ChapterTwenty-Six
Nate’s shitty start to his day spiraled straight into the toilet.
Bella collected men like lint. Adam, Daniel, and now some hotshot glory boy with his flashy credentials and his permit to carry concealed. Guy had checked in about five minutes after Nate arrived at the office.
It didn’t help that Gabby had actually taken the stick out of her ass long enough to offer hotshot a cup of coffee. She’d never offered him coffee, not once.
He pulled into the circular driveway outside his brother’s place and hopped out. He needed to go right to the source of the problem: Pippa.
Damn it! He knew they meant well, but taking care of Bella was his job. The last thing he needed was some vigilante-type shit in his town.
Actually, the source of the problem was Diva Philomene, but he didn’t have the balls for that. The diva didn’t hold back on the trips down handcuff memory lane.
With a brief knock, he opened the kitchen door and stepped inside.
“Nate.” Pippa greeted him with her million-dollar smile.
Matt looked up from his laptop. “Hey.”
“Coffee?” Pippa opened the cupboard where they kept the mugs.
“Who the hell is Simon Walker?”
Matt’s chair scraped on the floor. “You got a bug up your ass?”
“Yeah, I do.” The same bug he’d had up his ass for what seemed like months. “Did you know Philomene hired a bodyguard for Bella?”
Matt grinned. “Sounds like something she would do.”
“That’s all you’ve got to say about this?” Nate wanted to punch the smile off Matt’s face.
Pippa put a full mug on the table, with the sugar and cream beside it. “You seem upset.”
“I’m not upset, I’m fucking mad!”
“Watch yourself.” Matt squared off.
Nate forced a deep breath and then another. Matt always played big brother. It was part of who he was, and getting into a pissing contest with him wasn’t going to get Nate anywhere. “This situation is bad enough without adding another complication.”
“Sit, Nate.” Pippa pressed him into a chair. “You know Phi. Once she got the idea into her head, there was no stopping her.” She pushed his coffee closer to him. “Simon’s very good at what he does. He’s not going to complicate your life.”
“I had this under control.” Needing it, Nate added an extra spoon of sugar to his normal three.
Pippa took the seat beside him. “I didn’t think this would make you angry.”
“It did.” He sipped his coffee and found a moment of calm. Pippa made great coffee. Not like the sludge Gabby made. She should know better than to go offering that shit around.
“What’s up?” Matt resumed his seat and closed his laptop.
His normal nothing came up, but he shoved it away. First off, Matt wouldn’t buy it for half a second, or Pippa either. Secondly, maybe he could get some perspective here. “I’m so screwed.”
“We’re talking figuratively, right?” Pippa grinned at him.
He smiled back. You couldn’t help it when Pippa gave you that smile. It started in her grass-green eyes, crinkled around her cheeks, and then curled her mouth up. No wonder she was one of TV’s most-loved celebs.
Matt tugged his wife and her chair close enough to kiss. “Is this about Bella?”
His big brother knew him better than most. “Yeah.”
“More than her situation?”
“Yeah.”
Matt stiffened. “What the hell did you do?”
* * *
What did a girl do with a bodyguard? Bella tried not to watch Simon, but she couldn’t help it. Other than the serious hot factor, the man slid around her store like a ghost, nowhere and everywhere all at once.
“Would you like a cup of coffee?” Bella needed some caffeine. Phi had blown out like a storm, taking Liz in her wake.
The idea of Simon made Bella want to squirm. Who the hell needed a bodyguard? Like she was some kind of celebrity or something.
He flashed her his quick smile. “I’m good, thanks.”
“Tea?” Like her mouth got stuck in a rut, it kept going. “Water? Juice? Beer?” Dear Lord, not beer. “Sorry. I bet you don’t drink while you’re on duty. Not that you’re on duty or anything, just taking a look around.”
“Bella.” He materialized right in front of her. “Breathe.”
