by Kat Mizera
“I’ll need you outside, watching the front gate,” I told her as she poured a cup of coffee into a travel mug.
She turned to look at me, her face back to the inscrutable mask she usually wore when we were in the same room together. “You want me to watch the front gate?” She looked like she might say something else, but instead, picked up her coffee mug and walked out the kitchen door, letting it shut behind her.
Oh yeah, she was pissed.
For some reason, that made me smile.
6
Lennox
The SUV carrying Casey, Erik, and the baby arrived about thirty minutes later, Chains pulling it through the front gate about ten minutes after the decoy SUV driven by Xander had arrived. With the family safely inside, I got out my walkie-talkie and gave the all-clear to Sandor. He’d been testing me by putting me out here instead of somewhere I could actually help if something bad went down, but if he wanted to play games, I was good at them. I’d dealt with overbearing, condescending men my entire career so it barely fazed me.
The problem with Sandor was…he was hot. Not just handsome or sexy, but panty-melting, ovary-exploding, heartbreakingly hot. He was tall, six-six to my five-nine, and probably two-fifty, if not more. And almost all of it was muscle. He was covered in tattoos, which was a fantasy of mine, and every time I’d seen him, his dark blond hair had been pulled back in a ponytail. His full beard wasn’t my favorite thing, but the rest of him was pretty close to perfection, and every time he looked at me, I wanted to lick his lower lip.
Jesus. I needed to get over this nonsense sooner rather than later. Sex wasn’t a big part of my life. I had it on occasion, but it was usually a disappointment, so I was happier using a couple of expensive toys that took care of my needs. Hell, my fingers did a better job than most of the men I’d slept with. Military guys seemed to be big on ego and small on…other things. Not to mention selfish as fuck. I hated to think that way about my brothers-in-arms, but that was my experience so I’d just started shying away from casual hookups. It had been years since my last relationship, and while the sex had been better than some, it had still been disappointing.
Sandor, my gut told me, would not be a selfish lover. Even if he was a love-’em-and-leave-’em kind of guy, he would leave them screaming for more. I knew from Joe he was single and that his whole life had been devoted to protecting King Erik, Queen Casey and Luke, but I wondered how a guy that hot stayed single. He was in his late thirties, thirty-eight or thirty-nine if I remembered correctly, and in fantastic shape. I would’ve paid good money to see what he looked like without a shirt.
Shit.
What the hell was wrong with me? He was probably another selfish dick, just like the rest of them. I’d given up on men completely, because dating was painful and sex was such a letdown. If I ever gave it another chance, it would have to be with someone really fantastic. Maybe Erik had an older, distant rich cousin who wanted a trophy wife. I’d be down for that.
I almost chuckled at the thought of me being anyone’s trophy anything. What the hell was wrong with me? I wasn’t a gold-digger, and the last thing I needed was a man to take care of me. I’d been doing a good job of that since I was seventeen, so I sure as fuck wasn’t going to stop now.
I got inside and Casey came over to hug me. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered.
“Well, where is he?” I demanded. “I need to get my yearly baby fix and then I’m good.”
“Just once a year?” Casey teased, turning to take the baby from Erik. “Here he is—Prince Levi Maxim al-Hassani.”
“Oh my god, he’s beautiful.” I carefully took the swaddled bundle and rocked him against my chest. I truly had never had baby fever and I was pretty sure I didn’t have a biological clock, but I did enjoy the occasional cuddle with a newborn. And this was one of those Gerber babies, not at all shriveled or goofy-looking, like some.
“He’s pretty perfect,” Casey agreed.
“And holy hell, you look amazing,” I told her, looking her up and down. “You barely have any belly left. How do you do that?”
“Good genes?” She laughed. “I stayed in shape through all of my pregnancies, doing as much as my health and the size of my stomach would allow, all three times.”
“I don’t think babies are in my future, not in my line of work, but I think I’d probably go insane if I couldn’t work out for nine whole months.”
“Exactly.”
We stood there a few minutes, gushing and grinning over the baby before I gave him back to his mother and finally looked up at Sandor. “So, where do you want me today?”
He glanced at Casey and then back at me. “Casey probably wants you inside the house with her. So, for now, the first few days until we get a feel for how overzealous the media is going to be, you’re to be in the room with Casey at all times, except when she goes to bed for the night. We’ll adjust accordingly, as we get into a new routine now that the baby’s here.” He turned to Erik. “Is there a new nanny coming?”
Erik shook his head. “Not yet. Marisol said she’d take overnight shifts for the time being. She doesn’t have a lot to do now that the kids are older, and you guys will just have to pick up the slack driving them to activities, which will be limited for at least the first week. We want to minimize exposure for now.” Marisol was the family’s long-time nanny and housekeeper.
“There will be a lot of people coming and going,” Casey said. “My mother is on her way over and I’m sure the rest of the family will be in and out constantly this first week, so let’s just keep things mellow. We’re going to do a small press conference on Friday, to announce the new member to the royal family, but other than that, no fanfare.”
“Marisol has enough food in the refrigerator and freezer to feed a whole army,” Erik said, “so it’s just going to be a matter of defrosting and warming things up. My lovely queen nixed the idea of bringing in a chef, which means we’re all on our own.”
