Bodyguard to the Billionaire

by Nana Malone

  It was a little closer to home than I wanted. Those were all the things Derrick and I had discussed. But it was true. I wasn't Derrick, but stepping into his shoes and into his life, there was a part of me that wanted to prove myself. Prove that I could do it if I ever had the inclination to be an incorporator. Prove it to myself. Prove it to Derrick. The way he'd walked into my office that day and called me a loser and told me I was wasting my God-given talent had irked. I wanted to be successful. And Kyle and I had been on the cusp of that. But then everything had gone tits-up. So, now that I was stepping into Derrick’s life, I wanted to be good at it. But there was also a part of me that just wasn't that cruel. Maybe that was a weakness. Maybe not. The point was she'd noticed.

  "When I can let my guard down for a little bit, I can let the real me out. But I learned early that it's not a good idea to let the real me out."

  She nodded slowly. "So, who is the real you? The real Derrick Arlington?"

  I pursed my lips and then just blurted out the words. "Call me Theo."

  Her brows lifted. "Theo?"

  Well you really screwed the pooch this time. And without benefit of lube. Rule #2. Christ. "It was the name my mother preferred for me. I, uhm," I cleared my throat. “I prefer it.”

  Heads up. This still qualifies as a lie.

  I’d already told so many…

  She nodded then. "Actually, you know what? I did see that on one of your youthful indiscretions when you were sixteen or something. I think there is some record of where you were out in some club and your friends kept calling you Theo."

  I frowned then. "What are you talking about?"

  Theo? Why would Derrick ever use the name Theo?

  "Um, I can’t remember the details. It was in Ibiza or someplace like that. You and your friends were on some yacht, living it up as you do. It was on YouTube or something. You were wasted, the lot of you. They keep chanting, 'Theo, Theo,' and you were dancing and yukking it up. You don't remember?"

  I ran a hand through my hair. "No, I don't remember."

  "Look, sorry, no judgment. It's just that I saw it when doing some research on you. I assumed you'd remember."

  “I think it's safe to say that there's a lot from my years of indiscretion that I don't remember. Let's just leave it at that."

  "Oh, well, if you want me to call you Theo, I can call you Theo."

  "Thanks."

  "Do you want to make that note to Ariel too?"

  I shook my head. Hellll, no. That name was for her only. "No. It's just—I guess it’s what my friends call me." Heat crept up my neck.

  Zia's lips tipped into a brilliant smile. "So what, we're friends now?"

  “Something like that.”

  For once you have the money and the wealth to have anyone when you want. And of course, you want the one who thinks you're someone else.

  "Let's order drinks."

  Once the drinks arrived, things relaxed a little bit. I’d seen it on our day out, but when it was just the two of us, I could see that Zia was fun. Really fun. She talked about her sister. Deedee, it seemed, was more than a handful. When Zia talked about her, she laughed and spoke animatedly. Her eyes brightened and her hands articulated wildly. She was running a hand through her hair in a non-practiced fashion because she was simply telling a story, and I couldn't take my eyes off her. I took a long sip of water.

  I needed to focus on anything other than her lips while she talked. As I drank, I coughed a little. My throat itched.

  Zia's brows snapped down. "Are you sure you're okay? What's going on with your face?"

  I tried to swallow the itching, but it only worsened. "What do you mean what's wrong with my face?" My voice was raspy as I spoke. Crap. I reached into the neck of my shirt to attempt to loosen my tie, but that didn't help.

  "Well, you've gone bright red."

  I frowned at her. I knew she was saying words, but I was having a bitch of a time processing them.

  "Are you allergic to something?"

  I shook my head. "No, I'm not. Well, mushrooms, but I never order them. As long as I don't eat one, I'm fine—" I glanced down at my steak and the vegetables underneath them. I didn't see a single mushroom anywhere. I waved over the waiter. By the time he got there, I couldn't even talk to him.

  Zia took over, jumping out of her chair. "He's not supposed to have mushrooms. The dinner, did it include mushrooms?"

