To Guard and Protect: A Bodyguard to Lovers Romance Read online

  “What the hell is going on?” Delia pulled her knees up to her chin, hugging her legs against her chest as she pulled as far away from the door as she possibly could.

  “Shh!” He hissed at her as he gestured to her to keep quiet, though he didn’t turn around so she could read his expression. Instead, he started moving towards the door so quietly she couldn’t hear his steps on the hardwood floor even though he was clearly the largest man she’d ever met in person.

  Cole paused to peek through the peephole on the door, clearly not seeing whatever he was looking for since he jerked open the door onto the corridor beyond. Because Delia had the penthouse, there were no other apartments on the top floor so no one should have been out there. However, there was a single, thin man dressed in a pair of coveralls with a bag of tools on the floor beside him. Delia could see all of it exposed as the door slid slowly open, and then the rest of the actions seemed to happen in slow motion.

  She couldn’t make out the noise that came out of Cole’s throat, though it sounded more like a roar than any words that he might be trying to form. He nearly leaped through the doorway, grabbing the stranger by the arm and twisting it around behind his back in one smooth motion. Before Delia even realized what was going on he had the stranger on the floor and pinned to the ground as he started barking out questions. It was only then that she noticed the fact that he had a gun strapped to his waist at the small of his back since the motion had jerked his t-shirt clear off his jeans far enough to expose the metal.

  Delia had no idea what was going on, everything just sort of happened in a blur. She jumped up out of her place on the couch and scrambled backward until her back was pressed against the glass. She tried to make out what was going on in the hallway beyond the open door, though it was all out of her line of vision by now.

  “Who the hell are you? And what are you doing here?” His voice was so rough she barely recognized it, and those were probably more words than she’d heard come out of his mouth all at once.

  The guy on the floor was stammering and sputtering as he tried to come up with a reply, though it was obvious he hadn’t been expecting an answer at the door like that. She could hear the sounds of scuffling, then Cole slammed the door wide open again to expose the entire picture of what was happening out in the hall to her.

  It didn’t look anything like a fair fight. Cole was easily twice the size of the guy in the hall. Delia really didn’t care about the size difference right now, since that seemed to clearly be in her favor. She could feel every single heartbeat against her chest as she took a few trepidatious steps closer to the scene unfolding out there.

  Several long moments passed before the stranger could get out his reply.

  “I… I’m with the building management. The super sent me up here to make sure everything was cleared out here before Miss Morgan settled in for the night. He was worried about her.” Delia immediately felt a little bad about having someone pinned to the floor that was supposed to be checking on her, but they really should have called to tell her to expect someone since they knew what was going on. Never mind the fact that she wasn’t entirely sure she believed the story he was trying to feed Cole.

  “You better have some kind of identification.” Apparently, Cole hadn’t entirely bought it hook line and sinker himself. He nodded without saying anything as he was trying to confirm what business this strange man had up on a floor where Delia was the only resident. Cole was good at his job, and he was proving it more and more with each passing second.

  “In my back pocket. My wallet. And my ID card is pinned on the front of my coveralls.” The guy on the floor let out a short breath, moving as if he was trying to free his hand to fish a wallet out of the back pocket of the clothes he was wearing.

  “Freeze. Don’t fucking move. I’ll check your ID myself. Delia!” He called out sharply and turned to face her nearly standing in the doorway by now. “Damn… I didn’t expect you to be standing right there. Listen, it’s just you and me up here, and normally I wouldn’t ask you to do any of this, but I don’t have any free hands for this. I’m going to keep this joker pinned to the floor, and you’re going to fish his wallet out of his back pocket and get the ID off his coveralls. You got me?”

  Delia wasn’t used to being told what to do. She was generally the one bossing everyone else around, and she had been since she was only twelve years old. There was something sexy about Cole being the one taking charge of the situation. It made her want to do whatever he asked her to do, and she meant whatever. For now, she would settle on fishing the wallet out of this guy’s back pocket and unclipping the tiny white laminated rectangle from his front when Cole pulled his torso up off the carpet in the hallway outside the elevator. She searched in the small folded leather wallet for his driver’s license and compared it to the building ID. Both of them bore the name Simeon Ortega along with a pair of pictures that matched the owner that was now breathing in deep lungfuls of the carpeted floor while Cole looked like he was attempting to tie the other man into a pretzel.

  “Well, the IDs match each other, and I know the maintenance guys in this building have ID cards like this one. That’s all I’m going to be able to figure out here.” She shrugged and glanced at the pair of them, catching Cole’s eyes.

  “Drop them on the floor, and get your ass back in the apartment.” She nodded but didn’t get a chance to answer before he continued. “And don’t forget to close the door and lock it. Watch through the peephole and when I get this idiot back on the elevator, then and only then can you open the door and let me back in. Clear?”

  “Crystal.” Delia dropped the wallet and ID onto the floor, backed into the penthouse apartment, closing and locking both the door handle and the deadbolt before she pressed her eye to the peephole socket again. By the time she got all of that done, Cole had Simeon up off the floor. He still had his arms pinned to his back and was leading him into the now open doors of the elevator. Cole even paused to push the button for the ground floor before releasing him and backing off the elevator slowly without taking his eyes off the guy.

