Page 1 of Jealous Bodyguard

1

STEVE

Iread the note. Even at a glance, I can tell whoever put it together isn’t playing a practical joke. Letters for each word cut out meticulously, pasted onto fine parchment. The most striking part is every piece used to make this threatening note was taken from books in the very room I’m standing in.

The library.

“And who else knows about this so far?” I ask my newest client, Sol Shulton. He’s a millionaire who just became a billionaire overnight. Dumb luck from a tech firm takeover that went bananas, but that doesn’t matter to me. He’s worth a thousand times what he was last week, which makes him a prime target for kidnapping, extortion, and a thousand other things people without money never have to worry about.

That’s where I come in. Private security for those who can afford my services. I’m the guy people call when they can't call the cops. When things are life and death. Or even when it’s gone past that.

And so far, going by this note, it’s not Shulton they're after. Looks like I’m here at just the right time.

“Well?” I ask him again impatiently, unable to shake the feeling I’ve had since pulling up about a half hour ago. Something in the air that makes it hard for me to focus on work, which is unusual. Something I can't place right now, which is irritating me as much as it's eating away at me.

Shulton's about my age, maybe a little older. But he's soft. Rounded edges and smooth hands. A man who’s only ever known the good life.

Half his luck. But I’ve got my pile too, in my own way. And I’m damned proud of the work I put in to get it.

“Uhhh, well. There’s us, of course. But the only other people who know are from the other security firm,” he says matter of fact.

Almost sounding offended I even asked and subtly reminding me that he hasn’t officially hired me yet either.

But I’m not here to make friends, so I’m gonna be asking much pointier questions than that.

Starting with, “Excuse me? Theothersecurity firm?” I clip, having to close my eyes for a moment. Not believing what I'm hearing.

“If someone’s after my dog, Mister Slade. I need protection. For my family, I mean. And I won't have some… pardon me for saying so, but some brute of a man anywhere near my daughter. It just wouldn’t be right,” he gasps, astonished by the instant attitude I’m broadcasting.

“Your…dog…” I echo back. Scanning the note again, wondering if maybe I missed something obvious or maybe hit my head on something on the way in.

‘I’m coming for your little bitch and I’m going to breed from her…

Going to make you pay in a way you could never afford until now.’

Since I got the call. Since I got here not long ago, I assumed this was a security detail for a person, not a dog.

I groan to myself, fighting the urge to crumple the note and stuff it in his mouth before storming out. If there's one thing I won't tolerate, it's people who waste my time.

“I’m the wall between whoever’s trying to get at my clients,Mr. Shulton,” I remind him in a severe tone, but it's water off a duck’s back to him as he snorts a scoff.

“I guard people,not dogs.And I fly solo, so if I need extra hands,I’llbe the one bringing them not you-”

“Daddy? Dad- Oh! I didn't know you were with someone,” a young, feminine voice chimes. Ringing like a bell, filling my senses with something that makes me feel giddy for a moment. As if the whole world just stopped. The scent of something delicate and sweet. Something precious fills the air and I struggle to stay focused. I'm instantly finding the source of my ongoing distraction since I got here too.

My eyes trace past Shulton, hungry for the source of a sound that gives me a primal rush of blood straight to my groin. My animal instincts alert and attentive in a split second.

She’s perfect. And in an instant, I know she’s what I sensed the minute I arrived.

“Stacey, I thought I said to stay upstairs… This is-” Shulton sighs before clearing his throat. “This is Mr. Slade. He was just leaving,” he says firmly, obviously having made his mind up that I’m not the man he wants for the job after all.

But I’m not going anywhere. Not without a little more information about Stacey here first. That feeling I had on the way in? It’s her alright. And at close range, it’s like a nuclear blast.

A man just doesn't walk away from something like this. He sees it for what it really is… A sign. His future. Destiny.

The most perfect girl alive just walked in the room for the first time in my life, so naturally, I’m speechless. Struck dumb by justhowperfect she is. A pulsing heat at the front of my jeans making me stifle a groan. My only instinct is to toss her over my shoulder and take her back upstairs like her old man says but for a very different reason.

My mind and body wanting to do more than just guard her instead of some dog. Guard her from any other man even getting within spitting distance of her. And only because I know I have to have her for myself. All of her, and right fucking now.

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