Necessary Risk (Bodyguard) (6 page)

He looked up from the police report, anger hardening his features. “They’re messing with you. Trying to scare you.”

She took a breath, and her words tumbled out in a rush. “I’d like to hire you, if you—”

He cut her off by gently laying a hand on her knee. Warmth radiated outward from where he touched her. “Yes. Absolutely, yes.”

It must’ve been only a few seconds at most, but the seconds stretched out, warm and slow, as his brown eyes held hers. The weight that had been pressing down on her since the attack yesterday afternoon lifted, and she suddenly felt as though she could breathe again. She swallowed and Sean took his hand back.

“Thank you. I’m not sure what you charge, but…”

He cut her off again, this time with a wave of his hand. “We’ll figure something out.” He smiled, a slow quirk of the corner of his mouth, and heat spiraled through Sierra’s body. “I’m glad you’re here, and that you’re OK.”

“I’ve been a bit of a target ever since I started working for Choices a few years ago, but nothing I couldn’t handle. Nasty e-mails, comments online, that sort of thing. I knew I was opening myself up to that kind of stuff when I agreed to work with them. Some people see it as a controversial topic, so I expected the hate mail and the online stuff. But I’ve never had anything like this happen before. I’ve never felt genuinely afraid before.” She ducked her head, inhaling a few quick breaths to try to dispel the sting of tears pressing at her eyes.

“Hey.” Sean’s deep voice was gentle. With a featherlight touch, he tipped her chin up. The sensation of his skin on hers sent sparks shooting up her spine, and she bit her lip. Sean tracked the movement with his eyes before flicking them back up to hers. He shifted almost imperceptibly closer. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise. From here on out, I’ve got you.” Her breath caught in her chest and she nodded, the movement brushing the tips of his wide fingers against her chin. “For the record, I think what you’re doing is brave. It takes guts to stand up for what you believe in. It takes strength.”

His words washed over her, replenishing her resolve to keep working for Choices. “Thank you,” she said, her voice a little hoarse. She cleared her throat. “That means a lot to me. I was starting to question if I was doing the right thing.” She wanted to close her eyes and press her face into his palm, but he dropped his hand, once again quickly taking it back.

“That’s only natural, given everything you’ve been through in the past twenty-four hours.”

She nodded, twisting her fingers together. “So…what happens now?” she asked, glancing out at the office space.

“We work in teams. I’ll be lead on this, meaning I’ll be with you 24/7, and another guard will rotate on and off.”

“24/7?” she asked, licking her lips as more of her tension melted away. How was it possible that she barely knew him, and yet he made her feel so safe?

“I’d feel better being on-site at all times, yes. There will always be someone in the house with you, either me or someone from my team. We don’t know who we’re dealing with, and until we do, I’m not going to risk leaving you alone.”

Her stomach did a slow turn at the protectiveness in his voice. “I have a small guesthouse you can set up in, if you want.”

“It’s close to the house?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

“My property actually isn’t that big. The previous owners converted the pool house into a little guesthouse. Unless you’d rather be in the house.”

“As long as it’s close enough to the main house, the guesthouse should be fine for when I’m not on shift. Hang on a sec.” With a reassuring smile, he pushed off the sofa and strode over to his glass-and-chrome desk. He picked up the phone and hit a button. “Morning, Cassie. Can you round up Alpha Team and send them into my office? Thanks.” He hung up and sat down in the leather desk chair, the chair squeaking in soft protest against his weight. He was so…
big
. Tall, and broad, with a wide back and masculine hands.

Her stomach swirled as something hot and sweet flamed over her skin, and she recognized it instantly as lust. She let herself luxuriate in it for a few seconds, wondering what he’d look like with his shirt off, if his hair would feel as thick and soft between her fingers as it looked. If he was…proportional.

Oh, sweet Jesus.

Sierra watched as a few of the guys broke away from the grouping of computers in the center of the office space and headed for Sean’s door, not waiting for an invitation to come in.

