by Nina Singh
“Nevertheless, we need to go over some ground rules.”
Ani crossed her arms over her chest. “What sort of ground rules?”
“You need to keep your phone on at all times, so that I can track it.”
She glared at him.
He continued, “Please forward me your password so that I can monitor your emails.”
Her jaw fell open. “Some of those messages are personal.”
“I’m sorry if this is uncomfortable for you. But some things are nonnegotiable.”
She visibly gritted her teeth.
“Furthermore, don’t make any sudden changes in plans. I need to know where you are and what you’re doing at all times.”
“You can’t be serious. The tour hasn’t even started yet.”
He ignored that. “Do you have any plans for the rest of the day? When do you leave to pick up your dog?”
“He’s getting dropped off here later by the day-care staff,” she answered. Adam could have sworn she hesitated before she answered. “Why?” She wanted to know.
“I told you. You’re not to go anywhere without letting me know exactly where you’re going and the timing.”
A tinge of red appeared on her cheeks. “This is preposterous. Please tell me my father and brother didn’t agree to any of this.”
“It just so happens they did.”
Before she could argue further, he made his way down the hall to her bedroom.
“Hey, wait a minute,” she protested behind him.
He halted in his tracks at the urgency in her voice. “Is there a problem?”
She brushed past him, rubbing against his shoulder in the process. A delicate flowery scent tickled his nostrils as she moved by. “I wasn’t exactly expecting company. Give me a chance to pick up some things.”
Adam leaned back against the wall. He felt off balance, out of sorts. This wasn’t how his usual gigs worked. Never before had he been assigned a VIP who didn’t want his protection. Not to mention, he’d been out of the field for the better part of two years. It was all throwing him off. Not at all how he liked to run his game. Even the smallest mistake could be too costly.
He should have asked her for permission before trying to enter her bedroom. She probably had all sorts of personal items lying about. After all, it was probably where she undressed.
He made certain to stop that train of thought completely in its tracks.
He entered the room when she gave him the okay moments later. The shades were pulled wide open here as well.
“Do you keep these blinds open mostly?”
Her mouth formed a tight thin line. “Only when I want natural sunlight. That’s their purpose after all, isn’t it?”
“At all times? What if you’re not dressed?”
Ani gasped.
“Did it ever occur to you that someone might be watching?”
“If you’re asking if I prance around the apartment naked with my shades wide open, the answer is no. Obviously.”
Adam bit out a curse. Again, he found himself redirecting the path of his thoughts. How utterly, shamefully unprofessional. What the hell was wrong with him? He’d convinced himself that he could handle this assignment because he owed it to his friend.
One thing was certain, he had to refocus and pull it together or he was bound to make a mistake. His new VIP was distracting him like none other before.
He knew firsthand and all too well exactly how costly distractions could be.
* * *
Ani watched Adam leave her apartment twenty minutes later and blew out a breath as she shut the door behind him. That had gone even worse than she’d anticipated.
He sure seemed to take up a lot of space. His mere presence in her living quarters had made her edgy and tense. She was too aware of all the pure masculinity he exuded. And when he strode into her bedroom, she’d wanted to kick herself for the wayward thoughts that had shot through her head like a mini movie. If someone had told her years ago that Adam Steele would be standing in the middle of her bedroom, she would have offered to sell them a bridge.
More was the pity, considering the frustrating reason for his presence.
She had to stop thinking of him like that. He was only a temporary fixture in her life for the next few weeks. For all the wrong reasons. Once her two-city performance tour ended, Adam would go back to being the unreachable, distant teenage crush from her past just as he’d been all along. Nothing more.
Well, he may think his responsibility toward her had already started. But he was wrong, as far as she was concerned. She hadn’t agreed to any of this. And she still had a few days of freedom left before the tour started and Adam became an unwanted presence in her daily life.
She hadn’t really lied to him earlier about her plans for the day. She’d simply answered only the question about having to leave to get her dog. That part of it was completely true. Snowball was due to be delivered to her later this evening by one of the doggy day-care staffers. As far as the rest of it, that really wasn’t any of his business. Not yet.
She waited several moments after he’d left before returning to her bedroom closet. She slipped off the summer dress and replaced it with her most comfortable pair of jeans and a soft cotton blouse. Pulling her hair up, she secured it in a large tortoise shell clip.
Then she sneaked out of her apartment.
* * *
Adam had just finished making some cursory notes outside about Ani’s block when he saw a familiar figure exit her building. He watched as she strode confidently to the street and hailed a cab.
What the...? It couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes since he’d left her apartment. Where exactly was she going?
Better question was, why hadn’t she mentioned her plans to leave?
Was this about a man? She’d been quite hesitant to answer his questions about dating. Perhaps she was going to meet someone right now. But why the secrecy?
