“No.”
“What?”
“I agree, Colt.”
“Come on.”
“You weren’t on the other side of a phone call informing you that your brother was attacked on the red carpet. The media reported everything from a massive injury to your death.”
“Deb phoned Mom and Dad first. She was shaken up. It took her awhile to get to you.”
“I understand that, Colt. The point is, I love you. I would feel better if you let someone watch your back.”
“Don’t play the brother card, Wyatt.”
As plays went, it was damn powerful. Though not as much as Wyatt’s next.
“Mom agrees.”
“Low blow,” Colt muttered. “We aren’t kids, Wyatt. I can’t believe you would go running to Mommy.”
“I didn’t do that when we were kids. We settled things brother to brother.”
“Then—”
“Unlike when we were kids, you’re acting like a selfish brat. Calling in Callie seems appropriate.”
“You’re bluffing.”
This time, Wyatt stared him down. And won. His brother didn’t bluff. Resorting to dragging their mother into a dispute wasn’t his usual style, but he did what was necessary to close a deal.
“The only reason I’m caving is because I don’t want to worry Mom. Her boys are a bit accident prone lately.”
Not long ago, their brother Nate broke his arm—then was almost blown to pieces. As crazy as it sounded, Nate’s job as a stuntman turned out to be less life threatening than his recent stay in Montana.
“I have an idea.”
“Don’t you always.” Wyatt spent his childhood trying to curb Colt’s wild ideas. And having a damn good time in the process. He grinned. They’d had a great childhood.
“Yes.” Colt crossed his arms. “You’ll like this one.”
“Okay.”
“Get me a female bodyguard.”
“That’s something you’ll like. Me? I say hell no.”
“Hear me out. We present her as my girlfriend. The world loves a love story. No one will suspect the truth.”
“It’s not the worst idea you’ve ever had.”
“It’s right at the top.”
“Two conditions.”
“I should have known.” Colt scrubbed his face. “Fine. Shoot.”
“We tell the family the truth.”
“Naturally. I don’t want Mom, or Dad, getting any ideas. She’s already planning two weddings. That’s plenty. What else?”
“Keep your hands to yourself.”
“Wyatt!” Dramatically, Colt clutched at his chest. “I’m hurt. I do not harass women.”
“No,” Wyatt agreed. “You charm and seduce.”
“You make it sound like that’s a bad thing. I haven’t heard any complaints. Have you?
“This woman will not be a giggly supermodel or one of your co-stars. You have hired her to do a job—to work for you. That is a line you cannot cross.”
“What if she crosses it first?”
“Jesus, Colt. Are you so hard up for new blood? I repeat. Promise to leave the bodyguard alone or you’ll spend the next five months bunking with the hairiest, smelliest man H&W Security has on staff.”
“H&W.” Colt sat up straight. “Is that who you’re using?”
“We always do.” Wyatt picked up his phone. Now that Colt had agreed, he wasn’t wasting any time. “At the rate we’re going, they should start offering us a bulk discount. I hope they have somebody who fits the bill.”
On the outside, Colt nodded, his expression sober as a judge. On the inside, he grinned ear-to-ear. He knew damn well H&W had the someone. The perfect someone.
“DON’T BE AN idiot. Stay down.”
The man on the ground shook his head, clearing the ringing in his ears. And letting everyone watching know that he wasn’t listening.
“I can’t believe it. He’s getting up.” The men exchanged looks. Idiot didn’t begin to describe this guy. Obviously, he had a death wish.
“Do what they say.” His opponent danced from foot to foot. The bounce of a boxer. Or a warrior. Both fit. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You think I’m worried?” He spat a mouthful of blood. “You got in a lucky punch. You won’t take me down again.”
Thirty seconds later, he was flat on his back, gasping for air.
“Had enough?” Someone called out.
“Come on. Let’s call it a day.”
He batted away the hand that reached to help him up.
“Fuck that. And fuck you.”
With a shrug, his opponent turned. He took the opportunity to shoot his foot out, aiming for the vulnerable knee that was only a few feet away. His eyes widened with surprise when instead of connecting with bone, his foot twisted painfully, the hands that securely held him one move away from breaking his ankle.
“You have two choices. Walk away, or crawl. Which will it be?”
“Like I said, fuck you.”
“Have it your way.”
The pain was excruciating. Before it became much worse, he cried uncle.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” One of the men helped him up. “You lost. Fair and square.”
“I was holding back,” he insisted, trying unsuccessfully to save face. “Fighting a woman is bogus. Goddamn cunt.”
“Arlington.” The shout came from the back of the room. “Pack your gear and clear out.”
“But—”
“You’re fired. Get your gear and clear out. If you’re still here in thirty minutes, I’ll throw your sorry ass through the gate.”
“Alex.”
“Not now, Sable. Get cleaned up and meet me in my office.”
Sable Ford followed her boss into the hall.
“I’ve been called worse. I don’t want to be the reason a man loses his job.”
“I didn’t fire him because of that. Though, it isn’t a word I like my crew to use. He’s out on his ass because he tried to blindside you.”
