by Lisa Kessler
Tera’s grip on his hand tightened. “I hope you didn’t come all the way to Crystal City to insult me and my boyfriend.”
Doris swiped at the air. “Oh, save me the dramatics, Tera. I’ve been working my ass off networking on your behalf. You should be falling all over yourself to thank me after all the crap you’ve put me through.”
Tera’s face flushed with color, and her hand began to sweat. He was definitely missing some important information about this mother-daughter relationship.
He expected Tera to go on the attack, but she didn’t. Instead, her voice softened. “What networking?”
“I’m glad you asked.” Doris flicked her attention his way. “This doesn’t concern you, Gavin.”
“If Tera doesn’t want me here, then she’ll ask me leave.” He rolled his shoulders back. “Until then, I’m not going anywhere.”
Doris narrowed her eyes at her daughter. “And you accuse me of being controlling.”
Tera looked up at him, and he wished he could read her mind. They hadn’t discussed the threat against her yet, but she’d mentioned having a restraining order against this woman. Had her mother beaten her?
He cleared his throat. “We were actually on our way out. Maybe you should call Tera later.”
“I would if she didn’t keep her number locked away in Fort Knox.” She plucked her cell out of her handbag. “What’s your number, baby? I’ll call you and we can talk…alone.”
“I can never remember it.” Tera glanced his way with an apologetic shrug. “You should take Gavin’s number. We’re always together anyway.”
Her mother’s groan made it plain she wasn’t happy, but Gavin gave her his number and quickly added, “We better get going before we miss our reservation.” He nodded to her mother. “Nice to meet you, Doris.”
“Can’t say it’s been mutual,” she grumbled. She reached out to pat Tera’s arm, but Tera shimmied in closer to Gavin, avoiding her touch. Doris didn’t seem to notice. “I’ll call you soon, baby girl. Remember, I only want what’s best for you.”
Tera turned and started hustling around the back of the building, bringing him with her. Gavin checked over his shoulder as Doris slammed her car door. “She’s leaving.”
Tera heaved a sigh of relief and slid her hand free of his. “Thank the gods.” She shook her head, lifting her gaze to look at him. “Sorry about all that. If I give her my number, the calls will never stop until I submit to whatever her new obsession might be, and if she found out I hired a bodyguard, she’d be off-the-charts manic to find out why.”
“Tell you what… How about we grab some dinner and you can fill me in on the threats against you, including those from your mother.”
Her dance bag was in a heap where she dropped it before she lost her lunch. He bent to grab it, but she beat him to it. She straightened up, sliding the strap over her shoulder with a shy smile. “Do you buy dinner for all your clients?”
He chuckled. “I’ll expense it.”
“In that case”—her eyes sparkled in the yellow lights of the parking lot—“Dinner sounds great.”
CHAPTER 2
Tera sat baffled in the passenger seat of Gavin’s black SUV. The surprise visit from her mom had her equilibrium off for sure, but her mom had already left the property when Tera had agreed to dinner with her new bodyguard. What was she thinking? There was a reason she was the human vessel for the Muse of Dance and not the Muse of Witty Banter. Talking was not her strong suit. She only recently had started reaching out and talking to a few of her muse sisters. What was she going to talk about with this stranger?
A stranger who just held her hair back while she threw up.
She suppressed a groan. She’d never had motion sickness before. She had no trouble doing piqué turns at light speed all the way across a stage without getting dizzy, but when she’d asked Gavin to hide her from her mother… Tera honestly couldn’t say what had happened. One second, they had been in front of the dance studio, and the next second, they had been around back. He’d moved so fast it was inhuman. Or maybe it had just seemed that way. The sudden wave of nausea could have been triggered by seeing her mother for the first time in three years.
With Gavin concentrating on the road, she glanced his way. He was probably only a year or two older than her, but his dark hair was already peppered with silver. His tanned skin implied he spent plenty of time outdoors, and his muscular build indicated that he probably worked out a lot, too.
