Page 68 of Protect Your Queen

Lea hadn’t prepared me for this insanity. I could smell the dollar signs in the perfumed air. The silk embroidery and the perfectly coiffed hair had the odor of gold bars and luxury.Richhad a scent, and it was this restaurant.

The girl took me to a booth where the other bodyguard sat with his stupid phone out. I sat down as I watched his thumb flying across the keys. I found my finger tapping on the table, the agitation building in my body. Did this guy ever do his job?

Jestiny was on a platform in the corner, the table slightly elevated above the others, surrounded by glass, on display to the outside world. I didn’t like that at all. I didn’t like that there were paparazzi outside, flashing their cameras at the windows, hovering and trying to get the best angle of this dinner.

Was the glass even bullet proof?

When Phoenix“the asshole”Asher tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, I was ready to jump over the table and break his arm.

“Relax, bro,” I almost jumped at the voice of my fellow bodyguard. I hadn’t known he was capable of speech. “Whatever you’ve got going on with her, it doesn’t freaking matter. This is a dumb PR stunt. Don’t let it get you riled.”

Go fuck yourself, “bro”.

Chapter twenty-five

Bargaining

Jestiny

“Ilike the fact that you put Rupert in his place.” Phoenix leaned in as if we were telling secrets.

We weren’t sitting across from each other in the rounded booth. No, Phoenix said that wasn’t “optimal”. So we were elbow to elbow, facing towards the windows as we pretended to ignore the cameras.

“Come on, sweetheart, I know you’re not into me, but we gotta fake it.” His smile never faltered for an instant. “Lean your knees over toward me. Cross your legs so that your toes are pointed my way. That’s right, just like that. Nothing too obvious. They have to speculate about our body language.”

“Do you do this a lot?” I did as he told me. “You’re very good at directing.”

“From your lips, to God’s ears.” His teeth were blindingly white when he smiled. “But yeah. I get pictured a lot with co-stars and such. It’s part of the marketing.”

“None of those photos have ever been true?”

“Not a single one,” he chuckled.

“That’s interesting,” I ran my finger over my glass of white wine, letting my nail trace from the rim, down the curve, to the stem and back up again. Suggestive, graceful, but nothing lewd.

“Tell me,” he leaned in to my ear. To someone watching, it would look like he was whispering something flirtatious. “Do you have time to date? Who was the last person you spoke to that didn’t need to sign an NDA first?”

I blushed and looked at him. Truly looked at him.

Phoenix looked like an anime hero. His hair covered his forehead, and he had to push it out of his eyes over and over again. His thin lips and his straight-line nose made him cartoonish in how perfect he looked. Then there was the smoothness of his cheeks, and the evenness of his skin tone, and the slight hint of eyeliner that made him look… broody. Dark.

“Listen,” he brought his glass closer to mine, sliding it by the stem. When our drinks were right beside each other, our hands were flat on the table, our fingertips almost touching. “I respect the hell out of Stasia, and she told me that you’re her new project. So I’m on board. Whatever you need. But I feel like I should probably pay it forward and give you some advice.”

I shut my mouth, and waited, wondering what it was that he would tell me.

“If you don’t want them trying to steal pictures up your skirt, make another picture worth more.” He tucked a bit of hair behind my ear. “Right now, every time I lean in, and look like I’m about to kiss you, I make a photo of us together worth a thousand words. Will we? Won’t we? I’m giving the gossip rags just enough to speculate that we’re infatuated, without confirming a thing.”

He then leaned back, and I could almosthearthe photographers on the other side of the glass scream in frustration.

“When enough people are ‘shipping’ us, so to speak, then we can start bargaining.”

“Bargaining for what?”

“Well, maybe we arrange for a Laurent Tabloid exclusive, where you and I hold hands near the Japanese Gardens in exchange for them leaving you alone during an intimate family event.” He shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head as if he was weighing the pros and cons. “Or we stage a little Napa getaway, should your persona and mine get serious, as long as they agree to not swarm outside the studio. There are so many ways to bargain with them. But first, you must control what the public is willing to pay for.”

I brought my hands up, interlinking my fingers and resting my chin on top of them.

Phoenix’s green eyes sparkled as he let his words sink in. Green, like the guard that sat at the nearby table. But there was something pale about his that I didn’t like. Not like the deep, emerald greens of the man who called me a little Songbird.

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