All He Wants

by Melanie Shawn

  Yes, she was independent. Yes, she was headstrong. Yes, she didn’t trust easily. But he’d never pegged her for being stupid. Even though they rarely spent any time together away from Charlie or the gym, up until today, until this morning, Billy had truly believed that if she’d ever been in trouble she would call him. She had in the past and he’d shown up, no questions asked.

  So what was different now?

  “There’s no need to bother Seth.” Maxi’s voice was strained. “This entire thing is totally unnecessary. No one needs to be assigned to me.”

  “Like I said,” Jessie reiterated calmly. “I can see what Seth can do, but until then, you will not be alone and Billy is on your detail.”

  Seth, who happened to be Jessie’s cousin, had started Elite Protection, a small division of Titan Security, a few years ago after receiving a medical discharge from the Marines. As word of mouth about the company spread the business had taken off faster than Seth could keep up with the demand. The small division had grown exponentially.

  Billy had joined the Elite team a year and a half ago after walking away from the sport that had given him everything—before it took away his ability to walk, speak and function normally. In the time since he’d been with them they’d hired a dozen guys and were still overloaded. Truth be told, they needed more bodies but Seth only hired the best of the best, men he trusted implicitly. Billy couldn’t blame him for that.

  Not that it mattered in this case. Even if Seth could shuffle things around and put someone else on Maxi, there was no way in hell that was going to happen. Billy was going to be the point person on this.

  “I don’t need a babysitter.” Maxi’s tone was professional but curt. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed her fingers curl around the arms of the chair she was sitting in and her knuckles turn white.

  He almost felt sorry for her. Almost. Billy knew that she was working overtime to maintain her composure on the outside, but inside she was fuming. Maxine Rizzo’s personal anthem was “Independent Woman.” In the ten-plus years that he’d known her, he’d never witnessed her ask anyone for anything, and saying that she kept things close to the vest was as big of an understatement as describing New York City traffic as slightly congested. The running joke at the gym was that her private life was part of the witness protection program. No one ever knew who she was dating, how long she was dating them, or if it was serious.

  It drove Billy crazy.

  Jessie folded her hands on her desk. “This is not about you needing a babysitter. This is about your safety. Your security system has been upgraded and Billy will be with you all weekend.—”

  “All weekend?!” Maxi’s voice raised several octaves.

  Ignoring Maxi’s outburst, Jessie pressed on, “Then Ace will be here Monday. He’ll be at every Ricco Kingsley event as previously scheduled. The only change will be that he will now be working in tandem with Billy. They will be coordinating their efforts.”

  Billy was happy that he’d have some back-up. He didn’t know Ace at all, other than the stats he’d heard through the grapevine. Andrew Charles Elliot IV, aka Ace. Age thirty-two. Born and raised in Savannah, Georgia. Decorated war hero. He served in the Special Forces for five years in Seth’s unit and just recently retired from the Marines. Seth had recruited him as soon as he heard that he was getting out. Seth trusted him, which meant Billy did too.

  Maxi cleared her throat. “I know I sound like a broken record, but I don’t need anyone with me. The upgraded security system will be sufficient.”

  “From this point on, you will have a security detail until the issue is resolved to the satisfaction of both the Chicago PD, and SPC,” Jessie stated firmly.

  “No.” Maxi’s head shook back and forth, causing the intoxicatingly sensual scent that he’d forever associated with her to assault him once again. “That’s…insane. If you want someone following me around here, at work, or even at events that’s fine. But after hours, during my personal time? That’s unacceptable.”

  “Your protection is not up for negotiation.” Jessie’s well-manicured fingers slid an employee handbook across her large mahogany desk. She flipped the cover open to an earmarked page. “Article C, paragraph three states that as an employee of SPC, you will comply with any and all safety procedures deemed necessary.”