They drove in silence until he pulled into the parking lot of an Italian restaurant. “Are you always this quiet?” he asked.
“No,” she lied, though she wished it were true. That had to count for something. “Just a little shaken up after seeing my mom.”
He found a space and parked. “Is she the one I’m protecting you from?”
Tera took her phone and wallet out of her dance bag and reached for her door. “Honest answer? I don’t know.”
That wasn’t the whole truth. It wasn’t like she could tell him that Terpsichore, the Muse of Dance, was alive and well inside her soul any more than she could tell him that she and her fellow muses were almost positive that Kronos, the leader of the Titans, was loose in Crystal City and looking to get even with them after they had killed his mistress, Philyra.
Yeah. Less was definitely more in this situation. And maybe she wouldn’t need Gavin for very long. After all, most of her muse sisters had found their Guardians—men marked by the gods to protect the daughters of Zeus. Maybe Tera’s Guardian would show up, and she could let Gavin get back to protecting rock stars or something.
Once they were seated at a table in a dimly lit corner, Gavin scanned the menu. “As I mentioned before,” he started, keeping his voice low, “I’m going to need to beef up your security system at the dance studio and your home. And I have to see the threats you’ve already received so I understand what we’re dealing with.”
She looked at the list of pastas, trying to come up with a better answer to his question than Immortals could be hunting me. “Two of my sisters were murdered. Beyond that, there haven’t been any other specific threats. Nate wanted me to hire you because I’m the only one of our group who lives alone.”
“I’m sorry about your sisters. Do you have more siblings in town? Do they have problems with your mother, too?”
Tera almost choked on her water as she shook her head. “No. I’m an only child.” Her palms started sweating at her slip. Muse sisters were something she couldn’t explain to her bodyguard. “They’re not my blood sisters. Close friends. We’re like sisters.”
“I see.” Gavin nodded. “And since you’re the only one in your group living alone, Nate thinks you’re the easiest mark.”
“I guess so.” She swallowed loudly.
The waitress came over and took their orders. Tera passed on the pasta and went for a salad; she’d smell Gavin’s instead. Seeing her mom tonight had her anxiety on red alert, and old habits clawed their way forward. Sometimes the only way she could control her life was to ration the food she put in her mouth. She’d never been officially diagnosed with an eating disorder, but at the height of her mom’s mind-fuckery, Tera was a seventeen-year-old who had wasted away to ninety-eight pounds.
She gave the waitress her menu and unfolded her napkin. Anything to keep her hands busy. When she finally risked a peek over at Gavin, his full attention was on her. Heat flushed her cheeks. “I can’t possibly have lettuce in my teeth. We haven’t eaten yet.”
He chuckled, treating her to a rugged smile. Her heart fluttered unexpectedly.
“Nothing’s in your teeth. I’m just waiting for some pushback to my suggested changes. Most people who hire bodyguards think we’re some kind of action heroes guarding their house at all hours, but it’s actually much more intrusive than that.”
“I’ll go along with whatever you think is best.” She took a sip of her ice water. “My students have a dance recital coming up in three weeks, and my good friend Erica is getting
married on the beach the week after that.” She lifted her gaze to his face. “I’d prefer to be alive for both of those events.”
His deep laugh rattled the cage around her heart. “Nate warned me you were a little shy. He failed to mention you’re funny.”
She shrugged, setting her glass back on the table. “I guess the countless hours of therapy are paying off.” The waitress delivered their food, and Tera poked at her salad. “Tell me something?”
“Sure.” He took a bite of lasagna. It smelled so damned good.
“Why would you be willing to take a bullet for me?” She broke eye contact, focusing on her food again. “We just met, and if I can afford you, then you’re not charging enough.”
