CHAPTER THREE

ALICIA

“So, is Nick the one?” my father asked, joining me in the back of the limousine that was waiting to carry us to the Hamptons.

My eyebrows shot all the way up. Surely, he couldn’t be asking that. There was no way he could know that I’d been fantasizing about how I wanted Nick to be the one to end my epic dry spell.

When I didn’t answer, my father looked at me questioningly, his expressive eyes darkening with concern. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

“I’m fine, sorry. I was just spaced out, thinking about this order I got in yesterday.” Excellent save. I patted myself on the back mentally.

My dad leaned back, relaxing into the soft leather, now that he’d confirmed I was okay. “Another big order?”

There was genuine interest in his voice. To the world, Warren Graystone was cold, ruthless, and the eternal professional.

To me, he was just my dad. Overprotective, sure. But that wasn’t always a bad thing. We generally had a great relationship. It was something I was proud of.

Many men in my father’s position would’ve left me to be raised by a nanny after Mom left us, but he’d hunkered down and raised me himself. He was there with me to celebrate every one of my achievements and had supported me wholeheartedly when I told him I wanted to start my own little online jewelry shop.

I designed and made all of the pieces myself. My dad even became my very first client, commissioning a necklace for Emilia, our longtime housekeeper.

“Yes,” I lied, feeling guilty about it almost immediately. But it wasn’t exactly like I could come out and tell him that I’d been fantasizing about my brand-new bodyguard all night long.

“That’s great, baby.” My dad flashed me a proud smile. “You packed all your supplies?”

“I did, although I still don’t understand why we have to go to the Hamptons until they catch the ninja.”

My dad sighed. “We talked about this last night. Since the house is registered in the name of your mom’s old company, there’s no link to us. It won’t be as easy to find us there. My security team thinks it’s safer for us there right now.”

“What does my security team say?” I asked him.

“You only told me to hire Nick last night. He’s meeting us out there later, but I haven’t had the chance to discuss the matter with him. Are you sure he’s the one you want, out of everyone we met with?”

Oh god yes. Just not in a way my father needed to know about. He was the one that I wanted all right. The one that I wanted to do all the dirty, filthy things that I’d been dreaming about. I kept my answer short instead. “Yes.”

“Good, he looks like a capable guy. I’m glad you chose him.”

“So am I.” I wanted him so badly that it had physically hurt before I’d finally succumbed to my arousal the night before and let my battery-operated boyfriend treat me to no less than three toe-curling orgasms before I’d finally passed out.

Even so, it wasn’t just the fact that he turned me on that made me choose him. There was something about his quiet stoicism that I was intrigued by. I was determined to find the chocolatey center that I sensed beneath his hard shell. I wanted to peel him open layer by layer and discover what made him tick, and what went on behind those vibrant, intelligent emerald eyes that seemed to see everything all at once.

There was just something about him, something I wanted to be near. His presence itself was commanding and calming, all at the same time. There was a rigidity to the way he moved that told me he could probably rip someone’s head off before they even saw him coming. It didn’t hurt that it was backed up by what had to be easily six-foot-four of solid muscle underneath his designer suit.

And I’d only seen his hands and his face naked, but I could tell that there was one fine body hiding under all that expensive fabric. It was right there in the way the material stretched when he moved, and in the way it strained in all the right places. I would kill to see him fully naked. And I intended to get him there.

His rules be damned. I’d always been a firm believer in the fact that rules were meant to be bent, if not all the way broken. I was planning on putting his rules to the test.

My father pulled out his laptop, settling in to work for the duration of the drive. It was something I’d been prepared for. Pulling out my e-reader, I opened a dystopian series I’d started the night before, but I didn’t read one page during the entire ride. And we were stuck in heavy traffic for a while.

Instead, my thoughts continued drifting to Nick, distracting me from anything else. I thought about what his neat, wavy oak-colored hair would feel like if I ran my hands through it. About what those dark emerald eyes would look like filled with lust. For a second, I even allowed myself to wonder what they would look like lit by love.

I thought about his strong, slightly dimpled chin, his elegant nose, and those cheekbones that would’ve inspired a thousand Renaissance sculptors to fill a city with statues dedicated to him.

He was actually very pretty for being as rugged as he was.

The drive passed in a blur of steamy fantasies, interspersed with the occasional reminder of exactly why Nick was in my life. As much as I pretended I was fine after the attack, my nerves were frazzled, and I wasn’t as opposed to getting away from my apartment as my father might think. I didn’t want to be there alone, fearing that another intruder might burst in at any moment.

Before I knew it, we’d left the bustle and traffic of the city behind, and we were driving along the wide, tree-lined driveway of our oceanfront home.

I breathed the fresh, salty air deep into my lungs as soon as I stepped out of the car, and I instantly felt the stress of the attack and my worry about its motivations start to melt away. They weren’t gone, but being out here had always been good for my soul. Maybe it was the sound of waves in the distance, or the squawking of the seagulls circling overhead. Whatever it was, it was exactly what I needed right now.

“Ali!” Emilia called from the door. “Oh, I’ve missed you. It’s been too long.”

I whirled around, sprinting to throw myself into Emilia’s open arms. The homely woman was like a mother to me. She had been since my own mother walked out of my life without so much as a second thought, as far as I knew.

