by M. Malone
“He’s going to be your primary contact, provided that Miss Livingston agrees.” Jonas gave Hailey a look that I didn’t understand.
But it must have meant something because she sighed and then nodded.
“Okay, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have someone watching my back.”
Noah looked satisfied. “We’re very discreet. Our goal is to help you maintain your lifestyle and typical routine with as few interruptions as possible. Ideally, you won’t even notice we’re there.”
“Let’s just get this over with.” She picked up her mug and walked back into the kitchen.
Mr. Livingston looked apologetic. “Sorry. My daughter doesn’t think all of this security is necessary.”
I wondered how long it would take for the man to realize that his daughter’s reluctance was about more than just having security in general. But I couldn’t ask too many questions. Airing our dirty laundry wasn’t going to help anyone and would only draw attention away from the reason they were there.
And just like that, everything inside me went ice cold. My shock at seeing Hailey again had blinded me to the most obvious question. Why was she here?
What had happened that would cause her to need security?
5
Hailey
I knew what was happening. It was a panic attack. The booming heartbeat in my skull, the short rapid breath, the headache looming just behind my eyes, and the faint dizziness. I was having a panic attack over a man.
Not just any man. That man. What the hell was he doing here? Why was he here? After all these years, why did he have to just reappear without any warning?
If only I’d known and been better prepared, I could have, I don’t know, girded my loins. But there he was, looking just as gorgeous as before. He looked older now. No, older wasn’t quite it. Kind of like he’d filled out a little bit more to become… Well, he’d become a man.
Oh, he was a man then.
All kinds of a man. Hell, he’d been the only marker I really had for what a man was. But there was something about him now, something even more self-assured. That insanely strong jaw. Those pure blue eyes, ice blue, I’d always called them. That pale blond hair marking him every bit the Viking. With his enormous height, the idiot looked like Thor.
How was I supposed to resist Thor? It was like my inner diva finally woke up, and she was starting to have feelings.
No time for feelings. Shut it down. That man left you alone in a hotel room after what you thought was the hottest weekend of your life.
Which it technically was because I’d never had another experience like it.
God, I needed to get it together. Deep breaths, in and out. Everything would be fine. My father would handle things with Blake Security. After I walked out, obviously he’d see that we weren’t suited, he would find me someone else, and I would never have to see Oskar Mueller again.
What are the odds?
By the time my father made it back down to the car, I was calmer. My heart rate had returned to normal. I was less panicky, less dizzy too. I knew what a little distance from Oskar Mueller could do for a girl.
I expected my father to ask me a whole slew of questions on the way back to the office but… nothing. Instead, he chatted amicably about the Miriam perfume and kept me talking about last night’s opening. I could tell he was dancing around the topic. He wanted Miriam to be mine alone.
And it was. It was my baby. It was the first perfume I had conceptualized, done the research on, and picked the scents for completely by myself. I’d also done all the marketing for it. It was mine, with zero input from anyone else.
I was proud of it. I was also completely terrified. I needed everything to be perfect. Having a random violent stalker was not conducive to that.
Stop jumping to conclusions. You don’t have a random violent stalker.
Oh yeah? What do you call the guy who tried to grab you on the street?
Okay, admittedly, security might be a good idea. It was a rational choice and option. I really couldn’t argue that. But I didn’t want anyone who was going to interfere in my life. I wanted someone who was going to blend into the background. Obviously, since Blake Security hadn’t worked out, we’d have to find someone else.
Which was fine.
Are you sure it’s fine? Or do you want to go back and ask Oskar where the fuck he went?
There had been an irrational, childish part of me that had wanted to smack that insanely chiseled jaw and scream about where the hell he’d gone, how he could have left me. There was that childish part of me that wanted to hurt him as much as he’d hurt me. I wanted him to pay for all the lonely nights I’d spent wondering what I did wrong.
That part of me had all types of vengeance planned for Oskar Mueller.
But rational me prevailed. I was never going to see him again. So there was that. And what the hell was he doing in New York anyway? Wasn’t he from Vegas or something?
Be honest, you didn’t know much about each other.
That was true, so I’d marked him as a moment of temporary insanity and moved on. I could bury this. I’d survived for years without thinking about him.
When we returned to the office, Dad walked me to mine. He wanted to get a gander at Miriam. I’d been keeping him away up until now, but having his opinion certainly wouldn’t hurt.
When we reached my office, I stopped abruptly. The door was open.
I paused. Had someone broken in?
But I didn’t need to worry about that. No one had broken in. It was just my brother, Evan, sitting at my desk.
When he saw me and Dad, he threw his hands up. “Seriously? Dad, we had a meeting.”
My father frowned. “Evan, didn’t you get my messages? I left them with your assistant. There was an incident at the boutique last night, so I took Hailey to meet a security company.”
Evan’s gaze shifted. “What do you mean, incident?”
Evan had all the markers of concern: furrowed brow, lips pressed into a firm line, hands on his hips, in the defensive, territorial position. He was pissed. But was it that someone had tried to hurt me or that I was with Dad? I hated that it was even a question, but hey, truth was truth.
