a week. If you don’t like him by that time, then he’s gone. Promise me you’ll give him at least that long, though?”
The look on Paul’s face told her he was worried, and he had good reason to be. She’d had enough of men pushing her around for an entire lifetime. She wouldn’t be taking this Hunter guy’s shit not one more time.
“The problem isn’t with me, so you’re wasting your breath talking to me, Paul. The problem is with him. He’s rude to the person he’s supposed to be helping and in her own house, no less. If he can’t change his attitude, then he’ll have to leave and not after a week. Now. So you have a choice. You can continue to stand here and stare at me with that terrified look in your eyes, or you can go find your friend’s guy and explain to him how things go here at Casa Alexis. Whatever you do, shut the door on your way out and tell Lauren I want to see her.”
He scurried away, knowing full well she meant every word she’d said. She didn’t make hollow threats. Not to men who cheated on her and then thought she’d merely stand idly by when they stepped out with other women, and certainly not about a man she’d just met and already didn’t like enough to want him thrown out into the street on his ear.
Reaching down, she picked up the script for Haunted By Love off the floor and flipped to the last page she’d read. After only a few lines, it became apparent trying to focus on anything would be a complete waste of time, so she threw the script across the room in frustration. It knocked over a lamp, which crashed to the floor and smashed into a million pieces.
This day just got better and better.
Her head began to pound from a stress headache as a result of Hunter McKary and his rudeness. She didn’t want to play a victim in any more films or in her own life either anymore. Even more, she didn’t want to be someone the Hunters of the world thought they could ignore so easily and never pay a price.
She heard a light tap on the door she recognized as Lauren’s signature knock and called out, “Come in!”
Her best friend and assistant peeked her head around the door and smiled. “Paul said you wanted to see me?”
Alexis nodded and waved her in. “Yes. I need to see a friendly face after meeting that odious man.”
Lauren closed the door and came over to sit down on the floor in front of her. With her usual sweetness, she touched her hand and smiled. “It didn’t go so well? He looked very handsome, at least.”
Handsome didn’t matter if the man had the manners of a pig.
“Nothing special, if you ask me. I’ve dated much better looking men, so whatever he thinks he’s got going on, it isn’t much.”
“What made him so odious?” Lauren asked innocently.
Alexis opened her mouth to explain what happened, but nothing came out. She was so furious. The man had actually made her speechless.
Finally, she said, “I don’t want to talk about it now. Just take my word for it. He won’t be here long if he doesn’t realize who’s the boss here.”
“It’s your home, Alexis. Paul needs to understand that if you don’t want someone in it, they need to go. I think he’s forgotten that lately.”
She smiled down at Lauren. “Thank you for reminding me. This is why you’re irreplaceable, you know that? Everyone else could go away, but as long as I have you to rely on, I know I’ll be okay.”
“You can rely on me. Always. Never forget that.”
Alexis closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. At least she had one person she could trust in the world.
Chapter Four
Hunter carefully examined every square inch of Alexis Marchand’s penthouse apartment, and after two hours of checking each window and door, he felt satisfied that at the very least that part of protecting her wouldn’t be a problem. The fact that her home took up one-fourth of the top floor of the building had given him concern, but after checking out all the entrances, he didn’t worry as much.
A single elevator as the only means of reaching the apartment meant anyone trying to get in would have to get by security on the main floor. Hunter immediately decided at least one of Alexis’s security detail would have to b
e stationed near the front door of the building at all times. To trust her safety to the single security guard who manned the entire main floor wouldn’t be wise.
He found Paul waiting for him in the dining room next to the kitchen. The manager sat alone at a long table that seated ten, so he pulled out a chair and sat down next to him.
“I’ve done my preliminary examination of the penthouse. The location on the top floor makes creating a security plan much easier since there’s only one way into the apartment, unless your stalker plans on scaling the side of the building.”
Paul laughed. “You have no idea how dedicated some of her fans are. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if one tried it sometime.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Other than that, I think at least one, if not two, of her security guys should be stationed in the lobby of the building at all times round the clock.”
