The Big O Series

by M. S. Parker

  Heaving out a breath, I nodded then gestured to the waiting room where we currently stood. “This is where you can do your thing.” Pointing through the doorway, I added, “I work in there. Don’t interrupt.”

  He looked like he wanted to say something, and I paused, giving him a chance.

  But all he did was nod.

  “And as soon as I can get a hold of my father, you’re out of here,” I added, feeling like I needed to have some control over the situation.

  He just aimed that faint half-smile at me and said nothing.

  “You know, you’re allowed to speak on this job,” I said, trying to get some sort of reaction out of him.

  “I’ll speak when needed,” he responded, his tone level, like I hadn’t been needling him and being bitchy about it too.

  I knew I was being bitchy. I couldn’t help it – I was so pissed off at this stunt my father had pulled, I couldn’t see straight.

  But that didn’t mean I had to take it out on this guy.

  I opened my mouth, almost about to apologize, but he glanced down. I heard the faint vibration only a second before he pulled a phone from his pocket. With another one of those half smiles and a polite nod, he stepped over to the far side of the room to take the call.

  “I’ll just make myself scarce,” I muttered, shaking my head and turning on my heel. I needed more coffee. And maybe some chocolate.

  I ended up eating a candy bar for breakfast. I found it in my desk, needed the chocolate and decided to do the adult thing – eat the damn thing.

  Washing the sweet, gooey mess down with yet another cup of coffee ended up leaving me with a faintly upset stomach though. I could use something to balance out the caffeine and sugar, but a quick look at the time told me I didn’t have the luxury to run to the Starbucks that took up the corner space of the building where my office was located.

  My client was due here in ten minutes.

  And I was so not in the right frame of mind to handle her.

  Rachel Poole was one of my more established clients. She had been coming to see me for almost a year, and I had a feeling we’d keep up our relationship for some time.

  Rachel suffered from an addiction to sex, one that had caused her quite some trouble in her life. She was twenty-four and had already been treated for a sexually transmitted infection, plus she went through boyfriends like she was changing shoes.

  She’d come to see me after her then-boyfriend caught her in bed…with his sister.

  She came in, a glowing smile on her face as she took her seat. “Who is the hot guy at the door, doc? I’ve never seen so much as another soul in here, and now you’ve got a cutie-pie stationed outside.”

  Stationed seemed to be the right word.

  “He’s nobody you need to be concerned about, Rachel. Rest assured, your privacy is still one of my number one concerns.”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “I doubt you’ve got him there taking pictures of all your nutso clients so you can use them for some nefarious purpose.” She giggled as she stretched out long, curvy legs. “I just love it when I can casually work in a word like nefarious into a conversation.”

  Rachel loved to talk, and I’d long since set up a pattern where she got to use the first few minutes of the session to blurt out whatever was on her mind. If we didn’t do it now, it would happen later on in the session, so I might as well have some control over it.

  “Did you see his eyes? So pretty!” she said, pressing a hand to her chest, clearly still caught up with my bodyguard. “I bet he has dimples. He looks like the kind to have dimples when he smiles. Don’t you think?”

  I hadn’t thought about him much one way or the other – except to notice his eyes. Now I suspected I’d be looking for dimples because I had a weakness for them in guys. But I didn’t respond to Rachel’s comment directly. “Why don’t we get started?”

  She hadn’t had her full five minutes to ramble, but if she was going to spend them talking about Liam, I didn’t want to listen to it. He was taking up too much of my thoughts, anyway.

  “So, how have you been since we talked last?”

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you just say what you mean? Have I dragged anybody into a closet for a quickie…no.” She went on to list several other things she hadn’t done, and I gave her a few moments.

  Finally, though, I cut in politely. With Rachel, I had to do that – often – or I’d never get a word said. “Actually, what I meant was how have you been? Seriously. You mentioned a cute guy who’d moved into your building. Have you thought about asking him out?”

  She made a face. “I’ve thought about doing him, but…” Some of the light faded from her eyes, and she looked away. “I keep failing at the relationship thing, doc. I always screw it up.”

  “That was before you decided to try and get help,” I reminded her.

  “Sure, but have I changed?” She got up and paced over to look outside. “I mean, I still find myself thinking about getting laid when I’m supposed to be focused on the job. And it happens all the time.”

  The frustration in her voice called to me. “But you’re doing better.”

  “Am I?” She gave me a sad look. “I can’t even have a regular conversation with people without thinking how they are in the sack. I can’t go out to a club and relax and have a good time because I know what will end up happening.”

  “You aren’t having sexual thoughts about me,” I pointed out.

  She blinked, then made a face. “Gross. You’re like…well, you’re a therapist. I’m not that messed up.”

  I laughed. “But it goes to show you have regular conversations without sex getting in the way. You control those thoughts, Rachel.”

  “Sometimes I don’t feel like I control anything,” she said in that same soft, sad voice.

  “Let’s work on that,” I suggested.

