Page 5 of The Kissing Part
“Is your office on Main Street?” she asks as she types her number in my phone. “I remember Clover Park well, and all the family get-togethers with your cousins at Happy Endings, sometimes at the park. God, I have such fond memories of that town.” She hands me back my phone.
“Yeah, it’s on Main Street. Where’s your guard?”
“I’ve been using Frankie while I’m here.”
“Well, I know he’s not going into the city with you, unless Mom’s joining you there.”
“How’re Cooper and Finn? I already know how Mackenzie’s doing since we’ve…” She trails off.
A tension vibrates between us and not the sexy kind. She kept in touch with my cousin Mackenzie, Mom, and my sister, Harper, but not me. Not gonna lie, that cut deep.
I back up a step. “You know what? If you need my company to set up security, you can get in touch with Mackenzie. She sets up all new clients anyway. Mom thought of me first because she knows I understand the whole famous-person thing. I’m sure Mackenzie will understand too.”
She grabs my arm. “Wait. It’s you I want.”
My heart lurches. God, how much I longed to hear those words back then. A rush of sensation washes over my arm as she burrows her hand under my T-shirt sleeve, an old habit of hers. Part of me wants to push her hand away; part of me likes it too much.
She looks up at me, her blue eyes pleading and so damn vulnerable I have to fight the urge to go caveman and carry her out of here to the safety of my place. “My bodyguard got another gig and quit. Your mom said I could borrow Frankie until I found a new one.”
I look pointedly at her hand until she removes it. “I’m not a bodyguard. I can secure your hotel room, your tech, and that’s it.”
“But you trained with Frankie’s dad.”
“That’s not what I do. I’m going to get Frankie. Maybe he knows someone.”
I walk out the side door, where I can see Frankie with Mom and her friends. I relax a little when I don’t hear Shayla’s footsteps behind me.
“Hey, Frankie.” I give him a one-armed hug. He’s four years older than me and like a brother. He’s half Hawaiian, half Italian, a hulk of a man with a shaved head and an easy smile. His Hawaiian dad only found out about him when Frankie’s mom died in a car accident when Frankie was ten. We used to spar together after his dad trained us both in krav maga. Fun times.
“Bro, your mom’s doing fine.”
I check in with him regularly on her security situation. So sue me if I’m protective. It’s for a legit reason.
“Good. I was wondering if you might know someone to be Shayla’s shadow in the city.”
“Isn’t that what you’re here for? That’s what your mom said, and I know you always come through for her.”
She did? No one told me.
I frown. “You must know someone.”
“Everyone I know is gainfully employed and not in the bodyguard business. You think I belong to a union? I’m part of the Claire Jordan family, and I’m not going anywhere. No sweeter gig. She still makes me and Dad the best grilled cheese sandwiches. And she regularly invites the—” cough “—nicest women to go horseback riding with us. I never knew how many women love riding. Must be the rocking motion, you know?”
Nice. Mom’s been keeping Frankie in grilled cheese and beautiful women who ride. Me she calls to deal with stalkers.
I catch Mom’s eye, and she joins us.
“Owen, please do this for her,” she says. “Shayla feels safe with you. It’s just a temporary thing until we can find someone new for her.”
“I’m busy with other clients. I have a big job that could come through any moment in DC and—”
“That’s wonderful, honey!” she says. “In the meantime, could you do what you do best? You’ll be paid of course.”
I scowl. “I wouldn’t take her money if I were starving in the street. I can’t believe you’re putting me in this position.”
An icy feminine voice calls out behind me, “Don’t worry about it, Owen. I’ll be just fine. So good to see you again.”
I whirl. “Shay, I—”
