Behind the Scenes

by K. M. Scott

Then again, she could probably handle forty degrees.

  As all of this ran through Alexis’s mind, she thought back to them growing up in Minnesota and how they used to be so used to the cold and the snow. Back when they were kids, they spent hours ice skating and happily building snow forts until their fingers grew numb. It was nothing to stay out in the frigid cold for an entire day having a good time. They always knew a cup of hot cocoa waited for them when they finally decided to go inside to warm up.

  Those were good days for both of them. Now as she sat in a luxurious townhouse in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, she knew they’d gotten spoiled by living in LA all that time. But they weren’t delicate flowers who couldn’t handle a little tough weather. They were two women who’d braved the winters of Minnesota for the first seventeen years of their lives.

  They could handle a couple blocks in chilly New York City.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Hey, Hunter, can we talk?” Paul asked as he approached him in the kitchen. He’d only wanted to grab a drink, but it looked like he’d have to deal with questions about Alexis too. Of all the hassles on this assignment, not being able to escape the people who lived in this penthouse apartment was quickly becoming the worst.

  He was starting to understand why Alexis wanted to get away.

  Opening the refrigerator, he stuck his head in to look at his choices. “Sure. Give me a sec, okay?”

  Paul mumbled something as Hunter stood staring at the containers on the shelves. Milk, orange juice, filtered water, tea bags, and coffee. None of them thrilled him, so he grabbed the pitcher of water and poured himself a glass. He knew Paul stood anxiously waiting to begin his spiel about how Alexis needed to be more careful and how he worried about her, but he intentionally made him wait, preferring to put off the conversation until he couldn’t anymore.

  The reality was that Paul wouldn’t be telling him anything he hadn’t already thought himself. He just had a different tactic to make her take more care with her security than Paul. He preferred a less confrontational approach, one that didn’t include blowing up every time something happened that he didn’t like.

  Two glasses of water later, he turned toward her manager and smiled. “Ever get so thirsty that you could drink a gallon of something? I swear it’s like I’m dehydrated. I wasn’t even in the mood for water, and here I’ve downed two glasses of it and could do two more.”

  Preoccupied with the topic he wanted to discuss with him, Paul shook his head. “No, not really.”

  Hunter set his empty glass in the sink and turned around to lean against the counter. Folding his arms across his chest, he decided he’d tortured Paul for long enough. Five minutes of having to stand there and wait hadn’t calmed him down any, but it had amused Hunter a little.

  “So, what did you want to talk about, Paul?”

  His mouth dropped open and his eyes grew big, like he couldn’t believe Hunter didn’t know what he wanted to discuss. “Lexi, of course. Something has to be done about her. I can’t go through another day like today.”

  “I agree. We definitely don’t need another day like today.”

  Even agreeing with Paul didn’t seem to make him happy, though. He shook his head back and forth like some kind of crazy blond bobblehead doll and flailed his hands around in front of him.

  “Well, I’m glad we’re in agreement on that, but what are we going to do about it? She can’t just go running off to Atlantic City whenever she damn well feels like it!”

  Hunter took a deep breath and nodded. He didn’t necessarily agree with Paul’s exact statement, but he agreed with the sentiment. He had a feeling how they’d ensure what happened that morning didn’t happen again is where they differed.

  “I’ve got it under control. Trust me. I don’t believe she’s going to be sneaking off with Lauren again.”

  That promise didn’t serve to lessen Paul’s exasperation. If anything, it only made it worse. But Hunter wasn’t just bragging. He trusted that if Alexis wanted to leave the house again, she’d let him know. He didn’t know if that trust was misplaced or not, but he had a feeling he’d find out soon.

  Either way, his style didn’t include emotional outbursts and threats he couldn’t or wouldn’t back up. Unfortunately, that seemed to be all of what Paul had to offer. Hunter may not have known Alexis well at all, but he understood human nature and treating her like some misbehaving child wouldn’t get them anywhere.