  Oh God, my throat. I could feel my tongue swelling. Shit. I had ingested mushrooms, and I knew for a fact Derrick didn't have the same allergy. He was only allergic to strawberries, which I was clear on. Good thing I had an EpiPen on me. I stood, wanting to ask for my coat, but I couldn't talk at that point. My tongue was too thick in my mouth, taking too much room.

  Zia was shouting orders to the waitstaff, calling the chef in.

  When the chef came over, she glowered up at him. "Does your meal include mushrooms?"

  He shook his head. "No, not in the steak. And the vegetables were done in a lovely vinaigrette. No mushrooms."

  She didn't waste time yelling at him. I started to weave, and she caught me. She eased me gently down onto the ground. "Do you have an EpiPen?"

  I nodded and tried to talk. All I could do was mutely point in the direction of where they'd taken our coats.

  "In your coat?"

  I nodded frantically as the edges of my vision began to gray. The fear rode the back of the adrenaline in my blood. Christ I was scared. So fucking scared.

  I understood the danger of what was going on here. One, I could die. Absolutely. But two, exposure. Exposure would be bad. Exposure would be trouble.

  "No press." Was all I could force past my throat as Zia leaned over me.

  Standing up, she ran over to the coat check and grabbed mine, searching the pockets as she brought it over. As she moved, she had to bunch up her dress at the slit. Even as my vision was graying, the light going dim, and everything going blurry, I could still see the expansive thigh with every step forward. Fuck, she was beautiful.

  "Here we go, EpiPen, where do I jab it?"

  I couldn't talk. Hell, I could barely breathe. I just indicated a spot on my leg, and she nodded.

  Before I knew what was going on, pain... immediate and instant on my leg. I wanted to howl with the sting of it. But then the panic rose in my chest and my vision was going.

  Going.

  Gone.

  Theo…

  I woke with a dry mouth, and my head was pounding. My throat was scratchy. It felt like someone had stuffed sawdust-covered cotton into my mouth. I cleared my throat, and oh yeah, not a good idea. It felt like I had swallowed a fire poker. I pushed myself into a sitting position and blinked. I was in my room. How the hell? There was rustling to my left, and I felt around looking for the light switch. When it flickered on, I was surprised to find Zia there.

  "Theo, hey. You gave me a mighty scare. I'm pretty pissed off about that, by the way."

  I frowned and tried to swallow again.

  "It seems to be a constant complaint with you." She pushed herself out of the chair she had apparently dragged over and poured me a glass of water, handing it to me. "Yeah well, that's the nature of our relationship. You keep things from me, like a random mushroom allergy. That's not anywhere in your medical records. And then I don't know how to mitigate those things. Then you almost died on my goddamn watch. So yeah, I'm a little pissed off."

  I ignored that for a moment. "How did we get back here?"

  "Well, considering you wouldn't let me take you to the hospital or call a doctor, I had no choice. I got your driver to bring us back. I called Royal Elite. We have a scenario for such things.”

  I let my head drop back on the pillow after taking several sips of the water. "Fuck. I feel like death."

  "Well, lucky for both of us, you're not dead. Seriously, you have to stop making my job so damn hard. We had an arrangement. You don't die on my watch, remember?"

  "Yeah, I remember."

  Her gaze searched m
ine, brows knitted in worry. "Seriously though, are you okay?"

  "Don't tell me you were worried about me."

  She sniffed. "Nope. You're still a pain in the ass who likes to keep too many secrets for my liking."

  "I'm not keeping secrets. I just don't like broadcasting my weaknesses."

  "Even for those meant to protect you?"

  "Look, it's a later in life allergy. I learned about it on a trip. And now I mostly just avoid eating mushrooms. It's never a problem. If you noticed, I did ask if the dish had mushrooms, didn't I?"

  "Yeah, but I thought that was more of a preference than anything."

  "Nope."

  "Which makes me wonder, how the hell did someone know to put mushrooms in your food? I had Trace and Jax talk to the chef and anyone on staff. The chef insisted the dish is not meant to be made with mushrooms, not even in the sauce he uses. He, like everyone else, has no idea how it happened."

  "Shit."