Casey laughed, nudging him. “Because you hate Marisol’s lasagna.”
“I never said that,” he said, also laughing.
“All right.” Sandor looked at me. “You’re with Casey. I’m with the kids. Joe and Chains have gone home to sleep since they were up all night at the hospital. Xander, I want you in the control room monitoring the surveillance videos. We need to try to be relaxed because of the kids, but we have to stay diligent.”
Everyone scattered and I followed Casey into the family room, where she dropped onto the couch and put her feet up.
“I’m going to do some work,” Erik said, placing a kiss on her forehead. “Let me know if you need me?”
“Of course.” She smiled up at him.
I took the baby from her and put him in the bouncy chair thing they’d set up and then I sat across from her.
“Do you need anything?” I asked her.
“Just for you to tell me how it went with you and Sandor.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, trying to stay professional, though I had a feeling that’s not what she wanted from me. “He’s a pain in the ass,” I said finally. “Condescending and arrogant, but I get it. His job is to keep you and your family safe and that’s a lot of pressure.”
Casey laughed. “Wow. Politically correct much? This is me. And our relationship can’t be that stuffy. So tell me the rest.”
“I did.” I laughed too. “He’s an arrogant ass who thinks I’m not up to the job because I’m a woman. I challenged him to train with me so I can show him what I’m made of, but it’s hard for both of us to get away with you in the hospital and now getting settled with the new baby. It’ll happen, though.”
Casey smiled. “I get the feeling you’re going to kick his ass.”
“I have a few tricks up my sleeve, but the point isn’t to kick his ass, it’s to show him I’m the real deal and the fact that I’m a woman doesn’t factor into the equation.”
“Have you always had to work this hard to prove yourself?” she aske
d softly.
I nodded. “Oh, yeah. Becoming a Marine and then Special Forces? It was a constant battle, and instead of getting better, it’s gotten worse as I’ve gotten older because I’m thirty-two now, so I must be old and decrepit, and by the way, isn’t your biological clock ticking? It’s a nuisance, but it’s made me tougher, I guess, so that’s something.”
Casey shook her head. “Believe it or not, it was very similar in the music biz. Being a female guitarist is rare. I mean, there are some exceptions like Joan Jett and Lita Ford, but they’re both also lead singers, so that makes a difference. Lzzy Hale is badass, but she’s a singer too, so being a guitar player that doesn’t sing is pretty unheard of, and I had a lot of pushback in the beginning. Being the daughter of a rock and roll legend helped smooth the way for me, though, so I had it easier than most. When I was forming Pretty Harts, a lot of guys wouldn’t play with me because I was the big-name star, and they didn’t like it. I own a fucking recording studio and every so often we get a client that would come in and want to talk to ‘the boss.’ It drives me nuts.”
“I used to get really worked up about it, but I’ve come to realize that all I can do is do what I do. I’m a bodyguard. I’m a trained professional and really good at what I do, so if I have to get in the gym and kick a hot security officer’s ass once in a while, I do it because I can.”
Casey paused. “You think Sandor is hot?”
Yikes. She was no dummy, and that was a stupid mistake on my part. I’d have to be more careful when I talked to her, because even though we got along well, she was still the boss. “Well, yeah, I mean, look at him. I’d have to be dead not to notice. Pretty boy or not, though, I’m going to kick his ass all over the gym when that happens.”
“I don’t know how to make it happen,” Casey giggled, “but I really need to be there for that.”
“Maybe we can arrange it.”
We grinned at each other, but then she sobered. “Just do me a favor, though.”
“I won’t hurt him bad,” I teased.
She shook her head. “I know you won’t. But never forget what a great guy he is. I mean, the kind of guy who put his life on the line for Luke and me even though he didn’t have to. Back then, he barely knew me, but he did it anyway. They don’t come any more honorable or loyal than Sandor, and while he’s being a little difficult right now, it’s because of the stress he’s under. He’s not a bad guy. Keep that in mind.”
“I will. Thank you.” She’d given me something to think about, but I’d think later. Maybe in the shower or something. The arrogant ass I knew and the man she was describing weren’t the same, and it was hard to reconcile the two.
7
Sandor
With the kids settled, I’d been planning a quiet afternoon of catching up on paperwork, but around three o’clock Erik asked me to meet him in the library. When I arrived, Joe and Chains were there as well and I shut the double French doors behind me as I joined them.
“What’s up?” I asked, slightly suspicious because usually I was the one setting up meetings.
“It’s time to get serious about a permanent move to Limaj,” Erik said, “and now that the baby’s here, I have to be diligent about letting the people know that I’m their leader and going to be there for them. Of course, we’ll always travel and do some commuting because of the kids and Casey’s business interests here in Vegas, but on the outside, we have to create a home.”
“All right.” I sat in a chair and poured myself a cup of coffee. Something told me I wasn’t going to like whatever was coming.
“You are and always will be my right-hand man,” Erik said. “But you can’t do everything. In the grand scheme of things, I’d like you to be my Chief of Staff, even though I know that’s not the role you want.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s not. I’m not cut out for—”
“Hear me out.” Erik interrupted me gently. “I need you to be my right hand, all the time. Day, night, personal and professional, and that’s the position that allows for it.”
