Page 47 of Close Protection

‘One day I’m going to have my own Graff collection casually lying around in my walk-in closet.’

‘Yeah,’ Averie agrees, ‘we both will.’

‘Oh, shut up, Av.’ Hallie rolls her eyes. ‘Your brother’s loaded, just ask for some for Christmas.’

Averie just laughs in response before turning her attention to me. ‘So, Milosh.’ Amelia and Hallie turn to look at me as well, both with that stupid smirk on their faces. ‘What do you think of the dress you picked out for Daphne? Does it look the way you imagined?’

Just as Averie finishes her sentence, Daphne walks out, five jewellery cases in hand.

Good timing, baby.

‘Okay, so I have a white-and-yellow diamond necklace and an emerald diamond necklace from their high jewellery collection, and a few smaller pieces from their regular line, but I think I want to wear the white diamond necklace to this event.’ She opens up the box and I hear a collective gasp from the girls as they bend in to look.

‘What was this making up for, again?’ Amelia asks Daphne.

‘When Daddy forgot my birthday and worked right through it,’ Daphne answers, and I feel a spike of anger. How could her father of all people forget her birthday and just buy her a necklace thinking that’s gonna make up for it? Daphne takes the necklace out of the box delicately, and walks over to me.

‘Milosh, can you help me put this on, please?’

I nod and stand, completely ignoring the stares fromthe other side of the room, and focus on the necklace. I’m careful to clasp it tightly and securely, knowing full well this single piece of jewellery is worth more than I’ve ever made in a year.

‘Beautiful,’ I murmur low enough that only she can hear me, allowing my fingers to graze down her back for a split second, before I step back. Daphne turns around to show the others.

Hallie gawks. ‘Perfect. No notes.’

‘I’d have to agree with her,’ Amelia chimes in.

‘Me too.’ Averie smiles softly. ‘And what’s great about this necklace is that it will definitely go with all of the dresses Milosh picked out.’

At the mention of my name, all four women look back over to me as if they just remembered I’m still here. ‘What do you think?’ Daphne asks, her eyes big and pure.

‘You look good,’ is all can say, because if I told her how I really felt… Nowthatwould be inappropriate and would probably lead to me clearing everyone out of her room, throwing her on the bed and…

Okay.

That’s a bit much for right now.

Or probably ever. So I just stick to, ‘You look good,’ to stay safe.

‘Okay! This was a good start. Let’s try you in pink next!’Hallie chirps as the three of them make their way back into her dressing room, leaving me and Amelia alone again.

‘You know,’ Amelia says, breaking the silence after a few minutes, ‘when Henry and I met, the reason it took us so long to actually get together was because of the internal struggle we both felt about the fact that it would be inappropriate.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Milosh, your eyes say what your mouth can’t. And right now your eyes are speaking a thousand words.’

‘Mrs Harris, I’m just doing my job. That’s it.’

‘Is this the job that requires you to kiss her? The job that requires you to protect her from her father’s bad moods? The job that requires her to straddle you, and you her, under the guise of training?’ Amelia laughs. ‘You know, Henry and I used to make up the most ridiculous reasons to see each other, be close to each other, touch each other. We denied our feelings for so long we almost lost our chance together.’

‘What exactly are you implying, Mrs Harris?’

‘That you like her,’ she whispers, not missing a beat. ‘You like her, and from the looks of it, that feeling is very much mutual.’

‘Daphne is just a job, Mrs Harris. That’s all.’

‘Yeah.’ She nods sarcastically. ‘Because you’d fly Hallie and Averie out for just any job, right?’

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