Contrasting my first contract as an executive protection agent for MacArthur Security, this assignment sounded pretty straightforward and put me in close proximity with a long-standing client who wasn’t ten cents short of a quarter. From what I heard in the briefing, she was an easy client, too. No crazy demands, no weird and strenuous hours unless she was on a tour, and no ever-present entourage to worry about.
Of course, going on tour was exactly what was on the agenda. I actually looked forward to it in many ways. Before coming to the States, I had only known my village, never been afforded the opportunity to travel. Then I’d come here and seen a good chunk of Texas. This assignment meant I’d see more of the country, traveling through multiple states and stopping in some of the biggest cities. I’d only seen pictures of Chicago, New York, and St. Louis. In a month or so, I’d walk their streets myself.
I couldn’t wait to tell my family back home about it all, though our contact was sparse. Our village had only a single phone line thus far, though soon every home would be on the grid. I still remembered my father’s excitement in his letters when they wrote to me of the changes to my native country. Every village across India had electricity now.
“Whoa. This is where I’m gonna be living?” I peered out the window at the tall building and whistled, long and low. What would Dad think if he saw me living in a place like this one? The high-rise condo with its stone base and sleek metal lines framing enormous squares of glass blew that vampire’s dusty old mansion out of the water in every way.
“Nice, right?” Taylor flashed me a grin.
“I mean, I guess if you like this sort of downtown living.” I still missed the wilderness sometimes and just wandering through the jungles, a humid wind against my striped pelt and water roaring against the shoreline in the distance.
“Not for me, man, but Nadir loves it. Sasha too, but the pride will probably be moving in the next couple years now that they’re growing. Esteban is about ready to break ground on their new house once he can convince the ladies it’s time to let go of the penthouse.” Taylor drove around the side of the building and pulled into the parking garage entrance. He punched in a code on the box and the barrier lifted, allowing us entry.
“Nadir’s?”
“Yeah. He gets two spots, so one of ’em is yours once your car is outta the shop.”
“I told you you didn’t need to upgrade it.”
“’Course I did, man. You’re family, and family has to have kick-ass wheels. Besides, you’ll appreciate the security features. Should be delivered tomorrow.”
My recent birthday gift had been the theft of my car. Taylor and Jada had let me freak out for half an hour before gleefully admitting that they’d loaded it onto a truck and sent it to Houston ahead of me so Taylor’s little brother could make some upgrades.
“Thanks,” I said for the millionth time as we slid into a numbered spot. The car to the left was a sleek, silver Mercedes-Benz I recognized as Nadir’s. We’d met during my initial days with MacArthur Security, but I hadn’t gotten to know him well since he’d taken the lead on the job I was now joining.
Right on cue, the soft snores that had been in the background for the past half hour stopped as Jada yawned and stretched. I twisted around and smiled at my cousin.
“Sleep well?”
“My neck hurts and I’m starving.” Yet she beat me out of the car and was on her feet in the garage faster than most of us shifters moved. “C’mon, I gotta go see the babies. The longer we’re here, the longer it’ll take to see them.”
I didn’t own much. Taylor popped the trunk and grabbed my suitcase, while I rolled a carry-on and carried a messenger bag. All my worldly belongings were in these three parcels. Everything I owned fit within three pieces of luggage.
And almost all of it had been purchased since my arrival in the US.
With Jada leading the way, we made our way to the elevator and up to the sixth floor. Nadir waited for us at the door to his condo dressed in slacks and a black button-down shirt no doubt belonging to some pricey label. I didn’t know him well, but what I had learned in the few months since my arrival was that he was the manager of operations in the company, technically my direct superior, and a guy who would give anyone the plate in front of him if they were hungry.
I had also never seen a man as pretty as Nadir. He’d cut his hair since I last saw him, and it was no longer shoulder length, much to my disappointment. Now it was stylishly messy, yet still an appropriate fit to his gorgeous face. I averted my gaze before I could be caught memorizing the angle of his high cheekbones like a cobra hypnotized by a charmer in the square. Looking at him made my chest hurt.
