by Ella Goode
Contents
Summary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue
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When you’re a bodyguard, you’re required to have a cool head, an alert eye, and a steel heart. You can’t allow your decisions to be swayed by emotions which is why falling in love with your client is forbidden.
It’s a rule that has never affected me but now…after laying eyes on flame haired, freckle-cheeked scientist Catriona Hennessy I’m having a hard time remembering my own name let alone some dusty, arcane code of ethics.
Two minutes after our introduction, I conclude that morals, principles, and guidelines are for losers. It would take a bomb to get me to leave her alone.
Chapter 1
Gabe
“Thanks for coming in early to take this case. I know it’s the first vacation you’ve had in five years.”
“Eight,” I correct as I pick up the file, “but who’s counting?”
My boss, Cord, grimaces. “I’d take it myself, but we—“
“Got the job to protect Maisey Wilson, I know. I read it in the company brief.” Wilson’s the biggest pop star in the world and is about to embark on a comeback world tour, but she’s hiring new security because her last ones ended up bringing a stalker to her dressing room to do lines of coke. Maisey got branded a cokehead and investigated by the DEA. Fortunately, the investigation cleared her, and now the head of security and the stalker are in jail, but she’s understandably distrustful of the old security staff so she cleaned house. “Glad you’re doing that job and not me.” I hate crowds on principle. The larger the gathering, the harder it is to protect the client. But stars are worse because you’re always getting photographed, which is bad for the business. People should not know what the bodyguard looks like.
“I figured. This one will be good. From everything I hear, the client basically lives in the lab facility.”
“This says the lab facility is over a hundred thousand square feet.” I point to the dossier.
“Yeah, well, if it was an easy job then they wouldn’t need us.” Cord slaps me on the back. “Look over the file and tell me how many people you need. The company wants you there yesterday.”
I push to my feet. “Will do.”
In my car, I take a look at the file. Catriona Hennessy is a twenty-seven-year-old prodigy who is leading a team of scientists studying how viruses work. Her current project is the development of a serum that can be used as a base for vaccines that would effectively eliminate all animal-borne viruses. It’s not a vaccine itself but rather a starter and could be considered a breakthrough scientific discovery akin to penicillin. The human trials of a vaccine based on this serum have already started and are showing great promise. Because of this, she and her work are coveted by governments and companies wanting to profit off her family. Catriona, however, plans to donate the entire body of research to a non-profit firm that would license the formula at a low cost so as to drive down the prices of all drugs.
“A real Mother Theresa,” I mutter, flipping to the next page. My breath catches and my brain short circuits. Catriona Hennessy is a flame-haired, freckle cheeked bombshell. She’s not smiling, and she’s wearing a plain white lab coat, but my dick is at attention. Not to be that guy, but I didn’t know scientists looked like this. They’re supposed to be gaunt and pale-skinned. Their faces are framed with Coke bottle glasses, and their shoulders are rounded forward from all the time spent peering into a microscope. They are not supposed to be pillow-lipped walking sex machines that make my dick hard and my mouth water. My first thought is not how best to make her safe, but how fast I can get her on her back. Fucking doomed, I am.
I grab my phone and shoot off a text to Cord.
Me: I have another engagement. Can’t take on this assignment
I regret sending the text the moment after I hit send.
Cord: Sorry. No one else is around and if it’s because she looks like what she looks like, isn't that all the more reason to protect her.
I scowl at the screen. What’s he doing talking about what she looks like. Angrily I punch in a reply.
Me: What are you doing looking at a client you’re not even protecting?
Cord: I took the case in
Me: Doesn’t mean you have to drool on the photos
I wrench open the glove compartment and grab a fast food napkin I stuffed in there a week ago. With care, I brush the surface of the printed photo with the corner of the paper cloth. Damn Cord and his fucking out of control libido.
Cord: There was no drool but I admit to admiring Catriona. I’d have to be dead not to appreciate her.
I toss the napkin away and grab my gun.
Cord: I’m already on my way to the airfield. By the time you get here, you’ll be shooting at the tailwind.
Damn him. I shove the gun back into the holster. The phone chirps again and when I look down there’s another text waiting for me.
Cord: I’ll tell dispatch you’re taking the case. Don’t get dead.
Sonuvabitch. I jam my hand through my hair. What in the hell am I going to do? Technically, you’re not supposed to do personal protection for anyone you have feelings for because feelings get in the way of cool-headed decision-making. Either you cave to stupid demands because you don’t want to hurt their feelings or you’re blinded and distracted by their presence thus allowing dangers to slip by. If Catriona’s picture is this enticing, what’s she going to be like in person? If I was a weeping man, I’d be having a breakdown right now.