Without hesitation, he jogged to his parked car and began to follow her. Every turn took them farther out of greater Dallas. Chic boutiques and swanky restaurants gradually gave way to boarded up buildings and graffiti brick walls. About four miles later, the cab came to a stop.
Adam pulled up behind them and parked his car as Ani exited out the passenger side of the taxi. When she noticed his presence, her surprise quickly collapsed into an expression of clear anger. She stomped her way over to where he stood next to his car.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
“I could ask you the same question. I thought you said you weren’t going anywhere the rest of the day.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “No. I said nothing of the kind.”
Adam pinched the bridge of his nose. Great. Now she was arguing semantics with him. The truth was, she’d deliberately misled him. “You were less than forthcoming.”
“Never mind that. Did you just secretly follow me?”
Adam couldn’t help a bristle of irritation. She had a lot of nerve stepping out on him like this and then acting as if she was the affronted party. “If it had been a secret, you wouldn’t have any idea I was here, sweetheart.”
The deep red flush of her cheeks deepened. “Don’t call me that!”
Her demand took his ire down a peg. She was right. It was highly unprofessional of him, past history or not. “We should talk about that, by the way,” he told her.
“About what, exactly?”
“How you didn’t even notice there was a car trailing you all that time. You need to be more aware of your surroundings.”
She countered with an exaggerated eye roll. “You had no right to follow me.”
“I beg to differ. What are you doing here, anyway?” He glanced up at the sign hanging above the doorway of the gray stone building they stood in front of.
Plan
o Street Youth Center.
“I hardly see how it’s any of your business. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
She turned on her heel but Adam stopped her departure with a gentle but firm grip on her elbow. She seared him with a look of outrage.
“Sorry, Ms. Terrance. Not so fast. You may think our association hasn’t started yet, but you’d be wrong. It started the moment I left your father’s office earlier today after signing a contract. Now please answer the question. What are you doing here?”
She tugged her arm free with so much force, Adam worried for a moment that she might actually topple backward. “See for yourself. If you must.” With that, she strode toward the entrance.
Adam released a deep breath and slowly counted to ten. Then he took a moment to pray for patience. He had to make sure to maintain an emotional distance here. The guilt would eat him alive if he failed in his duty yet again.
He followed her inside.
CHAPTER TWO
SHE JUST HAD to get through this trip.
Ani settled into the soft leather seat of the private jet they’d boarded moments before. Adam’s jet. He’d insisted they take his private aircraft to Paris rather than follow through with the travel plans the tour management company had made for her. Controlling to the last.
As if she didn’t have enough of that in her life.
How hard would it be? She would be plenty busy. Between rehearsing and performing, she had more than enough to keep her mind off her complicated feelings for the man accompanying her. He’d made her so angry, following her to the youth center three days ago. But then he’d sat there patiently for hours while she worked with the kids.
He’d driven her home afterward and mumbled what might be described as an apology, for upsetting her about being followed, explaining that he was only doing his job. He almost sounded conciliatory, regretful. It was a side of him she hadn’t really seen before nor expected to see.
Now, she tried not to turn and stare at him behind her. He sat at a round conference table with his crew. Two other men and two women. They appeared to be going over procedure with open blueprint plans of the concert hall spread out in front of them.
It was all so unnecessary. Much ado about nothing.
Moira, her manager and dear friend, approached, providing a much-needed distraction. “You should try to get some rest,” she suggested, sitting down in the leather seat next to her.
Like that was possible. Ani’s nerves were stretched much too thin thinking about her bodyguard. The fact that she had one still felt like a foreign notion.
“I’ll try,” she fibbed. “How’s Snowball?”
“Resting comfortably in his pen in the back. He seems very unexcited about his trip.” She waved a hand at their surroundings. “Not too shabby. This certainly beats flying commercial. Even if we would have been traveling first class. Your fella coming along seems to have its benefits.”
“He’s certainly not my fella, Moira. Just a friend of my overprotective and paranoid brother. The brother who thinks I’m in unacceptable peril and I need a big, strong crew of babysitters to accompany me on my first trip overseas.”
“Well, I’m not going to complain. I’m not sure why you are either.” Moira glanced behind them. “That’s a whole lot of handsome sitting in one spot.”
Ani shrugged. “I haven’t really noticed.”
Moira rolled her eyes. “That’s what I mean. You never notice. Men are staring at you all the time. And you won’t give anyone the time of day.”
“I don’t really have time to give. I would think my manager would appreciate such focus on my craft.”
Moira nodded. “Sure I do. But I don’t exactly want you to behave like a nun either. There’s more to life, you know. When was the last time you even went out on a date?”
Ani sighed. She wasn’t really in the mood to talk about her social life. Or lack thereof. It had been bad enough trying to ditch Adam’s questions when he’d been the one asking. “Let’s just say my last boyfriend wanted more than I was ready or willing to give.” She’d found herself gradually acquiescing to more and more of his requests and increasingly resenting him for it.