“Okay,” Paul said, nodding in agreement. “That won’t be a problem.”
“Good. I don’t think we should rely on the building’s security when it comes to things like a stalker. Other than that, all packages need to be inspected by me before anyone does anything with them.”
That made Paul grimace, and he stopped nodding. “On that, we might have an issue.”
“Oh?” Hunter asked, wondering why something so simple would cause a problem.
Hesitating, Paul took a deep breath in and blew it out slowly before he answered. “Lexi isn’t going to be happy about that. She’s going to see it as an invasion of her privacy.”
“Well, she can get over it or she go through what you described happened the other night again. Which do you think she’d find less of a hassle?” Hunter asked, already getting irritated at how this place worked.
If Alexis Marchand wanted to be protected, she’d have to accept the fact that it might mean some things needed to change. If she couldn’t, he’d never be able to help her or find out who was stalking her.
Paul drew his eyebrows in toward his nose in an expression of worry. “I’ll just have to explain it to her. I’m sure if I do that she’ll understand.”
The two men sat silently for a long moment before Hunter asked a question he needed answered. “Why did you call Persephone for help with this? Did Alexis ask you to?”
“Oh no,” he answered, shaking his head quickly. “She’d never ask for help like this. It’s not in her nature. She might not know how to solve this problem, but she’s stubborn. She would have kept going like she has been for months if I hadn’t contacted you guys.”
“I think maybe this might have worked better if she actually wanted the kind of help I can offer. As it is now, she’s not very receptive to it.”
“You just have to understand Lexi. She’s strong, and I mean that in any number of ways. She doesn’t want to be considered helpless, but that’s exactly what this guy has done to her. If you knew her before all this began, you wouldn’t recognize her now.”
Curious as to why Paul kept referring to the stalker as a male, Hunter said, “You keep saying he and him when you talk about her stalker. Do you have an idea of who it might be that makes you think it’s a man? An ex-boyfriend, for example?”
“No, not really. I think I keep saying it’s a man because Alexis is sure the stalker is a guy.”
“Why?”
Paul shrugged. “It might be that she’s suspicious of men more than women. After her divorce, she didn’t trust men much anymore. Even with me, something changed, and I’m her manager. I always want the best for her, but she doesn’t trust like she used to. Unless you’re Lauren. They’ve known each other since they were kids growing up in Minnesota, so Lexi trusts her with her life. The rest of us? Not so much, and even less lately. I’m actually surprised she took my advice and moved here to New York. I would have put money on her fighting me tooth and nail.”
Hunter didn’t know what to say to him. He looked sad about Alexis not trusting him, but he couldn’t help him with that. All he could do was keep her safe and hopefully find out who was behind the threatening letters and gifts quickly so she could get back to living her life.
“I better get going. Do you need me for anything else?” Paul asked as he stood from the table.
“Nope. I’m going to start talking to her staff to see if I can get any ideas from what they might know. I have free reign here, right? I can’t do my job without it.”
A slight smile brightened up Paul’s face. “As far as I’m concerned, sure. I think I should warn you, though. Lexi was pretty offended by the way you were earlier. You should probably find a different way to deal with her.”
Just the suggestion that he’d have to kiss the diva’s ring or whatever she expected him to do rankled Hunter. Shaking his head, he tried to make Paul understand he wasn’t there to make his client feel good. He was there to protect her. Period.
“I’m not sure what you all think this is, but I’m not worried about if she likes me or not. I’ve got a job to do. That’s it. She doesn’t have to like me for me to do it.”
Paul’s face contorted in a wince. “Actually, she does. Let’s put it this way. She’s already told me if you’re like you were before one more time, she’s calling this all off. I don’t want to see her hurt, and I want you to get to the bottom of what’s going on here. All I’m asking is that you remember she’s feeling very vulnerable these days and running roughshod over her feelings isn’t going to help her stay safe. I know Lexi. She’ll rebel, and if she doesn’t simply kick you out, she’ll lash out in other ways.”
