His shoulders are set and his fingers are laced together atop his rounded belly. “End of discussion, Kalista,” my father says with a heavy sigh.
My teeth grind together as I fight the urge to throw a tantrum to rival one of my step-mother’s. “What do you mean, end of discussion? We haven’t discussed anything. You’ve just told me I will now have a twenty-four/seven personal detail. I am not okay with that.”
He sighs loudly before levelling me with what I’ve come to know as his I’m-pretending-to-care-about-your-wellbeing-but-I-really-just-want-to-keep-you-alive-long-enough-to-marry-you-off smile. “Kalista, sweetie, I’ll sleep better knowing you’re safe. Please don’t be difficult about this.”
I want to rage. I want to tell him where to put his money and his drama that’s now threatening my life. But I can’t. Because without my father, I am nobody and I have nothing.
Counting to ten in my head helps calm me a little, enough to say, “Fine. Do I at least know my new shadow? Is it someone I’ve had on my detail when I’ve attended an event or something?”
The self-satisfied smile that covers my father’s face makes me want to slap it right off, but again, I can’t. There are a lot of things I can’t do with my life. So many that I don’t know how it could possibly be called my own. It’s the furthest thing from mine. I own nothing, not really. I’m a puppet on a string, set to carry out my days performing for my father to further his political aspirations.
“No,” he says, bringing my attention back to the moment. “You don’t know him. He’s new. This precarious situation you’ve landed in requires someone who will be able to keep up with your busy lifestyle.”
My busy lifestyle. My. Busy. Lifestyle. I’d be happier covered in oil and grease under the hood of a vintage Mustang than attending all the crap that he fills my calendar with.
I narrow my eyes. “So someone I’ve never met before is about to insert themselves into my daily life, whether I like it or not. Great,” I snap. “Just bloody wonderful.” A small piece of me is glad that I won’t be alone when the next letter arrives, because I know it will, this is the beginning of something big. I can feel it and it terrifies me.
But I’ll die before I let anyone see my fear.
The sound of my father’s office door opening has me straightening in my seat, Preparing to meet my new bodyguard.
“Ah, Mr Jamieson. It’s good to finally make your acquaintance,” my father says with an outstretched hand.
Why does that name sound so familiar?
“Likewise, Senator Astor,” he says curtly.
The sound of his voice causes a rush of adrenaline to shoot through my body. That voice. I’d know that voice anywhere. Be it today, tomorrow or ten years from now, I will never forget that voice.
I stay rigid in my seat, staring forward, refusing to make eye contact with him as he reaches forward and shakes my father’s hand. Then, he drops into the empty chair next to mine.
Heat sears the side of my face, and I know he’s looking at me. I just can’t bring myself look at him. HIM. Of all the people in the world, it had to be him. My new babysitter is sex-on-a-stick with a side of let-me-lick-you-from-head-to-toe. And I did. And it was amazing.
Reaching up, I tug on the collar of my blouse. Is it hot in here all of a sudden? No? It’s just me dying inside then? Right, great. Just great.
My father frowns, probably at my lack of greeting towards Mr Jamieson, and I ignore him. This is not happening. What are the chances of something like this happening? Seriously? The one time I let myself relax and allow a perfect specimen of a man to have his way with me, and three months later he becomes my new on-duty twenty-four/seven bodyguard.
The ever-polite senator takes over the introductions, unknowing that he’s wasting his time. The man sitting next to me knows the real me better than most do and ever will.
“Mr Jamieson, this is my daughter, Kalista. And she is your new client. You are to follow her everywhere she goes. Clear rooms before she enters, search her car before sh—”
“With all due respect, Senator, I know how to do my job. I know better than anyone how to keep your daughter happy.” He pauses, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. “And safe. So, you can skip the lecture on how to do my job. There’s a reason you came to my firm to handle this situation. Now you can leave it with us.”
I’ve never heard anyone speak to my father like that before, and despite my efforts to keep my mirth on the inside, my lips quirk up in the corner in a small show of my delight.
My father clears his throat. “Well, I guess there’s no reason for me to keep you two any longer.” He stands, waving towards the door. “I have a meeting in twenty minutes across town that I’m going to be late for, so if you wouldn’t mind—”
Abe and I stand at the same time, him stretching out his hand to my father this time. “Nice to meet you, Senator. I’ll keep you informed.”
“Goodbye, Daddy,” I say with a forced smile. I hate calling him Daddy. I’m a twenty-eight-year-old woman, for goodness sake. But we must keep up the guise of happy families in the public eye.
Abe opens the door and steps aside for me to walk through.
“Thank you,” I say softly. I have no idea what to say to him. Or how to act around him. When we met I was, well, I was more myself than I had been in the longest time. But that’s not the woman he’s about to be stuck with day in, day out.
I quicken my pace as I walk down the hallway to the elevator banks, but he keeps stride with me. My mouth remains tightly closed as we wait for the next one to arrive. It’s not until we’re inside the metal death box that he speaks either.
