“I’m sorry—can you just repeat that, please?”
“I said—I’m thinking about hiring Colt for our security team. He’s perfect for the job. He is a former army ranger. I’d feel a lot safer if I knew someone like him was watching out for us.” I blinked rapidly, still trying to wrap my mind around what was happening. “When I found out he was back in the States, I insisted he come meet with me so I could offer him a job,” Dad continued. “Wouldn’t it be great for him to join our team?”
The telephone from my dad’s office rang just in time, saving me from having to respond. “Be right back,” he said. He winked at me. “In the meantime, Natalie, make Colt feel at home. Convince him to work for us!”
When Dad turned his back and darted down the hall, Colt looked right at me and smirked, and then he winked, mimicking my father.
I continued to sit, dumbfounded. The book I’d been attempting to study slid out of my lap and onto the floor.
“So we meet again,” Colt said, moving farther into the library. With his hands nonchalantly in his pockets, he looked around, taking in the scenery. “Nice place you and your father have here. Big…I bet you know all sorts of ways to sneak boys in without Daddy knowing, don’t you?”
Colt was standing right in front of me now, looking down and continuing to give me that cocky and over-confident smirk of his. He was just as good-looking as ever, causing me to remember that I was in yoga clothes and my hair tied sloppily on top of my head, I didn’t look at all like the vixen he had seen upon first meeting me.
“Maybe you’ll give me a private tour once your daddy is done showing me around?” he asked.
Annoyance rose through my shock at the blatantly sexual insinuations Colt dared to mak
e while my father was literally around the corner.
“Excuse me?” I said, incredulously.
Colt’s expression turned into one of mock-innocence. “What?”
“You did this on purpose, didn’t you? Coming here. You knew I was here.”
Colt gave a low whistle. “Mighty high opinion you have of yourself.”
My face flushed again. “I-I didn’t mean it like that, I—”
“Relax,” Colt interrupted. “You should have a high opinion of yourself. I certainly do.” His eyes roamed my body, as if he could see it right through my old t-shirt and sweatpants. I swallowed and suppressed a shudder, not wanting him to know just how uncomfortable—and hot—he was making me. Once again, memories of that passionate night we’d had together started drifting through my mind in ways I wished it wouldn’t. But there was no use denying it—I hadn’t had a night like that since leaving Colt back in Turkey, and my body was dying to re-experience it.
And based on the way he stared at me, he knew it.
I shook my head. “This is unacceptable. If you’re going to be working for my father, our relationship has to be purely professional, nothing else. Got it?”
“We’ll see about that,” he said, still grinning.
God, his confidence was infuriating! Just as a retort was about to spring from my lips, my father returned. “How’s it going in here?” he asked, smiling.
“Great,” Colt said, his devilish grin instantly turning polite.
“Excellent,” Dad said. “So I hope that means you’ll accept my offer. Did Natalie tell you how much we both appreciate what you did for us back in Turkey?”
“She surely did,” Colt said, a barely concealed laugh evident in his voice—or at least to my ears. My father didn’t appear to notice anything unusual though. Colt cleared his throat. “She was actually very welcoming and accommodating to me back in Turkey. I’m glad to have met you guys back there. I guess it was fate, huh?”
I pressed my lips together and gripped the edge of the table before me, not at all liking Colt’s word choices about me being welcoming and accommodating. The nerve of him. I couldn’t believe he dared to be so brash in front of my father.
However, my dad remained utterly oblivious. He smiled wider. “Wonderful. Natalie means everything to me. Ever since her mom died, it’s just been me and her.”
“Well, sir,” Colt extended his hand to my father, “now you have me too.”
Dad positively beamed. He clutched Colt’s hand enthusiastically and gave another jovial laugh. “That’s just what I want to hear! Welcome to the team, son!”
I swallowed, knowing that trouble was clearly on the horizon.
The guy who gave me the best sex of my life was going to be our new security detail.
FUCK.