Page 3 of She's Mine

I had no doubt that Alyssa had her father wrapped around her little finger, and probably thought she could do the same to any man that came into her life.

Well, if Alyssa Blythe thought she was going to wrapmearound her little finger, she had another thing coming. Like I’d said, I lived in LA. I was surrounded by gorgeous women all the time. Hell, I’d even dated a fair few. And none of them hadeverstomped their feet and gotten their own way with me. Not even in my most serious relationship when I’d dated an up-and-coming actress, who now had a few Academy Awards to her name.

I wasn’t about to let Alyssa Blythe be the first.

2

ALYSSA

“Alyssa, can you come downstairs, please?” Mom called.

I laid my makeup pallet on my vanity table, and paused the music I was playing.

Mom knew I was going out with Brittany and Courtney soon, so I assumed whatever she wanted wasn’t anything serious. However, when I reached the bottom of the stairs, and saw her expression, my heart suddenly plummeted.

“What’s wrong? Has something happened to Dad?”

My heart hammered while I waited for Mom to reply, but then her features softened a little and she said, “Don’t worry, sweetheart, Dad is fine. He’s in his office. We wanted to speak to you about something.”

I let out a relieved breath. Mom had me worried for a minute there. But if she said Dad was okay, and he and Mom just wanted to speak to me in the office, I was sure it was about something trivial. I don’t think I’d spent too much on my credit card or phone bill this month, but maybe they wanted me to slow down the spending. I wasn’t sure.

My life wasn’t what you’d call ‘normal’ for a twenty-five-year-old. For starters, I didn’t work and still relied on my parents for an income. It wasn’t that Ididn’twant to work, it’s just I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. And well, the last ten years hadn’t exactly been easy on any of us. Not since we lost my brother, Joey.

I felt a stab in my heart as I thought about my older brother. Even though it had been a decade since we lost him, sometimes it still felt like it was only yesterday.

I was still thinking about Joey when I walked into Dad’s office, but the moment I saw he wasn’t alone, all thoughts of my lost brother left my head. Instead, all I could do was stare at the man sitting next to my dad.

Hot damn! He was gorgeous. With lean, angular features, and piercing dark eyes, I couldn’t tear my gaze away from him. He offered me a small smile as I crossed the office, and I swear to God, my heart stopped.

Who was he?

Mom came in behind me, and quickly took a seat beside Dad. She seemed familiar with the handsome stranger too, and I wondered what this was all about. He couldn’t be a work colleague of my dad’s -- why would they need to introduce me to him if he was?

Intrigued, I sat down opposite my parents and the newcomer.

“And who is this?” I asked, my gaze never leaving his. He had dark hair and a dark beard to match his dark eyes, though both were neatly groomed. He wore a black, but non-descript suit with a crisp, open collared white shirt that I could tell just by looking at it was a designer brand and not off the rack.

Win! Not only was he gorgeous, but he knew how to dress. I was liking this guy more and more.

“Alyssa, this is David Gordon, your new bodyguard,” Dad said simply.

My eyes bulged out of my head. “Bodyguard? I’m twenty-five, why do I need a bodyguard?”

My parents frowned, while David’s expression remained neutral.

“The Bloodline have become more overt in their movements,” Dad explained. “I’ve received personal threats against not only my own life, but yours and your mother’s, too.”

For a moment it felt like my heart had stopped, and I had to blink and clear my throat to regain control over my body. “But they won’t actually go through with it, right?”

The Bloodline Cartel had been a shadow hanging over me and my family for as long as I could remember. They were responsible for Joey’s death, when he got caught in the crossfire between the gang and the LAPD. Dad was the Police Commissioner, and thanks to his efforts with the LAPD, almost all of their members were now in prison and the gang was falling apart.

“As you’re well aware, the Bloodline used to be the most dangerous gang in LA,” Dad said. “I thought I’d done all I could to clean up LA and put the cartel behind bars, but it seems they have a few tricks up their sleeves yet. And I know that when a gang like the Bloodline feel as though they have nothing left to lose, they become the most dangerous. Which has proven to be true since they sent threats against the family.”

I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “So let me guess, you called in a favour from Uncle Jeff?”

Jeffrey Garcia wasn’t actually my uncle, but I called him that out of respect. Dad and Jeffrey had been friends for years and worked together closely. While Dad served as police commissioner, Jeffrey owned a prolific security agency -- J&J Security.

Before we lost Joey there was much debate whether he’d join Dad in the LAPD, or work for Uncle Jeff at J&J Security. Then the Bloodline had murdered my brother, and he’d never gotten a chance to decide.

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