by J. K. Coi
It had been a mistake to follow him into the boxing club. She’d known it would be virtually impossible to go unrecognized at Big Joey’s, and her dad would probably find out about it before the end of the night—even from his hospital bed. But the bigger mistake had been offering to join Nolan in the ring. It had felt amazing to put on a pair of gloves, and before she’d known it, she had almost completely forgotten who he was supposed to be to her. Just a job.
She looked at the digital time glowing from the dashboard and sighed. It wasn’t so bad being a bodyguard. The pay was decent, and she was good at it. If only she weren’t so distracted by the subject of this particular assignment.
Steve Nolan.
The way he’d looked in a pair of loose-fitting gym shorts and boxing gloves, the promise of sex in every pull and flex of muscle, had made her mouth go bone dry and kicked the attraction she’d been fighting since the moment she walked into his office into high gear.
She’d put on the gloves as an excuse to keep from standing there drooling over him, watching all those muscles rolling and bunching and tensing, but with her body humming from the physical exertion, loaded with adrenaline, begging her to give it another outlet, she hadn’t stood a chance.
Your reaction had nothing to do with the fight.
It was still begging for release, and she couldn’t get him out of her head. The whole package. Corporate suit guy and hot athletic guy had merged into one irresistible guy so that now, even with his clothes back on, it was impossible not to notice that he’d been blessed by the gods of broad shoulders and tight asses. Or that his hair had a stubborn kink in the front that looked devilish, but had to drive him batty. Or that there was so much energy buzzing off him, he was like a live wire threatening to shock her every time he came within a foot of her.
It was heady stuff, making her aware of him in a way that made her aware of herself in a way that she hadn’t been aware of in a long time.
If that made any sense at all.
Don’t acknowledge it. Stay professional. Letting herself think of Steve Nolan as anything other than a responsibility would be disastrous. Jeremy had lived in his same world, and for a while, he had been her dream come true. Good-looking and charming. Passionate and attentive. Smart and full of ambition. She was dizzy with love right up until the moment it all came crashing down. The moment she’d overheard him telling a big group of his buddies at a party he’d taken her to at the country club that he was just slumming it for a while before settling down with someone connected, glamorous, and worthy of being the future governor’s wife. There hadn’t even been one among them who’d disagreed with him. Every one of those guys had nodded and clapped him on the back like it was the only thing to do.
After that, there’d been no doubt in her mind what guys like him were really all about. Princes who came along and fell in love with girls who’d grown up in a rundown gym that smelled of sweat socks and stale air didn’t exist. Since Joey had taken it over from her dad, he’d cashed in on the upswing in the sport’s popularity. He’d put in all the best equipment and started charging an arm and a leg to new members, but when all was said and done it was still just a gym.
She swore and closed her eyes, leaning over and briefly bashing her forehead against the steering wheel. The hard-molded, rubbery scent made her nostrils flare, but it didn’t distract her nearly enough. She might have had better luck getting Steve Nolan out of her head if she hadn’t enjoyed herself with him so much. His laughter and his energy made her shiver with anticipation. The heat in his eyes when he looked at her was enough to melt her resolve down to nothing. It was a fight to hold on to it.
She checked the clock for the third time. It was closing on eleven. She glanced out the window and finally saw the valet bringing Nolan’s Mercedes back around, so she got out of her car and jogged across the street. She pulled up just short of the curb just as he was exiting the restaurant with a tall, drop-dead gorgeous redhead clinging to his arm, but a honk from the Cadillac behind her reminded her she was still in the road, and she dashed ahead with an apologetic wave over her shoulder.
He nodded to April as she approached the car, but as his date turned and curved her lithe body into his and whispered in his ear, his attention shifted. He smiled and whispered back, his hand around her waist. April sucked in a breath as if she could feel that hand hot on her own waist.