Unfortunately, crying isn’t going to solve anything. All I can hope for is that she takes a damn good photo and that in real life, she’s a troll. Maybe she has a bad personality. She’s attractive enough she could be a total demanding bitch, and that will wilt my hard-on immediately.
I cycle through the database of available staff, discarding a few that are qualified but too attractive. It’s not that I’m jealous or anything; I don’t want them to be an on the job distraction. I opt for Harry, or Hydro as he’s called, Hoganson, Laura Snyder who was rumored to have crushed a man’s windpipe between her thighs, and Fred Applebaum who looks a little like Slenderman. Satisfied with my team, I drive off to meet one Miss Catriona Hennessy.
Chapter 2
Catriona
“Time?”
“Three, two, one.” Carrie counts down for me. I grab the test tube, extracting enough for my slide. Carrie takes the tube from my hand as I slip the slide into the microscope. “Glasses,” Carrie says right before I lean down to look. I push them up into my hair then take a peek. There is no change to the cells.
“Told him it wouldn't work,” I mumble to myself. There went another thirty minutes wasted. Carrie hands me the clipboard so I can make my notes.
“Let me send the email to Eric.” I glance up at Carrie. She’s smiling at me, her blond hair in a high ponytail. Today she’s got on black lipstick. I always find her makeup choices interesting. Yet no matter what she wears she looks gorgeous. She holds her hand out to take the clipboard back. “Nathan wants to see you in his office.”
“Fine. You send the email.” I hand it over to her. She reads over my notes. I watch her fight a laugh.
“You know he only sends these little ideas down here for you to check on to ge
t your attention.”
I scrunch my nose. “Really?” She shrugs one of her shoulders. “You always think that.” I shake my head, making my glasses fall off. Carrie catches them before they can hit the ground. That was close.
“That would have been the third pair in the last two months.”
“Oops?” I smile, sliding them back on. Carrie is the first assistant that I’ve had that works well with me. Oftentimes she is already doing something I need before I can even ask. I’m so glad I’d pushed Nathan to let me do the interviews the last time. It was easier for me to pick someone that I thought worked. I know for a fact he wouldn't have picked her. Carrie is part of the reason I’ve been progressing so quickly these past few months. She is often my right hand, and I trust her.
“Go up and see Nathan. I’ll close us down.” I pull my gloves off, tossing them into the trash before heading to the sink to wash my hands. Once finished, I look down at my watch to see how I’m doing on time.
“Crap.”
“Oh, it’s date night, isn't it?”
“Yes.” I sigh. “I don’t know why I let you talk me into this.”
“It’s good for you.” That’s what she keeps telling me. Carrie set me up on a dating app two months ago. I agreed to go on a few dates. I’d set time aside for Wednesday nights. All of them have been a bust so far.
“It doesn't feel good.” I pull my lab jacket off.
“That’s because you haven't found the right one to make you feel good.” She wiggles her eyebrows.
“Feel good as in sex?” I try not to cringe.
“Yes. That’s what the eyebrow wiggle was suggesting.” She snorts a laugh at me.
“Did you know a French kiss can spread 80 million bacteria between mouths?”
“That’s one of those things we talked about.” She points her pencil at me. “People do not want to know that shit.”
“I told my last date that and he didn't seem to mind. He still tried to kiss me.”
She laughs more. “Go see Nathan. I think he got you a bodyguard.”
“Well, that was fast.” It’s going to be weird having someone follow me around. I spend most of my time alone. So having someone around all the time will take some getting used to. Nathan mentioned this would be a home detail too.
“Someone trashed your office,” she reminds me. I still don’t understand how that happened. This place is loaded with security. “Let’s not forget about your car.”
“We don’t know if that’s related.” My window was busted out. They didn't take the car. It could have been a coincidence.
“They were looking for something. Then there was the scariest one of them all. When someone tried to break into your condo last night while you were asleep in bed.” I swallow. That was the reason I’m not fighting Nathan anymore on this security thing. That scared the crap out of me. It was different having things happen at work, but danger has never been on my doorstep before. Last night changed everything.
“I don’t keep any of my work at home or in my car. That would be stupid.”
“Makes me think maybe they just want you.” I suck in a breath. “I’m not trying to scare you, Catriona. I just want to make sure you understand the severity of this and don’t try to downplay it in your head.”
“I’m not. I’m going to take the bodyguard.” If anything, whoever this person is, there’s a high likelihood that they are after the vaccine I’m working on. I shouldn't be shocked at the lengths people will go to, but when money is involved you never know what people will do. I know there are a whole lot of companies pissed about some of the choices I’ve made.
They either want to beat me to making the vaccine or stop me altogether. With fear or—I cut my chain of thought off, not wanting my mind to go there. Then their plan would be working. I’m not going to let them scare me. I’m not stopping. Nor am I changing my mind about what I’ll be doing after I’ve finally got it. We could save so many lives. Nothing else matters to me. That’s the reason I’m working so hard.
