Protect Me (15 page)

"It's
just... You don't need to worry about him talking to me."

Comprehension
hit like a ton of bricks. "Oh!" Hope shook her head vehemently.
"No, no, it's not like that. It's just..." She dropped her voice to a
hushed tone and shook her head again, "Rick has this habit of, you know, never
shutting the hell up."

Iseul
burst out laughing. Hope let herself grin back. After all, this was a party.
Having fun was blending in.

"So,
uh, you dated Rick?” Hope said, wishing there was some way to avoid the matter
but knowing there wasn't.

Iseul
shrugged. "In a manner of speaking. For a few weeks I yelled at him and he
avoided me before we came to our senses and realized we were better off as
friends."

A knot
in her stomach that Hope hadn't even realized was there until a second ago
eased a little. "Oh. I'm... sorry?" She gave Iseul a small, hopeful
smile. The other woman was petite and delicate and coiffed, but she seemed
nice, and Rick obviously still liked her a lot. Trinity actually talked to Hope,
after all, and here in America she had time to be off duty, to make friends.
Maybe…

Iseul
gave her an odd look that quickly melted into something softer and more
anxious.

"Don't
hurt him, okay?" Iseul said quietly.

A
pained jolt of something strangely like panic shot through Hope's body. She
focused on keeping her breathing even and not moving an inch.

"It's
my job to protect Rick, not to hurt him," she said after a moment, when
she felt more composed. Hope didn't know how to say that she would never hurt
anyone without sounding ridiculous. She would hurt people, of course, had done
so in the past, but never in cold blood. Guarding people didn't make her a monster.

The
other woman slapped a hand over her mouth and immediately shook her head with
quick, frantic movements. She pulled her hand away to say, "No, no, that's
not what I meant at all! I'm so sorry, I would never accuse you like
that. And Rick is obviously crazy about you.”

Hope’s
pulse slowed down in her veins. She wasn’t quite prepared to smile, but she
found that she was willing to listen.

It
wouldn’t make sense to disagree with Iseul, after all. She was pretending to be
Rick’s date. It was her
job
to go along with it.

She
soundly ignored the fact that Iseul already knew she was a bodyguard, which
made the charade entirely pointless.

“Do
you, um, think so?” Hope couldn’t make herself look at Iseul’s face while she
said this; she ducked her head and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. So she
heard, rather than saw, the smile in the other woman’s voice.

“Definitely.
Trust me, I’ve known him for years, and I’ve never seen him look at anyone that
way. He really… he pays attention to you,” Iseul said. The wistful note in her
words made Hope look up.

“Thanks,”
she said tentatively, glancing from under her eyelashes at Iseul’s beautiful,
delicate features. She wanted to say more than that, but the words weren’t
coming. She tried anyway. “I’m not - well, I don’t - Rick is very smart.”

The
corners of Iseul’s eyes crinkled and she stepped closer, which Hope was
grateful for. The party was loud and she couldn’t give Iseul her full
attention, no matter how much she wanted to. Part of her attention always had
to be trained on Rick’s broad-shouldered back and her view of his companions
through the rounded mirrors installed on the ceiling. Right now Rick was
nodding at a bald man who was either very enthusiastic or very drunk. Hard to
tell which, but either way Rick didn’t look interested.

“I’m
sure you have a decent head on your shoulders or Rick wouldn’t be the least bit
interested,” Iseul laughed. “Perhaps brains aren’t everything. I’ve got three
PhDs and we couldn’t make it work, so maybe you’ll do better.”

Hope
blinked. “Three? What in the world did you need three for?”

“For
making men take me seriously, mostly,” Iseul said, and Hope barked out a
surprised laugh, and then without her quite knowing how it had happened, they
were grinning at each other like old friends.

Conversation
flowed surprisingly easily as they made their way over to a dessert table. Hope
was grateful for how sharp Iseul was on the uptake; the other woman silently
watched her take odd routes to keep her eyes on the mirrors and then let Hope
take the lead.

While
they propped up the wall and munched on cream puffs that left chocolate stains
on Hope’s fingers, she noticed Iseul eyeing her legs critically.

"What?"
Hope asked, resisting the urge to shuffle her feet.

"You're
standing like you're about to tackle someone, not take a bunch of
flowers," Iseul said frankly.

"But..."
Hope opened her mouth and then closed it again.

"It's
not a problem," Iseul said, and now she looked uncomfortable. "But
you asked, so I just..."

"No,"
Hope said firmly. The other woman was right - after all, her job was to blend
in. She couldn't ignore that just because she was in a dress and not fatigues.
"You're right, I'm not doing this correctly. Show me how, please?"

Iseul’s
face brightened. She straightened her shoulders and tugged up her skirts to
show her ankles. “See how my feet are just a few inches apart? And you want to
be light on your feet. Don’t look solid, look airy - you need to be able to
pick a foot up at any time.” She lifted one of her small feet off the ground
and hooked it behind her ankle. “Oh, and your hands…”

When
Rick found his way back over, Hope felt a sharp twinge of shame; she’d been
having such a good time that she’d only been keeping half an eye on him. He
beamed at both of them. She gave him a weak smile, too guilty not to.

“I see
you ladies are getting along famously,” Rick said. As he talked he slid over to
Hope and slipped an arm around her waist; she was so surprised by the gesture
that she let him. “I knew you would. See? I have the best plans.”

“Well,
you have plans, anyway,” Iseul said, but even though she tried to keep a
straight face her eyes were still crinkled up in a smile.

Rick
sniffed at her and then turned to Hope curiously. “Where did your young friend
get off to?” he inquired.

“No
idea. I’m sure he’s fine…” Alone, at a huge party, surrounded by alcohol and
gorgeous women.

The
three of them all looked at each other for a minute and started craning their
necks around to find him.