How did I even breathe anymore?
I struggled to make sense of the messy feelings intruding in my thoughts.
Now that I was in America, a whole new world of opportunity had been afforded to me, a gay man who had never been able to embrace that side of myself in my native country.
For the sake of keeping my new job, I had no plans of exploring my newfound freedom with Nadir. Flirting with the boss? That was asking for trouble.
Still, I couldn’t help but admire his beauty. He picked Jada up first and squeezed her tight, gave Taylor a brotherly embrace, then finally turned to offer me a laidback smile.
“Come on in. Here. Give me that.” He took the suitcase from Taylor and relieved me of the carry-on. “Set that one on the couch if you want.”
The condo was as sleek and fancy as the rest of the building, with gleaming, dark wood floors and cream walls trimmed in charcoal gray. A gorgeous silk Persian rug hung on the wall, a vibrant green fern decorated a glazed pot in the corner. It only got nicer from there, opening into a spacious living room and kitchen area. Everything was done in the same monochrome theme, with pops of color in the art and collectables Nadir displayed. I could tell he’d been all over the world.
“You’re finally all moved in,” Jada said with a grin. “Last time you were still in boxes and eating off of paper plates.”
Nadir’s full lips twisted into a frown. “I was busy.”
“Lazy is more like it,” Jada teased.
“I’m sure he had bigger worries,” I interjected, compelled to defend my new roommate and work partner. “There’s nothing wrong with paper plates.”
Taylor cocked his head and looked at me for a long moment, tucking both hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Damn straight. Besides, what Jada won’t admit is that we eat off ’em sometimes too.”
“Tay!”
“What, baby? It’s true. In fact, just last week—”
Jada smacked a hand over her husband’s lips, much to everyone’s amusement.
“You give Suraj the grand tour. We’re going to head upstairs,” she said quickly. “We’ll see you guys for dinner.”
Taylor rolled his eyes as Jada grabbed his arm and tugged him to the door, muttering about how she meant they had to go downstairs first, then back up. I chuckled under my breath then turned to find Nadir studying me with a focused look on his face. The sort that made his dark eyes look deep and fathomless.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” I asked, wondering if he was having second thoughts. Nadir blinked and shook off whatever deep thoughts had gripped him.
“Yeah, it’s fine. It actually makes things easier, to be honest. No worrying about you running late because of traffic. Besides, we’ll be hitting the road soon enough, so this will get us used to one another.”
“The tour next month.”
“Yeah… Hope you brought some warm clothes. They keep the bus about sixty-six during the day. I feel like an icicle. And a few of the stops are in areas covered in snow.”
“Fuck.”
“Anyway, this is your room down here.”
Nadir led the way back toward the entrance foyer and opened a door on the left. The bedroom was already furnished, the style simple and fairly modern, all dark wood and bold, jewel-toned linens. Nadir pointed out an impressive walk-in cl
oset and an en suite bathroom.
“This is great. Thank you.”
“Feel free to change anything you’d like. You won’t hurt my feelings.” He gestured for me to follow and stepped into the hall, then opened a door catty-corner from mine. The room was big enough to be a third bedroom, and even had its own bathroom, but it had been set up as a decked-out gaming room. A large computer with glowing lights that shifted between various hues dominated one end of a long desk. Two large monitors took up the rest of the space. Both the keyboard and mouse shifted in colors that matched the CPU.
That, however, wasn’t what Nadir drew my attention to. He gestured to a second, smaller desk at the other end of the room. A charging station held four iPads and twice as many phones. Three power banks were plugged into a strip. On the wall above that desk, three different screens displayed live security feeds from multiple points in the building: the front doors, garage entry, lobby, gym, pool, elevators, and stairwells.