  “What do you mean you’ve got it under control? You don’t even know her. Trust me. This isn’t the first time she’s done something like this, and it won’t be the last. One of these days she’s going to make some damn foolish decision and pay the ultimate price for it.”

  Hunter patted him on the shoulder, hoping to get him to calm down. “Relax. It’s all under control. I swear you have nothing to worry about. Now about this stalker. She got another letter today after she left. Alexis doesn’t know about it yet, but I want you to take a look at it and tell me what you think?”

  His announcement that another letter had come completely shifted Paul’s focus from Alexis’s poor choices that morning, so now he sagged against the counter next to Hunter. His excited expression drooped along with his body, giving him a defeated look.

  “Another one? I had really hoped they’d stop once she moved here. I guess I’m lucky Persephone could send you when she did. Between Alexis and this madman, I’m going to be grey by the end of the month.”

  Hunter pulled the letter out of his back pocket and laid it on the counter in front of them. “Take a look and tell me if anything jumps into your mind about this.”

  Leaning over, Paul studied the letter for a minute as Hunter re-read it for the fifth time that day.

  I HOPE YOU’RE LOVING NEW YORK AS MUCH AS I AM. I LIKE LA BETTER, THOUGH. WHEN ARE WE GOING BACK THERE, ALEXIS? SEE YOU SOON.

  He let out an audible sigh and shook his head. “What is with this guy? Now he’s sending her letters about the weather?”

  Hunter tapped on the note to get Paul to focus on what the stalker had told them through his words. “Look, I think we have to consider the idea that the stalker was in LA when he started and now is here in New York. I wasn’t sure at first with the snow globe, but I think this shows us he’s travelled with her.”

  Paul stood up and stared at Hunter with wide eyes. Whispering, he asked, “Are you saying he’s someone on her staff here?”

  “I don’t know. Was each one of them thoroughly checked out before they were hired?”

  “Of course. I checked each of their backgrounds myself. I would never let anyone who could harm Lexi get anywhere near her.”

  His tone became increasingly defensive, so Hunter quickly moved to calm him. “I’m not saying you would, Paul. That’s not what I’m thinking. I just wanted to ask to cover all the bases.”

  Shaking his head, Paul repeated himself. “I would never let anyone harm her. She’s more than just my client. She’s like the little sister I never had.”

  Hunter folded up the letter and stuck it back into his jeans pocket. “I know you wouldn’t. Don’t worry. I’m going to find this guy and stop him. In the meantime, you don’t have to worry about Alexis running off anymore either. I think she and I have come to an understanding.”

  “I hope so. She’s a handful, Hunter, but I love her like she’s family. I know you think I was tough on her earlier, but that was more fear talking than anything else. If anything ever happened to her…”

  His voice trailed off, and Hunter gave him a light pat on the arm as he moved to leave the kitchen. “I know. Don’t worry, though. Things are going to be better from this point on.”

  From behind him as he walked toward his room, he heard Paul quietly say, “I hope so. My heart can’t take another day like this one.”

  Hopeful he could focus on the case without any more distractions, Hunter closed himself in his new bedroom and called Gideon back at the estate for some help on finding out about a few people around Alexis.


  “Hunter, how’s the life of the working man?” Gideon asked when he answered the phone.

  “Fuck you. Don’t you know how to answer a phone call, for fuck’s sake?”

  His friend laughed out loud in that way that made Hunter smile. Gideon was nothing if not a good time.

  “Well, hello, Hunter. Aren’t you a ray of fucking sunshine today?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Speaking of work, I need you to check out a few people for me. I want to know everything you can find out on them.”

  “What am I? Your guy Friday, for God’s sake? I’m in the middle of something right now, but I can probably get to it later,” Gideon said dismissively.

  “Whatever you’re in the middle of can wait until later. Just DVR the damn game, for Christ’s sake!”

  “It’s not a game, and I think I have you to blame for that. Did you tell Persephone that all Xavier and I do is shoot pool and watch sports? Because she’s got me doing what amounts to busy work and it started right after you went to see her the other day. For fuck’s sake, she’s got him doing something with her office computer. He’s pretty insulted, actually,” Gideon complained.