“Sierra, this is my team. Carter Davis, Ian MacAllister, Zack De Luca, and Jamie Anderson.” He turned to the men, who stood in a cluster of suited muscle by the door. “Sierra’s a spokesperson for Choices, and she’s now been the target of two attacks, both in public and at home. She filed police reports for both incidents, but she’s understandably concerned for her safety until whoever’s harassing her is neutralized.”

Sierra studied the group of bodyguards as Sean brought them up to speed on her case. Carter was huge, about as big as Sean, with medium-brown skin and short black hair. He shot Sierra a smile as Sean introduced him. Ian, on the other hand, didn’t smile, only gave her a curt nod. His reddish-blond hair curled around his ears, his blue-gray eyes piercing. She got the distinct sense he was someone you didn’t mess with.

The other two guards, Zack and Jamie, seemed much less intimidating than Carter and Ian. Zack was tall and lean, with an almost cocky confidence in the way he carried himself, despite the fact that he appeared to be the youngest of the group. With thick dark-brown hair, light-brown eyes, and a killer smile, he was almost as hot as Sean.

Almost.

“Hey. Sorry this is happening to you,” said Jamie, the last guard. With his blond buzz cut and kind blue eyes, he looked like the hottie next door.

They made an impressive team, fit and confident. And in Ian’s case, a little scary.

Sean glanced down at the folder in his hands before speaking. “I’ll go over to Sierra’s place with her to check it out and get set up. I’ll take a look at your schedules and other client bookings to work up a schedule of shifts and text you with your assignments. I’d also like to take a look at your alarm system,” he said, turning to her. “I want to know how exactly it was tampered with. You ready to go? Did you drive here?”

She shook her head. “No, I took a car service.”

“I’ll drive you home.”

As the team filed out, she bent to retrieve her purse from its spot on the floor by the couch. She spun and almost slammed into Sean, who was just coming around from behind his desk. His fingers curled around her shoulders, and he held her steady, pulling her against him to prevent her from stumbling.

The air between them changed, becoming thick and heavy as his gaze dipped from her eyes to her mouth and back again. His grip tightened slightly on her shoulders, a sharp contrast to the way he’d pulled his hands back before.

“You OK?” he asked, his thumbs tracing little circles on her shoulders.

I will be if you kiss me.

Sierra couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this drawn to someone, this trusting, and so quickly. It was both thrilling and unnerving.

“Sean,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. His eyes darkened, and she knew he felt it too, the heat swirling in the air around them, drawing them together. His chest rose and fell slowly as he took a breath, and then he released her, stepping back behind his desk.

Or maybe he wasn’t feeling it too, and she was projecting her loneliness-driven lust onto him. Before she had time to analyze his quick retreat, the door to his office swung open again, and Sierra knew immediately that the man in the doorway had to be Sean’s father, Patrick. He had a head of short, thick salt-and-pepper hair and had the same large build and brown eyes as Sean. There was a definite resemblance, and Sierra had to admit that Patrick was quite attractive for a man who was probably in his mid-sixties. Sean and his father locked eyes, and the air in Sean’s office once again shifted, the pressure dropping as though a storm were about to hit.

“Sierra, this is my father and the founder of Virtus, Patrick Owens,” said Sean, gesturing toward his father. She shook Patrick’s hand, and he gave her a polite smile. “This is Sierra Blake. She’s our newest client.”

Patrick’s face remained neutral. “Would you excuse us for a moment, please, Ms. Blake?”

She looked at Sean, who gave her a reassuring nod. “Uh, sure. Sean, I’ll meet you in the waiting area?”

“Sounds good. This will just be a minute. Help yourself to water, coffee, anything you need.”