Hunter already hated this job, and now this guy was basically telling him he had to pamper some Hollywood diva to be able to do his job? Fuck. Persephone was going to owe him weeks of vacation time at this rate.
“Fine. I’ll try to stay as far away from her as possible, and when I do have to deal with her, I promise to be civil. How’s that?”
His offer brought a big smile back to Paul’s face. “She’s actually a great person. Give her a chance. You might find out you like her. But civil will probably be enough.”
As Paul walked into the kitchen, Hunter mumbled to himself, “Civil it is. That can’t be too hard.”
Before he had a chance to talk himself out of being civil to Alexis when all he wanted to do was his job, a woman appeared in front of him and sat down on the other side of the table. Pretty, with dark blonde hair and blue eyes, she paled in comparison to her employer. For what it was worth, though, she had a sweeter look to her that he liked at that moment.
“Mr. McKary, I’m Lauren Henderson. I’m Alexis’s personal assistant. I hope you’ll be able to solve this so whoever is torturing her will finally stop. She’s so giving to her fans. I can’t imagine who would do this to her.”
In her eyes, Hunter saw real concern and sadness over what had happened to her boss. “How long have you known Alexis?” he asked, curious if there could be even the hint of bad blood between the two women.
He had no reason to suspect Lauren of being behind the stalking, but as he always had since his first day on the job as a cop, he had to keep an open mind about everyone involved in the case. As far as he was concerned, any one of them could be guilty and everyone was still innocent.
With a big smile, she explained how long she’d been friends with Alexis Marchand, sounding almost like a fan herself. “We met the first day of school in first grade. I had just moved to Minnesota from Ohio, and I didn’t know a soul. Alexis walked right up to me before school and with a big smile said, ‘Hi, I’m Alexis!’ From that moment on, we’ve been thick as thieves.”
Hunter quickly did the math in his head and guessed Lauren and Alexis had been friends for nearly twenty years. If anyone knew the star, it was the woman in front of him. Sensing that, he wanted to get as much information about her as he could from Lauren.
“Have you always been her assistant once she began acting?” he asked.
“Even before that,” Lauren said, beaming with pride. “When she hit it big in modeling less than a year aft
er she was discovered, she asked me to be her assistant. Of course, I said yes, so I put off college and I’ve been working with her ever since.”
“How was she discovered?” Hunter asked, suddenly curious about that part of Alexis Marchand’s history.
Lauren clapped her hands together in excitement, like she adored telling this story. “It’s almost unbelievable. She was at the mall and the owner of Ketton Modeling Agency had gotten lost driving to St. Paul. He ran into Alexis walking into the food court and knocked her tray of food out of her hands. The food and her soda crashed to the floor, and as he was apologizing for his clumsiness, he says he realized he’d just run into his next superstar. He gave her his card and told her to call him if she wanted to be a model. I remember she came to my house on her way home and asked me if she should do it. I told her of course she should. Just look at her. She’s a born model. She called him the next day, and as they say, the rest is history.”
“So she began to model in high school?”
“Yeah. And by the time we graduated, she was a star and I was her assistant.”
“You two have been together for a long time. Have you ever fought, or has it always been best friends between the two of you?”
He watched for any change in her expression, especially looking for a hint of any problem in the past as she said, “Just once. We were in seventh grade and both of us liked the same boy. He liked Alexis and they went out for a few weeks before it ended. The whole time, we didn’t talk, but I think she missed me as much as I missed her. After that, we made a pledge never to let a guy come between us again. We’ve never really fought since.”
“Never really?” Hunter asked, seizing on the way she phrased that.
Lauren looked around to make sure no one else was within earshot and said in a low voice, “Alexis is under tremendous pressure. You don’t know what it’s like to be a star like her. Everyone seems to put their needs on her. They expect her to be beautiful and charming and a great businesswoman at the same time. She’s expected to be perfect. If she says one wrong word, the press will jump on her like a pack of hyenas.”