  Hunter had to chuckle. He had mentioned something about the two of them having it pretty easy lately. Not that he’d intended for Persephone to necessarily change that. He’d just been blowing off steam. Now that she had put them to work, though, he really couldn’t feel bad for either one of them. They still got to sleep in their own beds every night, even if they did have to do something other than hang out all day.

  “I’m sure she just finally noticed that out of all of us, you guys are always sitting on your asses watching some game lately. She does have eyes, you know.”

  “I don’t just sit on my ass, you son of a bitch. I’m up at five every day and in the gym before your sorry ass is even out of bed.”

  “That’s only because it’s a habit for you from your time in the Navy.”

  Gideon huffed his disgust. “Actually, it’s from my high school football days, but it’s neither here nor there. The point is that while you are still lying in bed giving your cock a few nice tugs, I’m up and getting shit done.”

  “Yeah, I know. You do more before eight am than other people do all day. I think someone took that slogan, though, so you’re going to have to come up with a new one.”

  Before he came to Project Artemis, Gideon had been a number of things. He’d been a Navy SEAL, and he’d spent a few months on a search and rescue team right there in New York. But he still seemed like that high school football player more often than not.

  Hunter had to admit the guy was a hell of a physical specimen, even if he did seem to spend most of his time recently watching some sport or another on TV in the game room at the estate.

  “So you called me to hear me say fuck you to the favor you want me to do for you?” Gideon snapped.

  Hunter knew the time for busting ass was over. “Come on, man. I need your help with this. Alexis Marchand has someone stalking her, and I need to clear everyone around her so I can move on to who might be doing this to her. You’ve got the ability to find out anything about a person there. I barely got a bedroom here.”

  His mention of Alexis made Gideon’s whole attitude change. “What’s she like? Is she full of herself or a bitch to everyone? Typical Hollywood diva like you thought she’d be?” he asked.

  For a moment, Hunter thought about what he’d learned about Alexis so far. She’d treated her bodyguards like lapdogs, had one of her assistants lie for her, and she’d snuck out and worried the entire household needlessly.

  Still, he couldn’t say anything bad about her. He looked around the room she’d furnished for him and smiled. “Not really. She seems to be like everyday people.”

  “I like that. Is she as hot in person as she is in her movies?” Gideon eagerly asked.

  In that, he and Xavier had been right. “She’s definitely gorgeous. No doubt about that.”

  “I knew it! No way a woman that gorgeous on our TV could be a dog in person. Oh, that body…the way that ass looks when she walks away in a skirt…”

  “Steady dude. You sound like you’re going to blow any second. How about we get back to what I need you to find out for me?”

  “All right,” Gideon said, sounding disappointed. “Text me the names and I’ll get on it as soon as I can. But will you at least answer one thing for me?”

  “Why do I have to text you the names? Can’t I just tell you them?”

  Christ, why did he have to be so difficult?

  “I don’t have a photographic memory like Julian, you jackass. Just text them to me.”

  Hunter grumbled, “If you had a photographic memory, you’d want me to text them to you. Photographic means you have to see them.”

  “Christ, Hunter! It’s one damn text. Now tell me. Does she sound the same as she does in her movies?”

  What the hell was Gideon talking about?

  “How would I know?” Hunter answered, already frustrated by this call. “I’ve never seen any of them.”

  “Christ, you’re a Philistine. Her voice sounds soft, but you get the sense when she’s not acting that there’s something more underneath it. I have this fantasy that when she’s in the middle of—”

  The time had come for Hunter to cut this conversation off right now. “Whoa! I swear to God, man, you are oversexed. Maybe you need to get out of that chair and away from the TV for a little while. Just assume she sounds like any normal woman. I’m sending you the names of the people I need everything on. And the next time I call you, try to keep that shit to yourself.”

  Gideon chuckled. “I’m a red-blooded American male. By the way, just so you know, I’d have that in my bed before the end of the assignment. Hell, I’d have had her by now,” he bragged.

