“Meeting with Colin soon?” he asked unexpectedly.
“Nothing’s scheduled. I’ve got enough to work on for now.”
“No date planned, then.”
She shot him a narrow-eyed look. “Why do you care?”
He shrugged. “I’d think if you were falling in love, you’d be champing at the bit to see him again.”
“My feelings for Colin are exactly none of your business.” Whatever they were, she finished silently. She still felt confused, but had decided to take it one day at a time with Colin. If it was right, it would work out in time.
“Prickly, aren’t you, princess?”
“You’ve got to stop calling me princess.”
“I call them as I see them, princess.” Before she could gather her wits to launch another verbal assault, he changed direction. “What does your family call you?”
“Alexa.” An evil imp danced into her mind. “How about you, Jethro?”
An unknown emotion simmered in him. Alexa hoped it was embarrassed mortification. But he only said, “Colin can have a big mouth.”
She pressed harder. “Does anyone ever call you JJ?”
Jamison just looked at her. “Don’t you dare.”
“I’ll call it as I see it,” she returned, swallowing her bite of pizza with relish. “Or I could call you Jethro. It’s amazing how all those names fit you. They’re providential, don’t you think—names? How we grow to look just like them.”
“Alexa fits you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Nothing good, she suspected.
“Upper crust. Snobby…”
“I am not snobby!”
“Beautiful…”
She flinched. “Please! As if that’s a compliment, coming from you.”
“I never said it was. Know what I thought the first time I saw you?”
Alexa did not respond, but viewed him through narrowed eyes.
“I said, ‘There’s a woman too beautiful for her own good.’”
His comment did not stroke her ego in the least. “That’s fine,” she said, raising her eyebrows, as if she couldn’t care less. And she did not! “The first time I saw you, you reminded me of an elf.” She bit off more pizza.
“An elf?” he yelped. Suddenly, he was standing. “An elf!” Anger shook through his voice. The black eyes blazed.
Unease tripped Alexa’s heart faster. What had she just done? “I don’t mean to say you look like an elf. You just reminded me of one…in an old fairy tale movie.”
Jamison’s face darkened to a ruddy color. She decided now wasn’t the time to tell him that he’d also reminded her of a germophobe on cable. He probably wouldn’t take it well, if this outburst was any indication.
His body trembled now, and she watched, amazed. It was a little like watching a train about to smash into something. Hopefully not her, she thought uneasily.
Alexa said, “Please don’t have a conniption fit.” She tried to placate him. “Elves are cute.”
“Cute? You think I’m cute?” he roared. It was the first time he had ever raised his voice to her.
“Well, no. Not exactly…”
“You are demeaning me!”
“No…”
“Yes, you are! You just called me an elf! I’m an average-sized man…” His Italian accent definitely thickened when he was angry, she noted.
“Well, no, you’re not. Average is about five foot ten.”
He clenched his fists. “I can’t stay here and talk to you. I’m afraid I’ll say something I regret. But I won’t. I’m a bigger man than you are woman.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” she pointed out.
He raised a hand, bit off an exclamation, and stalked out, slamming the front door behind him.
Great. Now she was alone. Exactly what she had wanted for over a week. She didn’t need a bodyguard. At least not in an apartment, five floors up!
Grabbing more pizza on a napkin, she hurried to her room and shut the door. Finally, she could work in peace and quiet. No television murmured in the next room. It was silent.
Too silent.
Biting her lip, she pulled out her recorder and turned on the computer. Time to start transcribing notes from her date last night.
Guilt prickled at Alexa soon after Jamison left. Unfortunately, he stayed out late that night. Alexa never heard him return, but Mart took his place in the meantime.
As soon as Jamison returned from the gym the next morning, Alexa slipped into their mutual living area.
He wore black shorts, which revealed the thick, corded muscles in his legs, and a formfitting black T-shirt, which did the same for his upper body. Perspiration dampened his dark hair and glistened on his deeply tanned arms.
The black gaze rested on her, but he kept moving toward his room.
“Uh, Jamison,” she said. “I need to talk to you.”
“More derogatory comments you forgot to mention last night? Like how I resemble a dwarf, or a gnome, maybe?”
“I want to apologize. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“You meant to pay me a compliment?”
“No. We were joking around. I didn’t think you’d take it so seriously.”
He flexed his shoulders and gave her an unfriendly look. “How did you expect me to take it, Alexa? From the first minute I met you, you’ve degraded short men. You called us munchkins. Now you say I reminded you of an elf.”
“Jamison.” Alexa bit her lip. “Sometimes my mouth runs off before I can stop it. You know that about me.”
“I do.”
“I don’t think of you as an elf. Or a munchkin. Please forgive me.”
“My opinion matters to you?”
“Of course it does.” Alexa looked at him with pleading in her eyes. She didn’t mind sparring and spatting with him, but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings, and she didn’t like him angry with her, either. His respect meant too much to her.
“You want me to forgive you?” The hard look softened.
“Yes. Please,” she added.
“Enough to cook me dinner tonight?”
She smiled. “Done. But I can’t promise it’ll be gourmet.” Or even edible, but she felt it wise not to mention this.
