Page 12 of Flirtatious

Pushing herself upright, she says, “When she was a little girl, whenever she got sad, she’d go outside and sit under a tree we had in the backyard. But that was years ago.”

“Where’s the house?” I ask as I take another hard turn, this time to the right.

“St. Augustine.”

Not helpful. I doubt she’s making her way back across the state to sit under some damn tree in someone else’s yard. Maybe her comment isn’t entirely useless, though.

“I’m going to look for a park. I’m thinking maybe Mia has a thing for nature when she gets unhappy.”

“That might be a good idea!”

Five minutes later, I pull up to a park and scan the area. No sign of her.

As I jump out of the car, I order Andrea to take the right side of the grass. “We’ll cover more ground if we split up. You go over there and check out that side of the park. I’ll take this side over here.”

She hurries away while I take off running in the opposite direction, my eyes scanning every inch of the grass and trees in front of me. Thankfully, even though it’s a beautiful day out, very few people have chosen to come to this park today.

I consider yelling Mia’s name, but that would likely make her bolt in the opposite direction. She and I didn’t get off on the best foot this morning, so I doubt she’s going to be thrilled to see me.

Tree after tree passes in front of my eyes, but no Mia. After ten minutes, I’m about to give up and see if Andrea had any more success than I did when I spy a figure beneath a tree at the back of the park near a fence. The young woman’s dark brown hair hangs over her face, but I recognize the black and pink yoga pants Mia was wearing back at the house. She’s huddled with her arms around her knees and looks nothing like the person who chewed off my head and her mother’s not an hour ago.

I stop a few feet in front of her and quietly say her name so as not to frighten her. “Mia.”

She doesn’t look up, but when she speaks, the pain in her voice comes through loud and clear. “I thought he cared. He’s gone for one day and it’s like we were never anything but strangers.”

“We should go. Someone’s going to recognize you here if we don’t.”

That makes her lift her head, and I can’t help but be struck at how genuinely sad she looks now. And how fragile compared to just a short while ago.

“I know what you’re probably thinking. That it was just sex. Well, it wasn’t. We never even slept together. It was deeper than that. Michael listened to me. He understood me. Or at least I thought he did.”

Tears well in her eyes, but I don’t stop myself from giving her my honest opinion of her friend. “Your buddy doesn’t strike me as an understanding kind of guy.”

She shoots me a nasty look. “Go away.”

Taking a step closer to her, I try to imagine how it feels to be let down by that dirtbag when I’m one of the biggest stars in the world. But I can’t do it. I don’t know what she saw in that guy, but whatever it was, it didn’t actually exist.

“Mia, I’m hired to protect you. You’re not safe here.”

Confusion fills her expression, and she shakes her head. “What do you care?”

Scanning the area for any potential danger, I force a smile. “I care because it’s my job. Now let’s go.”

I’m not sure which part of that convinces her it’s time to leave her spot under the tree, but she reluctantly stands up and I quickly step closer to her to shield her from anything that might be lurking nearby. She tilts her head back and glares up at me like she did back at the house.

“You’re going to want to work on that caring you supposedly do. This feels more like you’re a cop and I’m your prisoner.”

As I look down into her dark eyes full of fury for me, I think to myself that I should have listened to my gut and walked away from this job last night. This is what I get for listening to my mother and her wishful thinking.

CHAPTERFIVE

Mia

For a week,I’ve had to get used to this new security guy. Liam. He’s pleasant enough, I guess, if you have a thing for authoritarian rulers and the straight and narrow. Like don’t step a toe out of line or you’re in big trouble kind of straight and narrow. If that gets a girl going, then I imagine he’s nothing short of a god to that type of person.

For me, he’s just standoffish enough to make me miss Michael every so often, and then I remember what he looked like the last time I saw him standing in his apartment with that floozy hanging off him like some sloppy, hand-me-down, ugly coat. No smile or attempt to stop me so I might think he cared. No hug like he used to give me whenever he came back from a day away.

Nothing but what looked like irritation that I showed up to interrupt his fucking with little miss skank.

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