Page 21 of Protecting Mr. Fine

“Pfft. You lived here in high school. I’m still holding out hope I’ll find your porn stash.”

I laughed as I yanked off my hoodie and unbuttoned my jeans. I made sure to set both items carefully on the edge of my bedside table so they wouldn’t wrinkle, and then I slid between the sheets in my boxer briefs. The smell of Gran’s discount laundry detergent was still the same as my head sank into the old pillow. “You’re going to bedisappointed when you learn my porn stash consisted of one signed photo of Cristiano Ronaldo without his shirt on, one newspaper clipping of Garrett Latimore making a big save during the Barlo vs Adams-Kearney High game junior year—he was the goalie on our team and gave me a giant woody in the locker room at least weekly during soccer season—and a movie poster ofCasino Royalebecause on it, Daniel Craig’s fingers are…”

I snapped my mouth closed before I actually blurted out all the ways I’d fantasized about James Bond using those fingers on me.

Bear met my eyes, a smirk at the edges of his lips. “Daniel Craig, huh? Seems an odd choice.”

I shrugged. “Pierce Brosnan, Sean Connery, Daniel Craig… any of them could eat crackers in my bed and I wouldn’t kick them out. What about you?”

“What about me?”

I settled down into my bed and closed my eyes. If I could get Ryan to talk to me for a little while with his soothing voice, I’d fall asleep so much faster. “Which Bond girl would you pick? Please say Rosamund Pike. I know she wasn’ttechnicallythe Bond girl inDie Another Day, and I’ll be totally happy if you pick Halle Berry, of course, but?—”

“Pierce Brosnan. Hands down.”

For a split second, I thought he was serious. I froze mid-inhale and almost choked on my own spit. But then I quickly realized he was joking. “Haha. But I applaud your taste.”

“Wasn’t Rosamund Pike the one inPride and Prejudice? She’s gorgeous.”

I smiled into my pillow. At least the man had eyes. Even if they were straight ones. “Yes. She was also inGone Girl. Now, Ben Affleck I might kick out of bed for eating crackers, but not Neil Patrick Harris or Tyler Perry. They were both in that, too, remember?”

“I never knew soccer was a big deal in Georgia,” he said after a few moments.

I cracked an eye open and saw him peering at a photo collage on my bulletin board. On it was a stupid team shot where I was knock-kneed and covered in acne. “Don’t look at that,” I groaned. “I have a reputation to uphold.”

“You’re adorable. Look at those teeth.”

“They’re like elephant ears. I worked nights playing gigs in college just so I could get cosmetic dentistry.”

He turned to gaze at me. “No shit? Why?”

I sighed. “I was kind of dating this guy named Bodhi?—”

“Bodhi Sorrentino,” he murmured. “Played drums with you for three years in school.”

I cocked my head. “Yeah, how’d you know?”

“He’s on the list,” Bear said, referring to the “persons of interest in Zee’s life” list my security team kept up to date. “He also comes to concerts from time to time to watch you play. I get a list of VIP pass holders for every show.”

“Oh. Yeah, we keep in touch. He was supposed to be at Shaky Knees last night, I thought, but either he couldn’t make it, or he showed up and we never connected. I’ll see if he wants to meet for lunch in New York next week. He’s a nice guy.”

“I didn’t realize you dated.”

“No… it wasn’t really… I mean. We kissed and stuff, but he had something going with this other guy that was on again, off again, so I bailed. Mostly, I was into him for the music. Oh! He helped me write ‘Hard New Day.’ The one with the killer drum solo? That was his idea.”

I tried to remember why we were even talking about this. “So, yeah, Bodhi said I’d never get a big music deal with freakishly small ears and big elephant-ear teeth. He suggested I grow out my hair and do whatever I could to fix my mouth.”

Bear’s jaw dropped comically. “He said that?” he snarled.

As usual, when he learned of anyone disparaging me, my sweet, calm rock of a bodyguard looked like he wanted to moonlight as a feral assassin. I laughed. “Not exactly.Icalled them elephant ears.He just said I needed braces. Bodhi was young and stupid like the rest of us in college. He’s since apologized profusely, don’t worry.”

“Your teeth wereendearing, and your ears area-fucking-dorable. FuckingBodhican shove his opinions up his ass.”

Before I could pack that sweet moment into my mental treasure box, my bedroom door slammed open, and several things happened at once.

Three teenage girls came in giggling with their cell phones up, my cousin Farrah shouted for them to stop being complete losers, and Ryan Galloway stepped between me and the doorway while drawing his weapon on all four of them.

SIX

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