Page 6 of Take Hold of Me

3

Wills

My first hire at Complete, Zak Codey, sits next to me in an LA sports bar. Flat-screen TVs on mute hang on the walls in the bar area, all set to different stations, mostly baseball games. Country music plays over the speaker system, to which the waitresses shimmy as they take and deliver orders. After one stops by our table to drop off our beers, Zak’s eyes follow her until she’s swallowed up by the crowd.

I brought him up to speed about today’s closing, including the thirty-day delay. Tracing the label on my beer, I ask, “You’re sure you still want to join me?”

“Hell yeah. I’m ready for a new challenge. Being your right-hand at the gym as well as having personal training clients certainly will fit the bill. Especially if my clients need as much help as you did.”

My hand closes around the beer bottle. “I can still rethink your job offer.”

He laughs and punches me on the arm. “C’mon. You needed me to whip you into shape and you know it.”

“You forget I was a personal trainer myself before becoming a bodyguard.”

“And going soft.”

“Soft my ass.”

“Not to mention your flabby biceps and sad abs,” he says, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “I had a lot of fun when Cole brought you with him the first time. With both of you.”

I remember how I tried not to let either of them see how much that session took out of me. It was, after all, my first day guarding Cole. I had to make a good show of it in front of my new client and his personal trainer. Chuckling while I shake my head, I say, “I thought I was going to die. Was sore for a week.”

“Good times.” He raises his beer to me. “I let you believe you put one over on me, W. But I knew.”

Zak’s a great personal trainer—I’m lucky he agreed to join me at Complete. “You’re a real dickhead.”

He snorts. His eyes flick to the screen where the Dodgers are playing the Phillies and he starts screaming, “Whoa! Whoa!”

I look up in time to see the third and fourth player run home. “Nice.”

With both of us fixated on the television, an ad for the upcoming season of “Ninja Heroes,” my favorite show that features teams of competitors and military dogs running through crazy obstacle courses, comes on. When that finishes, a commercial rolls for one of the sports-slash-swimsuit-cover magazines. Like I can’t avoid her if I try, there’s Emilie in a bikini on a beach somewhere. My stomach tightens and I plunk my beer on the table.

Next to me, Zak emits a low whistle. “Damn. She’s looking mighty fine.”

I slant my eyes toward him, clenching my teeth to prevent myself from responding. Movement on the screen refocuses my attention to the ad, which now flips through some of the pages inside. One shows Emilie playing beach volleyball. Long and lean and blonde, she’s the French equivalent of an All-American wet dream.Shit.

“And Cole complained about having to do publicity dates withher?”

Picturing Cole with his hands all over Emilie does nothing to redirect my thoughts, even if it was just for show. To relieve the building pressure, I mentally switch to his real relationship. “By then, he was dating Rose.”

“Yeah. He’s totally pussy whipped now. Never thought I’d see the day.” Zak takes a sip of his beer. “Although, Rose’s cool. She’s hotandsmart.”

“True.” Good. Steer the conversation away from the blonde bombshell whose face and body have thankfully left the screen.

“When you worked with Cole, you had to guard Emilie for a while. That must not have sucked.”

And right back on dangerous ground. “She’s nice.”

“Man, that chick is smokin’. You can’t tell me you think she’s just ‘nice.’” He makes an exaggerated air quotes motion.

I can’t go back down this road. Nothing much happened—or will happen—between Emilie and me. Some kisses that she’s probably already forgotten. A few conversations. Okay, so she visited me in the hospital a couple of times after I was shot in the shoulder, but then her schedule sent her away for months on end. I tamp down the glimmer of electricity running up my spine. No use remembering. “I take it you and Lynda broke up?”

He shrugs. “Yeah. That’s over.” He takes a swig. “Come to think about it, are you still in touch with Emilie? Cole’s out on tour doing his rock star thing, so I can’t hit him up. Care to hook a brother up?”

My stomach hardens.Zak the player with my Ems? Whoa. Hold on here. She’s notmyanything. Still. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Hey, it’s not like I’m going to make her do anything she doesn’t want to do. Once she gets a load of the Zak charm, she’ll be a goner. Imagine how she’d look on my arm.”

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