  I heard a bright giggle coming from the waiting room and silently swore. I’d walked Rachel to the door as was my custom, but she’d asked if she could use the restroom before she left.

  Since I wasn’t about to tell her no, I’d gone back into my office to start making notes.

  Judging by the sound of the laugh coming from the waiting room, she was done in the restroom – and possibly flirting with Liam.

  I came out of my office and strode through the main room where I conducted my sessions, ready to cut off anything untoward.

  But Liam was standing as he had been when I last saw him, hands crossed in front of him, a polite expression on his face as Rachel talked to him in an animated tone.

  She was being flirty – it was almost impossible for her to not be flirty – but she was keeping her hands to herself, which was a good sign.

  Liam didn’t seem perturbed by her presence or her flirtation. Actually, he barely seemed aware.

  “Rachel,” I said softly.

  She blinked, swinging her head around to see me standing in the door.

  “Didn’t you mention you had a lunch date with your mother today?” I said.

  “Oh, yes.” She clapped a hand to her forehead. “I better go.”

  She was gone in the next moment, and I looked over at Liam. “Thanks for…indulging her,” I said. “She’s relatively harmless.”

  That wasn’t entirely the truth, but I didn’t need to tell the hot bodyguard that my client probably would have tried to drag him into the bathroom with her six months earlier.

  “It’s not a problem.” He nodded at me.

  I brushed my hair back and pondered him, wondering if I’d be able to get rid of him by the end of the day, although I knew it would take a call from his employer to make him move from his spot – watching my ass. I still didn’t believe I was in any danger.

  But until I convinced my father of that, I was probably stuck with Liam.

  And so far, he’d done nothing to get in my way.

  Maybe I should lighten up a little.

  “Would you like something to drink? Some coffee?”
/>   He met my eyes but shook his head. “I’m fine for now, thanks.”

  “You can’t go all day without taking five minutes for a coffee break or something,” I said, going for a teasing tone instead of the snippy one I’d been using.

  He responded with an actual smile. “I’ll take a break at some point.”

  Eleven

  Liam

  The first week of my new job had come and gone without any major disaster.

  Mila had finally stopped trying to subtly chase me off, which made things easier. Not that there was much about the job, so far, that hadn’t been easy. Nothing happened. She went to work, she went to lunch, she went to the gym, she went home.

  This weekend might find things different, but I was off for the next two days and watching Mila fell into the hands of two others at Steadman.

  “So how did the first week at work go?”

  I sat at a table across from Jake. One of his friends, Kane, was with us. Jake had said he wanted to take me out for a beer to celebrate my first week in the city. Since I didn’t have much else to do, I’d agreed.

  I hadn’t expected the third party but didn’t mind. Kane was a big, quiet guy who only seemed to speak up if he had something important to say. I understood that mindset since I spent most of my time listening and watching others, anyway.

  After taking a quick pull of the beer, I said, “It was…fine. Boring, mostly.”

  “If bodyguard work gets exciting, something is probably wrong,” Kane said.

  I tipped the beer in his direction. That seemed to be my understanding of the job too.

  Since I preferred things to not go wrong, I wasn’t going to complain about the general tediousness of what I was doing. Besides, I’d said it myself…I was ready for something boring.

  I hadn’t planned on Mila though.

  At least she had stopped acting like there was a stick up her excellent butt over the entire thing. I knew she’d talked to her father and since I was still reporting out to her address every day, I had to assume she hadn’t been able to dissuade him from what he felt needed to be done.

  “You’re really big into sharing shit, Liam,” Jake said, crooking a grin at me. “I just wanted to know if you liked your new job – which I helped get you – and you say…what, five words about it?”

  I flipped him off, recognizing the light of humor in his eyes. Sometimes it seemed like the years that had gone without us seeing each other didn’t even exist.

  Jake laughed, then leaned in. “So…listen. There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

  I braced myself, because usually words like that…we need to talk…there’s something you should know…seemed to come laden with a whole lot of shit.

  Jake took a deep breath, then glanced over at Kane. “I’ve got a sister.”

  I just stared, waiting for the punchline. But Jake watched me with an unblinking gaze. “Since when did you have a sister?”

  “For twenty-one years ago, apparently,” Jake said with a wry grin. He skimmed a hand back over his hair. “Her name’s Raye. We…well, she found me not long ago.”

  He told me the story, including the affair between his father and Raye’s mother, and how Raye had hunted him down in New York once she’d found out.

  “She’s cool,” Jake finished. “Even if she does have shitty taste in men.”

  “Suck my dick,” Kane suggested.

  I looked between the two of them, but Jake filled me in before I could ask. “They’re dating. They’re so cute together, it’s sickening.”

  I took another look at Kane and wondered just what kind of woman could manage to make him do anything resembling cute.

  Kane shifted uncomfortably in the seat. “Enough with that shit, King,” he said.

  I had to remind myself, again, of Jake’s new name.

  “So, when do I meet my new cousin?” I asked.

