Bodyguard Bear (Bear Creek Protectors Book 1)

by Harmony Raines

  “I’ve reserved us a table.” Marylin linked arms with Kate and led her toward the dining room. Red followed behind, keeping close, but not too close.

  “I’m eating breakfast with Carter Eden and his wife,” Kate told her mom gently.

  “Oh, he won’t mind if you spend a little time with me. He’s probably only invited you to eat with them because he felt sorry for you.” Marylin beckoned to a waiter who approached with a smile.

  “Can I help you?” the waiter asked.

  “Yes, Marylin Kellan and Kate Kellan. I reserved the table by the window, overlooking the pool.” Her mom put on her best voice which was always a little louder than it needed to be.

  The waiter nodded good-naturedly. “I’ll show you to your table.” As if they didn’t know the way.

  Kate slid her arm out from her mom’s grasp as they headed across the dining room. “I just have to make my apologies to Carter and Caroline. I’ll join you in a moment.”

  “Kate. They won’t miss you.” There was a hint of desperation in her mom’s voice.

  “I’ll be two minutes.” Kate turned away from her mom and glanced around the room.

  “Is everything okay?” Red asked as he approached her.

  “Yes. My mom wants me to have breakfast with her. I wanted to apologize to Carter and Caroline for not joining them.”

  “I’ll tell them,” Red offered. “You should go and talk to your mom.”

  Kate fixed her eyes on Red. “Why?”

  “Why what?” Red’s eyes narrowed.

  “Why should I go and talk to my mom?” Kate asked.

  Red looked over her shoulder to where her Marylin was most likely seated at the table, while simultaneously glaring in Kate’s direction as she tried to figure out who her daughter was speaking to. A million and one questions would then follow.

  “Because she’s your mom.” It was a simple answer. At least from someone else, it might be a simple answer, but from a man who had only recently lost his own mother, it was filled with complexities she couldn’t fathom.

  Kate swallowed down her objections, which ranged from her mom was always trying to organize her life and steamroller over Kate’s plans, to but I wanted to spend breakfast with you. She locked eyes with Red. “Okay. Thanks.”

  He touched her arm as she went to walk away. “Just don’t leave the room without me.”

  “I won’t.” The seriousness in his expression prevented her from making light of his words. Whether she liked it or not, Red was taking the job of keeping her safe very seriously. But unlike her mom, Red didn’t seek to suffocate her and cut her off from the world.

  Kate turned around, forcing herself to walk away from him when every atom in her body screamed at her to stay by his side. But her mom was waiting and Marylin Kellan did not like to be kept waiting.

  “Who is that man?” Her mother’s accusatory tone was loud enough for the people at the next two tables to hear.

  “A friend of Carter Eden’s.” Kate sat down and sipped the cool orange juice the waiter had brought for them.

  “He looked altogether too familiar. How long have you known him?” Marylin fixed a killer stare on Red.

  “I’m starving, and I have a long day ahead of me. Are you coming to get some food?” Kate stood up abruptly. She waited for five seconds to gauge her mom’s reaction before she walked toward the buffet table.

  Marylin’s chair scraped backward and the sound of her heels clicking on the hard marble floor told Kate her mom was following. If not to get food, but so her daughter could not talk to strangers on the way.

  “I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately.” Marylin grabbed a croissant and put it on her plate. She added some fresh fruit and then helped herself to coffee.

  Kate ignored her mom’s comment and piled her plate full of eggs, bacon, mushrooms, and toast. She also took a cup of strong coffee. If the start was any indication, this was going to be a long and arduous day.

  “You didn’t answer me.” Marylin was like a dog with a bone.

  Kate sighed. All the character traits Marylin had used to propel her daughter forward with her career had been magnified over the last five years. But Kate missed the intimacy they once shared. She missed the long lazy Saturdays when they curled up together on the sofa and watched old movies. She missed the simple life.

  “I don’t know what you want me to say,” Kate answered at last as they sat back down at the table.