“Here.” Carrie hands me my bag. “Be careful.” She gives me one of her hugs that are always a little too tight. “Text me. I want to know if they're hot.”
“Who? My date? There is only one. Do you do two at a time?”
“Wouldn't turn it down, but that’s not what I meant.” Again she laughs. “I meant the bodyguards.”
“There is more than one of them?”
“I don’t know. Just text me later.” I turn to leave, and she sNathans my bottom. “Go get one of those 80 million bacteria.”
“You’re weird.”
“I know. It’s why we work so well together.” This is true. I head out. I pull my phone out of my bag as I hit the button for the elevator. It opens, and I step on. Crap. I see Eric coming down the hallway. I hit Nathan’s floor before looking down at my phone.
“Catriona, hold the elevator.” I don’t look up, pretending I don’t hear him. “Catriona!” I have no choice now. I glance up to see he’s almost to the elevator, but the doors close in the nick of time. Probably because I’m hitting the button for them to. I hope that wasn't too obvious.
I glance at the time again. I’m going to be late. I hate being late. Even when it’s something I really don’t want to do. Why did I agree to do this again? It has to be more than Carrie pushing me. That was seven dates ago. I could have quit by now. She’d get it. I gave it a go at least.
I think a small part of me thinks that maybe I’ll feel a spark of attraction. I get envious when I see other couples together. I often daydream about what it would be like to have a person in my life. What if I’m not built that way? What if I’ve been on my own for too long? I don’t know what it means to lean on someone else. It’s been that way for so long that I wouldn’t even know how to act if someone wanted to take care of me. I usually can only count on myself. That’s how it’s been since I was a little girl.
The elevator dings, pulling me out of the thoughts of my childhood. I shake them off as I head toward Nathan's office.
“You can go in,” Rebecca says as I near her desk. “Do you want anything?”
“I’m good, but thank you.” She gives me a smile before she goes back to clicking away at her computer. I push open the door to his office.
“Can we make this fast? I’ve got a date.” I freeze when four sets of eyes land on me.
“Date?” the big one asks, folding his thick arms over his chest. “There isn't going to be a date.” My eyes meet his dark gaze. Something flutters in my stomach for a moment. It’s as if the connection I’ve been looking for is suddenly standing right in front of me. I have two thoughts simultaneously. Who is this man and why does he think he can tell me what to do?
Chapter 3
Gabe
These people are nuts. They want to protect their biggest asset while sending her out on dates with strangers.
“You can’t cancel my dates,” protests Catriona. Her chin comes out as she folds thin arms across her chest. Sadly she is not a troll and she’s more fucking hot in person than she was in the photo. In fact, I’d go so far as to say she takes shit photos because in real life Catriona is so beautiful I’m almost on my knees. The thought of her going on a date with another man enrages me. Damn fucking straight I’m canceling her dates. I’m also canceling all contact with any dicks in the future. Her lab will be all women all the time. This Nathan dude is going to be the first one I jettison from Catriona’s circle.
“I can.” I glance at the CEO, who is eying Catriona like she’s a bowl of milk he’d like to lap up. I slide between the two of them. “I’ll take it from here. That your bag?” I nod my head toward a purse on the table.
“Yes, but—”
I tuck it under my arm and cup her elbow. “Let’s go.” I jerk my head for Laura to follow behind.
“Be gentle with her,” cautions the CEO.
“I’m here to protect, sir,” I say as politely as possible even though I would like to inform the man that he need
s to sign the checks and leave the personal protection business to me.
“Right. Well, Catriona, I’m sorry about this, but given the break-in at your condo, I’d rather have you alive and pissed off than the alternative.”
Catriona pales, making her adorable freckles more prominent. “Do you really think it’s that dangerous?”
“Better to be safe.” Nathan gives her a tight smile. I guess he hasn’t told her about the threatening emails. I’ll save that for later. I give Nathan and his assistant another nod and then gently pull Catriona out of the room. Laura shuts the door firmly behind her.
“We’re the only people out in the hall,” Catriona tells me. “You can let go of my arm now.”
I don’t think I will. Her smooth elbow fits nicely in my palm. I could envision myself holding this elbow for a long time—the rest of my life even.
“Are you going to say anything?” she asks.
I jab the down elevator button and consider her request. There’s nothing really for me to say. Her date is canceled. I’m here to protect her. That’s all the important information so I shake my head no. The elevator doors slide open and I guide her inside.
“He’s not much of a talker,” Laura supplies.
“I guess not.”
“I’m Laura Snyder and will be part of your detail.”
The two shake hands. “And that’s Gabe. He’s in charge of your team.”