“I see,” Moira said, as if she hadn’t heard the story before. She glanced behind them once more. “But have you ever seen such a gorgeous group?”
One of the men looked up as if sensing Moira’s attention. They shared a smile. Moira’s cheeks turned pink. Ani had never seen the no-nonsense businesswoman flush before. This might be an interesting trip in more ways than one.
“I think you might need to go get some ice water from the minibar, Moira.”
The other woman fanned her face. “Not a bad idea. Can I get you anything?” she asked, standing.
“No, thanks. I’m good.”
That description was short-lived. Adam came to sit in the seat only moments after Moira had evacuated it. Would Ani’s heart ever stop missing a beat whenever the man approached? He was dressed casually yet professionally in a crisp black T-shirt and pressed khaki pants.
“Ready for takeoff?”
She wasn’t ready for any of this. It was hard enough to accept her new reality. She was actually a performing artist with an audience. All the years of hard work and training would finally amount to a career she might be proud of. But it was a demanding one. And now she had the complication of Adam Steele to contend with on top of it all.
“Not really. I’m also not so sure I’m ready for all the rest either,” she admitted, surprising herself somewhat. So far, she hadn’t actually discussed her anxiety about the mounting pressure of her career with anyone, not even Moira. No, the only way she’d even voiced any of it out loud was during one of the many imaginary conversations she still had with her mother before she began her warm-up whenever she practiced. “It’s all a bit scary,” she added.
He turned to face her, and for an insane moment, she thought he might actually reach out and touch her. But his hands stayed firmly by his side. “You can feel safe with me. I won’t let anyone get near you.”
He’d misunderstood. She hadn’t been referring to her so-called admirer. Maybe she was being naive about the potential for danger in that respect. But she was so used to Brant and her father blowing things out of proportion where her well-being was concerned.
“It’s not that. Not really. I guess I just never stopped to think how overwhelming all of this would feel. Not until it was too late to back out.”
Adam studied her face for several beats. “Listen, Ani. You deserve this,” he said, surprising her. “You deserve your success. I know you can handle it.”
Perhaps he did understand, after all.
* * *
He hadn’t meant to say all that.
Adam shifted in his seat and wondered why he’d said any of it. His words were too personal. He wasn’t here to be Ani’s friend—he was here to protect her. His only excuse was that he’d been reading about her over the past couple of days. She was an instant celebrity, totally unprepared for the sudden glare of the spotlight. In interview after interview, she mostly recounted how dreamlike her life had become, how out of place she felt in this new world she found herself in. She wasn’t exactly a pop star gracing the pages of music websites, but her pure raw talent and striking good looks had caught the attention of music lovers all over the world.
Another recurring theme in those interviews was how she wished her mother was still around to support her and to celebrate her success.
“Thank you for saying that,” she finally replied. “It helps to hear it.”
“You’re welcome.”
The air between them grew awkward. It behooved him to change the subject to less personal matters. “How long have you been volunteering?”
“At the youth center? About three or so years. I performed in a charity event for them, and afterward a lot of the kids came u
p to say how much they’d enjoyed my playing.”
“So you ended up volunteering to provide piano lessons.” It didn’t surprise him in the least. “That’s quite a gift you’re giving those kids.”
A genuine smile of affection graced her lips. “Those kids give just as much in return. Just watching their hard work and joy from learning to play enriches my life in so many ways.”
He wanted to tell her just how much she must mean to those kids. She probably had no clue. He’d spent hours and hours at just such a center as a kid himself. His mother had left when he was barely a teen, and with no father around, he’d been foisted off to live with his aunt and uncle at the age of thirteen. That was when he’d met Brant and all the other kids in that rural town just outside of Dallas, Texas. Most of them were friendly enough, but there were always the snobbish few who kept reminding him that he didn’t fit in.
And they were right. He’d never really belonged.
But there was no use in getting into all that with Ani. Again, it was much too personal. She was simply his job for the moment. Nothing more.
So why was he still sitting here next to her when he should be going over more details with his crew? Why did he want to spend the bulk of this flight in this chair chatting with her as they got reacquainted? It made no sense.
But he wanted to know what her life had been like in the years since he’d last seen her. How had the opportunity to play in Paris come about?
Why there was no significant other accompanying her on this trip?
It was a question that he had to eventually ask, from a professional standpoint. He needed to know if a past boyfriend might be behind those mysterious emails. But Adam had to admit his curiosity ran deeper than that. He hadn’t stopped thinking about her since the day in her father’s office.
That was completely irresponsible and unacceptable. Adam had way too much baggage for the likes of Ani Terrance. He had way too much baggage for anyone. She was a musical talent on the verge of a career most people could only dream about. And she’d already dealt with enough heartbreak and loss in her life.