  "Yep. So, this makes me circle back. That guy from the wedding… How did he know you were going there?"

  "I mean, it's not like I was hiding it. I was a guest." At least Derrick was.

  She shrugged. "I know. But I have to go through it methodically. Where was he trying to take you?"

  This much was true. "I don't know."

  "Derrick, you recognize I'm trying to help you, right? So, anything you could tell me, any direction you can point me, it makes covering your ass a whole lot easier. I get it. There are things you don't want me knowing. Fine, okay. But at some point, you're going to have to trust me. You scared the shit out of me tonight."

  I couldn't help but smile. "See, I'm growing on you."

  She rolled her eyes. "Don't get used to it. Please tell me, is there anything else you're allergic to? Any other way that someone could hurt you? Just how sensitive is your allergy?"

  "Usually, I have to eat one. I hadn't even gotten that far into the meal. It has never been that bad before."

  "Okay look, the safest course of action is to have someone prepare all of your food. Someone you trust. Or we'll have someone on Royal Elite staff make it.”

  I laughed. "This is ridiculous, you know that."

  "Well, someone tried to kill you, so it's not ridiculous."

  “I get that. But this is an overcorrection. Just find out who knew we’d be going to the restaurant today and who had access to the food.”

  She sighed, a small pout lighting her lips. “Okay that’s a question for you. Who made the reservation?”

  “I made it myself.” Why would I have someone else make my reservations?

  Because that’s what Derrick would do.

  “Did anyone know?”

  I shrugged. “I did put it on the calendar so Olivia wouldn’t book a call for tonight.”

  My eyes went wide. “Olivia has access to your calendar?”

  I frowned. “Yes, she’s been my assistant for six months, but she’s worked for my father for years. And that calendar is public.”

  “Look, I know she’s your assistant, but she had access to your schedule. Knew where you were."

  I shook my head. I racked my brain as I tried to follow what reason she’d have to try to poison Derrick. The problem was Derrick was only allergic to strawberries. And my mushroom allergy was not a standard one. Someone who knew me well would have had to provide that information. And my arrangement with Derrick was more about me learning about him than him learning about me.

  “It’s not Olivia. I’m sure she doesn’t know about my allergy. No one does.”

  “Well clearly someone does, Derrick. You were almost poisoned tonight.”

  As she paced, I reached out and took her hand. “I told you, call me Theo."

  She breathed in deep. “Theo, I need my team. We have to protect you. We should maybe move you to Royal Elite.”

  When I laughed, my throat hurt. "No. I told you I need discretion. That’s not going to work. How’s this. I’ll take the food precautions, okay? In the meantime, we try to find out who wants me dead.”

  “Why are you being so stubborn about this?”

  “It could have been an accident. My point is we know nothing.”

  “And my point is that it’s my job to protect you as much as possible.”

  “And you are okay. This wasn’t on you.”

  “Oh, yeah?” She asked, her eyes wide. “Then who is it on? I feel like it’s my fault. It was on my watch.”

  I struggled with how much to tell her. “I don't know anyone who wants me dead this badly."

  "I think it has to do with the deal, so when you're feeling up to it, we need to go over it. Every aspect of this acquisition and who wouldn’t want it to go through. Lucky for you, we've got some excellent hackers on the staff. We can find the right kind of information. Just point us in the right direction, because I don't ever want to have to look at you like that again."

  "I knew it. You do like me."

  She narrowed her dark eyes at me. "I don't like you. But what I like less is someone trying to make it look like I'm bad at my job."

  She might pretend that she didn't like me, but she looked worried. Really worried.

  "I'm wearing you down. Sooner or later you're going to see how awesome I am."

  "Yeah, whatever. Get some rest. When you wake up, we have some work to do."

  My eyes were feeling heavy again. I was exhausted. And I might not want to comply, but I needed to because she was right. Only a few people knew about my allergy. One of those people was my mother. Derrick and I had discussed it, but he had an allergy to strawberries, not mushrooms. So, whoever had tried to kill me, knew I was an impostor.

  Fifteen

  Zia…

  What the fuck had just happened?