  “Bye, Gideon. You need to get yourself some soon before you explode there.”

  “Don’t you worry about me getting some. I do just fine, thank you. What I need is to not have to do busy work. But at least I get to partner with Tess on the things Persephone gave me to do. Jealous?” Gideon said, taunting him.

  At any other time, Hunter thought about how he would have been a little jealous Gideon got to work with Tess. Now, though, he wasn’t bothered at all.

  “Nope. Just get me that information ASAP.”

  “Yeah, ASAP. Got it. Later, Hunter.”

  Tossing his phone onto the bed, he shook his head at Gideon. That guy needed to get out more. But maybe he had something about Alexis. Not the sound of her voice when she…fuck, now he’d have that in his head the next time he spoke to her.

  No, maybe he had a good point about knowing more about Alexis. Hunter wondered if he should watch some of her movies. It couldn’t hurt.

  A knock at his bedroom door pulled him out of his thoughts. He opened it to see Alexis standing there in front of him in a pair of pink jogging pants and a t-shirt. As his gaze floated down her body, he noted that even in workout clothes she looked incredible.

  Quickly directing his attention to her face, he asked, “What’s going on?”

  “I need to find a gym. Lauren’s rounded up the addresses of a few. We’re going for a run to check them out. You told me to let you know when I wanted to leave the house. We’re going with Kyle if you don’t run, so we won’t be alone.”

  She smiled and raised her right hand. “Scouts’ honor. I promise.”

  He hadn’t expected her to be a runner. Not that he’d put much thought into what she did to keep her body in such good shape. But her running surprised him. She had a way of doing that, it seemed.

  “I could go for a run. It’ll clear my head. I have to admit I didn’t peg you for a runner, though.”

  Alexis gave him a huge smile. “Good! Be ready in ten. The four of us will go for a nice run.”

  “I’ll let Kyle know he doesn’t have to go since I’m going.”

  “Well, he’s the one who goes to the gym with me every day when we’re not at home. Since this ho
use doesn’t come with a place to work out, I figured he’d be coming with us.”

  “No need. I’ll be there. Let Kyle have some time off,” Hunter said as he thought about four definitely being a crowd.

  Alexis shrugged. “Okay. He’ll probably be happy to get an extra hour of sleep every day since he won’t have to come here from the hotel every morning to go to the gym with me. You let him know, and I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  Hunter watched her jog down the hallway and had to admit Gideon was right. The view from behind was spectacular.

  He found Kyle downstairs in the building’s lobby and pulled him aside. “Alexis tells me you usually go with her when she works out, but now that she’s here, you’re relieved from that. Enjoy the extra hour of sleep every morning.”

  At first, he didn’t seem to understand what Hunter had just said, but then his expression turned dark as his meaning became clear. “I’m Alexis’s trainer. She’s never let anyone else do the job but me.”

  “Well, you don’t have to do it anymore,” Hunter said flatly, already wondering why this conversation had gone on this long.

  Kyle shook his head but said nothing more. Sensing something more was going on, Hunter took a hard look at the man. Slightly shorter than him, the bodyguard had a thicker look courtesy of hours more in the gym, he assumed. He wasn’t a bad looking guy, though. Dark hair with brown eyes. Hunter had a feeling he had no difficulty with the ladies. Then he remembered the story Lauren had told him about that night Kyle had spent with Alexis right after her divorce became final.

  “Is there some problem I don’t know about?” Hunter asked.

  “No. I just don’t appreciate the fact that Alexis didn’t tell me this herself.”

  “She’s got a lot going on, Kyle. I’m sure you understand that.”

  But he didn’t seem to understand. All Hunter saw in Kyle’s face was hurt, oddly enough. Why the hell would he feel that way about getting extra sleep time every morning?

  “What’s going on here?” Hunter asked, and this time he watched Kyle’s expression carefully. This guy’s reaction to a simple change in his responsibilities seemed strange, to say the least.