  Most people didn’t do well with ultimatums, but the woman seated beside him was especially stubborn when presented with one. And this one was a doozy. Jessie had pretty much just thrown down the gauntlet. If Maxi wanted to remain employed at SPC, which was her dream job (literally—he remembered that she’d put this job on a vision board as soon as she’d graduated college) she would have to play nice and agree to twenty-four hour protection.

  He heard Maxi inhale through her nose slowly as her fingers gripped the arm of the chair even tighter. A mental image of her face on one of his favorite cartoon characters, Yosemite Sam, popped in his head, complete with smoke coming out of her ears as she turned bright red. Her temper was slow to build, but once it reached critical mass…it was best to take cover.

  “This is a gross overreaction to several totally unrelated incidents. I refuse to agree to this. I have no problem having a new security system installed in my condo and even beefed-up security at events. As far as the rest, while I’m on SPC grounds, I will go along with being babysat. But if I’m not on the clock, I don’t see how it is ethical to enforce any kind of mandatory requirements for protection.” He could hear the desperation in her voice as she grabbed at straws.

  “I understand your frustration, but try to put yourself in my shoes.” Jessie’s tone softened to a melodic, nurturing lull. “What would you do if the tables were turned? What would you do if the same exact ‘unrelated incidents’ had taken place with someone on your team? Or even more, your friend?”

  It surprised Billy every time he saw the gentler side of Jessie. The woman was all business, all the time. When his best friend and light-heavyweight world champion Zach Courtland had met Jessie, Billy’s first thought had been that she was cold and detached. An ice princess. Actually, his first thought had been that she had a nice ass, but he’d kept that observation to himself.

  Over the last couple years that Zach and Jessie had been married, Billy had learned he was wrong about his initial assessment. Of her cold personality, not her backside. He’d been spot on with that one. Again, he kept that opinion to himself.

  “Let’s look at the facts.” Jessie said calmly. “Six weeks ago your car was vandalized in the parking garage of your apartment building. Four weeks ago a disturbing package was delivered here, to the office, with your name on it. That package contained two dead birds. Two weeks ago, your email was hacked and pictures of you in the shower at your gym were sent to everyone in the building. And this morning, your apartment was broken into.”

  Billy knew all of those things. He’d heard Seth say them and seen the facts in black and white. But hearing them again, out loud, sent white-hot anger surging through him. Part of him knew that he had to remain calm. Losing his shit wouldn’t help anyone, especially Maxi. But right now he wanted nothing more than to find this sick fuck and kill him. Not hurt him. Not scare him. Not turn him over to the police. He wanted to end his life.

  Jessie rested her forearms on her desk and leaned forward. “The probability of these incidents not being related is slim to none. We’ve dealt with issues like this before when fans of our clients have mistaken a publicist for a romantic interest. We have a protocol.”

  “Look.” Maxi scooted to the edge of her seat and closed the employee handbook. Her back straightened as she placed her hands flat on her thighs. “As much as I appreciate everyone’s concern, I am more than capable of dealing with this. Alone. I will even agree to check in with the security company every hour, on the hour, if that’s what it takes. All I plan on doing this weekend is staying home, catching up on work and doing some light reading. I won’t go anywhere by myself. If I need to leave the apartment—which, thanks
to Seth is now more secure than Fort Knox—I’ll ask my neighbor Jana to come with me. It will be like the buddy system in elementary school.”

  After his grandma had passed away when he was ten, someone had given him a pamphlet on the five stages of grief. He recognized the stages in Maxi. Her grief was not attached to a person, her loss was her independence. She’d already flown through denial, anger, and was now attempting to bargain. All that was left was depression and then finally acceptance.

  He waited for Jessie to lower the boom and shoot down Maxi’s ridiculous proposal. Instead, the ice princess crossed her arms and reclined against her high-backed chair, looking to be in deep thought.

  Shit.

  They might never get to those final two stages because, to his surprise, Jessie actually looked to be considering Maxi’s idiotic pitch.

