Chapter One
Caleb walked into the conference room at Security’s Inc., faced his partners, and scowled. He slapped a stack of papers onto the table, getting everyone’s attention.
“Why in the fuck do I have to take on this assignment?” he said with a growl.
Draven smirked. “Because you’re the only one free right now.”
Caleb bit back the urge to throw something at the smug son of a bitch.
“But I’m the worst one for the job. I’ll scare the teeny bopper, and I’m supposed to stay close to her. How can I protect her if she’s running from me?”
“I imagine you can run faster, so just catch her,” Kane said helpfully.
Caleb narrowed his eyes. “Just because you’re getting regular sex doesn’t mean you can’t go. It’s only for a few weeks.”
Kane nodded. “That’s right. It’s only for a few weeks, so you should be able not to be a dick for that long, right?”
Travis cleared his throat. “See how it goes for a week, and then if you absolutely can’t stand it, we’ll see what we can do.”
“You’ll do it if she hates me or vice versa?”
“No, I can’t leave Nia. I think the more of us that get into relationships, the more we have to think about just doing business in the area or finding employees or other partners to take some of the slack.”
Caleb grunted. “I, for one, love that idea. I hate not being able to sleep in my own bed.”
“All of us do,” Jesse said.
“Fine,” Caleb said. “I’m going to head out if you guys don’t have anything to talk about.”
Cesar raised his hand. “No, go on. Could you call in and tell us how it’s going in a few days?”
Several excruciating hours later, Caleb walked out of the Los Angeles airport, cursing a blue streak under his breath. Besides the plane not crashing, everything else had been fucked up.
He had to stand in line for two hours just to get on the damn plane. Then they had to wait another three hours for a new pilot because the other one got sick.
Caleb suspected he probably had the bottle flu, and flying a plane when you were drunk was something the passengers didn’t want you to do.
When he sat down, two kids sat in the seats next to him and chattered the whole time. If that wasn’t enough, they decided they wanted him to play. He finally pretended to go to sleep, then he actually did, and missed the snack and drink cart that went by.
The fact he hadn’t eaten at all that day made him even more irritable. To add to his torment, there was a baby in the back that cried the whole time, a couple that argued, a man who snored, and they had turbulence. One good thing was the kids thought it was fun instead of freaking out. If they had started screaming in fear, he didn’t know what he would have done.
When he finally got to the baggage claim, he had to wait again for close to an hour before the suitcases from the plane came out.
Outside the airport, he raised his hand to catch a cab, and since he was four inches over six feet, he stood out. He almost sighed in relief when a cab pulled up right away. Good, something had gone right finally.
A headache pounded in his head, feeling like drums banging away, when they reached their destination. He had thanked his lucky stars for getting a cab quickly, but he would have waited if he had known the driver was a fucking maniac who almost got them killed several times.
Disgusted, Caleb threw some dollar bills at the guy and got out with his suitcase. He stood outside on the sidewalk in front of a modern glass and steel building and looked way up. It was at least double the height of his own business.
He walked up to the security desk to check-in and got the gun they had for him. It made flying easier if he didn’t have to deal with a weapon at the airport.
“Hello, I’m Caleb Simmons checking in. I’m Miss Harper’s new bodyguard.” He showed them his identification.
Caleb saw the way the two security guys looked at each other and smiled.
“What?”
One of them smirked. “It’s just not an easy job. They’ve lost eight bodyguards for her already this year.”
Caleb sneered in disgust. “Fuck. I knew she was going to be a prima donna.”
The men laughed. “Oh, it’s not her. She’s a sweetheart. It’s her mother. She’s the mix of the Queen in Snow White and Drusilla.”
Caleb pinched the bridge of his nose. “Do the bodyguards walk, or does she fire them?”