Dryce was completely sprawled out on one of the couches in the living room of the suite with the remote in his hand, flipping through the movie channels trying to decide on something to watch. Austin and Erik were perched on various chairs around the room, and the armed security was outside the door as well. Even with Dryce deciding to stay in tonight, everyone was still on alert just in case.

“Will you just decide on something please?” Austin called from across the room, looking up from his laptop.

Dryce continued to flip through the stations until he stopped on some action movie that he thought looked good, even though he wasn’t paying too much attention to it at all. No, Dryce’s thoughts were on the brunette that had been in the suite earlier. Erik had called her Yally down at brunch but he knew nothing else about her. Other than Austin had said that he’d hired her as extra protection.

How close of a protection detail are we talking? Dryce wondered to himself.

“Why are you smiling?” Erik asked as he dropped into one of the chairs across from the couch.

“I’m not,” Dryce countered.

“If you say so,” Erik said.

Silence fell over the suite again except for the click of the computer keys from Austin’s laptop.

“Well aren’t you a somber crew,” Yally called as she emerged from the back room.

“What are you doing here?” Austin asked, rising from his chair in front of his laptop and crossing the room.

“I’m just here to let you know I wasn’t able to learn anything more about that group, but I am still fairly certain that the threat has been squashed,” she said, dropping into the chair Erik indicated, across from Dryce.

She looked everywhere but at Dryce, who had sat up on the couch and was now staring directly at her.

“Well that’s a good thing then,” Austin said, settling himself onto the other end of the couch.

Fumbling with something to say, Dryce shot up from the couch and walked to the bar in the corner. Pouring himself a finger of scotch from the decanter on the bar top, he downed it in one swallow. Looking up he noticed everyone’s eyes were on him.

Covering a cough with a nervous chuckle, he asked, “Anyone want a drink?”

When three heads nodded, Dryce set four empty glasses on the bar. Adding a couple ice cubes to each glass, he poured tonic water into each glass and topped them each with wedges of lime from the mini fridge. Austin raised his eyebrow when Dryce carried over the non-alcoholic drinks and passed them out.

Handing Yally her glass last, their fingers brushed and immediately their eyes locked. They stayed like that for a moment, not breaking contact until Austin loudly cleared his throat behind them. Yally was the first to look away.

Dropping his hand to his side, Dryce retreated to the corner of the couch and sank into the cushions.

“You were at Tom’s garage, weren’t you?” Erik asked then.

“I was,” she confirmed.

“Why didn’t you stay?” Erik asked.

“I prefer to not be seen until necessary. Plus I like to observe the people I work with to see how they handle situations,” she explained.

“Makes sense.”

Dryce watched the exchange between Erik and Yally closely, trying to figure out if he’d seen her that night. Then it dawned on him.

“You were at the dedication ceremony,” he blurted out. “I saw you in the crowd but when I tried to point you out to Tank, you were gone.”

“I was,” she agreed, taking a sip of her tonic.

“We hadn’t even met at that point. And you hadn’t replied to my email yet either. How did you make it there so quickly?” Austin asked suddenly.

She took a deep breath before explaining, “I have alerts set up for my file. Any time it gets requested or pulled, I know about it before anything is done. When I was alerted to your interest in my file, I did my own research to find out who wanted it. After learning your travel itinerary, I flew to the ceremony. You had my file and I scouted you all out at the dedication before I replied to your email.”

“That makes sense,” Erik noted.

“But your reply to my email said you’d be arriving from the United States,” Austin said.

“Actually, Mr. Ngo, my email only said what time my flight would be arriving here in Dubai. I never said where I would be flying in from,” Yally pointed out, taking a sip of her tonic and using the glass to hide her smirk.

Thinking back, Austin recalled the wording of her reply email. She was correct. She hadn’t said where she was joining them from. Austin tipped his head slightly in acceptance of his assumption, noticing a smirk on the faces of both Tank and Dryce.

“What would you have done had you not liked what you saw?” Austin inquired.

“I would have simply declined your offer,” she said with a nonchalant one-shouldered shrug. She could feel Dryce’s eyes on her so she kept her attention divided between the television and Austin, careful not to look at Dryce.

“Will you be joining us for the night?” Austin asked.

Yally made the mistake of looking at Austin, catching sight of Dryce in her peripheral vision. His hopeful expression tugged at her core, but she shook her head.

“I try not to mix business with pleasure,” she said coolly. With that she finished her tonic with lime and set her glass down on the coffee table. The three men in the room rose to their feet at the same time Yally stood from the chair.

“Will we see you tomorrow for Tom’s party?” Dryce asked.

“Not unless it’s necessary,” she replied, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. She felt a little bad when she saw Dryce’s shoulders slouch slightly.

Without another word, Yally walked to the front doors of the suite and let herself out.

“How did she get in here?” Austin asked finally.

“I have no idea, but, like I told you from the start, Yally is a ghost, sir,” Erik said.

Dryce watched the door for a moment longer, willing it to open and for Yally to walk back through. When that didn’t happen, he finished his drink and announced he was going to bed. Closing himself in the bedroom, Dryce flopped down onto the bed and thought about the mysterious bodyguard he was falling for.