“Okay, princess. You’re forgiven. But I expect a five course meal.”
“Do chips count as a course?” she called after him. His chuckle restored peace within her soul.
“You’re in for a tasty treat,” Alexa informed Jamison as soon as he arrived on the scene for dinner.
Words for the book had flowed all day, but still Alexa had stopped early so she could try her hand at a full five course meal. At home, she was lucky to survive one course. She figured she would type late into the night to make up for it. As she knew, while the words flowed, she had to take full advantage—and also while the night with Colin was still fresh in her mind, including the nuances and laughter he brought to each of the stories. It should be enough material to keep her busy for another day or two.
Jamison pulled up a stool to the kitchen bar counter. “Interesting smells.”
“Don’t wrinkle your nose,” she admonished. So what if she had burned the bottom of the tomato soup? She had saved most of it, and even strained out the black bits. Waste not, want not, right?
With flourish, she scooted a white platter before him. “Cheese and crackers,” she said proudly. Not even a sliced finger to show for it.
“Number one,” he said. Was that a small smile? Surely not. He ducked his head to take a bite before she could see.
Alexa nibbled on a cracker too, but kept a worried eye on the oven. No smoke billowed out yet. Good sign.
She slipped back to the counter to check the tomato soup in their white bowls. She stuck her finger in one—hers, of course. Cold. Oops.
“Round two will be up in a flash,” she promised, and popped the bowls in the microw
ave. She pressed buttons to set it for two minutes.
After a minute, a juicy explosion sounded in the microwave. Dismayed, she rushed to open the door. Tomato soup spattered every surface.
“Rrr,” she growled. Grabbing one bowl, she ferried the piping hot dish to Jamison. “Ow, ow, ow!” Her fingers burned, and she dropped it the last inch. Thankfully, little sloshed out. She blew on her fingers and retreated to clean up the mess.
Jamison ate silently. Too silently. She now sipped her own soup from the other side of the counter, and fixed a suspicious gaze upon him. He didn’t bother to hide his smile any longer.
“What?” she demanded. “Aren’t my cooking skills up to snuff?”
“Can’t wait to see what you’re cooking up next, princess.”
“You’ll love it,” she promised. The timer on the stove dinged, and she flipped off the oven and grabbed the oven mitts. Heat billowed out as she opened the door, but she was pleased to discover the contents looked brown and crispy. Well, maybe a little burnt around the edges, but definitely edible.
Pleased, Alexa flipped the oven shut and prepared their plates.
“Voilà.”
Jamison stared at his plate. “Fish sticks and French fries.”
“Don’t you like them? I even have ketchup.” She squirted a big dollop on her plate and passed the bottle to him. “I believe this counts as two courses. Meat and potatoes.”
Jamison shoved a fry in his mouth and chewed rapidly, but he couldn’t stop a grin, or his chuckle from erupting when he swallowed. “Meat and potatoes. Right.”
Alexa fixed him with a glare. “What did you expect? I’ll bet your mother is a fabulous Italian cook.”
“She is.”
“Well, I’m sorry I don’t make the grade.” She sounded huffy to her own ears, and rapidly chewed ketchup soaked fries to assuage her hurt feelings.
Jamison finished. “It’s delicious,” he told her with a straight face. “Thank you.” His gaze fell to her mouth.
“Thank you.” Alexa delicately finished the last of her portion. “I especially love the mixture of grease and batter and fish. It’s especially yummy with ketchup, don’t you think? In fact, maybe this is a six course meal. Ketchup is our vegetable.”
“Ketchup is not a course, princess.”
“Fine, then.” She looked up with a frown. “I hope dessert pleases your majesty.” She noticed him staring at her mouth again. “What?”
“You’ve got ketchup on your lip.”
“Oh!” Hastily, she wiped her mouth. “I wondered why you kept staring at me.”
He smiled a little, as if at some private joke.
“What? Is it gone?”
“Not quite.” He leaned forward, napkin in hand, and gently dabbed under her lip. His smiling dark eyes held hers for a long moment. “All gone.” Alexa stared at him, her heart beating uncomfortably fast. With a faint smile he leaned back, which thankfully broke the bizarre spell.
“Well. Thank you,” she said, feeling flustered. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Quickly, she cleared their places and set to work assembling dessert.
First, chocolate chip cookies warmed in the microwave. Thankfully, they couldn’t explode. Then vanilla ice cream on top. She presented it to her irksome bodyguard.
“I hope you’re pleased.” She handed him a spoon. “I’ve never made a five course meal for anyone before.”
“I’m honored.”
“No, you aren’t. You think my cooking is pitiful.” She felt oddly upset that she had disappointed him, and couldn’t hide the hurt from her expression.
His dark eyes gentled to brown. “Alexa, you made a wonderful meal.” He kissed his fingertips and flicked them open. “It was marvelous—meraviglioso, mia bella.” His accent lilted, sounding classically Italian.
Although Alexa wasn’t exactly sure what he had said, the context promised it was good. “Thank you. But I’m certainly not one to bring home to mama.”
He glanced down for a second. “I wouldn’t say that. Actually, I wanted to ask you a favor.”