“I understand that, but I’m not cut out to be a glorified assistant.”
We stared at each other and Erik sighed. “Chief of Staff is a respected, high-level position that puts you in the middle of everything in my life. If you don’t want it, I’m going to offer it to Jesper.”
“He’s perfect for that,” I said gruffly. Jesper had been an ambassador to the U.K. before our crazy cousin, King Anwar, had taken over. Jesper’s post had been taken from him and he’d gone underground, working with the rebellion. Now that Erik was in power, he’d made Jesper the temporary Minister of Commerce because we needed trustworthy people in Parliament, but that wasn’t his forte and he would make a great Chief of Staff. Especially since he had small children at home and that position would allow him to be at the palace full-time. I felt bad that I hadn’t checked on him after the bombing, but we’d been busy and I would have heard if anything had happened to him.
“Here’s the thing,” Joe spoke up. “I’m selling Westfield Security, and Chains is interested in buying it. Erik needs you to be flexible, which means heading up security isn’t a good place for you, but it’s perfect for me. I’m thinking of moving to Limaj and taking the job.”
“You’d move to Limaj permanently?” I asked in surprise.
Joe leaned back in his chair. “I’m fifty-eight this year. I have no partner, no kids, very little family. I have money and a very specific skill set, which is best utilized working with Erik. I’m a middle-aged gay man with no roots, and it’s time for me to set some down. Maybe Limaj is the place to do it.”
“Seems like everything is already decided,” I said, giving Erik a look.
He smiled at me. “Don’t be a baby—you’re the person I rely on most. You take care of my family and there isn’t a position anywhere more important than that, but at the end of the day, you can’t be following Luke and the twins around all day unless there’s a specific threat to them. I need you to be flexible, and if you won’t take the Chief of Staff position, you still need to be more flexible than the head of security position would allow. You can have any damn title you want, but I need you with me, Casey, or Luke, and that’ll change every day so I don’t care what we call it.”
I nodded. “That’s fine with me.” I didn’t care about titles either, I just didn’t want to be tied to an office or have anything that was even remotely administrative.
“If this is all good, I’m going to buy Westfield Security,” Chains said in his clipped British accent. “We’ll provide security whenever any members of the family are here in Vegas, and of course, in an emergency, I’ll be on the first plane. Unfortunately, much as I’d love to get in on the ground floor of security for a country and a government that’s rebuilding, I have a life and a family here. My wife would move anywhere if I asked her to, but two of our children have other fathers, so that wouldn’t be fair to them. We all agreed this would be our home base and I can’t change that plan now.”
“Understandable,” Erik said. “And also a perfect solution for all of us. Knowing we have you guarding the house, the recording studio, and Sasha, since she won’t be moving to Limaj, takes a load off my mind. Now I can focus on what we’ll need in Limaj.”
“I’ll be changing the name to Westfield & Carruthers,” Chains said with a grin. “In case anyone was interested.”
“Why not Carruthers & Westfield?” Joe asked.
“Because you built up your name and brand, so it would be foolish of me to give that up.”
We talked logistics and legalities for a little while and then Joe and Chains both went to do other things, leaving Erik and me alone.
“What’s going on with you?” Erik asked after a minute. “And don’t say nothing. I know you and you’re not yourself. There’s a lot going on, but usually you handle everything without batting an eyelash. This feels different.”
“It’s nothing I can put my finger on,” I said slowly. “I spent a decade as som
eone else, living a completely different life, and now I’m suddenly thrown back into the fold as a member of the royal family while still performing bodyguard duties, taking care of your family, and acclimating to a dozen new changes, sometimes multiple every day. Different homes, cities, countries, continents. I’m sorting it out.”
“You know you don’t owe me your entire life, right?” he asked after a moment.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“I mean, you gave up eleven years to take care of Casey and Luke, and maybe it’s time for you to find yourself a woman and settle down in the suburbs somewhere.”
I burst out laughing. “Do you even know me? That’s never going to happen.”
“You don’t want a family? Or at least a woman by your side? Come on, that’s not natural, not for men like us, and you know it.”
“If it was to happen, sure, but where the hell am I going to find a woman? And with what time? Whether I’m here or in Limaj, my job is seven days a week, sixteen to eighteen hours a day. And even if I did meet someone, when would I see her, much less any kids we have?”
“Which is exactly why I’m offering you the option of getting out, doing your own thing. You could move here and work for Chains, taking individual gigs, so you don’t work twenty-four seven. You could live in the house here and keep an eye on Sasha while actually living a little bit. I wouldn’t blame you.”
“You’re a fucking nut job,” I said, shaking my head at him. “You really think I’m cut out to settle down in the Las Vegas suburbs working part-time as a bodyguard?”
“I don’t know, but I think it’s time you thought about the future. In a few years, things are going to settle down and life is going to be more normal. Yes, as a king I’ll always have to be diligent about security and such, but once I get the country back on track, Parliament will run things and I’ll be more of a figurehead. What are you going to do then?”