The entire ride was spent in taut silence.

He took up his entire half of the car, sitting with his hands open and relaxed on his thighs, his eyes constantly moving.

He seemed to try and take in everything.

I had no idea what he expected to find.

This whole idea was insane.

Once I got a hold of my father…

I narrowed my eyes as I thought about telling the cab driver to forget the previous address. I wanted him to take me to see my father.

But that wasn’t an option. I had two clients due in today, and the first one would be in my office within the hour.

We arrived with roughly a half hour for me to open up the office and lay down some ground rules. As Liam toured the small waiting area of the office, I moved to cut in front of him.

“We need to get some things clear,” I told him.

He stopped and angled his head, waiting.

Liam clearly wasn’t a big talker, but he was listening, so that was something.

“This is my office – my place of business. I have clients coming in shortly, and you will not be in the same room with me as my clients.”

He looked like he wanted to argue, but after a few seconds, he just nodded. “I’ll wait outside the door.”

“Fine.” It was the best I’d get from him, for now at least, and I knew it. “The people who come to see me do so knowing I’ve promised utter confidentiality. As far as you are concerned, you’re blind and deaf to everything that happens concerning my clients.”

He blinked, thick lashes concealing those pretty green eyes for a moment. When he looked back at me, he had a faint smile on his lips. “Unless the client poses a threat to you, I don’t much care what he’s doing here or why.” I must not have looked very convinced, so he added, “I’ll be discreet. I’m not exactly here to chat up your clientele, anyway.”

Heaving out a breath, I nodded then gestured to the waiting room where we currently stood. “This is where you can do your thing.” Pointing through the doorway, I added, “I work in there. Don’t interrupt.”

He looked like he wanted to say something, and I paused, giving him a chance.

But all he did was nod.

“And as soon as I can get a hold of my father, you’re out of here,” I added, feeling like I needed to have some control over the situation.

He just aimed that faint half-smile at me and said nothing.

“You know, you’re allowed to speak on this job,” I said, trying to get some sort of reaction out of him.

“I’ll speak when needed,” he responded, his tone level, like I hadn’t been needling him and being bitchy about it too.

I knew I was being bitchy. I couldn’t help it – I was so pissed off at this stunt my father had pulled, I couldn’t see straight.

But that didn’t mean I had to take it out on this guy.

I opened my mouth, almost about to apologize, but he glanced down. I heard the faint vibration only a second before he pulled a phone from his pocket. With another one of those half smiles and a polite nod, he stepped over to the far side of the room to take the call.

“I’ll just make myself scarce,” I muttered, shaking my head and turning on my heel. I needed more coffee. And maybe some chocolate.

* * *

I ended up eating a candy bar for breakfast. I found it in my desk, needed the chocolate and decided to do the adult thing – eat the damn thing.

Washing the sweet, gooey mess down with yet another cup of coffee ended up leaving me with a faintly upset stomach though. I could use something to balance out the caffeine and sugar, but a quick look at the time told me I didn’t have the luxury to run to the Starbucks that took up the corner space of the building where my office was located.

My client was due here in ten minutes.

And I was so not in the right frame of mind to handle her.

Rachel Poole was one of my more established clients. She had been coming to see me for almost a year, and I had a feeling we’d keep up our relationship for some time.

Rachel suffered from an addiction to sex, one that had caused her quite some trouble in her life. She was twenty-four and had already been treated for a sexually transmitted infection, plus she went through boyfriends like she was changing shoes.

She’d come to see me after her then-boyfriend caught her in bed…with his sister.

She came in, a glowing smile on her face as she took her seat. “Who is the hot guy at the door, doc? I’ve never seen so much as another soul in here, and now you’ve got a cutie-pie stationed outside.”

Stationed seemed to be the right word.

“He’s nobody you need to be concerned about, Rachel. Rest assured, your privacy is still one of my number one concerns.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “I doubt you’ve got him there taking pictures of all your nutso clients so you can use them for some nefarious purpose.” She giggled as she stretched out long, curvy legs. “I just love it when I can casually work in a word like nefarious into a conversation.”

