Page 11 of Valentine's Miracle

I said yesterday that he could eat whatever he wants, sleep wherever he wants, and do whatever he wants to do. I don’t have strict rules at my house as long as he doesn’t wear shoes inside.

“Thank you,” I murmur after the pill got washed down with the water.

He stays still for a moment, but I’m too dizzy to keep eye contact, so I just put my face back into the crook of my arm.

I don’t know how long I have been sleeping, but when the air hostess comes to wake me up about landing, I find another blanket on me while a second pillow is behind me to support my neck in case the turbulence knocks my head back too much.

I look at Silas, and his face is blank, void of emotions, and he refuses to look at me. I know he can feel me looking at him from the slight narrowing of his eyes. Then I noticed, his seat doesn’t have a blanket or a pillow.

A wave of warmth fills my heart, and a giggle escapes my lips. “Thank you for the blanket and pillow.”

He sneers, shooting me a soft glare. It’s nothing like the ones that he gave me earlier.

“Don’t thank me,” he growls. “My job is simpler when you’re not deadweight.”

I didn’t receive a vicious glare, nor did I get a cold shoulder. It’s progressing between us, and I would like to keep it going. He’s a slow warmer, and it’ll take a long time to be cordial with me, but I’m willing to take the challenge if it means to have my friend back.

One step at a time. There is no need to be too impatient and too greedy.

I can do this.

Chapter Four

Silas

I can’t do this.

Seeing her in clothes not meant for the eyes of other men hits closer to home than the business aura around her when she talks on the phone.

After we had landed and dropped off at the hotel, Victoria was greeted with a box of gifts on the bed with a note to it. It was from the people who are holding this convention for genius, essentially a way for poachers to get to know which company is willing to pay top dollars for the intelligence of those invited.

The first event, out of the seven, starts in two hours and she’s been on the phone for the last thirty minutes to make sure that room service would be there when we return to the room. After she had seen what the convention has offered as food, she was not happy about it and grumbled about the lack of fast-food options.

I hate that I don’t find it strange. Her habit of unhealthy eating came with her into adulthood, and it’s tugging on the strings of my protectiveness. Having these feelings resurface again after so long in dormancy, I have no way of dealing with them on my own without time and space to think properly.

She turns around and sighs; the contemplation on her face is heavy as my eyes involuntarily move down to her body. Victoria hasn’t grown at all since I last saw her; she’s still the same girl that I know her as, and it doesn’t sit right with me.

This means that she has been living that unhealthy lifestyle for the past seven years without anyone telling her to stop.

I bite my tongue to stop myself. Her life is none of my concern; she can do whatever the hell she wants.

No, she can’t, the voice in my head sneers.

She looks over at the mirror, fixing her hair that’s curled loosely while it hangs over her white blouse. Her black tight skirt wraps her ass too tightly while exposing her creamy legs straightened by a pair of black heels.

It’s casual business attire, but it’s doing things to my body. I’m reacting too much, and I have to force my eyes to the window by her head. The view of the city is filled with layers of snow, and it’s still snowing.

We were not expecting it to be this cold, but when we left the airport, we almost froze to death. Luck was on our side when a taxi pulled up to us, and the journey to the hotel wasn’t too affected by the afternoon traffic.

“Ready?” she asks, holding her phone in her hand.

I nod before I could stop myself. The smile on her pink lips makes the gesture easier to swallow as my pride fights with my heart. I’ll let this slide for today; it must be the slight time shift on the airplane that’s messing with me.

I’m a bit too lenient with her, and that won’t do. It’s my job to be the professional bodyguard that I’m hired for, and my goal is to protect her, and it’s not my place to be friendly with her.

It won’t be a problem. I have a reputation for being the unfriendliest security guard in the company, and I take pride in that title. It warns people not to play with fire, or I’m going to toss them into an incinerator to disintegrate them into ashes.

The door closes behind me, and I snatch the keycard from her hand. I don’t trust that she won’t lose our only way back, and it’s going to be a pain in the ass to call the front desk and wait for them to fix the problem.

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