by Rowena
Not that it matters in her case—I only meant to keep her around for an hour or so anyway.
“I gotta take this,” I say, picking up my phone. “Be right back.”
I head outside, carefully choosing a spot to have a conversation with a girl whose voice I missed way more than I should have.
I don’t want to be interrupted, so I need quiet, minimal traffic; I don’t want to miss a single word.
Instead of answering the text, I just dial her up.
“Angel,” I try to say casually, but I’m not sure how much I succeeded.
“Hey, James. It’s been a while, huh?”
Too fucking long.
“How’ve you been?” she asks.
“Good,” I say neutrally. “Great to hear from you. What’s up?”
She takes a breath then makes a weird sound—kind of like a strangled groan—as if dreading having to say whatever she’s about to say.
“This might sound kind of weird…actually, maybe it won’t because when you consider what I’ve been doing, it’s pretty much a…”
“Out with it,” I say, knowing her tendency to hem and haw and go off on tangents, but especially impatient to hear what has her so worried.
I’m stoked to hear from her, and I’ll happily listen to her voice as long as I possibly can—god knows I’m drinking in every part of this interaction like I stumbled upon water in a desert—but not when she’s getting us nowhere fast.
She needs something from me, and I’m ready to give her pretty much anything she wants, so I need to know what it is.
She takes a deep breath.
“Okay, so I’ve been getting a lot of creepy messages, and for the most part, I can ignore them, but some are coming from a particular person or group or whatever, threatening to show up to my apartment and… I don’t know exactly, but something I don’t want, for sure. For example, the message they sent a few weeks ago: ‘Don’t be such a slut for the world; you were meant for my eyes only.’ And sometime after that: ‘You will wake up and find your arms and eyes useless, helpless to my desires.’ But this latest one is particularly worrisome.”
I work on keeping myself calm while I let her finish.
“Anyway, I was wondering if you knew someone who’d be interested in sort of hanging around me for a bit while I try to figure out who’s behind them and maybe get someone to do something before things get way out of hand. I can’t take these messages lightly anymore; the last one made it clear someone’s actually been following me.”
“Wait—so you’re saying you have an actual stalker in your immediate vicinity? Not just some online troll messing with you?”
“He—or she, I guess—knew the exact dress I bought yesterday, and I didn’t tell anyone about it! So either they were following me, or they just happen to have eyes in a random store I popped into, or they work there themselves.” She sighs. “I just need to figure out how to get them to stop, and until then, I need… I don’t know. Peace of mind. Like, I know if they really wanted to, they could get some sniper to take me out from some distance away if that was their goal, but it would just make me feel better if…”
“I get it. You need some type of bodyguard. And I happen to know someone who’d be up for it. How long would you say it’s for?”
I can practically hear her shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe tell them, like, a week or two to start? I just need time to sort out how to move forward.”
“And what kind of compensation are we talking?”
“Shit, James. I really don’t know. What’s a good offer?”
Nothing she can probably afford.
I know she’s been doing well for herself, but hiring any of the guys I know could cost a pretty penny over time.
Not that I’m actually going to refer her to any of them.
The second it became clear she was in danger, all my protective instincts flared up, and there’s only one way to handle that—protect her at any cost and by any means necessary.
There’s no way I can carry on my business without worry invading my entire being, so I’ll just have to be there for her myself…
**Grab the rest of Guarded from the retailer or check out Rowena’s Amazon Author page for other steamy stories!**
About the Author
Rowena writes steamy friends-to-lovers romance and erotica with an element of reluctance. She likes a bit of darkness involved as long as no one really gets hurt—at least, only in good ways. ;) Forced proximity and kidnapping romances are her favorites.
She enjoys making up circumstances in which two people are forced to confront their feelings—sexual and otherwise—to the object of their desire, feelings they have been hiding or running from because of a major barrier or conflict of interest. Usually, her characters have known each other for quite a while, so their first sexual encounter has been a long time…coming.
She writes outlaw romance starring strangers at odds getting to know each other better under the name Lexi Gold.
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Contact:
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Also by Rowena
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When British billionaire Michael Arlington catches cat burglar Karen Trent robbing his San Francisco residence, he is determined to make her pay. Her punishment: spending one week in his complete servitude. He soon becomes obsessed with taming the young outlaw’s wild spirit and making her submit to him in every way, but his plans backfire when he realizes the truth behind her misdeeds and rage.
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Check out Rowena’s Amazon Author page for more!
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