Chapter 7
“Ican’t believe you’ve never seen this show,” Dax commented as the credits rolled on the third episode of the first season of Game of Thrones.
Ginny stretched her hands over her head and yawned. “I can’t either. I’ve been meaning to watch it since it came out, but I never got around to it.”
After dinner he’d asked her what she’d wanted to do and without a beat of hesitation she’d answered watch a show on Netflix. As much as he wished that she’d meant she wanted to Netflix and Chill he knew that she actually wanted to watch Netflix and relax. When they started scrolling through the shows she’d asked about Game of Thrones. He told her it wasn’t available on that service but he had every season on DVD.
For the past three hours she’d been beside him on the couch, snuggled under a blanket. Capone was fast asleep between them. There were so many times he wanted to reach out and pull her up against him. He wanted to pull her onto his lap. He wanted to kiss her until the Starks and King Robert were the last things on her mind. He wanted to touch her and make love to her until winter wasn’t the only thing that was coming. But he couldn’t.
They now had a professional relationship. Even though he knew that bodyguards hooking up with their clients was as cliché as dudes hooking up with their nannies, he wasn’t going to go down that path. He had no plans to be the Costner to her Houston. Whether or not there was an imminent threat he wasn’t going to let personal feelings get in the way of his job.
“What do you think of it?” he asked as she stretched her legs out beside him.
“I love it.” She looked at the screen and her voice was infused with sincerity as she said, “And I can see why everyone was so pissed when they killed off Jon Snow. I would have been heartbroken if I had to wait months to find out if he was still alive or not.”
He chuckled but had to admit he didn’t like the fact that she kept sighing every time Jon Snow came on the screen. For a guy that had never felt jealous a day in his life, he wasn’t used to feeling that way over first his own dog and now a fictional character.
“Do you want to watch another one?” He had no idea what her schedule was like.
Normally he called it a night around eleven and was up at five a.m. But he knew that musicians sometimes kept odd hours. The night she’d come home with him after her performance they’d stayed up until four a.m.
Another yawn claimed her. “I’m supposed to meet Chase tomorrow at ten. I should probably get some sleep.”
Disappointment swept through him. Selfishly, he didn’t want their time together to be over.
“So what started the uptake in tabloid attention?” He needed to have all the details so that he was up to speed and had an idea of what they might be encountering. It was something that he’d planned on discussing with her tomorrow at breakfast, but he just wasn’t ready for this night to end.
“Ugh.” She let her head fall back against the couch. When she lifted it back up he could see frustration etched in her features. “Remember that I told you about my media relationship with Derek?”
Yeah. He remembered. It was the only thing that had stopped him from going crazy over the past few months when he kept seeing their photos splashed on the front page of every magazine.
He nodded.
“Well, Derek has been shooting a movie in Costa Rica and he was photographed with a topless girl on the beach in some very compromising positions. I was actually relieved when it happened. I’ve hated lying to the press. I mean even though I never commented, it’s basically lying by omission. So I told my manager, now ex manager, that I wanted to be done with it. I figured that it was the perfect out for me. I even drafted a statement saying that Derek and I had gone our separate ways. That the split was amicable and was due to our demanding schedules.
“But, instead of releasing the statement, Shane decided to fly Derek in to surprise me for my mom’s wedding and to photograph the reunion. He knew that Southern Living was there capturing the big day. I should have held my ground but I got blindsided so I went along with it. That was a week ago and since he flew back to finish shooting the media attention has been out of control.”
“I’m sorry.” He hated knowing that people followed her. That people were so desperate to get a photo or a quote that they basically stalked her.
“It’s fine.” She lifted her shoulder in a shrug. “I mean I was feeling a little bit like the walls were closing in on me, but that’s part of what made me come here. I had to take some control back. I sent my mom on the honeymoon. Fired my manager. I left my record label and the first call I made was to Chase. He said he was available and I packed my car and here I am.”
“How did Shane take you firing him?” He doubted the arrogant prick would handle it well.
“He’s called a few times. Told me what a big mistake I’m making and reminded me how much he’s done for me.” She sighed. “The thing is, he has. He’s been my manager for eight years and he’s done a lot for me. But I needed him to listen to me and respect my decisions. I think part of the reason that’s hard is because of how long we’ve worked together and how young I was when I signed with him. I think the label is the same way. They still think of me as a young teenager, but I’m not a kid anymore.”
“No. You’re not.” His voice sounded much deeper than he’d meant it to.
The dim light of the television danced over Ginny’s face and he watched as her lips parted. Her blue eyes were locked on his and her breathing was coming in shorter pants. As they stared at each other the charge between them was palpable. It was more than mere attraction. Attraction he could deal with. Attraction he could ignore. Attraction he could control.
This was like a magnetic force that he was powerless to resist pulling them together.
He wasn’t sure if he started moving first or if she did, but what he did know is they were slowly getting closer. Whether this was a good idea or not didn’t matter as his heart pounded in his chest. Just as her eyes closed and his dropped to her mouth they both flinched and moved away from each other. She turned her head, gagging and he closed his mouth hoping to ward off the toxic fumes.
“Oh my gosh.” She waved her hand in front of her face as she stood.
“Capone outside.”
“That was him?” She looked up in surprise.