“Usually this is my game room, but…” He spread his hands and shrugged. “It allows for twenty-four-hour surveillance of the building.”
Which wasn’t exactly needed. I knew that the same feeds were being monitored by a dedicated round-the-clock staff back at MacArthur Security. Still, it was nice to be able to check things on our end. Easier. If there ever was a security issue, it was good to see it ourselves rather than rely on someone explaining it over the phone.
“I’m surprised building security allowed it.”
Nadir flashed a quick grin. “We also have the building security contract. Ian can be very persuasive when he wants to be.”
Didn’t I know it. Our boss was sharp as a tack and didn’t take no for an answer. Ian MacArthur had been the driving force behind getting my Green Card in record time.
“Anything in her unit?”
“Only the front entry, inside and out, and one on her balcony. She didn’t want her privacy invaded so we did our best to ensure privacy and safety. But if a drone ventures too close, we can spot it.”
“Modern-day technology makes it so much easier to snoop nowadays.”
“It does,” he agreed. “Thankfully we haven’t had many issues. All her fan mail goes to a different address. Since the move here, we haven’t had any fans banging on the door.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way. I couldn’t believe when I learned that a bus takes you to see the homes of celebrities in California. It seems so intrusive.”
“Yeah, that’s a pain. I assisted with a few clients in California. It’s…a rough gig.” Nadir rubbed a hand against his nape. “Not this, though. There isn’t much to do during a normal day. She doesn’t need a round-the-clock man outside her door, especially in a secure building like this. If she wants to go anywhere, though, she gives a ring and we provide escort, even if it's to go down and collect her mail.”
“Are things pretty quiet?”
“For the most part. Despite what I said about people not having her address, somehow this guy harassing her tracked her down. She got a letter today. We’ll have to keep a close eye on things, make sure he doesn’t try to make his way here in person.”
“Are we close to discovering this man’s identity?”
Nadir shook his head. “No. Guy probably drops them in outgoing boxes. The prints on the envelope are worthless thanks to how mail is handled, and the letters themselves are always clean. I can tell you the name of the font used and the cologne he uses, but it doesn’t help track this guy down.” He gestured to a letter on the desk.
Taking that as a silent invitation, I picked up the letter and gave it a read. Whoever this guy was, he was persistent, insisting he was the one for Penny and that he’d forever help and watch over her. No wonder she was creeped out.
“Anything for today?”
“Nope. Just get settled in; we have our first outing with Penny tomorrow.” Nadir paused, then smiled. “Unless you count dinner with three hungry lionesses, a lion, and needy cubs.”
“Sounds like a fun time.”
Nadir snorted and clapped a hand against my shoulder. A small spark zipped across my skin, a static shock that made my chest tighten. Nadir seemed oblivious. His hand fell away.
“We probably shouldn’t keep them waiting. I’m sure you know from experience how irritable a starving kitty can be.”
“Positively ravenous.”
I kept it to myself that I was starving for him in a way I’d never experienced before.
Penny
I tapped the MacBook and hit send on the vocal sample to Harper for her advice. I didn’t love the line the way I did when I initially wrote the song, and it didn’t resonate with me the way the rest of the lyrics did.
My penthouse had everything I needed to avoid crowds and overenthusiastic fans. When I first moved in, the soundproofed walls had really appealed to me, and that had been the inspiration needed to build my own studio in the third bedroom. I kept the second for guests and the occasional visit from my parents.
Inside this soundproofed, painfully expensive room, I kept a couple of my most cherished instruments. I played five, including the guitar, but I always thought Harper played it better than me. That’s why she was my lead guitarist. Growing up, my mother had wanted to give me as many advantages in life as possible, because she said the world would give me nothing and I’d have to fight for every milestone. Her words fueled me. Her encouragement gave me strength even when the first agent I ever met told me my music was shit and I should be singing backup for Beyoncé or Mariah Carey instead of wasting my voice in a shitty genre.