  One moment we were having fun, talking, and I was getting to know him. The real him. Not the billionaire suit he put on every morning. That shell was a full body suit, meant to protect the man inside.

  I liked the man inside.

  And honestly you really should know better. You can’t like him.

  No. I couldn’t. It was a bad idea in all the ways. And I’d learned my lesson and was all into self-preservation.

  But someone had tried to hurt the man I liked. Or maybe they’d gone after the billionaire.

  They’re the same person, sweet cheeks.

  I paced as I watched him in bed. This wasn’t supposed to happen. No one was supposed to get past me to get to him. I’d messed up. How had I fucking missed an allergy?

  I was worried about him. I’d studied his file, and there had been nothing about an allergy to mushrooms. Was it something he kept secret on purpose? And how had someone known? Or was it just an accident?

  His dark hair flopped over his brow as I paced the bedroom. He was fine now. With Jax's help, I'd managed to get him upstairs into his own bed. I was on duty, so all I had to do was watch over him and not let him die, which was possibly going to be harder than it looked.

  He groaned from his bed, and I whirled around. "You're not worried about me, are you, bright eyes?"

  I wrinkled my nose at the stupid nickname for me. "Well, I was waiting for you to wake up so I could kill you myself. You recognize that I've never lost a client, right? Stop trying to give me a bad mark."

  He coughed and then he tried to sit up. "You’ve had many solo clients, have you?"

  "It's usually a team effort, but I've handled about eight solo clients."

  "All of them as resilient as me?"

  I shrugged. "I usually get boy bands and diplomats. None of whom were as much trouble as you."

  "Oh yeah, because I tried to get poisoned."

  I frowned. He looked okay. His lips had stopped swelling. His tongue too. When he talked, he sounded more like himself. Although his accent was flatter, and weirdly, more American? Maybe he was trying to get his tongue to work properly.

  "Relax, I'm not going to bloody die on you."

  "Well, it was touch and go there for a second."

  He
rolled his eyes and laid back on the pillow. "Jesus Christ, if you're going to hover, can you do it from the bed? Trying to track you is making my eyes hurt.”

  “Are you in pain? We should call a doctor."

  He shook his head. "Jesus, just sit down. We don't need a doctor. You used my EpiPen, which I might add, you seemed to take an awful lot of glee in."

  "Excuse me for saving your life."

  His voice softened. "Thanks, by the way."

  Was that a genuine thank you out of his mouth? I couldn't even believe it. It seemed that Dr. Jekyll was back.

  "Are you thirsty? Do you want water? Something... give me something to do."

  His lips broke into a wry smile. "You can't sit, can you?"

  "No, I'm not the one with solutions to problems, but I'm the kind of person who does things. I always have been, so I need to do something. I don't sit well."

  "Well, I'm asking you to sit, please."

  I sat on the edge of the bed, his feet within range. Jax and I had removed his socks and shoes, but we left his clothes on and mostly hoped he'd be able to get himself right on the bed when he was at least feeling better enough to do that.

  "How did you get me out of there?"

  “Jax was backup. So between the two of us we managed.” I took a deep breath. “That was a close one. I think we need to be more careful and while we're on the topic of your safety, I think the Arts Gala is out of the question. You take one sip of champagne and someone could poison you."

  He coughed. "It will be fine."

  I blinked at him. "Are you serious right now? Someone literally just poisoned you. I had to jam an EpiPen into your leg. I mean, I took pleasure in it, but still..."

  "Look, it's important, okay? I’ve got to walk through the steps. All of them."

  "I don't know what you mean by that. All I know is that it's my job to protect you and you're making it difficult."

  "And all I know is that you're supposed to make my job possible. Whether it's easy on you or not."

  "Jesus Christ, you are such a stubborn pain in the ass, you know that?"

  His lips tipped in that sexy smirk I'd noticed at the wedding. His dark lashes fluttered on his cheeks, and then he lifted his gaze to meet mine. My stupid heart ticked up several beats faster, I could have sworn he heard it. Those clear gray eyes blinked at me as if he knew exactly what was going on in my body. "Talk to me, bright eyes. Who are you anyway?"