Navy SEAL Bodyguard

by Tawny Weber

  “Sorry, but I have to take this call.” He gestured to Mia with his phone and told Alcosta, “If you have any security questions for me, just send them through Mia.”

  Then he brushed his hand over Mia’s shoulder. Even though she knew it was just for show, he rubbed his thumb along her jaw. The light slide of his finger over her skin sent a shimmer of desire tingling through Mia’s system. Her stomach jittered. Her breath tangled in her throat. Her lips trembled into a smile and her eyes locked on his for a long, heart-stopping moment before Spence tore his gaze away.

  She was so caught up in the sensations that it took her a few deep breaths to refocus after he strode out the door. Two more and she was able to relaunch into finishing her pitch. It took her twenty minutes, but finally she’d said all she had to say and was able to take a deep enough breath to loosen the knots tangled in her stomach.

  “I much admire your ideas and think that we’ll do good work together,” Santiago finally said after she’d finished outlining all of the events and answering all of his questions. “There are only two adjustments I’d like to make.”

  Although her fingers were itching to pull the contract from her bag, Mia pulled out a fresh pad of paper instead. Pen poised, she smiled and asked, “Just let me know what they are and I’ll make them happen.”

  “First, although I will be working at your side through every element of this fund-raiser, I’d also like you to work closely with my assistant. As you know, Jessica is well-versed in my preferences and my business.”

  “Absolutely,” Mia agreed.

  “Excellent. Second, as much as I appreciate your attention to detail and consideration for all elements of this fund-raiser, I believe my own security is sufficient for these events.”

  Mia’s stomach tightened right back up again. She’d been afraid of that. Still, the sympathy she felt over everything he’d faced—and overcome—was still front and center in her mind. And she thought her family was a challenge?

  But while sympathy might make her feel closer to him, it didn’t blind her to the pitfalls of doing this job without Spence as a buffer.

  “I have every faith in your security, Santiago. But if I can be frank? A number of the guests, my uncle included, will be more comfortable attending if my company is providing the security.”

  As she’d hoped, all it took was mentioning her uncle to change his mind.

  “Very well,” he said slowly. She could tell from the look in his eyes that it really wasn’t very well and knew they’d be revisiting this again. “Finally, third, I have a question.”

  Her already uneasy stomach began churning in response to the look in his eyes, yet Mia still smiled and asked, “Yes?”

  “I would like very much for you to join me at dinner tonight to celebrate the success of our joint venture. We could discuss future work together, other ways we could collaborate. No need to bring your security friend.” He said it like he was joking, his tone light and teasing. But the look in his eyes warned Mia that he was anything but resigned to her being in a relationship.

  The uneasiness in her stomach knotted tightly, the tension spreading to her shoulders so she felt as stiff as a board. But Mia managed a friendly smile.

  “I appreciate the invitation. I really do—” she started to say. Before she could finish her refusal, he shook his head.

  “No, no. No need to explain,” he said, waving his hands extravagantly. “We will be spending a great deal of time together over the next few weeks. I will sweep you so far off your feet that you will forget even the name of your friend. You’ll see that I can do so much more for you than that man could.”

  Good thing she didn’t want a man doing things for her, Mia thought as she got to her feet. Still, she’d had enough experience with bloated male egos to know she had to tread lightly.

  “But if you were busy showing me the world, how would I produce the most successful series of fund-raising events ever held, and all in your name?” she asked with a laugh, repacking her portfolio as fast as she could. “I’m sure it’s better this way. After all, it’s going to take all of my time, and every bit of help I can get, to do justice to your vision of these events, and to your name.”

  “You’ll do an amazing job, I’m sure,” he said as he got to his feet. “I am just as sure that you’ll soon be tired of your friend and ready to enjoy my company.”

  Fat chance, Mia thought with a friendly smile. If she was sure of one thing, it was that she’d never be tired of Spence in any way, shape or form.

  Chapter 7

  With the same care she’d take sneaking away from a ferocious, napping tiger, Mia escaped Señor Alcosta’s office. She’d never felt as triumphant, stressed and disgusted at the same time.

  She had her signed contract and a big fat deposit. She had the biggest events of her career to pull off in the shortest time she’d ever been allotted. And instead of her preferred method of working on her own to do so, she’d have to work side by side with a guy old enough to be her father, who was trying to oust her fake boyfriend from her bed so he could show her the world.

  Ah, well, Mia sighed. Nothing came without a price, and since it was pointless to whine about getting what she wanted, she set it aside.

  Instead, she started compiling her to-do list for the rest of the day as she hurried toward the elevator. She’d made it tentatively, in anticipation of getting the contract, but she had to integrate the changes Señor Alcosta wanted, then nail down the details.

  Mentally adjusting the list, reordering her planned phone calls and debating whether to call her uncle tonight, or wait till morning, Mia punched the elevator’s down button.

  “How’d it go?”

  “Oh.” She gasped so hard, she almost sucked off her lipstick. “I didn’t realize you were still here.”

