Brazen

by M. Malone

  I whimpered as my body melted into his. God, I just wanted to —

  NO! No, you don’t. Remember? He left you all alone in a hotel room.

  That was just the splash of cold water I needed. I wrenched my lips from his and shoved my hands against his chest.

  “No. We are not doing this. My father has backed me into a corner about accepting security, and I can see that I need it. He’s worried. Fine. But I don’t trust you. I going to ask for someone else, so don’t you go getting comfortable.” I shoved harder against his chest, but he didn’t move.

  Only then did it occur to me that I was really going to need for him to listen to me, because there was no way I was getting out of Oskar’s arms unless he was letting me.

  Finally, he slowly eased back, his jaw tight. “As you wish, butterfly.”

  There was so much sadness and want in his eyes, but I was not falling for it, because I had fallen for it once before.

  I bent and picked up his shoe. “This is why I like things in their place. I almost broke my neck falling over these big boats.”

  He grinned at me. “Well, you know what they say about men with big feet.”

  I was so tempted to throw it at him the shoe twitched in my hand.

  I forced myself to take a deep breath and then I forced another one. I took the fury that coursed through my blood it and dismantled it. I asked myself the question, what will you get if you throw the shoe at his head, besides satisfaction? When I came up empty, I bent down and picked up the other shoe and then walked them over to the sideboard.

  I opened one of the drawers that opened at an angle. “This is where the shoes go. This is the guest drawer.”

  His bark of laughter was fresh. “Wait, you have a special drawer marked for guests so they can put their shoes away?”

  “Yes, it’s perfectly rational. No one wants shoes everywhere. This is New York. Closet space is at a minimum.”

  He grinned at me. “God, some things never change.”

  I leveled a direct glare at him. “But some things are irrevocably broken, and you can’t go back.”

  Then I marched down the hall to my bedroom and quietly closed the door.

  Oskar

  In hindsight, maybe kissing her wasn’t the best idea I’d ever had because now there would be no getting her taste off my tongue.

  I remembered just how long it had taken… not to forget her, but to shove her back to the far corners of my mind where I didn’t think about her every minute, then every hour, then every day. Finally, it became weekly, then monthly. Eventually, the fleeting thoughts about her, complete with pangs of regret, didn’t filter into my consciousness regularly, just every once in a while, with a slice of heat so intense it made me want to do something to forget.

  But now I’d be starting from ground zero again. Yeah, way to go.

  When she went to shower, I finished checking the rest of the condo. When I’d met her, her hotel room had been nice, but then, so was mine. I hadn’t really stopped to think and ask what exactly she did that she could have a penthouse suite. But now, as I pieced together the little parts of her past I hadn’t known at the time, it all made sense.

  Her loft was just as nice as that Las Vegas penthouse, complete with stellar views of Central Park. Crisp, contemporary design aside, her place was pristine. Everything had its place. Contemporary furnishings, nothing too frilly, but still exquisite.

  I might look like a Viking, but I appreciated the finer things in life. After all, I’d been taught to appreciate them.

  You’ve also been taught to steal them.

  Nope, not me anymore. And just because I had seen Hailey again didn’t mean I needed to revert to my old self. New rule: no more touching her. Ever. Besides, touching her would mean I wanted to do more. I was hardly the permanent guy, which was something that Hailey needed.

  What if you could be the permanent guy?

  Even if I could, she would never trust me. So, there was that.

  The door to her bedroom opened, and Hailey came out in soft looking pajamas. There should have been nothing sexy about the boxy cut, but still, it made me flash back to that weekend. Every time she’d tried to put on clothes, I’d taken them from her and hid them. So she’d been forced to walk around naked, hair wild, with bite marks all over her gorgeous, brown skin. I swallowed hard and shoved that thought aside.

  “Do you need anything?” she asked.

  “No, I’m good.”

  “I didn’t expect you. The guest room is currently full of samples. I don’t even have a bed in there. No one stays here. I’ll get someone to bring a bed later for whoever ends up staying. You’ll have to take the couch for now.”

  As she averted her gaze, I had to smile at that. “Oh, I’ll take the couch for now, unless you invite me into your bed.”

  Her eyes went wide, and gone was the shyness, replaced with hissing and spitting fire. Oh yeah, I liked that better.

  But then, as quickly as she sparked, the flame went out, the cool façade back into place. “I probably won’t see you in the morning. I’m sure you’ll be replaced by then.”

  I grinned at her. I went over and tossed myself on the couch. Damn, this thing was comfortable. And it was deep enough for my big body. “Sure thing. It was good to see you, butterfly.”

  “Hailey. My name is Hailey. You know my name.”

  I shook my head. “Nah, I prefer butterfly.”

  “You are impossible. God, I would be so happy not to see your smug face again.”

  “Are you sure about that? Because something tells me you’ll miss me.” I deliberately flashed my widest grin at her. The one that usually stunned people into submission.

  I wasn’t a complete idiot. I knew what I looked like. When I wasn’t smiling, I looked as foreboding as any giant Viking probably would. But when I smiled, it always had the most interesting effect on people, women especially. I hadn’t really understood it until I was about eleven or so. Every time I’d smiled, my mother had just shaken her head and then given me what I wanted.

