He stepped aside, waving an arm forward for Florrie, leaving Craig and I behind.
“Did you see that?” Craig whispered to me. “I didn’t even get an introduction. I’m feeling a little put out right now.” I slowly turned my head and glared at him. He took a step back and shrugged. “Okay, maybe you have the bigger issue right now. I can see how you would think that. She’s hot and she just fell all over the floor in a puddle for JFK Jr. Who wouldn’t? Did you see that guy’s hair? If I had hair like that, I would definitely grow mine out.”
“Are you trying to say he’s better looking than me?”
“No,” Craig said, but then looked back at Jamie and bounced his head from side to side in thought. “It could be close. I mean, on the one hand, you have the body and the dastardly good looks, but he does have the hair. Sometimes hair trumps everything else.”
“Where do you come up with this shit?”
“Elle. Yeah, I was reading it one time when I was getting a pedicure. The article was about-”
“Hold on.” I stopped him outside the living room with a hand to his chest. “Did you just say that you were reading a chick magazine?”
“Well, it’s not like they have a copy of Guns and Ammo at a nail salon.”
“So, why don’t you bring your own shit to read?”
He shrugged. “I kind of like reading that stuff. It gets me inside a woman’s head.”
“I still can’t believe you talked me into getting a fucking pedicure,” I grumbled.
“Hey, that shit was good and you know it. Besides, it’s not like I go just to treat myself to a day out. I get ingrown toenails. Have you ever tried running on uneven terrain when you have an ingrown toenail? Plus, seriously, a woman bowing down to you, literally massaging your fucking feet? Life doesn’t get too much better than that.”
He clapped me on the shoulder and headed into the room. I just stood there, staring at my teammate as he sat down, very properly I might add, and picked up a fucking tea cup and a scone. Who was this guy?
I sat down on the opposite couch that Florrie and Jamie were sitting on, glaring at him the whole fucking time. He didn’t even notice. He was too busy laughing with Florrie. Occasionally, he would touch her leg. It was all innocent, of course, but I saw fucking red. Craig had to kick me twice to get me to stop glaring at him like I was going to kill him.
“Mr. Hanson,” I interrupted. “We have your itinerary here with us. We’ve gone over the charity event and some of the other stops you added in. We believe that it would be wise to put a second team on you once we’re in New York City. You’ll meet them when we get there. They’ll mostly be secondary security and we’ll only bump that up if we feel there’s a threat.”
“But Florrie will be with me the whole time?” he smiled.
“Yes,” I said, clearing my throat. “She will act as your girlfriend throughout the entire time we’re in New York. If someone is after you, it’ll make it more difficult for an attack to occur.”
“I wouldn’t mind having you on my arm the whole time.” His smile was sickeningly sweet and worse, Florrie returned it. I could tell she was enamored with him. So, what did this guy have that I didn’t?
Craig and I left Florrie to plan out some details with Jamie, mostly because I couldn’t stand to be in the same room with both of them. It wasn’t a necessity that all of us be in the room, but more than that, we had to hit the road and needed to get the vehicle loaded.
“They looked cozy,” Craig said as we carried Mr. Hanson’s bags out to the vehicle.
“Shut it.”
“No, seriously. I can see why she’s fawning over him. He’s rich, handsome, higher life expectancy, and most importantly, probably doesn’t have bullet holes all over his body. Oh, and they’d make gorgeous kids.”
I tossed one of his bags in the trunk.
“Gorgeous?”
“Sorry, stunning. Is that better?”
“No, I want you to say something more manly.”
“Such as?”
I slammed the trunk and turned to glare at him. “I don’t know, but I don’t want you to sound like you belong in a fucking dress shop while we’re talking. I don’t understand what’s going on with you. Pedicures and saying words like ‘stunning’…”
“Yeah,” he snorted. “There’s something wrong with me. You’re the one that’s worrying about JFK Jr.”
“Because you keep pointing out that he’s the better choice,” I said exasperatedly.
“Because to most women he would be. I’m not trying to be a bastard. I’m just pointing out where you fall short. You know, so if you decide to get back together again, you can make room for improvements.”
“Yeah, because I can see easily changing my looks to be more like JFK Jr.”
“Well, fine, but you could…put less bullets in your body,” he said slowly, then thought that one over for a moment and then sighed. “Well, you could make more money.”
“Thanks for the advice, Einstein.”
“I know you mean that as an insult, but I’m going to choose to hear it as flattery.”
“Can we just go get His Royal Highness and hit the road?”
“Jr. wasn’t royalty,” Craig shouted from behind me. I flipped him the bird.
Alec Page 20