  “What kind of boyfriend would I be if I left you at the mercy of a guy like that?”

  Hands in his pockets, Spence straightened from his position against the wall opposite the elevator and held out his hand for her portfolio.

  “The same kind of boyfriend who’d make me carry my own bag?” Mia guessed, half laughing. After a second—because despite antagonizing Alcosta, he’d actually been helpful in there—she handed him the large leather portfolio.

  When the elevator doors opened with a ding, Spence waved her in and waited, silently leaning against the wall again, until the doors closed.

  Mia pressed the lobby button before glancing at Spence.

  She started to launch into a description of how her meeting had ended, but her words caught in her throat.

  He was staring at her, those dark eyes so piercing that she wanted to squirm. Instead, she arched one brow in question.

  He just smiled.

  But it was that intense, sexy smile of his that made her want to sweep her tongue over his bottom lip to see if he still tasted as good as he looked. She’d bet money that he did.

  She shifted from one foot to the other, clasped her hands together, then let them fall to her side again. She knew it was stupid, but she wished she was the one carrying her portfolio so she could use it as a shield.

  Remembering his little act of sexy make-believe in Señor Alcosta’s office, her chin tingled as if he’d just reached out to touch her again.

  Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.

  “Well?” he finally asked, his voice wrapping around that single word in husky invitation.

  Mia wet her lips.

  “Well, what?”

  His smiled widened.

  “Well, how was the rest of the meeting?”

  Oh. Well, damn.

  Mia wondered if he could hear the sad wah-wah of her ego deflating.

  “It was good enough to garner a signed contract, a nice advance check and enough work over the next three weeks to make sanity iffy and sleep a fond memory.”

/>   “Congratulations.” His smile shifted from predatory to pleased. “That’s great.”

  “Thanks.” Thinking of how much she had to do, and how much was riding on doing it well, Mia blew out a long breath. “I’m glad you’ll be handling the bulk of the current workload. It’s really going to help give me time to focus on getting everything done for this huge extravaganza.”

  “For the next three weeks, anything you need, I’m your man,” he said as the elevator doors opened to the lobby.

  She liked the sound of that.

  There were so many things she needed. A candlelit, full-body massage. Practice finger painting whipped-cream designs on a sexy, hard body. A mind-blowing orgasm or ten.

  “We should celebrate,” she heard herself suggest as they walked through the lobby toward the exit. Afraid he’d think she meant they should celebrate the way she really wanted to celebrate, she quickly added, “We can get a drink, maybe something to eat, discuss the upcoming week’s schedule, that sort of thing.”

  “Sure. Food sounds good,” he agreed. “Where would you like to go?”

  Before she could decide, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, yanking her against his side.

  Mia yelped.

  So much tension shot through his body that she could feel it seeping into her own muscles.

  “What’re you doing?”

  “Just a second,” he murmured, pulling her to the side of the lobby, behind a six-foot palm. He shifted their bodies so they were face-to-face.

  Her breath caught in her chest.

  Was he going to kiss her again?

  Her mind racing, she bit her lip. What if he did? Should she let him? Sure, she’d been obsessing with their first kiss since he’d closed her front door. But obsessions and fantasies aside, the bottom line was that the man worked for her.

  Hitting on him was all kinds of wrong. But him hitting on her?

  She breathed in his scent, soap and an ocean breeze, and decided that him hitting on her was probably fine.

  Just fine.

  “Spence—”

  “Quiet,” he ordered, staring over her shoulder with eyes narrowed in concentration.

  “What?”

  “Over there.” Still holding her with one arm, her portfolio with the other, he gestured with his chin. “It’s the guy who’d got in Alcosta’s face at the ball last week.”

  “Here?” Mia started to turn around, wanting to get a look for herself. She froze, the man forgotten when Spence wrapped her tighter against him. “What are you doing?”

  “Using you as camouflage,” he said, looking away from his prey just long enough to give her a smile. “The guy ran from me once already. I don’t want him getting away again.”

  “Again? What do you mean, again?” He wasn’t going to chase the man through this building, was he?

  “He crashed your party last week to confront Alcosta, and now he’s at the man’s office. If the guy means trouble, what do you think the chances are that he wouldn’t show up again at one of your Alcosta fund-raisers?”

  Mia frowned.

  Well, that burst her sexy little fantasy.

  “Are you sure it’s the same guy?”

  Taking her cue from Spence, instead of twisting around to check the other man out this time, Mia dropped her purse so, when she bent down to pick it up, she could look over without being obvious.

  She shivered.

  It was the same man, all right.

  And he wore the same dark scowl.

  “He looks mean,” she murmured.

  The man was about her height, but almost as broad as Spence. Even in a pricey suit, his muscles rippled in a way that screamed brawler. Cell phone against his ear, he paced in front of the elevator, enough anger in his steps that she was surprised he didn’t kick the metal doors to hurry it up.

  “I’m going to follow him, see where he goes.”

  “No,” Mia protested. “He could be dangerous.”