  When I got a little older and way more interested in girls, all it really took was a smile. Then I’d grown a lot bigger, and that smile became even handier.

  Unfortunately, the smile didn’t exactly have the desired effect on Hailey. It just made her scowl.

  Damn it. Was it broken?

  I smiled even harder. She just rolled her eyes and stomped back to her room.

  There was no way in hell I was letting any other guy replace me in her detail. She could request a replacement all she wanted, but she was stuck with me.

  She just didn’t know it yet.

  7

  Hailey

  As soon as the alarm on my phone went off, I immediately reached over and tapped the screen to silence it. With a groan, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I wasn’t sure why I’d even bothered staying in bed this long.

  It wasn’t like I’d gotten much sleep.

  There was a big, huge problem sleeping out in my living room, and I wouldn’t rest until I’d corrected it.

  Before I could do that, I needed to get myself together for the day. It was still too early to call Noah Blake and demand a replacement, although part of me wanted to disturb him after he’d messed up my peaceful life by sticking me with Oskar in the first place. Not that he was aware of that.

  That was the problem with secrets. They could really screw up a good thing, and you couldn’t even explain to anyone what the problem was.

  I took a steaming hot shower, allowing the water to loosen the muscles that were tense after a long, sleepless night. Once I was out and dry, I took my hair down from its bun and fluffed the curls out. My skincare routine and makeup application were always the same, so I had it down to an exact science. Minimal foundation, mascara and perfectly sculpted brows. One swipe of my signature lipstick in a neutral mauve color and I was set.

  It had been about an hour since I’d woken up, so I figured if Noah Blake wasn’t awake yet, he was about to be.
My cell phone didn’t have his number programmed in, but I found it easily in the packet of information he’d provided me and my father with yesterday. The phone rang twice before a deep voice answered.

  “Yes, Mr. Blake. This is Hailey Livingston.”

  “Miss Livingston. I trust everything is all right since the last check-in Oskar posted was an all-clear.”

  “Um, I didn’t know anything about that. But no, everything is not all right. I need another…. person. Bodyguard. Whatever.”

  He paused for a beat, and I got the sense that I’d surprised him. Something I was sure didn’t happen often.

  “If Oskar has offended you in some way, I apologize. His jokes can be a bit off-color sometimes. I can have a talk with him.”

  Oh crap, now I felt bad. Despite not wanting Oskar anywhere near me, I genuinely was not trying to get him into trouble. Just because he was big, annoying, and frustratingly handsome, it didn’t mean that I wanted to interfere in his career.

  “He hasn’t offended me. It’s nothing like that.” I sighed. There really wasn’t any way to explain why I didn’t want Oskar around unless I was willing to divulge our past. Clearly, Oskar hadn’t told his boss that he’d picked me up on my birthday in Vegas and gotten me drunk and horny. If he hadn’t said anything, then I wasn’t going to either.

  “It’s more a personality-difference thing. Isn’t there anyone else? Perhaps someone quiet and older? Much older.”

  Noah cleared his throat. “We’re short-staffed right now so unfortunately, no. Let’s give it a few days. Maybe things will work out by then.”

  I wasn’t sure what he meant by that. Maybe we’d have assurances that I wasn’t in any danger, or maybe I’d have murdered Oskar in his sleep by then?

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  After we hung up, I took my time putting my earrings on. Just because Oskar was hanging around didn’t mean that I had to acknowledge him. He was here for me, not the other way around. I would just ignore him and pretend he wasn’t there.

  When I walked out into the living room, Oskar turned around and my heart jumped into my throat. He wasn’t wearing anything but a pair of sweatpants that hung scandalously low on his lean hips.

  Stop staring.

  My brain ignored that advice and continued a visual exploration of the ropy muscles that defined his chest and arms. How was it possible for any man to be that shredded? It really wasn’t fair. No one could be expected to be strong under these circumstances.

  Then I noticed what he was doing.

  “You ate the last of my bread!”

  He shrugged and looked down at the gluten-free toast in his hand. “I was hungry. What’s so special about this bread anyway, other than the fact that it tastes like salty cardboard?”

  I put my fingers to my temples.

  “Look, we’re stuck together for now. But I plan to call Noah soon, and then you’ll be out on your ass.”

  Silently, I hoped that Noah hadn’t already told him that I’d tried to get him replaced. Hopefully his boss wouldn’t want to tell him that I wanted someone else. If he found out that Noah already rejected my request for a replacement, he’d be insufferable.

  “Let’s go.”

  He chewed loudly. “I’m not done with my salty cardboard.”

  “You are not going to interfere in my routine. You work for me.”

  Oskar winked. “I don’t mind taking direction, butterfly. But then, you already knew that.”

  I spun around and stalked back to my room. The sounds of him moving around proved that at least he was taking me at my word and getting ready. Being late was completely unprofessional, and I worked hard to set a good example for the staff. Although having a man who looked like Oskar following me around at work probably wasn’t setting the best example.