“I handled it.”
Alex paused at the base of the steps. The nearby elevator didn’t get a lot of use, especially by management. Men who spent so much time behind a desk needed to stretch their legs every chance they got.
“You could have broken Arlington’s foot, and nobody would have blamed you. The fact that you didn’t is why you’re still working for me, and he isn’t.” Alex’s blue eyes met hers. He was ex-Army. So was she. They no longer wore the uniform, but some things went deeper. When your commanding officer gave an order, you didn’t argue. “Anything else?”
“No, sir.”
“Shower.” Alex pushed her toward the locker room. “No hurry.”
Sable was the only female bodyguard working for H&W Security. It meant she was in high demand. It also meant dealing with men like Rod Arlington. During training drills, and on the job. It wasn’t very different from what she experienced in the Army.
A band of brothers sounded good, but even in the twenty-first century, some things never changed. Brothers meant men. They tolerated women. Barely. From the lowest grunt to the brassiest of the brass. Sable, and women like her, had to put up with a lot to forge a career.
Words were nothing. Abuse against women, physical and sexual, was the military’s dirty little secret. Now and then it popped to the surface, only to be washed away with promises of reform. Promises that, for the most part, were not kept.
Sable joined the Army straight out of high school filled with ideals and ambitions. Six years later, stuck in a bad situation for which she could see no solution, she turned in her dog tags.
Quitter.
Sable tried to shake the thought from her head. She’d been trying for almost two years. Sometimes, when one walks away from the family business, the backlash was harsh. Her father hadn’t wanted reasons. He wanted a daughter who fulfilled her commitment to her country and her fellow soldiers.
The papers she kept in a safe deposit box were stampe
d honorably discharged. In her father’s opinion, they should have read AWOL.
The water that poured over her short, dark hair didn’t wash away her somber thoughts. It never did. Most of the time, she kept her nasty little demons at bay. When they slipped under her guard, she rode out the melancholy and moved on. She couldn’t change her father’s attitude. All she could do was live her life.
Shutting off the shower, Sable grabbed a towel and headed for her locker. It was a damn big room for one person. H&W needed to hire more women. She knew plenty who could do the job. Old friends. And new ones she had met since leaving the service.
Alex wanted a meeting. She would add her thoughts to his agenda.
Pam Stoddard sat behind her desk. She served as executive assistant to three men. Now and then she made noise that she needed help, but the truth was, Pam didn’t want anyone else invading her territory.
“Are Jack and Drew out of the office?”
The founders of H&W Security kept strange hours. However, self-made billionaires could do pretty much anything they wanted.
“They were in earlier. It’s double-date night. They are taking their wives out for dinner and dancing.”
“Sounds nice.”
“My husband is going to hear about it.” Pam winked. “My not so subtle hint about our anniversary next month. Go on in. Alex is free.”
Sable liked that her bosses were married. She knew their wives and considered them friends. Family. It made her strained relationship with her father a little easier. She took the seat opposite her boss/friend/family and jumped right in.
“You need to hire more women.”
There she said it.
“I agree.” Alex sat back, his steeped fingers tapping his chin. “Any suggestions?”
Sable had a list of ten names tucked in her pocket. Just for fun, she threw in a ringer.
“Dani.”
Alex frowned, his complexion turning slightly white.
“My wife? Really?” Suddenly, his tan disappeared altogether. “Have you mentioned this to her?”
“No.” Sable hid her smile. “On second thought, never mind.”
“She would be damn good.” Alex might not like the idea, but his first instinct was to defend the woman he loved. “Are you suggesting she couldn’t handle it?”
“Dani would be perfect. Kickass to the extreme. You’d be the problem.”
“Me?”
“Be honest,” Sable shook her head. “Can you see yourself sending her out on a job? South America? Japan? Those were my last locations.”
“Fine. I’ll admit I want my wife close to home. And out of danger.”
“Which is why she is not on my list.” Sable handed Alex the paper. “Besides, you guys are thinking about starting a family. That would be difficult with her in another country.”
“She told you that?” Alex didn’t wait for an answer he already knew. “Why do women need to share every bit of information?”
“You haven’t told Jack and Drew?”
Sable grinned when Alex shrugged.
“Not that long ago, nobody knew my business. Now, everybody does.”
“And?”
“It’s strange. Disconcerting and more than a little unsettling.” Alex grinned. “And I wouldn’t go back for anything.”
Sable looked around the luxurious office with a spectacular view of Harper Falls. She hadn’t known Alex when they were in the Army. However, experience told her this was eons away from his life in the field.
“No restless feet?”
“No.” Alex’s expression was the one of a man truly content with his life. “If I do feel a pull? If I get to wondering what is over the horizon? I tell Dani. She understands better than anyone.”
“What happens then?”
“She takes my hand, and we go exploring together. A week. Two at the most, and we’re happy to come home.”
“Must be nice,” she said wistfully.
Sable’s gaze traveled out the window, over the town and the river, to the horizon. The unknown. She liked Harper Falls. Loved her friends and her job. However, when Alex spoke of the connection he and Dani shared, she knew it wasn’t likely she would find that here. Or playing bodyguard for the rich and famous.