  “So can I.”

  Oh, God.

  Why did that turn her on?

  “Maybe you should call security instead of following him,” she suggested. She knew the words were futile before they even left her lips, but she’d had to try.

  “No point.” He wrapped her fingers around her portfolio. “Wait for me in front of the building.”

  “Hold on.” She made a grab for him, but his sport coat slipped through her fingers. “Spence, please.”

  That stopped him.

  He stopped and gave her an impatient look.

  “This is what I do.” He headed for the elevator without a backward glance, leaving Mia standing there, with worry crawling up and down her spine as she watched him check the elevator the guy had taken before hurrying to the stairwell.

  Oh, damn.

  Mia ran after him toward the elevator, her heels sliding precariously on the marble floor with each step. As soon as she reached the closed doors, she realized she had no idea what she was doing. Resisting the urge to follow the angry guy’s example and kick the doors, she stared at the light indicating up, blew out a breath and turned on one heel.

  Damn Spence.

  What had he been thinking, running after that man without a clue about what he might be getting into? Granted, the danger in a midtown San Francisco office building was minimal, but still...

  She left the building in a huff. Once she hit the fresh, cool outdoor air, she paused. Was she really going to wait? Why? She had work to do. A lot of important work. Spence knew how to reach her when he was done chasing his imaginary bad guy.

  But instead of leaving, she paced in front of the building until her heels pinched her toes. Still, Spence didn’t come out. Her fingers gripped the handle of her portfolio so tightly, they hurt almost as much as her feet.

  Where the hell was he?

  Was he okay? What if the man was armed? Spence might have security experience and be plenty smart, but even more than Alcosta’s confession, she’d done enough research of her own into his background to know that even if he was clean, his family ran with plenty of scary people. Drug lords, smugglers and the like. What if the guy Spence had followed was one of them?

  A trickle of terror lodged in her gut. Her stomach clenched tightly around that fear to keep it from spreading to the rest of her body.

  This was why she’d always refused to date a military man, she remembered. She’d had no choice in growing up with a father who dedicated his life to danger, but there was no way she was giving her heart to a man like that by choice. She’d learned young that loving someone in the military meant living with worry.

  And what did worry get you?

  Stress, stomachaches and worry lines. And more important, wasted time.

  To hell with that. She’d learned young that she didn’t want any of those. She’d learned, too, that the best way to avoid them was to focus on something else.

  Mia looked around and saw a big cement fountain in front of the building that had a benchlike rim for sitting. She made herself comfortable, resting her portfolio against her legs and a notepad on her lap, and then pulled out her cell phone and got to work. The app she used for planning synced between her tablet and phone, so while it might be a little harder to work this way, she’d manage just fine.

  And so she did.

  By the time she’d finished her first phone call, she’d confirmed the main location for the bulk of Alcosta’s events, and she had herself under control. Spence was doing his job. She was doing hers. No big deal.

  After her second call, she’d booked her preferred caterer, confirmed their appointment to solidify the menu the next week and had negotiated a 10 percent discount by promising to use the company for her next three events. And her mood had gone from tense to elated. She’d rather have a go-getter working for her than some slacker who hid behind
her, asking what to do. So he’d chased after a creeper. He was right, that guy could ruin their event.

  By her third call, she’d not only found her equilibrium again, but she was back on cloud nine. A good thing, since the call was turning out to be a bust.

  “Are you sure you can’t handle those dates, Frank? When we discussed this last week, you seemed confident that you’d have no problem providing flowers for these events.”

  As she listened to his litany of excuses, she drew a line through the florist’s name and, after debating the other three listed, she sketched an arrow to her second choice. Impatient to get on with nailing down her biggest vendors, she ended the call. Before she could dial her second choice, a tingle raced over her flesh.

  She looked up.

  “Oh.” She blinked against the sun. Even with his features obscured by the light, she could read Spence’s expression. Pure frustration, with a hint of satisfaction. “I guess you didn’t catch the guy?”

  “I lost him after he went into one of the offices on Alcosta’s floor where he met a woman. I didn’t get a good look at her, but I’d recognize her voice if I hear it again.”

  “My roommate, Jessica, works there. I could describe the guy, see if she knows who he is.”

  “No.”

  When she arched her brow at his abrupt response, he amended, “He might hear about it. Whoever he is, I don’t want him tipped off.”

  “You make it all sound like a Bond movie.” Mia laughed, sliding her notepad into her bag and getting to her feet. “He is probably seeing one of Señor Alcosta’s employees and thought the person would be at the ball the other night.”

  “Could be,” Spence agreed. “But even if that’s true, the guy still needs a talking to. I’m not having him bust into one of your events again to make a scene.”

  Mia’s eyes widened. She knew it was his job. She knew perfectly well that he was a responsible guy who was naturally protective. But his vehemence made her feel all soft and warm inside. Being so antimilitary when it came to the men she dated, she’d never been big on that alpha attitude, but it sure looked good on Spence.