Burying my face in Emilia’s graying hair, I allowed myself to truly relax for the first time in days. She smelled of cookie dough and spices, triggering hundreds of fond childhood memories: the wind in my hair during early morning walks on the beach, and laughing around the kitchen island until tears were streaming down my face.

“How’s my girl doing?” Emilia asked, lightly stroking my hair before she released me from the hug. “Let me help you unpack. Then, I have to leave for the afternoon.”

“No catching up?” I asked. I knew that Emilia probably had a thousand things to do since we’d arrived on such short notice, but I was disappointed that she would leaving so soon.

Emilia sighed. Her cheeks were as rosy as they’d always been, but her chocolate brown eyes lacked some of her usual warmth. “Not today, sweetheart. We’ll catch up soon, okay?”

“Okay.”

My dad’s driver appeared by my side, my bags slung over his shoulders. “Where do you want these, Ms. Graystone?”

“I’ll show you up,” Emilia told him. I was about to follow them inside when my father called me back to the limousine.

“I have to go back to city,” he said. “There’s an emergency that I need to deal with. I’ll see you as soon as I can, okay?” As had become usual for him these days, he didn’t offer me any more information. He simply drew me in for a big hug before he climbed back into the car. “Stay safe, baby.”

“I will, Daddy,” I mumbled.

The driver came hustling down the stairs, sliding straight back into the driver’s seat.

I watched until the limo turned a corner and was out of sight, noticing that Emilia’s car was gone from her bay at the other end of the driveway as well. Their absence meant that I was alone once again, very aware of the quietness and the emptiness of the house when I let the door slam shut behind me.

The sun was starting to set. Gorgeous hues of blue and orange lit up the ocean through the floor-to-ceiling windows that ran along one whole side of the house. The serene beauty of it was lost on me that day, however.

Instead of going out onto the deck to watch as the sun dipped low and finally disappeared, I headed upstairs to my room. The spiral staircase that had once served as a source of great fun by sliding down its bannisters failed to excite me now. It only made the silence in the house seem more pronounced, without having Emilia around to admonish me laughingly for doing it.

Once I reached my bedroom, decorated in crisp white and deep navy blues, I wandered around it aimlessly. At least, I did until a dark shape skulking around the yard caught my attention through the window.

My heart sank like a stone, and my breath came in fast gulps.

They’re back. They’re here to kill me again.

I had an advantage here, though. I’d seen them first, and I knew the terrain like the back of my hand. Grabbing the first weapon I saw, which just so happened to be my hardcover copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I flicked off the lights, and I went downstairs.

No way was I hiding, cowering while I waited for them to find me. I was alone in the house. I would be alone in the house for god only knew how long. I wasn’t waiting in terror as they searched for me. I knew that it was inevitable that they would find me and I agonized about the pain they would inflict when they did.

In the back of my mind, I knew that I should call the police before I went to confront the killers, but the Hamptons house didn’t have a landline anymore, and my cell was in my bag at the front door, its battery as dead as a doornail. So me and the intruder, it was.

Harry and I went to pounce on him, but as soon as I swung for the intruder’s head in the dark yard, he turned swiftly and disarmed me.

The relief that flooded my veins when I saw him was so powerful that it left me feeling dizzy. The would-be intruder was Nick, and he didn’t even have to draw his firearm in order to disarm me completely. My heart pounded from a heady mixture of adrenaline and, now that I knew it was him, arousal.

“What are you doing?” he asked me, tilting his head curiously.

I felt silly suddenly, knowing I’d been foolish to try and defend myself with nothing but a novel. Even so, I stuck my chin out and answered proudly. “Defending myself.”

Nick’s eyes narrowed on mine. “From me?”

“I didn’t know it was you,” I admitted, noticing the way the moonlight made his hair seem almost black and shielded the light in his eyes, even if it did make his pale skin glow.

The agitation in his tone pervaded my thoughts and broke through to my heavily distracted mind. “You didn’t know I was coming?” he asked. “And you thought it was a good idea to approach a potential attacker in the dark with no weapon and no backup?”

I cringed slightly. “My dad did actually tell me you’d be here. I just wasn’t expecting you out here, I think. And I did have backup. I had Harry.”

Nick glanced at the book that he’d so very effectively disarmed me of, holding it out to me. “Stick with me instead of Harry next time, okay? I’m not sure he’s great protection.”

It was so tiny that it easily could’ve been my imagination, but I could’ve sworn that I saw the hint of a smile beginning to curl at the corners of his lips.

“Are you laughing at me on the inside?” I asked.

“Absolutely not,” his gravelly voice said smoothly, but his lips twitched, and his eyes threatened to crinkle.

“Liar, liar,” I chided in a singsong voice. “But I’ll forgive you if you come have some coffee with me. I’m bored.”

“I’m on patrol,” he said.

I was expecting something like that. “Okay, want some company out here, then?”

“No, you should get back inside. It’s safer there.” All emotion had fled from his face, which was schooled again like it was a stone wall.

“Fine,” I agreed, because I could see that arguing wasn’t going to help me achieve my objectives here. “Good night.”

“Good night, Alicia.”

It would be. It had already become clear to me that Nick wasn’t going to spend time with me outside of what was absolutely necessary, or else he would’ve agreed to coffee.

But as far as I was concerned, it was absolutely necessary to get a peek at what lay underneath that seemingly impenetrable armor, both literally and figuratively. And I wasn’t going to stop at anything to get it.

Game on, Nick. You should’ve just said yes to the coffee.