Rachel loved to talk, and I’d long since set up a pattern where she got to use the first few minutes of the session to blurt out whatever was on her mind. If we didn’t do it now, it would happen later on in the session, so I might as well have some control over it.

“Did you see his eyes? So pretty!” she said, pressing a hand to her chest, clearly still caught up with my bodyguard. “I bet he has dimples. He looks like the kind to have dimples when he smiles. Don’t you think?”

I hadn’t thought about him much one way or the other – except to notice his eyes. Now I suspected I’d be looking for dimples because I had a weakness for them in guys. But I didn’t respond to Rachel’s comment directly. “Why don’t we get started?”

She hadn’t had her full five minutes to ramble, but if she was going to spend them talking about Liam, I didn’t want to listen to it. He was taking up too much of my thoughts, anyway.

“So, how have you been since we talked last?”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you just say what you mean? Have I dragged anybody into a closet for a quickie…no.” She went on to list several other things she hadn’t done, and I gave her a few moments.

Finally, though, I cut in politely. With Rachel, I had to do that – often – or I’d never get a word said. “Actually, what I meant was how have you been? Seriously. You mentioned a cute guy who’d moved into your building. Have you thought about asking him out?”

She made a face. “I’ve thought about doing him, but…” Some of the light faded from her eyes, and she looked away. “I keep failing at the relationship thing, doc. I always screw it up.”

“That was before you decided to try and get help,” I reminded her.

“Sure, but have I changed?” She got up and paced over to look outside. “I mean, I still find myself thinking about getting laid when I’m supposed to be focused on the job. And it happens all the time.”

The frustration in her voice called to me. “But you’re doing better.”

“Am I?” She gave me a sad look. “I can’t even have a regular conversation with people without thinking how they are in the sack. I can’t go out to a club and relax and have a good time because I know what will end up happening.”

“You aren’t having sexual thoughts about me,” I pointed out.

She blinked, then made a face. “Gross. You’re like…well, you’re a therapist. I’m not that messed up.”

I laughed. “But it goes to show you have regular conversations without sex getting in the way. You control those thoughts, Rachel.”

“Sometimes I don’t feel like I control anything,” she said in that same soft, sad voice.

“Let’s work on that,” I suggested.

* * *

I heard a bright giggle coming from the waiting room and silently swore. I’d walked Rachel to the door as was my custom, but she’d asked if she could use the restroom before she left.

Since I wasn’t about to tell her no, I’d gone back into my office to start making notes.

Judging by the sound of the laugh coming from the waiting room, she was done in the restroom – and possibly flirting with Liam.

I came out of my office and strode through the main room where I conducted my sessions, ready to cut off anything untoward.

But Liam was standing as he had been when I last saw him, hands crossed in front of him, a polite expression on his face as Rachel talked to him in an animated tone.

She was being flirty – it was almost impossible for her to not be flirty – but she was keeping her hands to herself, which was a good sign.

Liam didn’t seem perturbed by her presence or her flirtation. Actually, he barely seemed aware.

“Rachel,” I said softly.

She blinked, swinging her head around to see me standing in the door.

“Didn’t you mention you had a lunch date with your mother today?” I said.

“Oh, yes.” She clapped a hand to her forehead. “I better go.”

She was gone in the next moment, and I looked over at Liam. “Thanks for…indulging her,” I said. “She’s relatively harmless.”

That wasn’t entirely the truth, but I didn’t need to tell the hot bodyguard that my client probably would have tried to drag him into the bathroom with her six months earlier.

“It’s not a problem.” He nodded at me.

I brushed my hair back and pondered him, wondering if I’d be able to get rid of him by the end of the day, although I knew it would take a call from his employer to make him move from his spot – watching my ass. I still didn’t believe I was in any danger.

But until I convinced my father of that, I was probably stuck with Liam.

And so far, he’d done nothing to get in my way.

Maybe I should lighten up a little.

“Would you like something to drink? Some coffee?”

He met my eyes but shook his head. “I’m fine for now, thanks.”

“You can’t go all day without taking five minutes for a coffee break or something,” I said, going for a teasing tone instead of the snippy one I’d been using.

He responded with an actual smile. “I’ll take a break at some point.”