She shook her head and refocused with a swallow. She conducted a visual inspection of his car, ignoring the twisting of her stomach, blaming it on the fact that she’d missed dinner to sit outside and wait two-and-a-half hours for him to be finished with his.
She performed her walk around in such a way that only Nolan himself might have noticed what she was doing. Anyone else would think she was just waiting for her own car, or maybe waiting for her date to show up. Friday night near the theatre district meant there was enough of a crowd for her to go virtually unnoticed, so he shouldn’t have any complaints about her being too conspicuous.
Another car pulled up behind Nolan’s, and the valet got out to hand the keys over to the redhead. Nolan took her arm and walked her around to the driver’s side, opening the door like a gentleman. The woman slid into the leather seat in such a way that her bosom almost fell out of the low-cut dress and the slit in her already short skirt spread to show off more of her crazy long legs. Flaunt ’em if you got ’em, she supposed.
She’d reached for the knot of Nolan’s tie and tugged until he bent closer to her. He looked a little stiff and impatient now, but a sexy smile twisted his lips as he put his forearm on the roof of the woman’s car. If he hadn’t, she might have actually pulled him all the way inside the vehicle on top of her.
April shook her head. There was no reason why she should feel this weighted disappointment perched on her chest like a giant ball of indigestion.
The woman’s fist curled around Nolan’s tie, and his mouth was almost touching hers when a flash of light caught the two of them mid lean-in.
April spun around in time to see a scruffy-looking guy with a big pot belly in a ratty old golf shirt holding up a heavy camera with a massive zoom lens. Instinctively, she stepped in front of the photographer to block the next shot. The flash went off, and the guy swore. He was going to get an impressive photograph of her chin. April feigned confusion like she had no idea what just happened.
The photographer shot her an annoyed look and angled around her before lifting his camera for another picture. This time April knew she had to try something more direct. She took a deep breath and plastered a big smile on her face. She pretended surprise and squealed loud enough for everyone to hear, jumping in front of him again. Startled, the man faltered and frowned.
“Oh my God.” She waved her hands excitedly. “That’s a huge lens on that camera. I just love cameras. I’m always taking pics of my cat and putting them up on Instagram. Do you have Instagram? Hey, lemme see.” She reached for his arm to pull the camera closer as if to try and get a look at the screen and find out what he’d been photographing.
He jerked it out of her reach nervously like he was afraid she might break it and took a step back. Nolan just stood there watching the scene she was making. A real smile pulled at the corners of his mouth, the kind of smile that every paparazzi would kill to get a shot of, and his eyes twinkled with it. She felt her breath vacate in a rush and her legs went weak.
Damn, she was in some serious trouble if she couldn’t even handle his smile without melting into a puddle in the street.
His date, on the other hand, didn’t look so amused. The expression on her face was made up of mostly annoyance, mixed with a smattering of impatience.
April was trying her best to respect his wishes not to let anyone know that she was his bodyguard, but if the photographer came any closer, it would be more difficult to prevent him from getting his photos without becoming obviously physical, and that would definitely let the cat out of the bag.
Two men in suits exited the restaurant. One of
the valets went to them and pointed to her and the camera guy.
The two bouncers—did fancy restaurants call them bouncers?—approached with purposeful strides, and the photographer’s face fell. He knew he’d been outed, and he quickly slipped back into the shadows without getting too pushy.
Stopping in front of her, one of the restaurant’s bouncer-porter dudes looked down his nose at her, probably taking in her “ugly” suit and deciding that she was the problem. One of these things is not like the other. It was plain as day that she didn’t belong there with all the slick, richly dressed society types.
“Can we help you with something, miss?” he asked in a deep, heavy Brooklyn accent. “A taxi cab, perhaps?”
Nolan stepped up and tapped him on the shoulder, a deep frown pulling his expression tight. She shook her head to warn him off. She’d managed to keep her purpose from becoming public knowledge this long. There was no point in letting him blow her cover now just because the porter was being rude.