They
didn’t have to look long; just a few seconds after Hope started a slow
methodical scan of the room, she spotted movement coming toward them in the
form of Javier towing a good-natured Boran behind him by the arm.

“Oh!”
Hope exclaimed, and her companions turned to her. “I didn’t realize you’d be here
too, Boran.”

“This
is your colleague?” Rick said, looking Boran over with interest. Hope noted
that he didn’t use the word “friend”. Not that she could technically take issue
with that, but…

Boran
rocked back on his heels and extended a meaty hand to Rick.

“Pleasure
to meet you, sir.” They shook hands and Rick smiled, but there was somehow less
warmth in it than usual. Hope tried not to let her frown show on her face.

“Hey,
you're not standing like Clint Eastwood anymore," Boran said cheerfully to
Hope. Iseul made an indignant noise. Hope glared at Boran; he smiled back
innocently. “I saw you across the room earlier, but couldn’t get over to say hi
till now.”

Hope
opened her mouth, but was interrupted by an arm wrapping firmly around her
waist again. She almost stumbled when Rick pulled her against his side. For a
second she was irritated, but when she caught a glimpse of Rick’s face she was
taken aback - he looked all but angry.

“I
think you may have a client to attend to,” Rick nodded in a clear dismissal.
“We wouldn’t want to keep you from your duty.”

She
could barely look at Boran, whose mouth was hanging open in surprise, staring
between Rick and where his fingers were pressing firmly into Hope’s hipbone.

She was
about to say something again when Boran gave a tight nod, said, “Sir,” turned
on his heel, and left.

Rick
looked still irritated but vaguely satisfied. Iseul looked knowing. Javier
looked surprised.

Hope
wasn’t sure what she looked like, but she knew what she felt like: pissed off.

“Excuse
me.” She yanked herself out of Rick’s grasp; he frowned in denial and reached
out after her but she moved back in the tiny steps Iseul had taught her. Hope
propped her hands on her hips. “What do you think you’re doing? You can’t order
him around. He’s not your employee.”

Rick
rolled his eyes and grinned at the same time, which was a semi-impressive feat,
but Hope was in no mood to be impressed.

“Everybody
works for me,” Rick said. He raised his hands, palm up. “C’mon, I have the
money to order anyone around.”

For a
loud room, the space around them seemed oddly quiet all of a sudden.

Iseul
clapped a hand over her face.

“Oh,
Rick,” the other woman mumbled into her palm.

“
Excuse
me
,” Hope hissed, and stomped through the crowd in Boran’s wake. But of
course she had no idea where he’d gone, no idea where his mark was, and for a
second she was so angry that she barely even cared.

She was
distantly aware of Javier trailing at her heels. That recognition, more than
anything else, made Hope pause for a second to collect herself. She needed to
be an example, or something, a fine job that she was making of it so far.

“That
was quite the scene, even from a distance,” a familiar voice said by her
shoulder. Hope sighed without venom.

“Not
the time, Trinity.”

“I
think the handsome man wants to be your friend,” Trinity said with a wicked
grin. Imagining it through her eyes, Hope could almost see Boran as the secret
agent character that the other woman clearly thought of him as. Of course -
Trinity just thought that Rick was jealous. She didn’t know what a complete
dick he was.

“I
don’t want a friend,” Hope said, just this side of testy, and almost honest at
this very second.

“I
think he wants to know you in the Biblical manner,” Javier piped up, looking
excited to have something to add.

Hope
glared at him. “I don’t want to know him at all,” she said.

Javier
nodded wisely. “That’s what they all say.”

“Really?”
Hope cracked her knuckles and grinned at him, all teeth and utterly devoid of
humor. “Is it? When exactly is that what they say?”

“That
is what women say when, uh, they have no interest at all in a man and don’t
actually say no when they mean yes and I have total respect for that and I’m
just going to be over there now. Doing that thing,” Javier babbled, and then
fairly sprinted off to the other side of the ballroom.

Trinity
cackled.

“I
worry about him,” Hope confessed softly, trying not to think about Rick, trying
to let the anger recede.

Trinity
still looked amused, though she leaned closer to take in the confidence. “That
one looks like he’ll grow up alright.”

“Does
he?” Hope turned to watch Javier only just avoid stumbling around the edge of
an elegant champagne table, all powerful limbs that he could barely control.
“Do any of us?”

“Getting
a little maudlin there, honey,” Trinity commented. She darted her hand out to
squeeze Hope’s. It had been a long time since anyone - well, anyone but Rick -
had felt comfortable enough around her to do that. “I mean, I suppose you can
think of things that way. But isn’t it just as easy to think that we’ll all be
okay, too?”

Hope
didn’t know what to say to that. It did sound easy. It sounded too easy,
actually. If she let herself think like that, what else might she start
thinking?

She was
a bodyguard, not a philosopher, and she didn’t know what to think about any of this.
Hope took advantage of her own mental confusion and exhaled a long sigh,
letting the anger bleed out of her. It wouldn’t help. She had a job to do, and
this
,
this was
exactly
why you didn’t get involved with the client.

If she
had been someone else, she wouldn’t have heard Boran’s careful footsteps above
the din of the party. But as it was, when a huge hand settled over her shoulder
Hope was unsurprised.

She
turned to look at Boran, shifting his hand off her skin in the movement. It
wasn’t strange somehow for Rick’s familiar cool fingers to rest against the
thin material of the dress and to cross the large bare patches of skin it
exposed. But it was so much more of her exposed than she was used to, and
anyone else’s touch felt wrong. Boran’s touch felt wrong.

Off to
the side Trinity looked conflicted but faded into the background with the
crowd, one of her dark hands urging Javier along firmly after her. Javier
looked surprised, but went, like a lost sheep being herded.