“What floor are you parked on?” he asks in that smooth yet somehow gruff voice of his.
“Basement two.”
He presses the button for me but makes no move to select a floor for himself. “Are you parked on the same level?”
Abe shakes his head a fraction then lifts his eyes to mine. “I’m riding with you.”
I blink at him slowly. Dumbly. Those four words do not make any sense to me whatsoever.
The corner of his lips ticks up in the hint of a smile. “You alright, Lissa? You seem to have gone a little pale,” he remarks. “Maybe I should drive.”
“I’m sorry, what? I’m clearly not following, because it sounded like you just said you should drive my car? I don’t think so,” I correct him.
He rewards me with a full-blown smile now. “That’s the most you’ve said to me in the last half hour. I’m getting the feeling that you don’t want me around, and frankly, it’s hurting my feelings.” He grins while clutching at his heart.
I stare at him, and I can’t stop my eyes from roaming over his broad chest wrapped in a white dress shirt, the first two buttons left open giving me a peek at his tan skin. I close my eyes and before I realise I’m doing it, my tongue runs along my bottom lip remembering just how good his mouth felt on mine.
Abe clearing his throat is what snaps me out of my momentary lapse in concentration. I shake my head, clearing the image playing on the inside of my eyelids. “What?” I snap at him, and he just shrugs as though he doesn’t know what I’m talking about but I’m almost positive we both know what I was just thinking.
Before he can say another word, the doors slide open and I step out into the parking garage, making my way to my sleek midnight blue Mustang Shelby GT350. My fingertips caress her hood lovingly as I approach the driver’s side door.
“Holy shit,” Abe says on an exhale from behind me. “This is your car?”
I smirk and turn to face him. “She is,” I say, loving the way his eyes roam over my precious baby with just as much adoration as mine do.
Abe rubs his hand over his lightly stubbled jaw. “I didn’t think you could get any hotter at the wedding, but damn, if I could see you behind the wheel of this baby, let’s just say it would fuel many a hot and sweaty fantasy.”
My eyelids begin to flicker franticly. Did he really just say that? The heat stirring low in my belly says yes, yes, he really did. And then I remember that Abe is now my fulltime bodyguard, and it’s really inappropriate for him to talk to me like this.
Straightening my spine, I know what I have to do. I have to treat him just like I treat everyone else, except Ellie, that is. Closing my eyes, I take two deep breaths, lock the memories of the best sex I’ve had in my entire life away in a box, and shove it aside.
When I open my eyes again, Abe is staring at me. “What did you just do? Actually, scrap that. Why did you just go cold on me?”
I quirk a brow and cross my arms over my chest. “Excuse me?”
“Wow, you have it down to a fine art, don’t you? You can just switch it on and off like that? I’d say it’s impressive, but not when it’s directed at me.”
Deciding that I’m going to have to lay it out for him, I stride towards him, stopping just shy of a foot away from his big imposing body. “We need to get some things sorted before we start this,” I tell him, then poke him in the chest with a pointed finger. “You don’t talk to me unless it’s in regards to my safety. And you certainly don’t imply my presence in your hot and sweaty fantasies. Do you understand?”
“Well, I ca—”
“I’m not finished,” I fire on, unfazed by his interruption, “I assume my father hired you because you’re the best in your field. I can respect that, but only if you maintain your professionalism. You are my bodyguard; your job is to keep me safe, not to become my friend. Got it?”
His jaw locks and unlocks a few times before he finally nods once. “Fine, if that’s how you want to play this.” Then he snatches the keys dangling from the hand not poking him, and strides over to my car, positioning himself behind the wheel.
Fury curls up my spine and I march after him. “What the hell are you doing?” I demand.
His jaw is still locked, and it makes him look, scary. If I didn’t know how gentle he could be, I think I would be genuinely afraid of him. But I do know, and I also know that he showed me the real him that night too and he would never, not in a million years, hurt a woman.
By the time his eyes find mine they’re so dark, almost black. “Get in the car, Kalista. This is me, doing my job. As your bodyguard, it is my responsibility to ensure your safety at all times. That means I drive you everywhere you need to go. Now get in the car. I’m officially on the clock.”
I swallow hard. I never imagined he would talk to me with such, such—I don’t even know what to call what that was. It wasn’t indifference, although I suspect that is all he feels for me after I just iced him, as some have called it.
Refusing to let him see how his words and tone affect me, I turn on my heel and round the hood without another word, then slide into the passenger seat.
“Put your seatbelt on,” Abe demands before driving out of the space I’d parked in faster than necessary, forcing my body back into my seat.
“If you hurt my car, I will hurt you,” I seethe as he speeds out of the parking garage beneath my father’s offices. “And where the hell are we going?”
“You’ll see,” is all he says as he flies through the inner-city traffic.