She smiled widely. “I’m just waiting for my date. We got separated coming out of the show. I’m sure he’ll be here in a minute.”
When the other porter nudged him in the arm and nodded to a figure standing a few feet away with his cell phone held out to take a picture—it was a completely different guy, and thankfully the phone wouldn’t be able to zoom in close enough to do any real damage—they left her alone and stomped over to hassle him. She let out a low breath of relief.
Nolan was already being tugged back by his date to her car. She pulled his head down with a siren smile.
April barely refrained from gagging.
“Are you sure you won’t reconsider?” the woman murmured in a husky voice after kissing him in a completely inappropriate-for-public-viewing sort of way. Hadn’t she seen the paparazzi? Or didn’t she care? Or maybe she wanted to be in the papers and saw Nolan as her ticket to stardom.
April turned and cleared her throat as unobtrusively as she could, but if he and Jessica Rabbit there didn’t get out of the valet line soon, they were going to attract more than just paparazzi, and April would resent having to protect him and his slutty girlfriend from a restaurant full of angry people who only wanted to get their cars and go home.
She squared her shoulders, praying for a break in the after-dinner traffic so she could run back across the street to her own vehicle. She kept her gaze low, but could just imagine the look of invitation shining from the beautiful woman’s eyes, and she silently groaned. Was she going to have to follow Steve Nolan out on a booty call? Sit in her car on the curb outside this woman’s apartment while he was inside screwing her?
She shook the horrendous image out of her head. Oh Lord. Her previous assignments hadn’t prepared her for that kind of situation. Her first assignment had been as part of a small security detail to the twelve-year-old daughter of a politician in Connecticut during campaign time. She’d protected a semi-famous female pop singer who had received a few unwanted love notes from a rabid fan. And she’d agreed to accompany an overly paranoid elderly lady who hadn’t been in any danger at all but wanted someone to drive her across the country to visit her daughter’s family because she’d hated to fly.
She grinned to herself. Nolan was already looking for any excuse to get rid of his bodyguard. She probably shouldn’t mention those fluffy assignments, or he’d start to doubt her qualifications.
Suddenly, she realized that he was looking right at her, trying to straighten away from the redhead, who wasn’t giving in that easily and pulled him back to her again.
“I’m sorry, I can’t tonight,” he said to the woman in a low voice, “but I’m glad we could meet for dinner. I’ll call you.”
I’ll call you. April winced. No specifics. And that, April wanted to tell her, is what’s called “the brush-off.”
Finally, he left his date—without kissing her again—to return to his own car. As April turned with him, she noticed a slim woman with a black silk scarf tied up over her dark hair giving him a dirty look, probably for holding up the valet line for so long, but he either didn’t notice or he was arrogant enough not to care. There was something vaguely familiar about the woman, and April glanced back for a second look, but the bystander had already disappeared into the shadows of the growing crowd.
April darted out into the street, sprinting to avoid an oncoming taxi cab. She yanked open her car door and slid into the driver’s seat.
“Please let him just go home,” she muttered. “Alone.” This kind of thing was not what she’d signed up for when this job had come her way, although she probably should have expected it when she found out who her assignment was.
All she wanted now was to get the anonymous letters and make sure he was safely behind a locked door for the night, so she could call in the overnight backup, go back to Dad’s empty house, and inhale a bucket of ice cream. She felt a flash of anxiety because it would be too late to call the hospital and check on him, but she’d called earlier and he’d been asleep. The doctors had her number if anything happened.
When Nolan pulled out from the curb, April followed. Thankfully, the redhead’s vehicle did not.
Even better, Nolan headed straight for his apartment, but as they neared the driveway she quickly realized she wasn’t going to be able to trail him all the way into the parking garage under the building. There was a card reader posted at the entrance, and she didn’t have a pass.