“Is there a problem?”
Alex prided himself on reading people. On a good day, it was hard to get a bead on Sable. She seemed laid back. Happy. Lighthearted. And he supposed she was. However, as with many ex-soldiers, there was more than she showed on the surface. Sable had watched people die—strangers and friends. No one came back from that unchanged.
Alex had no doubt that Sable had her shit together. Still, even she had her demons—ones she hadn’t shared with him, or her friends.
“I’ve been feeling restless lately,” Sable answered, using Alex’s words. It described her feelings as well as any.
“If you ever need to talk.”
“Your door is always open.” Sable had heard it a hundred times. She doubted she would ever take him up on the offer, but it was good to know she had the option.
“I have a job for you.” Alex picked up a file and handed it to her.
“I figured.”
“Wyatt Landis called this morning.”
“Is there a problem? Jade?”
Sable’s stint as Jade Marlow’s bodyguard hadn’t been long. But a bond developed. They kept in touch, speaking at least once a week. Two days ago everything had been fine. But the world was a crazy, unpredictable place. Change, when it happened, could be sudden—and dangerous.
“Relax. Jade is fine. It’s another member of the family that needs your services.”
“Really?” Sable ran the Landis family through her head, eliminating each as she went. Caleb and Callie. Unlikely. Wyatt? Probably not. If Jade was all right, so was Garrett. Nate went through his drama and came out the other side happy, healthy, and in love.
That left— Uh, oh.
“Colton needs a bodyguard for the duration of his next movie shoot.”
“Why me?”
Under her breath, Sable added, God, why the hell does it have to me? Of all the Landis family, why did she get stuck with the egocentric pretty boy. The one whose kiss she still thought about from time to time. Nope. Not a good idea.
“Colt isn’t thrilled with having a bodyguard. The backers insist, so he’s insisting the girlfriend angle.”
“Of course he is.”
Sable had played that part before. No one looked hard at the eye candy hanging off a man’s arm. The goal wasn’t for her to blend into the woodwork so much as decorate it. No one would suspect a tall brunette with perfectly manicured fingernails of carrying a concealed weapon. Or that she could take out men twice her size without breaking a sweat.
She liked those jobs. For all her tough ass ways, deep down, Sable was a girly girl. High heels and designer labels suited her just fine. No one needed to know that she had acquired her Louis Vuitton luggage on eBay, or the few good pieces of clothing in her closet she supplemented with bargain basement finds.
Sable wore the items as if she were born to money. Except with a greater appreciation.
“This is why you need more women around here. I’ve worked for the Landis family. Won’t my return generate questions? The wrong kind of questions.”
“I checked. No one gleaned on to who you were. There were hundreds of stories about Jade, her father, and the Landis family, but not a single mention of you.”
“I don’t know whether to be relieved or insulted.”
Alex smiled. “For now, go with relieved. If someone remembers you, the family knows what to say, You and Jade—old friends. Romance bloomed between you and Colt, etc.”
“Mmm.”
“You’ve met?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Ah.”
“Ah? What does that mean?”
“Colton Landis has a reputation. Did he hit on you?”
Sable nodded.
“You turned him down?”
“Naturally.” After she kissed him.
“Will it be a problem if the inevitable happens and he hits on you again? Repeatedly?”
“I’ve dealt with the situation before.”
Alex waited for her to finish the thought.
“Fine. He’s a bit more attractive than the average client.” That was putting it mildly. “I’m a professional, Alex.”
“You’re also human.”
“Meaning?”
“Don’t beat yourself up if you slip.”
“Alex!”
Sable was shocked. Rule number one. The thing he drilled into the head of every person who worked for H&W Security. Stay detached, and don’t cross any lines.
“Are you encouraging me to sleep with Colton Landis?”
“No. Of course not.”
“Good.”
She planned on keeping her feet planted firmly on the ground. No kisses. No nothing. Having her boss’s okay to slip, as he put it, was the last thing she wanted.
Like setting a kid loose in a candy store with no supervision. Things were bound to end badly.
“You can turn down the job, Sable.” Alex handed her the file. “Look it over. If you decide to go, you leave in a week. If not, no problem. They can find someone else.”
Sable lay in her bed, going over the particulars of Colton Landis and his recent problems.
A delusional man convinced the movie star was having an affair with his wife, attacked Colton. The man breached security, easily getting past the pitiful red rope that blocked the public from the celebrities.
According to the report, Colton’s quick reflexes prevented anything more than a flesh wound to his upper arm. He tackled the attacker; the EMTs patched Colton up, and amazingly, the premiere continued. With the movie’s star in his seat.
Not surprisingly, the backers of Colton’s next movie insisted on better security. A bodyguard wasn’t foolproof, but it was an extra layer of protection. No one wanted their star out of commission and unable to finish the film.
Sable set the open file aside. She had known before she read a word that she was taking the job. Professional pride. She had never turned down an assignment; she wouldn’t start now.
Dreaming Of Your Love (Hollywood Legends #3) Page 2