  For the first time since he’d entered the office, he turned his head, and his eyes met the gaze of the woman who’d stolen his heart so many years ago. A jolt shot through him as their stares locked. Like every time they made eye contact, a spark ignited between them. He knew she felt it, too. She didn’t admit it…but she felt it.

  Whether she liked it or not, or SPC required it or not, this was happening. Now that he knew what had been going on, there was no scenario that she would be spending the weekend “alone.” It would be easier if Maxi would agree to go along with the plan, or if Jessie would insist she did. But, since neither woman seemed to be doing those things, Billy had no qualms about bringing out the big guns.

  “Maybe we should ask your dad what he thinks.” His voice was raw, gravelly and held more emotion than he’d meant to reveal.

  * * *

  Maxi flinched at Billy’s statement. “He doesn’t know anything about this.”

  The words he spoke in his too-deep, too-sexy voice washed over her and were as shocking to her system as the ice water from the Ice Bucket Challenge that had been dumped on her head to raise money and awareness for ALS. The reaction wasn’t because she actually thought he would say anything to her dad. Billy Marshall was a lot of things. Frustrating. Annoying. Cocky. Arrogant. Sexy. Funny. Smart. Strong. Just…a lot of things. But a snitch wasn’t one of them. She didn’t believe he would actually go behind her back and tell her dad what had been going on. He might make her tell him, but he wouldn’t.

  No, that wasn’t the reason the words hit her with the sting of freezing H2O. That unpleasant response was because they came out of the mouth of the only man that had ever tempted her to break her rule—the rule that had been born from trauma to keep her safe. Those words came from the man that she fantasized about day and night for so many years she’d lost count. Besides her dad, the only other man in this world she’d ever been able to rely on. To trust. And the one that she’d spent years keeping as far a distance from as possible.

  Hurt and fear filled his voice. She could see that he was visibly upset. She knew that part of the reason for that was because she hadn’t told him what was going on. Over the past six weeks she’d picked up the phone to do just that more times than she could count. There were so many moments when she’d seen him and the entire sordid tale almost spilled from her lips, but she’d kept it to herself instead. Because even more than the hurt, she recognized the fear in his voice. That, and sheer self-preservation had been the two reasons she hadn’t told him. The last thing she would ever want to do is cause him any pain, suffering, or worry. He’d had enough of that in his life. Personally and professionally.

  As she stared into his honey-colored eyes, she tried to disguise the way his stare made her feel. Every time he looked at her, it was like they were the only two people in the world. Everything around them disappeared.

  Most of the time she had to fight from melting into the sensation it caused. But today there was an urgency that kept her from losing herself in his stare. A sharpness, a determination that told her there was no scenario in this world in which he was going to let her be alone this weekend. Whether or not she was contractually obligated to having a security detail didn’t really matter. Billy Marshall was not going to leave her side until this was resolved. She knew that as surely as she knew that the sky was blue and rain was wet.

  Which meant he was going to be at her condo. They would be alone. As much as she liked to pride herself on the ability to ignore his constant flirting, his charm, his subtle and not so subtle innuendoes, the walls she’d built were only so strong, and she feared that large doses of uninterrupted time with Billy Marshall would send them crumbling into a heap.

  And then where would she be?

  But what was the alternative? There was no way that she could possibly convince him to back off…and did she even want that? Did she really want to be alone with everything that was going on?

  Her mind raced as she thought of everything that had led to her being in this situation, and it sent a cold chill racing down her spine.

  Of course her knee-jerk reaction had been to minimize the circumstances. In the back of her mind, she’d been holding onto the notion that there was only one person that was truly a threat to her, and he was still behind bars. At least, she was ninety-nine percent sure that he was. She still hadn’t heard back from the prison. But if it wasn’t him, she might need to face the fact that whoever this was might actually mean business.

  “If he doesn’t already know,” Jessie Sloan’s voice snapped her out of her inner dialog, “he will after Detective Grover speaks to him.”

  “What? Why?” Maxi had spent several hours this morning with the detective assigned to her case. He hadn’t said anything about contacting her father. “Why would Detective Grover speak to my dad?”