It was good to know there was some security in the building, but she would have to get a pass in the morning so next time she could proceed into the garage as well. Since there was nothing to be done about it immediately, she circled the block once and then was lucky enough to grab a spot on the curb around the corner as someone else was leaving. She left the car there while she went inside to the lobby.
“Good evening, miss.” The doorman was a beefy guy without a neck who looked uncomfortable in his uniform jacket, but he had a wide smile and super bright teeth that had seen one too many whitening strips. “Who are you visiting, please?”
A door opened across the hall. It was Nolan, coming in from the garage. She was relieved but surprised. She’d expected him to forget about her altogether, or at least take the elevator right to his apartment and force her to get the doorman to call up for permission to let her follow.
“Good evening, Mr. Nolan.”
“Hi Doug, how’s it going?” he said with a friendly smile before coming over and sliding his arm around April’s waist to pull her close. “The lady’s with me tonight, okay?”
It was barely a real touch, but her belly clenched, and her heart started to race. She edged back as unobtrusively as she could manage even as the scent of him beckoned her closer.
He was evil, and they were going to have a discussion about just how far he was allowed to go to maintain his dictate that her true reason for being with him stay a secret.
Doug nodded without pause and turned back to her. “Do you want to give me your keys, ma’am? I can bring your car into the garage for the night. If you leave it out there on the street, you’ll have a ticket in the morning.”
She quickly shook her head. “I’m only staying a short time, Doug. But thank you.” His eyes widened as she realized what that might have sounded like. “Oh Lord,” she stammered, feeling her cheeks heat. Beside her, Nolan chuckled out loud without an ounce of shame.
“I only meant that I’m here to pick up some, um, paperwork from Mr. Nolan and won’t be long. We’re business acquaintances, nothing more.”
At this time of night? Could she have come up with a worse excuse? Now he thought she was a prostitute for sure. It didn’t help that Nolan was grinning from ear to ear, having way too much fun making April uncomfortable, or that his little display of fake affection just a minute ago had already put ideas into the doorman’s head.
But to his credit, Doug kept his cool. “My apologies, ma’am. Of course. I’ll keep an eye on your vehicle until you’re ready to leave.”
“Ah, nothing t
o apologize for. Thank you,” she said, pinning Nolan with a glare. He only smiled back at her evilly. “I’m sure Mr. Nolan appreciates that you take such good care of his guests.”
Nolan stuffed his hands in his pockets, completely casual. “Doug’s the best. Nobody gets past him.”
They said good night, and Nolan turned back around to the elevator. Another elevator. “What floor do you live on?” she asked.
He looked sideways at her as the door started to slide open. “The twentieth.” He moved to step inside.
She reached for his arm to hold him back until she’d had a chance to make sure the elevator car was empty and had to bite her lip to keep from letting out a surprised hiss at the unexpected shock of touching him. Even through the suit jacket he was warm, thick, hard.
He looked down at her hand on his arm. She yanked it back quickly. “Sorry.”
She started to tug the front of her suit jacket before stopping herself. Fiddling with clothing was a classic indicator of nervousness. She should know, she’d been trained to read all the signs. Even if Steve Nolan did make her nervous…hot and breathless and nervous…she was determined to at least look professional.
She nodded and stepped in after him. At least it was empty but for the two of them. Before the door closed, she took a deep breath. There were germs everywhere, yes. But ever since her dad had gotten sick, she’d become more aware of enclosed public places like this as concentrated pockets of disease. It was irrational, but she couldn’t seem to help it.
When he reached out to press the button for the twentieth floor, she couldn’t look away. How many other people had touched that button today? Yesterday? The day before? How could he be sure that the cleaning service had disinfected the keypad? Or when they’d last disinfected the keypad. Or that they even cleaned any part of the elevators at all? How could he be sure that the last couple to come in together after a romantic dinner hadn’t decided to get the private part of their evening started early? Leaving the issue of cleanliness aside, it was amazing how many people didn’t even care that there were almost always cameras in elevators.