She breathed, and breathed again, taking in a spiced citrus fragrance that ought to be illegal. Maybe he had secret squirrel aftershave designed to render women weak and susceptible. Okay, time to take another breath.
Simon’s dark gaze twinkled. “You got it under control yet?”
Did she? Nope. Bella held up her hand. “Give me a little bit.”
“Take your time.”
Strangely enough, embarrassment aside, she did feel better having him there. “I’ve never had a bodyguard before.”
“I would never have known.” Simon winked.
Bella’s giggle shot out of her nose on a snort. Which only made her laugh harder and blush even more.
The door jangled.
Gaze locked on the door, Simon tensed. “Someone you know?”
Daniel stopped with the door in his hand and stared at Simon.
“It’s Daniel,” Bella cut in quickly, before Simon did any guarding of her body. “He’s a friend of mine. He’s fine.”
“Bella?” Daniel gave Simon the top-to-toe. “I came to check on you.”
There seemed to be a lot of that going around this morning. “Daniel, this is Simon.”
“Daniel Carver.” Daniel approached, hand out.
Simon shook. “Simon Walker.”
Daniel threw her a quizzical glance, but Bella couldn’t bring herself to introduce Simon as her bodyguard, so she smiled back. “I’m fine. A little shaken up but fine.”
“What the hell happened?” Daniel shoved his hands in his pockets. “I heard Adam broke into your place.”
Of course he’d heard. Ghost Falls hadn’t had gossip this juicy since Pippa’s fall from grace on national television. Bella went through the story as quickly as she could.
Simon drifted over to the far side of the store.
“Who is he?” Daniel whispered.
Bella opened her mouth, then changed her mind. “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you. Can we call him sort of a gift from the diva and leave it at that?”
With a grin, Daniel nodded. “That’s probably for the best.”
Daniel didn’t stay long. His exit opened the floodgates, and person after person found their way into her store. Not to buy something but to hear the story from her mouth. Toward closing time, Pippa and Matt paid her a visit.
Pippa glowed with her pregnancy and Matt walked beside her as if he was the first man on earth to sire a child. Their happiness beamed from them. It made Bella a little jealous.
“Shit, Bella.” Pippa swept her into a huge hug. “This is getting crazy.”
“Yeah, it sucks.” With Pippa, Bella didn’t have to pretend to be brave and she relaxed into the hug.
“You must be Simon.” Matt held out his hand. “My brother met you earlier.”
“The sheriff ?” Simon nodded. “I make it a point to check in with the local law. Makes things go easier down the road.”
Pippa laughed. “Not with our sheriff getting all territorial it won’t.”
“Thought that might be the case.” Shoving his hands in his pockets, Simon nodded.
“What does that mean?” Bella glared at Pippa, willing her to give a straight answer. “What’s wrong with Nate?”
Matt lifted a brow at her. “Really?”
“It’s not like that.” A flush climbed her cheeks.
Pippa cocked her head. “Oh no? How is it, then?”
If they’d been alone, she might have said more. In fact, talking to Pippa would have been a great idea, but not with Matt and Simon looking as if they were collecting each word in a bucket.
“Uh-oh.” Pippa leaned closer. “Do I sense the need for girl talk?”
“Maybe.” As in definitely and soon.
Right.” Pippa clapped. “Matt, why don’t you buy Simon a cup of coffee?”
“I don’t—”
“It wasn’t a suggestion.” Matt clapped Simon on the shoulder. “Coffee shop is two doors down and we can stand outside. You can keep an eye on Bella from there.”
Not wasting any time, Pippa patted the divan next to her. “Let’s hear what’s going on with Nate.”
Bella waited until they’d shut the door behind them before she turned to Pippa. “A bodyguard. Phi gave me a bodyguard.”
Pippa winced. “I warned you. I thought I had her headed off, but you know what she’s like.”
“Yeah.” Bella nodded. You’d have more luck holding back an avalanche with a bucket and a spade. “What do I do with him?”
