Page 18 of Behind the Scenes

“Oh, I forgot to mention one thing. Your bodyguards can’t be so far away from you anymore. Paul told me they used to stay in another house back in LA, but here they need to be much closer.”

“Closer? As in the same house? Because that’s not going to work. There aren’t enough rooms in this place. As it is, we’re practically falling over one another the place is so small.”

Alexis knew how ridiculous it sounded for someone to say a three thousand foot penthouse apartment was too small, but if the four security guards joined her, Lauren, and Carla, that would be seven people living there. Just the thought made her cringe. They’d be packed in like sardines.

“Well, you have a choice. You can find them a place to stay in this building and I can stay with them, or you can have me living here and they can go somewhere nearby. But not more than a block or two. In addition, I want one or two of them stationed downstairs at all times to make sure no one gets up here who isn’t supposed to.”

She didn’t have to think long about the choice he offered. Alexis hated the idea of her security being so close. It’s why she made sure when she bought her house in LA that it had a second place on the property for them to stay. She didn’t want to be reminded every moment of her life that she needed protection. It made her feel helpless, and that was the last thing she wanted to be.

“Fine. I take you living here, and for the rest of the guys, I’ll have Paul find somewhere nearby. I promise it won’t be further than two blocks away. Sound good?”

“Perfect,” he said with that smile she’d already grown to like seeing.

“I’m going to have to figure out how to fit all of us here, though,” she said, more thinking out loud than continuing the conversation.

“It’s okay. No need to displace either of your assistants. I can sleep on the couch,” he said as he opened the door and walked out.

Alexis hadn’t lived with a man since leaving Jackson three years before. She’d sworn if she ever let another man back into her home, he’d know who the boss was. Now that Hunter would be living under the same roof as her, she strangely didn’t care so much to be in control.

Even though her stalker was still out there somewhere, likely preparing for the next time he would send her something and throw her life into chaos, she felt safer for the first time in months. She didn’t like the new apartment and she didn’t want to spend any more time in New York as the chill of fall settled in, but somehow knowing Hunter would be close by made her hate all of it just a little less.

Chapter Six

After talking toPaul and finding out the bodyguards would be put up in a hotel a few blocks away until he could find a place with enough bedrooms Alexis would approve, Hunter spent some time in the living room watching as people hurried all around him every time she yelled their names. He had to give it to her. She sure did know how to command an audience.

He’d seen another side to her too, though, and it was only because he believed she was more than just the diva she showed the rest of the household that he had to admit he finally was beginning to understand why men around the world fell in love with her. Behind the gorgeous outside and past the demanding Hollywood star routine existed a strong woman who wanted to control her own destiny.

For Hunter, that alone made him think that the gossip magazines got it all wrong when they talked about Alexis Marchand. Then again, showing her to be strong and independent wouldn’t sell as much as discussing the finer points of her personal life, which they seemed to relish, no matter who they trashed.

The few he’d read before arriving in New York speculated on her having a secret love affair with one of her married co-stars from her last film, a long-lost relative that she allowed to live in squalor in a rundown trailer somewhere in the Midwest, and a penchant for spending thousands of dollars a day on special food to keep her thin and beautiful that she imported from some monastery in Finland.

That last one had been a head-scratcher for Hunter. He had a hard time imagining monks spending their days specially preparing food for a movie star halfway around the world.

A little basic investigative work showed him that the love affair with her co-star Jake Howard never happened. In fact, he was actually cheating on his wife with a man. Hunter had to admit he’d been surprised at that piece of gossip and even more shocked that the tabloids didn’t run with that story instead of the lie about Alexis and Jake.

As for the destitute relative she supposedly refused to help despite having millions, she didn’t exist. Some woman in Kansas City claimed she and Alexis’s mother were related, but that proved false too.

And the fancy food from Finland that possessed secret powers to make her thin and beautiful? Other than the bagels and cream cheese Paul had brought with him, all Hunter had found in the house was food any other person in America ate. Alexis certainly didn’t seem to be a sugar junkie since he hadn’t seen any sweets in any of the cabinets, but there did seem to be a large amount of vegetables.

Not that anyone had cooked the entire time he’d been there. As far as he could tell, Alexis and her assistants hadn’t eaten a meal all day.

So much for what the gossip magazines called The Glamorous Life of Alexis Marchand. It seemed more ordinary than extraordinary.

Hunter smiled as he thought to himself that Gideon and Xavier would be disappointed to find out Alexis was like any other woman in the world. Well, except for being stunning and wealthy.

By nearly midnight, the apartment had settled down. Lauren and Carla had gone to the room they’d share until someone put furniture in the fourth bedroom, and Alexis remained in her room with the door closed. Hunter hoped the place remained quiet so he could get at least a few hours of sleep before he had to wake up and start working on finding out just who the hell was stalking her and why.

He closed his eyes and began to drift off to sleep as thoughts of suspects preoccupied his mind.

“Hunter? Are you asleep?”

The sound of a voice that felt sort of familiar roused him from a deep sleep, and he sat bolt upright, startled to be awake in what seemed to still be the middle of the night, if the darkness around him was any indication.

Scrubbing the sleep from his face, he quickly sized up the situation around him. His gun sat on the floor next to the couch, easily within reach if he needed it. Alexis stood next to the couch staring down at him, but other than her, no one else was around. No lights were on in the living room, but in the dim light from the hallway he saw she wore a pair of jean shorts that showed off her great legs and a red tank top with no bra.

All of this raced through his brain as he woke up in a matter of seconds. When he finally had a sense of where he was, he looked up at her and asked, “Is something wrong?”

She didn’t answer him and instead asked him her own question. “What are you doing sleeping on the couch? Why didn’t you go with the rest of the bodyguards?”

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