  “Actually…” Jake checked the time on his phone. “In another half hour. They’re meeting us here. I just wanted to get the story about Raye out before she arrived.”

  He tapped the table with his bottle. “So. Enough about everybody else. Tell us more about the job.”

  “What’s there to say?” I spread my hands wide. “I stand outside her office during the day to make sure nobody gets in and tries to hurt her. I escort her to and from work. That’s it.”

  “Is she some hot celeb?” Jake waggled his eyebrows at me.

  I thought about Mila, then shook my head. “No, not a celeb.”

  “But hot, though?”

  I thought about the brunette who’d filled most of my waking hours over the past week. Hot? Hell, yeah. She was hot.

  Jake laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He leaned forward and caught my gaze. “You interested?”

  I almost choked on my beer at the question. “Interested?” My eyes started to water. “In…the client?” I almost blurted out Mila, which would have been a big no on the things it’s cool to discuss list but I managed to suck it back at the last second.

  “Who else?” Jake leaned back in his seat. “It’s kind of like some movie set up. The bodyguard and the sexy thing he has to protect from all threats.”

  “You ought to spend your days writing books with lines like that,” I told him, tossing a wadded-up straw wrapper at him.

  He batted it away, an unrepentant grin on his face. “You still haven’t answered the question.”

  “Which one…am I interested?” I bought a few more seconds by taking another drink of my beer. As I lowered it, I shrugged, hoping it was as casual as I’d tried to make it. “No. I mean, she’s gorgeous, but she’s a serious ball-buster.”

  That was one way to describe Mila. Especially that first day. She’d softened since then, chatting with me – or at least chatting while I sat there and did an imitation of a wall.

  I’d never tell Jake, or anybody else, but Mila was more than a little intimidating.

  It wasn’t just that she was gorgeous and smart and self-assured, although that in and of itself might have been enough. Her job, though…shit, I’d almost swallowed my tongue once I figured out what she did.

  She called herself a sex specialist. I’d ended up nabbing one of her office brochures so I could read more about it without running the risk that she’d catch me and start teasing.

  She loved to tease. It was playful and nothing mean-spirited, but I was uncomfortable with it. It was her confidence and self-assuredness and just…hell, everything about her.

  On top of that, she was completely comfortable talking about sex.

  I wasn’t even comfortable remembering my one and only encounter with it.

  Talk about two radical opposites.

  Kane and Jake had started talking, and I sat there, drinking my beer and hoping I hadn’t given anything away. The last thing I wanted was for my cousin to realize I had some weird hang-up about sex.

  Actually, it was the last thing I wanted anybody knowing about me. I’d be happier not knowing it, but I was stuck with the reality of it.

  Later that night, I laid in bed.

  For some reason, I’d picked up the brochure from Mila’s office, and now I found myself studying her face. Whoever had taken the pictures for her was good. The photographer had managed to capture both Mila’s wit and her subtle sexuality.

  Sexuality.

  Sex.

  I traced my finger along the edge of her face and felt my cock start to stiffen inside my pants.

  It wasn’t the first time I’d had a reaction to her like this. Hell, the first time had been at her office, but I’d managed to deal with it.

  I wasn’t in a public place now though, and I didn’t have to will the erection away.

  Part of me didn’t even want to.

  This much, at least, I was comfortable with.

  Dropping the brochure on the bed next to me, I slid my hand down and cupped my cock through the workout pants I wore.

  It was late, and I was tired and relaxed from
the beer I’d consumed. It was the perfect combination to let my mind wander. And it wandered straight to Mila, bringing to mind questions like how it would feel if it were her hand touching me.

  I closed my eyes, blocking the room out and let myself pretend.

  Her hazel eyes glinted at me as she stroked me. Since it was my fantasy, I pretended I wouldn’t worry about things like humor or disappointment as she wrapped her hand around my cock, then dragged it up, down, slowly, over and over again.

  I echoed the fantasy out as I lay there in my bed, fisting my dick and arching up into my hand while imagining it was Mila. Her golden-brown hair spilling around us, that wide mobile mouth curved into a smug smile as she brought me to my knees.

  It should have been a demoralizing thought, but for some reason, the thought of kneeling in front of Mila didn’t bother me. Especially if I got to touch her while I was doing it. Touch her like Fantasy Mila was touching me.

  I moved faster, the line between fantasy and reality blurring as the burn of lust crawled through me.

  I had never felt it like this, and it was both dismaying and…well, pretty fucking great.

  I came hard and fast, the orgasm knocking the wind out of me as I lay there.

  As my cum cooled against my heated skin, I closed my eyes and gave my cock a few last strokes, shuddering at the sensation.

  Well, even if my sex life sucked, at least my imagination was improving.

  Twelve

  Mila

  “I hope it’s not screwing up any big weekend plans, you coming out here with me,” I said, watching Liam as he stared out the window of the small, private plane my grandmother had allowed me to use.

  Millie had invited me out to the island for the weekend, and I was never one to turn down a chance to spend time on Pleasure Island.