  My father clearly hadn’t thought this through. It wasn’t like people wouldn’t notice that I suddenly had a twenty-four-hour babysitter. It was more than a little strange and would probably draw more attention to me rather than less. I groaned.

  Just thinking about spending the next eight hours cooped up in an office with Oskar was giving me claustrophobia. Maybe I could claim to be sick and just stay home. But as soon as I had the thought, I rejected it. He was not going to mess with my routine.

  He’d messed with my emotions enough over the past few years.

  When I opened the door and stepped out into the living room, I did a double take. Oskar was dressed in slim, black trousers that emphasized how muscular his legs were. His shirt wasn’t collared but one of those jersey-knit types that hugged the body like a glove.

  Bad idea. This was all a bad idea.

  “That was fast. I expected to have to wait for you to shower.”

  He grinned. “Already showered before you even woke up, butterfly.”

  His insistence on using that nickname, even after I’d told him not to, made me grit my teeth. But telling him off again would only give him satisfaction, so I resolved to ignore him. I would think of him like one of those annoying little gnats that you couldn’t catch so you pretended you couldn’t see it.

  “To the office, right?”

  I nodded and then handed over my keys. His brow furrowed, but he accepted them in that massive hand of his.

  “What’s this?”

  “Keys to the car. Since we’re stuck together, I guess you’re my chauffeur now.” Then I turned and walked out without waiting to see if he was following.

  I heard a door slam behind me before Oskar stepped into the elevator next to me.

  “You know, this doesn’t have to be difficult. I’m here to protect you, not piss you off.”

  “Pissing me off seems to be a natural by-product of protecting me.”

  “Sorry about that. I promised that this would be easy, and it will be. All you have to do is keep me in the loop about what you’re doing so I can make sure it’s safe, and then I’ll stay out of your way.”

  When he put it like that, I felt a little petty. He was just trying to do his job, the same way I was. It wasn’t his fault that we’d been thrown together, and despite how things ended between us after the weekend that we’d been together, we’d had a really good time. What more had I really been expecting? That the random guy I met in Vegas would be my one true love? That we’d ride off into the sunset on a white horse?

  Even if Oskar hadn’t snuck out the way he did, we still would have gone our separate ways afterward. So maybe he did me a favor. He’d rocked my world and then taught me why it was best not to trust random strangers. It was a life lesson that many people didn’t learn until too late.

  “You’re right. We can be professional, do our jobs, and stay out of each other’s way. I’ll have you linked-in to my calendar so you’ll know my schedule. And once my father is assured that I’m safe, he’ll see that none of this is really necessary anyway. So really, it’s just a temporary situation.”

  But as we rode the elevator down to the parking garage, I had the sinking feeling that nothing about this situation was temporary.

  Oskar

  After we reached the office, Hailey wasted no time settling in. Her secretary, an older woman with graying hair styled up into a high bun, brought her coffee and a small bowl of fruit, which she ate while staring at her computer.

  There were two chairs in front of her desk, but my promise had been to be invisible, so I retreated to the couch on the other side of her office. She had a nice little setup, the coffee table and couch combination making it feel more like a small apartment than a sterile office. Since Hailey was busy, I took the time to read my own emails.

  Her assistant had already sent the calendar link, so I was able to review Hailey’s upcoming schedule. After just looking at the first few days, I was tired on her behalf.

  The woman in question stood and stretched before walking over to the windows. I watched, enjoying the view of her long legs in her pencil skirt and the wild fall of her hair over her shoulders. The past few years had been good to her. Wh
en we’d met, she’d been a beautiful girl who seemed a little unsure of herself with an endearing touch of vulnerability, and now she’d become a confident woman who could go toe-to-toe with anyone who got in her way.

  Something I admired and found sexy as hell.

  Hailey put one hand on the wall and then leaned back, stretching her back out. But the move also thrust her ass in the air, showcasing the full, round globes and the slender curve of her waist.

  Yanking my eyes back to my phone, I tried to discreetly adjust the boner in my pants. Maybe these slacks had been a bad choice. I’d wanted to dress up a little to fit the environment, but I doubted having a tentpole in my pants all day would give off the conservative, corporate vibe.

  That was how it went all day. Hailey ignored me and did a million small things that made all of the blood leave my brain. Meanwhile, I suffered in silence while checking in with Matthias on how her background check was going and praying for a miracle. Or a cold shower.

  Ironically, the more I ignored Hailey, the more she seemed to want my attention. After her little yoga stretch this morning, I’d been determined to focus on anything but how she looked. Once I’d done some preliminary research on every event she had booked over the next few weeks, I looked up to notice her staring while sucking on the end of an ink pen.

  When I didn’t respond to that, Hailey got up and decided she needed to take a nap on the couch. The couch that I was currently sitting on. I didn’t move fast enough, so she ended up almost lying on top of me. I probably left skid marks on the ground with how quickly I got up then. Hailey just huffed and then rolled over to sleep.

  Rolled over and pointed her ass at me, I should say. Or at least that’s what my dick saw.

  Fuck.

  I pulled out my phone to text Noah. It was time to find out who was relieving me, because I couldn’t take any more. That was when I saw I already had a text message from Dylan.