I grew up listening to My Chemical Romance instead of Christina Aguilera. I pleaded with my parents to buy me Green Day and Fall Out Boy albums instead of Janet Jackson. “I Get So Lonely” was my jam back in the day though, but I still preferred the emo culture and punk aesthetic.
So maybe my preferences in music were a little unconventional, but I knew from my early teens what I liked, and my parents never shamed me for those choices, instead cultivating an environment where I was free to explore my musical tastes.
Harper pinged me back immediately with a message. I read it on the laptop, frowning the whole time at her agreement.
Harper: sorry, hon. it really does suck.
Me: Suggestions for improvement?
Harper: i’ll get back to you. i’m about to sit down for lunch with Gregoire, but he agrees that it’s missing something.
I rolled my eyes. Harper had a hot and smoking friends with bennies situation going on with our bassist. I’d never met a guy as cool and laidback as him. He just meshed with us and understood the whole vibe we were going for. He killed the guyliner look and sang some mean backup vocals. I adored him.
Jokingly, I told Harper that no one would ever find her body if she hurt him, my halfhearted tease driven by the fact that bands had broken apart over less, and Gregoire was really a genuinely good man.
Me: Okay. Have a great time.
Just as I set the phone down, another green window appeared. I swiped it up to reveal a message from my bodyguard—my security agent. Nadir hated when I called him a bodyguard.
Nadir: The new guy is settled and ready to meet you. If you’re free, that is.
Me: I’m totally free. Come on in and give him the tour if you want. I’m wrapping up some work in the sound room, but I’ll be out in a second.
Nadir had keys to my penthouse for emergency purposes, and I never minded him using them for the small stuff; otherwise, I wouldn’t be writing big checks to MacArthur Security every month. Because of my psychopath stalker, those checks were now even larger than before.
A few minutes after wrapping up and shutting down, I emerged to hear Nadir’s smooth voice in conversation with another man. I hung around the corner for a moment, eavesdropping in my own home.
“This is a beautiful place. I still don’t understand, with all of the other precautions, why it may be necessary to ever enter.”
“All right, so doors are not the only way to
enter a residence or even a room. She shares this floor with three other penthouses and a wall with one of them,” Nadir explained. “We have no control over who enters the other corner unit.”
“Or what they do while there.”
“Exactly. If you take a saw to the wall, you can cut through it.”
“Ah. That makes sense now. Thank you, Nadir.” His accent made me melt, deep and Bollywood sexy. I considered creeping closer toward the living room for a glimpse of him. “One more question.”
“Shoot.”
“Does our client plan to come out or merely stand around the corner until we come to find her?”
I jerked back and banged my hip on the kitchen counter edge. “Fuck!”
Nadir’s warm laughter echoed beneath the vaulted ceilings of the spacious living room. I rubbed the banged-up spot and scowled while searching for any way he could have possibly known I was lurking out of sight. No reflective surfaces were within view.
Still kneading the soon-to-bruise spot, I stepped out into view to see my new agent.
Surprise sucked all the wind out of my lungs. I couldn’t believe how handsome he was, his bearded face neatly trimmed, eyes amber golden beneath thick, dark brows. He had the most delicious cheekbones—oh my God, I really loved a set of chiseled cheekbones—and broad shoulders stretching his T-shirt so taut across his chest that too severe a flex would shred it.
My knees went weak. This much sex appeal didn’t belong in my living room.
“Hi,” I said, only to realize nothing came out of my mouth and all I had done was mouth the word. Moving in close to the new guy revealed that he was a giant. He even had a few inches over Nadir. I offered my hand. “Hi. I’m Penny.”
“Suraj Patel. It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Wallace.”
“Penny,” I insisted. “Ms. Wallace makes me feel a million years old.” Not really. I just wanted to hear my name in his rich, deep voice. His swoon-worthy chuckle sped my pulse.
Jackal of All Trades (The Wild Operatives: MacArthur Security Book 1) Page 2