  “I’m sure that he’ll want to interview everyone that’s close to you.” Jessie spoke as if it was just common sense.

  And maybe it was. Maybe she should’ve drawn the same conclusion. Maybe if she could think straight, she would have.

  “I have to go,” she stood. Her dad couldn’t find out about all of this from a police officer. She had to be the one to tell him.

  A large, warm hand wrapped around her wrist and she sucked in a breath at the ripple of tingles that Billy’s roughened fingertips caused. Her mind knew that the contact was innocent, her body however had all kinds of other ideas about his touch.

  “Charlie’s up at Whisper Lake with The Colonel until Sunday night. They’re fishing. I talked to him this morning when I landed. He’s planning on being home for Sunday dinner. We can bring him up to speed on everything then. It will be better if he hears it in person. From both of us. We can let him know that the police want to talk to him. I spoke to Grover on my drive into the city and he’s agreed to hold off contacting your dad until Monday.”

  The deep timbre of his voice vibrated through her body. It took a moment for his baritone words to register in her consciousness. Once they did, she sat back down. Her legs were shaking. She had no idea if her wobbly limbs were a side effect of the emotional roller coaster that she’d been strapped to for the past six weeks, or if they were due to the relief that Billy knew, and that Billy was being Billy and taking control. She wasn’t alone. This wasn’t all on her shoulders anymore.

  He’d thought of how and when they would tell her dad. He’d known where her dad was. He’d spoken to the detective.

  This was not going to help her prince, knight-in-shining-armor fantasies.

  “That’s right.” Jessie shifted in her chair. “I remember Sophie mentioning that Grandpa J was going fishing this weekend.”

  Grandpa J, aka The Colonel, was Jessie’s cousin-in-law’s actual blood relative, but he’d been adopted by everyone in Harper’s Crossing, the small town where Jessie was from. It also happened to be the current residence of one Billy Marshall. Maxi had met Grandpa J on several occasions, and over the past couple of years he and her dad had struck up quite the friendship. They golfed. Fished. Argued about sports.

  “Right, I forgot…Dad texted me last night about the trip.” Normally, Maxi wouldn’t fo
rget details like that but with all the stress she’d been under, it seemed that her brain was processing information like sand sifting through a strainer. Some granules stayed and some slipped away.

  When the text had come in, she’d been so happy to hear that her dad was taking a weekend to relax and fish. He worked too hard, and lately she’d been noticing that he was getting tired, really tired, after the smallest amount of physical exertion.

  “Great.” Jessie’s tone broadcasted finality as she stood. “I’m glad that’s settled. Maxi, why don’t you go ahead and take the rest of the day off. We’ll see you back here Monday morning. Call me if you need anything.”

  The last part of her boss’s statement was directed at both Billy and Maxi.

  On still shaky legs, Maxi pushed to stand and Billy did the same.

  “I’ll stop by the event before—”

  “No need.” Jessie cut her off. “You have a good team that is handling everything. I’ve been in constant contact with them and everything is running smoothly. Besides, by the time you make it across town, the only people there would be the cleanup crew.”

  Over? What? How could that be? She was sure it was still before noon. Maxi looked down at her wrist watch. Everything since she’d opened the door to find her condo ransacked was a blur. The police showing up. Her being interviewed by three separate officers. Going down to the station to give her official statement, then finally coming into work, and going directly into this meeting.

  It was almost three p.m.

  Shit.

  The listening luncheon was over. Her mind started racing with how she would explain her absence to Ricco. He’d been surrounded by yes people since he was fourteen and hit unprecedented internet fame with his cover of The Jackson Five’s “I’ll Be There.” Now at twenty, he’d spent years having his every whim catered to. Maxi knew he wouldn’t be happy about the fact that she wasn’t there today.

  As if reading her mind Jessie stood taller. “He’s one client. If he doesn’t like the work our firm does, then he can move on. We were fine before you signed him, we’ll be fine after. One client does not define us.”