“Nothing.” Pippa shrugged. “You let him do his job and you go about your life.”
Simon and Matt hugged the wall outside Mugged.
“He must be costing a fortune,” Bella said. She didn’t want to spend Phi’s money.
“Probably.” Pippa peered at the two men. “But why don’t you let Phi worry about that and tell me what’s going on with Nate?”
“It might have been easier when I only crushed on him from a distance.” Too restless to sit, Bella paced over to the window and stared out. “It certainly hurt a lot less than this does.”
“Ah, Bella.” Pippa came up behind her. “You so don’t need this on top of everything else you’re going through.”
“It’s weird.” Bella took her time putting this into words. “I started this whole self-improvement thing because my life had drifted into a rut. I was thirty-three and stuck in a rut. Isn’t that pathetic?”
“Pathetic? No.” Pippa put an arm around her shoulders. “Sad, yes. You have too much to offer to get caught in a rut.”
“I keep thinking if I hadn’t started self-improving, none of this would have happened.”
“Whoa!” Pippa turned her face to her. “Please tell me you’re not taking the blame for any of this.”
Bella couldn’t maintain eye contact. Because yes, there was this little voice in her head—one that sounded exactly like Nana—that kept insisting if she had left things alone . . . “I wanted something different. More.”
“You’re entitled to more.” Pippa gave her a little shake. “We’re all entitled to have life in abundance. All of us, including you. We just need to be brave sometimes and reach for it.”
“That doesn’t seem to be working so well for me.” Bella glared at her pink store. The eighties’ decor closed around her like a trap. “Nothing has really changed. Except I have some psycho asshat trying to break into my bedroom and I think my heart may be well and truly broken. And I still have this fucking pink store.”
“Bella!” Pippa stood back. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you swear.”
Heat climbed her cheeks. “Well, I often think bad words.”
“Say it again.” Pippa’s smile was pure evil. “I dare you.”
“Fuck,” she whispered it, because now Bella had started to feel a bit silly. Silly but strangely liberated. Hadn’t that giddy sense of liberation gotten her into enough trouble?
“Matt’s going to fix this pink nightmare.” Pippa hugged her quickly. “And look what else you got.”
“Great outside Christmas lights?”
“That,” Pippa said. “And you made new friends. Liz. Daniel. Would you change things and not have them in your life?”
“No.” For sure not. Liz had been a great addition to her social life. Daniel had stopped asking her out and they’d drifted into a budding friendship she hoped would grow. “And I really enjoyed the volunteering at the church.”
“There you go.” Pippa sounded like her cheering section. “You’ve done a good thing, Bella. You didn’t like the way your life was going and you changed that. That’s more than I managed. If Ray hadn’t pulled that shit on me, I might still be caught in my rut.”
Bella doubted that. From her classy-as-hell clothes to her high-powered career, and now her gorgeous husband, Pippa defined the term kick-ass. When Pippa wanted something, she stormed out there and got it. “You weren’t in a trap.”
“Yes, I was.” Pippa laughed. “I convinced myself I had everything I wanted and ignored that little voice in my head that said it was a lie. Ray forced me to get real. I had my head jammed so far up my ass, I almost let Matt get away from me.”
Okay, that did make her feel a little better.
Pippa peered out the window. “Damn, how does my grandmother do it?” She pointed to where Simon and Matt stood. “My entire life, Phi has managed to find the hottest men.”
“I can’t believe Nate got territorial.” The burn of that suddenly made itself known. The man couldn’t shove her out of his house fast enough and yet still felt it was okay to pee all over her to mark his territory.
“Head-up-assitis.” Pippa nodded. “There’s a lot of that going around. And just because Nate doesn’t know whether to fish or cut bait doesn’t mean you have to wait around for him to decide.”
No, she didn’t, but with Adam still lurking around somewhere, she wasn’t exactly ready to fling herself back into the dating scene.
Dr. Childers chimed away in her head: Own the life you want to have.
Oh, shut the fuck up!