“Yeah, I don’t know what it was about. Maybe it was about Miriam. Or maybe something else, but they didn’t get anything.”
“Are you fucking serious?”
I sighed and then slid behind my desk, moving him aside gently. When he wasn’t looking, I quickly adjusted the pens that he always unsorted so that they were back in color-coded order. I straightened my notebook, moved the tissue box where it belonged, and cringed at the colorful paper clips that were now disorganized.
I’d have to fix that one later.
“And yes, I was serious. Someone tried to grab me outside the boutique.”
His eyes went wide. “You’re fucking serious.”
“I swear to God, Evan, who would make a joke about this?”
My father was much calmer, as he always was. “Evan, I’m sorry I missed our meeting. We can meet now.”
Evan threw his hands up. “Dad, I’m not that much of a prick that when something happened to Hailey, I don’t care.”
Dad and I exchanged a quick glance. We were both thinking the same thing. Aren’t you though?
Evan apparently caught Dad’s expression and shook his head. “Fine, whatever. You know what? I don’t want to meet with you anyway. I had a great idea, but clearly, you don’t want to hear it.” And then he stormed out.
Dad called out after him, “Evan, come back.” But my brother was in no mood.
“Dad, you should go after him.”
My father frowned as if he wasn’t sure what the right solution was.
“Dad, he’s upset. We can talk about Miriam later.”
“Are you sure, baby?”
“Yes. Go fix Evan.”
I had to watch my father go after my brother. I sighed at the inevitable familiarity of it all. This, too, was something I knew wel
l. Evan never felt like he was being seen, and then my parents would have to chase after him. And well, there wasn’t much that I could do about it. He was my brother, and I actually didn’t want him upset, because I did love him.
Yeah, but where does that leave you?
It left me where it always did. All alone, with no idea how things had gone so wrong.
Oskar
This was not part of the plan.
I had been very clear with Noah that assigning me to her was going to be a bad idea, especially after the way we left things and the way she pretended that she barely knew me in the office.
Luckily, Rafe or Matthias—hell, anybody else—hadn’t seen that. Otherwise, I would never hear the end of it. Never. When it came to doling out shit, I preferred to be on the giving end of things. Though it was probably only a matter of time before Jonas let that little bombshell drop.
I ran my hands through my hair. Whether she wanted security or not, she needed it. Noah said there had been a threat to her life. Someone had grabbed her. Just that knowledge made me want to get some wet work training from Matthias.
News flash, dumbass: you don’t know her.
Wasn’t that the truth? I’d left her to protect her from the shit in my past that was headed her away. And clearly, she was pissed off about it, which she should be. What I’d done was shitty. And it was even shittier that I had to do it.
The guy she met in Vegas was all carefree and fun. Yeah, that was me. But there had been this whole other side I hadn’t told her anything about.
News flash, dumbass: you don’t generally have flings when your father is the forensic accountant for dangerous criminals the world over, and you’re his protégée possibly even better than the old man himself. Every now and again, those criminal elements got a wee bit ticked off because they thought they should have more money than they really did. After all, it wasn’t my fault they spent all their money on hookers and cocaine.
But no, I thought I had been protecting her. And I had been. But now she was back in my life like a tsunami, and I had no idea what to do.
I heard the familiar clip clop of her direct stride. A smile tugged at my lips as I remembered that long-ago Vegas night when I’d seen her. There was no coyness about her, no fluff. Just this extreme femininity paired with cold efficiency. I loved the dichotomy, and I couldn’t help but stare at her. There was something so soft and utterly feminine about her, about the way she approached things. All brain, all rational thinking. And here she was again. The woman I’d thought was just a marker. A blip in my life.
She was back, and it burned to see her again. It bore a hole in the center of my chest that I knew I wouldn’t be able to wish away. She was searing her way through my inner organs and I didn’t have a chance.
She was none too pleased to see me. “What the hell are you doing at my office?”
“Well, you see, butterfly, this is how it works. Some idiot with a grudge to bear against your father or your company, tries to hurt you. Me, big bad security Viking guy, makes them go away in a very painful manner so they won’t be able to repeat the experience. That’s how it works.”
She lifted a brow. “I didn’t approve this.”
I grinned. “That’s the joy of this whole thing. You see, you don’t need to approve it. I’ve been paid, so I’m not going away.” Also, there’s no way I was letting her go away when I knew someone was trying to hurt her.
So much for not wanting the assignment.
“I assumed that my father would see that Blake Security wasn’t a good fit.”
I shrugged. “Guess not. I’m here. So how we’re going to do this is, I’ve already taken a good look at your office arrangement here. I’m going to follow you home, check out your loft, and see what security measures and adjustments we need to make.”
She lifted a brow. “The hell you are. I wasn’t warned about this. I need time.”
“I’m sorry. You don’t have time. You think you had time last night when that guy tried to grab you off the fucking street?”
