Page 8 of The Bombshell and the Bodyguard
Laughing lightly, I pretended to miss her surly tone. “Always. Good help is hard to find when you’re dealing with the privacy and security of exclusive clientele, and as I said, we have exacting standards. I end up doing way too much of it myself. But you’ll like Gray. And all my guys are the ultimate professionals. I have zero qualms about putting you in the hands of any one of my bodyguards.”
And out of mine.
Hap straightened and sat forward. “Wait—no. I don’t want one of your employees to do it. I want you to handle it.”
Caught by surprise, I recoiled. “You wantmeto be her bodyguard?”
“Of course. I’m sure the guys who work for you are great, but you’re the one I trust.”
Jessica said nothing, but her posture had stiffened, and the jade eyes had gone cold as stone once more.
Beads of sweat broke out along my hairline and on the back of my neck. I couldn’t say yes to this. There was no way I could handle being around Jessica on a regular basis—I’d proved that to myself years ago.
“I wish I could, man—truly,” I told Hap. “But this is a surprise, and I’m already fully committed elsewhere. I tell you what—I’ll pull my best guy from a detail he was supposed to start tomorrow and put him on it. Anthony and I ran missions together in Afghanistan and Iraq, and you couldn’t ask for anyone more qualified and reliable.”
Hap didn’t look thrilled, but he let out a breath and gave me a resigned nod. “I guess that’ll have to do. I can’t lie though—I’m disappointed.”
I tried not to cringe. I hated letting Hap down. But better my friend be disappointed with me than murder me.
Like most older brothers, Hap had always been protective of Jessica. Back in high school, he’d fiercely warned all his friends she was off-limits, me included.
Especiallyme. Back then I’d tried my very best to live up to the first syllable in my name, enjoying all the perks that had come with being a star athlete and high school hero.
But the shy, artsy girl had always drawn my notice. Having no sisters of my own, I’d found her extreme femininity a source of fascination since the first day I’d met her. Later, it was her sharp sense of humor and the song lyrics she wrote. They were nothing short of poetry.
Most of all it had been her sweet voice that had done me in. She’d been a talented singer even then.
She was always humming something, and when she’d practiced in her room singing along with her guitar, the sound had drawn me like a magnet.
I’d made up excuses to hear her, claiming to be headed to the bathroom or to the kitchen for a snack when I really went to stand outside her door and listen.Thatill-advised habit had led to one of the biggest mistakes of my life, and I wasn’t taking any chances it would be repeated.
Turning my attention to Jessica, I apologized to her as well. “I’m sorry. I wish I wasn’t so—”
She cut me off, her words curt. “Busy. I know. It’s fine. It makes no difference to me. As you said, Anthony is qualified and reliable. I’m looking forward to meeting him tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by, Wilder. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
She stood. “Hap—I’m going to go help Rachel clean up the breakfast dishes.” And then she walked away, leaving Hap and me alone.
“She seems annoyed,” I said.
“She’s just tired. We all got to bed late because of the police situation, and she’s been traveling non-stop for two years,” Hap explained. “Also, I kind of sprang this on her. She wanted to brush off last night as no big deal and stick with her current security company. Ten bucks says she’s going to accuse me of being a know-it-all bully as soon as you leave.”
“She always did hate being told what to do,” I mused, remembering the spats I’d witnessed between the brother and sister long ago.
“Yeah, she’s changed in a lot of ways, but that’s not one of them,” Hap said, and now I was wondering exactlyhowJessica had changed over the years.
Not your business. You’ll never find out, and you shouldn’t even wonder. Stick to security and don’t let it get personal.
Out loud I said, “Well, we’ll stay out of her way as much as possible. Like I said, Gray and I will go by on Tuesday and do a thorough eval. Anthony will be here tomorrow to escort her home and anywhere else she’d like to go while she’s in Rhode Island. If she needs someone for personal protection on a more permanent basis, I can start looking into that.”
“Thanks man. I do appreciate it. I’d better not make any more decisions for her if I know what’s good for me.”
Hap laughed and slapped my back as we started toward the front door. “I already feel better, though, knowing you’re involved. There’s no one in the world I trust more than you with my little sister.”
I swallowed hard against a sudden guilty lump in my throat as I accepted my friend’s handshake. “I won’t let you down.”
“I know you won’t.”
Leaving the mansion, I was agitated and restless and feeling a bit like I’d dodged a bullet with my name engraved on it.