  “I want you to tell me why you are keeping things from me.” Marylin savagely tore a piece off her croissant and popped it in her mouth.

  “Mom.” Kate didn’t know what to say. No matter how many times she’d rehearsed the words, she still couldn’t say them out loud. But she had to. “I don’t want this life.”

  Marylin looked up at the ceiling, distracted. Kate was certain her mom hadn’t heard her speak. “You can tell me anything,” Marylin said, still preoccupied.

  “I just did.” Kate followed her mom’s gaze but couldn’t see what she was looking at. “Mom.” Kate reached out for her mom’s hand. As their skin touched, Marylin jumped as if she’d been burned. “Are you all right?”

  Marylin dragged her gaze back to her daughter, looking unsettled as if she’d seen a ghost. “We’re not here to talk about me.”

  Kate’s elbows leaned on the table and she rested her chin on her hands as she studied her mom for a moment. “Maybe we should talk about you.”

  “Why?” Marylin’s cheeks flushed pink. “Why should we talk about me? It’s you who has been acting strangely.”

  “In what way?” Kate asked, although she knew all too well. First sending her mom on the trip to the spa, then planning to sit with Carter Eden. Marylin wasn’t stupid, she knew her daughter was acting out of character. Marylin was an integral part of Kate’s life. At least up until now. She would know Kate was trying to put some distance between mother and daughter.

  Marylin cut another piece off her croissant and ate it before she answered. “You’re secretive.” Her mom’s gaze slid across the room to rest on Red, who was seated with Carter and Caroline and their children. “Do you have a man in your life I don’t know about?”

  Kate hid a smile. “Is that what you’re worried about? That I’m going to run off with a man?”

  Marylin’s eyes pierced her like a laser beam. “Is that what this is all about?”

  “Mom.” Kate reached out for her mom’s hand. “This is not about a man. I promise.”

  “Then what?” Marylin asked. “What made you take this job? Space Monkeys…” She shook her head. “This isn’t what we planned.”

  “No. It isn’t what you planned. But my plans aren’t your plans, Mom.” Kate sighed. “I took this job for the money.” She held her hands up. “I’m a sellout, there, I’ve said it.”

  “Why?” Marylin placed her knife down on her plate and leaned forward. “Why would you take a job like Space Monkeys? We don’t need the money. We have money.”

  “We have money for now and a five-year plan.” Kate pressed her lips together. “But things change.”

  “You have met a boy. I knew it.” Marylin picked up her knife and took her frustration out on the buttery pastry of her croissant.

  “Okay, Mom, firstly, if I met anyone it would be a man. Secondly…” Something caught Kate’s eye, something on the floor. But as quick as it had been there, it had gone.

  “Secondly?” Marylin asked as she popped a large piece of pastry in her mouth and chewed hard, her teeth grinding together as her jaws worked out her frustration.

  “Secondly, acting is not what I want to do for the next five years. I want to do something else. Something different. Maybe even go to college.” Kate sat still, waiting for the fallout from her mom and hoping it wasn’t so loud that everyone in a ten-table radius could hear.

  “College.” If anything Marylin looked more surprised than angry. “I thought you enjoyed acting.”

  “I do.” Tears pricked Kate’s eyes. “But gro
wing up, it was never my dream.”

  “I forced you into it.” Marylin nodded, her face sagging under the strain of the realization.

  Kate reached for her mom’s hand. For the first time in months, years even, it was as if they were really connecting. “You didn’t force me, and I don’t regret one moment. But it’s not how I want to spend my life.” She glanced over at Carter Eden, although her gaze soon slid onto Red who was seated across the table from Carter. He was helping feed one of the children, while Caroline spoke on her cell phone.

  “So what do you want to do?” Marylin’s brow creased as if she were trying to recall the little girl her daughter had once been.

  Kate gave her mom a goofy smile. “You don’t remember that pink tutu you made for me out of net curtains?”

