Page 20 of Some Like It Scandalous
A long drink later, he put the cap back onto it.
“Why?” The one question she never asked. The one she always worried about the answer. “Why…why were they dressed like that? Why did they act like your friends? Is—was Rick?”
“No. Richard and I met just like I said we did. He was my assigned roommate freshman year. Security vetted him, but he came up clean, so they let it happen. As for why—because I wanted to go to school without men in suits keeping everyone at arm’s length. I wanted to be me and not the royal representative of the family.” He leaned his head back. He caught her legs and swung her feet up until they rested in his lap. It was so heart-achingly familiar a gesture, she didn’t think to pull away.
The screen flickered through another set of images, more photos of him and so many other women. She looked back at the real thing.
“I know you hate me right now and with good reason.” Her heart squeezed at the empty acceptance in those words. “I know the last place you want to be is here. I messed this up and for that, I am truly, deeply sorry. But will you stay? Stay with me until I can fix this and you can be safe?” The quiet question carried such a deep longing that she couldn’t find irritation with it, even if she didn’t want to answer it.
She stretched out to set the container and its fork on the coffee table. “I’ll stay. For as long as it takes.”
When he didn’t say anything, she glanced over and found his eyes closed, his breathing regular.
He’d fallen asleep.
Stretching carefully, she reached over to the other chair and snagged a throw blanket. She spread it over them both, because he still held her legs captive. She found a way to be comfortable and switched the station to a black-and-white movie. She watched him, not the movie, until her eyelids grew too heavy.
Did I break your heart?
Did she dare ask?
Chapter 6
Armand
He hadn’t expected to fall asleep and he’d even less expected her to stay there. But the crick in his neck and the cramp in his back were well worth the trouble—especially when he found her sound asleep next to him, her bare feet still resting in his lap and beneath his hands. If only the peace of that moment extended to three hours later in the meeting with his head of security.
“We’ve gone over this, Anna. Peterson can’t secure your office—not in its current location.” He glanced at his security chief. The man nodded, his solemn expression adding gravity to the statement.
“His Highness is correct, Miss Novak. It would take us a week to complete the threat assessment properly, install a new system and bulletproof glass. The parking structure is not secure, so we would have to invest in more security for your vehicle—though we could handle transport ourselves. Either way, the threat ratio is not in your favor.” The man laid it out, cleanly and without bias.
The disappointment on Anna’s face, however, tugged at Armand’s heart. “However—and this is just a suggestion.”Arresting his need—and habit—to take over took some forethought. He’d considered the options all morning, when he wasn’t staring at her eating or drinking or just breathing. “The fourteenth floor is available.”
“I’m sorry, what?” She pulled her attention back to the meeting and focused on him. The weariness in her expression smoothed, the invisible barrier, the curtain that seemed to have dropped between them for so brief a time the night before, firmly in place again.
“The fourteenth floor.” He repeated and tapped two fingers against the tabletop. “It’s unoccupied and has about three thousand square feet of office space available and another thousand square feet for a security office. The building is secure, it won’t take us long to arrange for the entire office to be moved here.”
Resistance flared in her gaze, but she merely nodded. “That is a generous offer, Armand.” She moistened her lips. “But it’s a great deal of trouble to go to—particularly to pay for such a large space.”
He smiled at the use of his name. It didn’t carry the same affection as Charlie or the same depth of meaning, but it was far preferable to “Your Highness.”
“It really is no trouble at all. We own the building and I would be delighted to donate the floor to the cause.”
“A floor in this tower would serve better, Miss Novak.” Peterson didn’t require any encouragement to pile on. “The building is secure, the garage is secure and we have a full-time rotating staff, which means your on-duty detail wouldn’t be stretched?—”
“My on-duty what?” She whipped her gaze over to pin the security chief. “I have a detail? Isn’t that…going too far?”
“No, ma’am. A standard detail of five will be assigned to you, led by Johnson.” He nodded to the tall man who arranged to have her picked up at her house.
Anna rubbed her forehead and dropped her gaze to the table. “Would you all excuse us, please?”
Peterson glanced at him for permission. Armand nodded and the men filed out. He forced himself to lean back in the chair rather than reach across and touch her hand. “You okay?”
“No.” She looked up and a smile strained the lines around her mouth. “No, I’m not.”
He sat forward and reached a hand across to her. She stared at it and then him before sliding her cold fingers against his palm. “You’re freezing.” Squeezing her hand, he rose, releasing her only long enough to walk around and strip off his suit coat. He claimed the chair next to her and draped the coat around her shoulders. Capturing her hands again, he rubbed them lightly.
“Do you live like this? All the time? Security details? Threat assessments?”