He set his fork on his plate, drawing her attention back to his face. His shoulders tensed as his gaze locked on her eyes. “First off, I’m good enough that I’ve never been shot. Second, my goal is to continue that streak. Would I step into a bullet to save you? Yeah. But my plan is to keep anyone from ever getting a chance to fire.”
“But if it came to it, you’d lay down your life for a virtual stranger?” She poked her food with a shrug. “That’s the part I don’t get.”
“Because I don’t have a dance recital or a wedding to attend.” His lips curved into a smile that was anything but happy. “My work is my life. I don’t have any loose ends. Whenever fate decides it’s my time, I won’t have any regrets.”
But his eyes told a different story. She’d seen that expression in the mirror staring back at her—that emptiness and exhaustion.
It all had changed for her when she found her muse sisters here in Crystal City, though. They were working together to reopen Les Neuf Soeurs, or the Theater of the Muses, where they would inspire humanity to move forward in the arts and sciences. It gave her life a purpose she sorely needed.
She stabbed her fork into the salad, searching for something to say. Thankfully, Gavin beat her to it.
“Why’d you leave New York for Crystal City?” he asked. “Aren’t most of the big dance companies on the East Coast?”
Again, she struggled to figure out how to answer. She couldn’t tell him about the recurring dreams of the condemned theater and the statues of the Greek muses that had started to plague her in college, or the way she’d thought she was losing her mind until she had discovered the Muses Anonymous, LLC website. Through e-mail correspondence with Polly, the Muse of Harmony and Hymns, Tera had come to believe that maybe her dreams weren’t a sign of insanity and might instead be an awakening. Polly had given Tera the strength to escape her mother and relocate across the country.
Now Polly was dead.
Tera blinked. He’d already met her mother; that was enough drama for today. She refused to start bawling into her salad. “I needed to get away from my mother. California was as far as I could get.”
It was basically true.
The rest of the meal was spent in silence, but it didn’t seem to make Gavin uncomfortable. He didn’t make a move to force conversation, and eventually, she relaxed enough to finish her dinner. He paid the check and walked her out.
Once they were safe inside the SUV, he took his phone out and put her address into his contacts. “If we agreed to work together, I was planning to keep watch at your place tonight and then work on the security system tomorrow.”
“All right.” But it was far from all right. She glanced out her window, struggling to keep her breathing even. Shit. No man had ever stayed overnight at her place. Her home and her dance studio were her only refuges from the world, and now someone was breaching her solitude.
She might never sleep again.
Her hands tingled, which led to her pulse thrumming. Her racing heartbeat triggered an onslaught of unsettling thoughts she couldn’t silence. Oh crap.
“You all right over there?”
Gavin’s deep voice interrupted her swelling anxiety attack. She rubbed her sweaty palms on her pants. “Just feeling a bit anxious. I’ve got some Ativan at home. I’ll be fine.”
Google directed him to her place, giving her ample time for her inner self-talk to spiral out of control into panic. What if she passed out right here?
He cleared his throat, his eyes glued to the road. “The docs in the military used to tell us to talk about it out loud.” He made a right turn. “Takes some of the power out of the monster when you tell someone.”
She glanced his way. “You have anxiety attacks?”
He found a spot on the street and parked. “Doesn’t everyone at some point?”
“You’re a bodyguard.” She raised a brow, a smile creeping up on her as she remembered his earlier comment about superheroes. “Aren’t you supposed to be Superman or something?”
He opened his door with a chuckle. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m just a lowly human.”
She got out of the SUV, and he came around to her side carrying a black duffel bag. “I forgot about your car. Will it be safe in the lot overnight?”
“Yeah.” She nodded, then glanced down at his stuff. “You’re really going to spend the night at my place?”
“Until we upgrade your security system, yes. I won’t be offended if you want to call Nate and have him vouch for me.”
She tightened her hold on her dance bag. “He already told me you’re the best, and if Nate trusts you, then I do, too.” She led him to the courtyard gate and punched in the code. “I’m just not very good at it yet.”
