Page 12 of Protector

Y’von smooths his hands down the front of his off-white polo shirt and exhales an exaggerated breath before pushing the door wider and pointing to his massage table, which is leaning up against the door outside. “I suppose I get how it looked, me pressing every damn button on that thing.” He points to the doorknob. “But I couldn’t remember the code. Yesterday your mom said there might be a couple bodyguards around, but I didn’t know I was going to be manhandled.”

I move next to him, my face apologetic as I put my hand on his arm and rub up and down. “I’m so sorry, Y’von. We’re obviously still trying to figure things out.” I glare over at Brooks, strangely annoyed he’s not saying a word. “And my mom didn’t tell me you were coming.”

“Adele sent me an emergency text to move her appointment up to today. I believe her words wereI just can’t with people today. Meet me at my house.Please.”

Brooks and I exchange a look because we both know she was talking about him.

“I take it she’s not here yet?” Y’von asks.

“Sorry, no. Maybe the meeting went long, or the traffic…”

“After this, I’m the one who needs a rubdown. But I don’t want to disappoint Adele, so I’ll just get set up and—”

“Hold up, buddy.” Brooks steps closer to Y’von, looks him in the eye. “I think we’re going to reschedule this one.”

Y’von lifts a brow, looking hurt and disgusted all at once, then turns his attention to me as if I’ve got the final say.

For some reason I find myself nodding in agreement. “I’m sorry.”

He huffs and steps through the doorway. “If your mom wasn’t paying me a shit-ton of money, I would not be putting up with this,” he says, picking up his bag from the ground, then taking hold of his table.

Brooks fills the doorway with his large frame, blocking me from my view of Y’von but providing me the consolation prize of a nice view of his ass in his snug-fitting jeans. Otherwise, I’d be irate right now.

“Listen, I don’t want you talking about this to anyone,” Brooks says, breaking me from my lusty stare. “As far as you’re concerned, she does not have a bodyguard. And from now on…you knock when you come over.”

Dumbfounded, I let my jaw hang down. Over Brooks’s shoulder, I can see Y’von nod before walking away toward his car, which is parked behind Brooks’s truck.

Brooks shuts the door and walks right past me as if everything were perfectly normal.

I follow him back toward the kitchen. “Um, hello?”

He grabs his water bottle off the counter and takes a long sip before returning to me. “You don’t have to apologize. Once you know how this all works, it will go much more smoothly.”

“Meapologize? Are you serious right now? You could’ve hurt him.”

“He’s fine because he wasn’t a true threat, but if he was, he wouldn’t have been fine. And that’s my job.”

Shaking my head, I almost wonder if I made a mistake by hiring him. I don’t want to be the reason someone gets hurt. But wouldn’t my mother love to know she was right all along? The thought settles in the pit of my stomach. Still, Brooks was right about one thing. If Y’von had been an actual threat, he certainly would have protected me. And it was kind of thrilling to see him in action. Of course, I’d never admit that to him or anyone. People think I live this glamorous life, and sometimes it feels that way; other times, it’s long days of sitting in cars, planes, and makeup chairs, working out, and smiling even when you don’t feel like it.

I shake the errant thought of potential adventure from my head to focus on the problem at hand. “Okay, so how are we going to keep you from killing all of the people coming and going from here?”

“Like I told you, I’m going to need everyone’s information. And there can’t be any surprises like that, which means you’ll need to get your mother on board with this.”

I roll my eyes and he continues.

“Once I am up to speed on who belongs here and who doesn’t, it should be fine. But…it would make my job a hell of a lot easier if we could limit the number of people coming and going.”

“You should know, my mom can also let people in the security gate from her phone, so you’ll have to talk to her about that. Once I get my place back, though, things will be much quieter.”

As if we’re in a perfectly adorable sitcom, someone knocks at the door.

Brooks lifts a brow, and I shake my head. “Not my house,” I remind him sarcastically. Then when he moves forward, I place a hand on his chest to stop him. “At least give me a chance to see who it is first.” I brush past him and head back to the door. Pulling up behind me just before I can look through the peephole, Brooks grabs my wrist. My breath catches and I freeze. Our standdown only lasts a moment when we hear a voice on the other side of the door.

“Adele, it’s me.”

“That’s one of my mom’s friends. She won’t go away if she knows someone’s home, so I should probably answer it.” Elaine lives a couple houses down, so she usually walks over.

Brooks nods, and I reach for the handle. “At least get the scowl off your face, unless you want me to tell her you’re our new watchdog.”

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