Page 3 of Chasing Amber

She glances at her notes. “Jacob Marone was released from prison last week.”

I nod and mutter, “Yes.”

“Are you concerned?”

I shrug. “Not really. He was a kid at the time. I don’t believe he had anything to do with planning my kidnapping or instigating it. That was all on his brother and his brother’s stupid friends. Jacob was a victim, too.” The truth is I’ve always kind of felt sorry for the kid. He was seventeen at the time of my kidnapping. He doesn’t have a very high IQ, and I’m certain he got swept up in his brother’s bad plan. The question is whether he’s angry with my brother or me and might be out for vengeance.

“Keep me updated, and if you change your mind about sleeping pills, let me know.”

“I will.”

“Do you want to talk about Isaac?” she asks, gesturing toward her office door. “He looked more intense than usual when I called you in.”

I reach for my ponytail and run a hand down the long length. “He’s not happy with me.”

Millie chuckles. “When is he ever happy with you?”

She has a point.

“Maybe if you didn’t make his job so difficult, he would be more pleasant. He’s your bodyguard for a reason. He’s lasted longer than any bodyguard you’ve ever had. I’d say that makes him one of the good guys.”

Maybe if I didn’t make his job so difficult, he would end up in my bed, and that’s the last thing I need.

“Did you give him the slip again?”

I wince. “Yeah.”

Millie narrows her gaze. “What’d you do this time?”

“I was meeting with the art director at one of the galleries showcasing my work next month, and I might have exited through the back door while he was waiting at the front.”

“Why do you think you feel the need to evade him, Amber?”

I shrug. I sort of know the answer, but I’m not willing to admit it out loud. He’s not like the eleven previous bodyguards I’ve had in the past ten years. I chased all of them off. They each lasted barely a year. I’m slippery like that.

Isaac Bailyn has been with me for over two years, and no matter what I do, he never quits.

“Do you want to know what I think?” Millie asks.

I stiffen. She never offers her opinion. Not like this. She likes to get me to tell her what she wants to hear.

“I’m going to go out on a limb here, Amber, but I think it’s a short limb. I know you well, and we’ve discussed Isaac pretty often over the past two years. I think you have feelings for him, and it scares you, so you keep him at arm’s length.”

I stop breathing. She picked up on that? Of course, she did. She’s my shrink. I pay her to pick up on things. “I don’t know,” I mumble. She might be right. I’m not one hundred percent sure why I’m so bratty with Isaac. And that’s what I am—bratty.

Partly, it’s habit. I’ve been giving my bodyguards the slip from the moment Spence assigned me the first one. With Isaac, it’s more. I’ve always known that, but I treat him the same as I’ve treated all the others. The difference is he has not quit.

He has not left me.

I think I brought a few of the men to tears. Not that I ever saw anyone actually cry, but I know I was a blow to several people’s egos when they couldn’t manage to keep track of onetiny woman. They probably hated admitting to my brother that they’d lost me. All of them eventually quit.

Isaac hasn’t left me. He gets frustrated but never ruffles enough to lose his temper or bitch to Spence.

“Do you have feelings for him?” Millie asks. That’s a direct question I know the answer to.

I draw in a deep breath. “Probably.” That’s a lie. I have all sorts of feelings for Isaac, but they scare me to death, and I never want him to find out.

“You’ve mentioned he’s a Daddy Dom. Have you let him see your Little at all?”

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