Page 167 of 5+Us Makes Seven

“It’s one of my charms,” he retorted. “Are the two slowcoaches ready yet, doll? Or are we in for a long wait again?”

“They’ll be ready soon. If not, you can dine with me instead.” I winked at him. “Where did you get the suit? You look handsome.”

“Oh, this?” He looked down at his suit as if it was some strange fashion he’d never known of before today. “I hired it. Guy on the front desk said I wouldn’t get in the restaurant otherwise.”

It was true, bodyguard or no, he wouldn’t get past security.

Well, he could, but not by walking past them.

Cruz

I was blown away at how beautiful Alexandra looked. I wasn’t often stunned into silence, but seeing her approach in her flowing blue dress, curled hair, and understated makeup had nearly knocked me over. The dress wasn’t too tight, but showed off curves in all the right places.

I was going to have to keep my eyes off her, in order to do my job of keeping her safe. And that wasn’t going to be an easy task by any stretch.

We chatted idly for a while as we waited for the other girls. Alexandra stood uncomfortably close to me, touching my arm on occasion. I was on edge, and all I wanted to do was to turn towards her and pick her up in my strong arms, kiss her passionately, and carry her back to her room...

So lost in my fantasy, it took a moment for me to realize she was still talking to me. I made an effort to listen better, all the while trying to keep my gaze on her face. But I kept failing.

“...his yacht. They’ll probably go with him, I think. They can't resist the urge of a week-long party.” She sighed. “The thought of being stuck on a yacht for a week or more with those two is unbearable. So, I think I’ll still head to Prague. That’s still cool, right?”

I shrugged. “Whatever you want, Lex.”

She smiled back, our eyes locked for a second. Our reverie was interrupted by the sound of high heels clicking on marble floor.

“Hope we’re not interrupting you two love birds,” Olivia said, wearing a short tight dress and ridiculous wedges. Lucy was dressed in a similar fashion, but with heels instead of wedges and a dress bit longer yet showed more cleavage than was necessary.

In short, they both looked like strippers on a night out.

I stood up to my full height and crossed my arms, trying not to crease my shirt. “Right then,” I said, looking at the three in turn. “Let’s go.” I opened the door to let them through, and all three giggled as they left the suite.

As Alexandra walked through the door, I got a brief but wonderful view of her ass, her big pert buttocks showing through her dress.

That just made my damn day, I thought, suppressing a grin.

Chapter Ten

Cruz

Not having far to go, we arrived at the restaurant about five minutes later; both the hotel and restaurant were in the exclusive part of the city.

I struggled to concentrate on keeping an eye out for danger with Alexandra sitting next to me in the car, chatting away. Although it pained me to ignore her, I knew I had to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

As we left the hotel, I had caught a brief glimpse of a few shady figures in a black nondescript saloon parked on the side of the road near the hotel. I had a feeling in my gut that something wasn’t right. That they were watching. Their car didn’t follow us, however.

I managed to get past the security on the door of the restaurant, surprised to find one of the bouncers was bigger than me. He was around 6’ 8”, dark-skinned, and mean-looking. I wasn’t scared of him at all though. I knew I would be much quicker than him, and that unless he was like me, his huge frame would be difficult to maneuver in a close fight.

As we entered the restaurant, we were ushered straight through and taken to a table at the back--one of few on a raised platform. It was almost in a closed-off booth, but the walls didn’t extend all the way around the table. It would be easy to keep an eye on the girls, so I relaxed a little.

I took the girls to their table, which gave me a chance to look at the diners at the nearby tables as I approached the platform. One table had a middle-aged couple, drinking champagne and staring lovingly at each other; they didn’t even notice us approach. Another table was empty but had a gold-embossed ‘Reserved’ placard on it.

The last table had what looked like an American family seated around it, chatting noisily and sharing from large plates of expensive food arrayed haphazardly on the table. There were about eight of them. A lady who I guessed was the mother, seated at the center of the table, caught my gaze and smiled warmly at me. I nodded back.

No trouble, here then. Yet. Depends on who’s going to turn up on table number four.

I left the girls to their table, with Alexandra gazing longingly at me as I turned to walk away. I’d decided that it would be better if I kept a low profile. On the left of the restaurant as we entered was a long, ornate bar which stretched halfway down the building. I walked through the restaurant, surveying the patrons seated on the less glamourous, yet still expensive tables on the main dining floor. None struck me as dangerous. The only threat there was from rich and pretentious men who though they were entitled to any woman they chose.

I saw quite a few that I’d like to punch. Fucking pricks.

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