“Really? What?”
“Next week we go to Italy. Instead of taking a day off, I’d like you to come with me to visit my family.”
“You want me to visit your family?” She was stunned.
“It would be a favor. A business arrangement,” he clarified.
“A business arrangement. Oh. Of course.” Why had she felt so honored and ridiculously pleased when she’d thought Jamison wanted her to meet his family? It made no sense at all. She forced a smile. “I’d be happy to come…and help you out.” She spooned up a big bite of ice cream.
Jamison watched her. Not much eluded her observant bodyguard, and that troubled her for the first time. “We’ll have fun,” he said quietly.
“Of course. I can’t wait,” she mumbled.
Thankfully, the telephone rang then. “I’ll get it.” Alexa rushed to answer it, swallowing the last of her ice cream. “Hello?”
“Alexa, love.”
“Colin!” She turned away from Jamison. “How nice to hear from you.”
“You’re working too hard. Jamison said you didn’t leave the building all day.”
“The book is flowing. I wanted to take full advantage.”
“Take time off tomorrow. That’s an order—understand, young lady?”
Alexa giggled. “Okay. Your wish is my command.”
“Good. Sightsee. Have Jamison take you. He knows the lay of the land. I won’t let you work yourself to death.”
Alexa smiled. “Thank you. You’re the sweetest guy, Colin.”
She heard his soft chuckle. “How about tickets for the concert tomorrow tonight? Or are you bored with concerts already?”
“I’ve only been to one. Of course I’d like to come!”
“Great. Also, I’ve hired a photographer for the show. Can you work that into the book?”
“Absolutely. Just have him e-mail me pictures.”
“See you tomorrow, Alexa.”
“See you then.” She hung up with a smile.
“Another date?” Jamison inquired.
She would not let him spoil her mood. “Sort of. I’m going to the concert tomorrow night.”
“That means I am, too. Just as well. Colin could use the extra security.”
Alexa frowned. “I’ve told you not to waste time guarding me in this apartment.”
The dark eyes rested on her face. “You’re important, too, princess.”
She blinked. “Stop calling me that.”
“Why? You can’t stand terms of affection?”
“Hah! Like you feel any affection for me.”
“Don’t I?”
She stared at him, her mouth slightly agape. Why in the world had he said that? “More like you feel sorry for me,” she retorted. “Because I can’t cook.”
He did not deny it. Or confirm it, either, for that matter.
“I’m going to my room,” she informed him. “I have work to do.”
“What about the dishes?”
“Cooks don’t clean.” And she needed to be alone. How could Jamison’s innocuous comment disturb her so deeply? Did he really feel affection for her? Probably after tonight’s debacle he felt pity for her. Like a child, or a dog. That was what he had meant.
“Cleaning’s not part of the apology?”
“Are you saying my debt isn’t paid in full?” She frowned immediately.
He smiled then, and she knew he’d only said it to rile her. “Good night, princess.”
“Good night, Jethro.”
Alexa rubbed her temples four hours later. It was late. She was afraid to look at her watch. She had transcribed without stopping for several hours, and for the last hour she had gone back to weave her impressions of Colin throughout the segments, trying to impart a flavor of his personality.
She yawned. It was late, but the words kept coming. Maybe she should make tea and stay up for ano
ther hour, writing. She glanced down at herself. Could she risk sashaying out in this? She had put on a silky, thigh-length nighty, intending to go to bed an hour ago. Since she had grown a little cool, she had slipped on the short, matching peach wrap, too. She wore bunny slippers on her feet.
Surely Jamison had retreated to his room by now. And who cared if he was in the living room? She was decent. It’s not like he ever took notice of her in that way, anyway. Thank goodness for small favors.
Getting up, she opened her bedroom door and strode into the sitting area. Her heart thunked to her pink slippers when she spied Jamison sitting on the couch, watching television. When he looked over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed.
Alexa beat him to the punch. “Why are you still up?” She yanked at the loose sash around her waist, tightening it.
“Trying on nighties?” he queried. “Need help choosing the best one for Colin?”
Alexa gasped in outrage. “Kindly get your mind out of the gutter! Colin and I are just friends.”
“Men and women can’t be just friends,” he returned.
“I’d expect a sexist remark like that from you. And what are we, then?”
“Are we friends, princess?”
Alexa scowled. “No. You’re right. We’re adversaries.”
He threw popcorn into his mouth. “You can call it that if it makes you feel more comfortable.”
Alexa didn’t like the turn of the conversation, and walked over so she blocked his view of the television. “Excuse me?” she demanded, hands on her hips. Unfortunately, her sash failed her and the robe gaped open, showing her lacy-edged silk nighty.
When they had first met at the airport and her blouse was soaked, he had paid no attention. This time, he did look. Her face burned and her blood heated. She wanted to snatch her robe together, but didn’t. She wasn’t intimidated by him.
His eyes raised to hers after an interminable moment. “Princess, I’m a red-blooded man. You shouldn’t be standing in front of me like that.” She blinked at the quiet force in his voice. “Unless, of course, you want some TLC.”
Her Reluctant Bodyguard Page 15