  Marylin’s expression clouded, before she forced a smile onto her face. “You want to be a ballerina?”

  “I did when I was six.” Kate cleared her plate of food while her mom’s frown deepened. “You don’t remember the astronaut phase and the doctor phase?”

  A nostalgic smile spread across Marylin’s face. “Oh, when you used to pretend to launch your dolls into space, and then you operated on them when they crashed to Earth.”

  “Yes. And then I left my dolls behind and began to write.” She pressed her lips together. “I’ve been in front of the camera enough to know I want to put words into actors’ mouths, not speak other writers’ words.”

  Marylin sighed. “You could have the world at your feet.”

  “I could, but it’s not what I want.” She couldn’t help looking across the room at Red. She’d spent the last several months plotting out her exit strategy from acting. Was it possible that the man who saved her last night might upset her carefully laid plans?

  “And writing will make you happy.” Marylin watched her daughter closely.

  “Yes. I’m sorry if it’s not what you want to hear,” Kate said, her voice filled with sympathy for the woman who had raised her and pushed her to be the woman she was today.

  “My darling, all I want is for you to be happy. I thought acting brought you happiness.” Marylin picked up her napkin and wiped her mouth. “So you took the part in Space Monkeys to earn enough to live on for a few years.”

  “Mom, the money I earn from Space Monkeys is enough for both of us to live on for life. As long as we are not too extravagant.” Kate leaned forward. “I will always be grateful for what you did.”

  “You make me sound like a saint, and really I did it as much for myself as for you,” Marylin admitted. “Probably more for me.” She looked down at her emptied plate. “I want you to be happy, Kate. That’s all I want is for you to be happy. And safe. I’m not always going to be around to protect you.”

  “I don’t need protecting.”

  “You don’t know what the world is really like.” Marylin ripped the napkin into pieces. “I was scared I was losing you, that something else was going on in your life.”

  “What do you mean, Mom?” Kate asked, her heart racing.

  Marylin took a deep breath and let it out in a long exhale. “Nothing, just me being silly. You’ve been secretive, and we’ve never had secrets before. Then there was the spa…you said it was a gift, a treat for everything I’d done for you. Yet it felt as if you were trying to get rid of me. As if you were keeping me at arm’s length.”

  “Because I knew how you felt about Space Monkeys.” Kate braced herself for her mom’s reaction to her next words. “I didn’t want you to come on set and upset people. To make them feel small.”

  Marylin’s eyes flew up to Kate. “I wouldn’t have…” Marylin looked ashamed. “I’m sorry. Sometimes I can’t help myself. I don’t mean anything by it. Not really.”

  “I know, Mom. I know you’ve always wanted the best for me and I love you because of that.” Kate glanced at her watch. “Damn, is that the time? I have to get to makeup.”

  She got up from the table and kissed Marylin on the cheek. “Kate, there’s something I should tell you before you go.”

  “Can you tell me later? I don’t want to be late.” Kate pulled back from her mom. “Unless it’s important.”

  Marylin ducked her head and gave Kate a smile. “It can wait until after work. Perhaps we could have dinner together.”

  “Of course.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Carter Eden saying goodbye to his wife and children. He glanced her way and smiled briefly, and then walked out of the dining room with Red at his shoulder. “Tonight.”

  Kate backed away from the table, concerned by the look on her mom’s face, but she had to get to work, and after the events of last night, she wanted to catch a ride with Carter and Red.

  If she were honest, it wasn’t just because she felt safer around them. It was because there was something about Red that brought out the woman in her. Clichéd, for sure. But as Kate’s acting career blossomed, she’d soon figured out that not all boys, or men, were interested in her for herself.

  And so she’d closed her heart off to most people. But when she was close to Red, she was ready to open up and let him in. If only she could be sure he liked her the same way.

  Or perhaps she needed to be ready to take a chance on getting her heart broken. At least that way she would have more experience to pour into her work.

