Page 9 of Silk Shadow

She smiled. What would she do without Emily? Apart from being one of her closest friends, as an assistant, she was worth her weight in gold.

"Exec lounge," she texted back.

A short while later, a petite, cherubic woman with bright eyes and flushed cheeks came bounding in, pulling her cabin case behind her. "There you are!" She hurried over to Izzy.

Viper leaped to his feet and positioned himself between them.

Emily skidded to a halt, looking up at the man who towered over her. "Whoa! Hello. Who is this?" She turned to Izzy, her eyebrows raised.

Izzy couldn’t resist a grin. "Emily, meet my bodyguard, Viper. Viper, this is Emily, my assistant."

“Sorry, ma’am.” Viper shook her hand and resumed his seat.

Emily gave him an approving look.

"He'll do," she whispered, as she sat down beside Izzy.

Izzy flushed and elbowed her friend in the ribs, hoping Viper hadn't heard. Emily wasn't known for her subtlety.

"I've just gotten a message from Clint," her assistant told her, her gaze still lingering on Viper. "He's been held up in Barcelona, but he said not to worry, he'll be there by this evening."

Izzy paled. "He’d better be. The shoot is tomorrow morning."

“Who’s Clint?” Viper asked, his blue eyes slanting. “I don’t recall his name on the list you sent me.”

She frowned. “Oh, didn’t I include him? I meant to. Clint is my stylist. He does my hair and makeup for my social media snaps."

She could see the muscles tighten in his jaw. “Anyone else you forgot to include?”

Izzy glared at him. “I don’t think so.”

"Is he always this friendly?" Emily whispered.

"Can you be a little less obvious?" hissed Izzy. The last thing she wanted to do was antagonize the guy. He might be an employee, but she had to live with him glued to her heels for the next few weeks.

"Sorry, but he's totally hot. I haven't seen that much raw male energy since we did the lifeguard calendar shoot in Miami last year. Where did you find him?"

Izzy stifled a laugh. "I didn't. My Uncle Pat assigned him to me because of the threatening letters."

"He made a good choice. It's gonna be fun having him around."

"Hands off, Emily," Izzy warned. "He's here to do a job."

"Oh, so you're calling dibs on him, huh?"

"Of course not!" Her cheeks burned. "He's here to protect me. I don't want anything to get in the way of that."

Emily gave her a cheeky grin. "Sure, hun. Whatever you say."

Izzy shook her head. Emily had been her friend since high school and her assistant for the last few years, ever since her online profile had exploded and became too big for her to handle. Emily had gotten a job as a virtual assistant straight out of college, even though she'd studied modern languages at college, so when Izzy had considered bringing someone onboard, she'd looked no further than her friend.

Their flight was called, and they boarded the plane that would take them to San Diego. If Viper was surprised at the first-class seating, he didn't show it. In fact, it was hard to get a reaction out of him at all.

He stowed their cabin cases in the overhead compartments and eased himself into the aisle seat. A solid barrier between them and the rest of the plane.

Izzy couldn't fault his professionalism, but when it came to his social skills, she feared he might be lacking. He was very removed, and still hadn't looked directly at her—not since that accidently glance in the rearview mirror.

She tried to get comfortable beside him, but he was so broad that the slightest movement meant her arm brushed his, or her leg connected with his thigh. Each time, she jolted away, while he didn’t budge. Fine. She’d just sit absolutely still, except that didn’t work either, so she angled her body away from him to talk to Emily. Who would have thought having a bodyguard would be so stressful?

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