Anger seeped into my tone. I didn’t mean for it to, but I was pissed off that someone had his hands all over her. And she had the nerve to be arguing about who was watching her ass right now.
She swallowed hard, and as she marched to the door, I heard her mutter, “I don’t need some huge Viking asshole following me everywhere.”
I grinned. Yeah, still Hailey. She didn’t swear much, but when she did, it was all under her breath. Not like she was apologizing for it, but because she knew she wasn’t supposed to. But she still had to give voice to her feelings, so she always muttered it right under her breath. And half the time, if you weren’t listening, you would miss it.
Stop it. This is not the Hailey memory lane, yellow brick road shit. You don’t get to revisit this. Do your job.
I cleared my throat. When we got to the parking garage, Tyse stepped out of his car. He was double parked close to Hailey’s VIP parking spot.
“Hailey, this is Tyse. He’s going to follow us to your place and handle a perimeter search of your apartment building.”
She slid a glance to Tyse and had a smile for him. “Nice to meet you. But honestly, this seems excessive. Already, I don’t like it. And we weren’t supposed to hire Blake Security anyway. I had no idea this was going to happen today.”
“Yeah well, it’s happening.”
I could tell she wanted to say something, but instead, she walked to her car and plopped into the front seat with all the petulance of a three-year-old. Then she angrily punched the ignition key in the car. The sleek Mercedes hummed to life, and she slammed the door.
Tyse lifted his brows and chuckled under his breath. “Oh, I see you made an impression. It’s weird, because women usually love you.”
I shrugged. “This one does too. She just doesn’t remember.”
Tyse’s brow furrowed, but I wasn’t in the mood to answer. Instead, I slid into the passenger’s seat of her car. The last thing I needed was to remember everything about her, because I had a job to do here.
And the hardest part of it was going to be keeping my fucking hands off of Hailey Livingston.
6
Hailey
First observation: Oskar Mueller was still melt-your-panties gorgeous. Second observation: He was still annoying. He had this way of crawling under your skin and worming his way in.
I still remembered the night I met him. He’d been annoyingly persistent. Not pushy. Just subtly charming. I’d first been stunned by his good looks and wondered if he was, in fact, talking to me. But then I’d sort of felt compelled to talk to him. He was just enough of a tease to make me curious. And before I knew it, there he was under my skin and I was following him all over Las Vegas, acting like a crazy person.
And also, boning. Much boning.
My tummy squeezed. God, when was the last time I’d boned someone? Hell, kissed someone, felt special? Had someone’s full attention like that?
You really don’t want the answer to that.
As gorgeous as he was, I was annoyed that he was poking through my things. I knew what he was doing. He was trying to see if I was the same. He kept touching things, like candles and little silver frames. Adjusting things just a smidge.
It’s fine. I do not need to fix it. It’s totally fine. I will fix it in the morning. Even better, I will show him that what he’s doing is not working. Because I don’t need to—
Oh, fuck it, I did. I stood, following behind him and adjusting everything so it was back in the right place.
At the other bookcase, he stopped and turned to face me, the laugh making the corners of his lips twitch. “Your place is still perfect, butterfly.”
I huffed, ignoring him. I hated that nickname.
You love that nickname.
“Do you want a drink?” I stalked away to the kitchen. Maybe if I could make myself a drink, I would feel better.
“Nope. I’m on duty.”
I whipped around, and he was right f
reaking behind me.
“You move entirely too quietly for someone so big.”
He grinned like an idiot. “You’ve said that before.”
“You know what? Can we just stop this whole walk-down--memory lane thing? I don’t want to.”
“You know what? It’s not like this is a walk in the park for me either. I’m doing my job.”
“Then do your job. Stop trying to… I don’t know, get to me.”
He lifted a brow and grinned. And swear to God, one of my ovaries exploded.
“So, I’m getting to you?”
His smirk was all swagger and charm and pure drop your panties, set them on fire, and spread your legs kind of sexy.
“You’re impossible.” I whipped back around and then tripped over his freaking shoes, right on the edge of my living room.
It all happened so quickly. I put my arms out to attempt a forward fall-break, which I’d never been very good at in self-defense class.
But as it turned out, I didn’t need to remember my self-defense classes after all. His strong arm wrapped around me, pulling me back against him. Before I knew what was happening, I was in the strong bands of Oskar’s arms, and my body was pressed against his, and… Jesus Christ, I didn’t know what it was, but his scent didn’t bother me. He was wearing a cologne, but it was so subtle. It mixed with his natural scent, smelling like ocean breezes and something smoky and delicious that made me want to take a bite and—
“Stop it.”
He stared down at me. “What do you mean?”
“You’re looking at me like I’m dessert.”
His gaze skipped down to my lips again. “That’s because I’ve been a good boy eating all my vegetables. And I fucking missed you.”
His lips slanted over mine, and the shot of pure lust into my system weakened my knees. That was the only explanation for it, because when his tongue slid over mine, God help me, I moaned. I was being a complete moron. I didn’t know him. And he was kissing me expertly, I might add.