As she made her way to the waiting area, she glanced back over her shoulder, and although she couldn’t hear anything, she could tell Sean and his father were arguing. Sean’s posture was tense, his jaw clenched as he braced his hands on his desk, leaning forward toward his father, who was talking and gesturing emphatically. Sean kept shaking his head, disagreeing with whatever Patrick was saying. Patrick pointed in her general direction and she felt suddenly guilty, although she was pretty sure she had nothing to feel guilty about. She scurried back to the waiting area, feeling like both a spy and a delinquent.

“Don’t worry about that,” said Jamie, falling into step beside her as she headed for the coffee machine in the far corner of the waiting area. “It’s just what they do. Even though Patrick officially retired two years ago, he’s having a hard time letting go. I don’t think he got the memo that being retired means you
stop
coming to work.”

Sierra took a mug from the basket beside the machine and slipped it under the dispenser. She selected a pod and pressed the button on the machine, feeling relieved that she hadn’t gotten Sean in trouble. Relieved that he’d said yes to the job. Relieved that he’d be with her, looking out for her until the harassment was over. And she barely knew him.

Barely knew him, but knew that she trusted him.

And wanted him.

Oh, God help her. She was in some serious trouble.

Chapter 5

S
ean rolled his SUV to a stop in Sierra’s driveway, taking in the small but pretty white house that sat on a quiet street in the Hollywood Hills. A large sycamore tree cast shade over the front lawn, the leafy shadows almost reaching the street. From the front everything looked secure, but he’d need to do a thorough walk-through in order to assess the security she had in place. He glanced over at her as she unbuckled her seat belt and hopped out of the SUV. But instead of making her way toward the front door, she paused, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. He followed her out of the SUV and locked it behind him, coming around to her side of the vehicle.

“I haven’t been back inside since the break-in,” she said, tipping her head toward the house. She wrapped her slender arms around herself, her green eyes bright.

For about the hundredth time that morning, Sean sank into the feeling of relief he’d been carrying around ever since he’d set eyes on Sierra standing by the reception desk. The relief—that she was safe, that she’d come to him for help—had been almost overwhelming in its intensity. And now that he had eyes on her and knew she was OK, he
would
protect her. He trusted his team, but he wasn’t willing to take the risk of leaving her in someone else’s hands. He couldn’t.

The instinctive protectiveness he felt toward her ran deep, and he hadn’t realized just how deep until he saw her again this morning. He was determined to keep her safe, and if he ever got his hands on whoever was doing this, he’d beat the shit out of them. But now that she was officially a client, it also meant that she was off-limits. Not only was it incredibly unprofessional to get involved with a client, it was distracting. And distraction would be dangerous, for both of them.

He knew it wasn’t going to be easy to ignore the chemistry sparking between them—hell, he’d wanted to kiss her in his office—but he didn’t have a choice. The fact that she was now a client was a big-ass “Do Not Pass Go” sign.

He gave her a reassuring smile. “It’ll be OK. And it’ll be good for me to see the damage.” She nodded and led the way up the path to her front door. As they walked, Sean’s eyes roved over the property, looking for potential vulnerabilities.

“Do you have motion-detecting lights?”

She shook her head. “No. The outdoor lights are on a timer, though.”

He nodded, listening, as he slipped his phone out of his pocket to take pictures and make notes. “We’ll get you some motion detectors, and the indoor ones should be on timers too, for when you’re not home. And we should upgrade these to floodlights.” He frowned, looking into each corner of the porch, and then stepped back to study the exterior of the house again. “You don’t have any security cameras, do you?”

“No, just the alarm. It’s just me, and it honestly never occurred to me to get security cameras.”

“You live alone?” he asked, even though he’d already picked that up from the police report. He just wanted it confirmed.

She nodded. “Yeah. I’ve lived here for five years now.”

“I’ll add security cameras to the list. I’ve got some gear in my trunk. Once we’ve finished our walk-through, I’ll set them up for you.”

They reached the porch, and his eyes immediately went to a plastic rock sitting by the welcome mat. He stooped down and picked it up, flipping it over and extracting the hidden key. He held it up between his thumb and forefinger, one eyebrow raised, and Sierra cringed.