He stood right behind her, making it impossible not to notice his scent. It wasn’t a pricey cologne, just a natural musky sandalwood, masculine and fresh, and the way he was eyeing every potential exit made him seem all-business. Hell, she felt safer already.
“Does everyone in the condo complex have the same gate code?”
“Good question.” She shrugged. “I have no idea.”
He met her eyes. “When you have company over, do you give them a guest code or yours?”
She chuckled, shaking her head. “You’re the first ‘guest’ I’ve ever had over, so it hasn’t been an issue.”
He didn’t smile or comment about her lack of socializing. “Tomorrow I’ll check with the management office and find out. If everyone’s using the same code and passing it along to friends and service people, then this gate is hardly a safety measure.”
She unlocked her front door and started to open it when Gavin caught her wrist. The simple touch had her body’s full attention. Weird. She’d been a dancer her entire life, which meant plenty of touching the opposite sex, but somehow it was completely different with Gavin.
“Let me check it out first.” He pulled a small handgun from a shoulder holster she hadn’t realized he’d been wearing, and then he slipped inside.
Seeing him in action made the danger terrifyingly real. She shook out her hands, struggling to talk herself down. Slow, deep breaths.
“All clear.” He poked his head out of the door, and she jumped. Gavin frowned. “Are you okay?”
“Just a little overwhelmed, I guess.” Tera walked by him, and he took her bag for her. “Thanks.” She went through the living area and directly into the kitchen. “I didn’t know you had a gun on this whole time.”
“I have a concealed-carry permit.” He followed her and sat on a stool at the bar. “I don’t go to work without it.”
She opened the cupboard by the sink and grabbed her prescription bottle. Since she started going to therapy, she rarely needed the Ativan, but she was grateful to have a bottle handy. Between the ambush by her mother and finding out her bodyguard was sleeping under her roof, her anxiety was like an insatiable beast.
“Is that you?” He pointed to a framed picture on the wall.
“Yeah. That was from Swan Lake at the Met a couple years ago right before I moved to California.” She swallowed a single pill. She’d made contact with Polly through emails during college and plotted her escape to California. But when she started landing roles with major companies on the east coast, she kept delaying her trip. Swan Lak
e had truly been her swan song. She fled to the airport after the final curtain and never looked back. She hadn’t danced center stage since.
“Wow.” He glanced her way. “Isn’t that every ballerina’s dream?”
“It was definitely my mother’s.” She went to the sink and rinsed out her glass.
He rested his forearm on the counter. “We don’t have to get into this tonight, but I’m going to need some background on your mother. I can help you file another restraining order if it comes to that.”
Tera sighed, crossing her arms. “It just surprised me to see her here. I hope she won’t cross the line again. I don’t want to go to the police again, but I will I have to.”
“All right.” He got up and grabbed his bag. “I think I’ll stay here on the couch. That way I have a clear view of the front door.”
“Okay.” Her limbs were getting heavy, the anxiety drowning quickly under the artificial peace of the Ativan. “I’m going up to bed.”
“All right.” He glanced over his shoulder at her. “What time do you need to get out of here tomorrow?”
“My first class isn’t until one o’clock tomorrow, but I like to get to the studio by eleven thirty so I can warm up before the girls get there.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He took out a small pouch of toiletries. “Is there a bathroom down here?”
“Yeah.” She pointed to the half bath. “But if you need a shower, you’ll have to come upstairs.”
“I’ll grab one in the morning.” He paused, turning to face her. “How are you feeling?”
“Exhausted.” A smile crept up on her. “Thank you for earlier with my mom. I appreciate you playing along.”
“Not a problem.” He crossed the room to her. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
She looked up into his eyes. “I’m not used to having an anchor in the storm.”
“You have one now.” He scanned her face, and for a second, she thought he might wrap his arms around her, but it didn’t happen. “You should get some rest.”