  After unburdening herself to her mom, Kate left the hotel feeling lighter, more relaxed. The future was hers and no one would stop her from taking hold of it with both hands and creating the life she wanted.

  Chapter Eight – Red

  When she was close, he had trouble keeping his mind on his job. Red took in a deep, calming breath and refocused his attention on their surroundings as he, Carter, and Kate stepped out of the hotel lobby and onto the street.

  “Here’s the car.” Carter raised his hand as a black minivan pulled around the corner. It cut across the traffic and stopped outside the hotel. “Morning, Steve.”

  “Morning, Mr. Eden. Morning, Miss Kellan.” The driver eyed Red suspiciously.

  “Morning, Steve. This is Red, he’s going to accompany us throughout the day today.” Kate pulled open the minivan door and got inside. Carter stood back while Red got in and seated himself next to Kate and then the movie star got in, too, and shut the door.

  “All in, Steve.” Carter slapped the back of the driver’s seat and then buckled his seatbelt as the car pulled away from the curb and out into traffic. By Red’s calculation, it was a ten-minute drive to the movie studios. They should be safe in the minivan and so he let himself relax a little, while also keeping a lookout for anyone acting odd. Or any animal acting odd. He still had a sneaking suspicion the person who followed Kate last night had been a shifter.

  Which left Red with three puzzles to solve. What, who and why?

  Oh, and how. How was he going to stop himself from admitting his undying love for Kate? And if he did, would she think he was one of the crazies he was supposed to be protecting her from?

  They reached the movie studios and passed through security. After a few questions, and some fast talking from Carter, who exuded authority, Red was furnished with a temporary visitor’s badge. Then they drove on to the warehouse that housed the film set, next to which were the makeup trailers. This was where Steve let his passengers out, and Red’s real job began.

  There were a lot of people on the set. Some who looked busy, some who simply stood around talking and some in costume, so it was impossible to know what they really looked like. Or even if they were male or female. This was on-the-job training for sure.

  As they got out of the minivan and made their way to the makeup trailer, Carter waved and said hello to most of the people they passed. Kate smiled but didn’t wave, her body language was nowhere near as relaxed as Carter’s.

  “How do you do it?” Kate asked through gritted teeth. “I always feel so false.”

  “Smile and wave, it costs nothing to be polite,” Carter told them as they reached the makeup trailer and went inside. “One thin
g I learned early in my career is that you have to fake it ‘til you make it. Act like a movie star and everyone starts to think you are one.”

  “It helps when you have the looks of a Greek god,” Kate commented as they sat down in front of the mirror. “Hi, Imogen. How are you this morning?”

  “Great!” Imogen looked extra peppy. But also exhausted as if she’d been up partying all night. “Although there isn’t enough makeup in the world to hide the bags under my eyes.”

  “You look great,” Kate told Imogen as they both looked critically at Kate’s reflection in the mirror. Carter left them to go to another section of the trailer, so he could be transformed into Captain Orang.

  “You are just too nice.” Imogen smiled a broad smile, yet it didn’t reach her eyes. It was as fake as the blue makeup she spread across Kate’s face and shoulders.

  Red watched without commenting. This was a million miles away from the world he’d lived in for so long. And yet the principles were the same. You treated people with respect and hoped you received it back. Often, when he was deployed overseas, he would make a point of befriending the local people. He enjoyed learning their customs, it gave him a better understanding of the background behind the conflict.

  More than once it had saved his ass. Like the time he avoided a roadside ambush because the local feed merchant had called him in and asked him for help stacking his new delivery of grain. The conversation between the two men was a cryptic message detailing the time and circumstances of the bomb. The guy had risked his own life, and that of his family, to save Red and his men.

  “So who’s the cutie?” Imogen asked, looking over her shoulder at Red.

  “This is Red, he’s keeping a close eye on me for the day,” Kate said as she sat with her eyes closed while a deep shade of blue was dabbed all over her face.