  Delia couldn’t make out what he was saying through the thick door, but she could tell he was talking to the guy as the door closed. She waited another moment until the numbers that indicated what floor the elevator was on started to get lower and then opened the door to let Cole back inside. He slid in, adjusting his shirt before he shut and locked the door behind himself.

  Delia simply stood there, back pressed to the wall next to the door and eyes wide as she watched him.

  “What did you say to him?”

  “I told him his boss better think twice before sending someone up here unannounced from now on.” She nodded, just now realizing that she’d been wearing nothing but a t-shirt throughout all of that encounter. It shouldn’t have mattered. Most of the world had seen her dressed in a lot less than that, but suddenly it seemed to be really important to her that Cole had seen her like that.

  “Thanks.” One simple word was all she could manage to get out now that she could feel her cheeks heating up.

  “For?” Cole raised an eyebrow, studying her as she thanked him like she was speaking some kind of foreign language. Even Delia couldn’t exactly explain the change that had come over her now that everything was over. She could still feel her heart thundering in her chest since she hadn’t yet come down off the adrenaline rush of the situation.

  “Protecting me like that.” Her voice was soft, but she pushed off the wall and walked over to him.

  “It’s my job.” He was matter-of-fact like this was something he did every day. It was as if he’d just bagged her groceries or delivered her a pizza.

  “You didn’t have to… I mean…” She groaned, frustrated at how hard it was for her to say what she was thinking.

  Delia wasn’t even a hundred percent sure what she was thinking. She certainly wasn’t in her right mind when she reached up, grabbing a handful of Cole’s shirt and pulling the mountain of muscle that mad
e up his torso down to crash her lips against his in a kiss that came out of nowhere. She was pretty sure he was going to pull away, say something snarky or tell her off for crossing a line, until his arm wrapped around her body and crushed her into him, nearly lifting her off her feet in the process. Tonight was turning out to be a hell of a lot more eventful than Delia had ever anticipated.

  Chapter Four

  Cole

  Cole had no idea what came over him when Delia grabbed him and pulled him down into a kiss. He could have resisted. She was half his size, and all he would have had to do was steady himself. There was no way she was ever going to be able to trip him up or even get him off balance even a little bit. However, there was some part of him that didn’t want to resist.

  He’d most certainly noticed when she walked into the living room in nothing but a t-shirt. Delia was gorgeous. She was known all over the world for how beautiful she was, but there was something else about her just dressed down, comfortable and at home that gave her an entirely different look. When she was on a screen or up on a billboard she seemed almost superhuman, something more than he was and on a level he was never going to be able to get to, but when she was curled up on a couch across from him eating pizza, she was a real person, a real flesh and blood woman who was well within his reach. He watched her, though he kept his hands to himself. He wasn’t blind, but he was determined to be a gentleman or at least to keep things professional between them.

  No way was he going to screw up a job this cushy just because he got carried away with himself on the first night alone with someone who was supposed to be his client. At least that was what he was telling himself until she grabbed him and planted a kiss on his lips that rivaled anything he’d ever experienced. Cole was strong, but not strong enough to resist the urge to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her into him. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to pin her up against the wall behind her and have his way with her right here and now. That’s what every cell in his body was screaming for.

  He wanted her. She wanted him. It was almost too easy to just give into what was going on and let himself get carried away with all of it. No sane man would have blamed him for that in the slightest. However, there was still that small voice in the back of his thoughts that was trying to scream and remind him that this was his job, and he was about to royally screw it up.

  Cole broke away, breath coming in a deep gasp as he pulled away from Delia and left her there. She started to pull him back in, but he put a hand between their bodies widening the space that was there. Part of him was already regretting it. He could feel the cool air-conditioned air rush between them, replacing the warmth where her body had just been pressed against his with a disappointing emptiness. It was enough to help him get a grasp on himself once again as he backed away from her.

  “Delia… I don’t know what the hell we’re doing here, but something tells me that making out with your boss on the first night on the job is probably a really bad fucking idea.” He ran a hand across the back of his neck, watching her expression change from one of confusion to one of anger.

  “Wow, really? I kissed you, and you’re telling me it’s a bad idea?” She rested her hands on her hips, though she didn’t make another attempt to come closer to him. He didn’t think he was going to be able to tear himself away if she did.

  “Yeah. I mean… We just had a moment there in the hall. Everyone’s nerves are on edge. People do stupid shit when they get an adrenaline rush. I’m not gonna wind up fired tomorrow because the two of us can’t be reasonable adults and figure out how to get through an awkward moment like that.” He was serious, though he could tell he’d really pissed her off with that last comment.

  “Reasonable adults? Well, no one’s ever accused me of being reasonable, much less an adult.” There was an edge to her tone that was tinged with bitterness like Cole had hit a nerve he hadn’t been aware of when he spoke to Delia. He was already scrambling to figure out what to say next without losing his job. This was a way more precarious situation than he’d ever found himself in outside of the Navy. He was going to have to choose his words very carefully.

  “Listen, you’re an adult, Delia… Miss Morgan. Hell, I don’t know what I’m supposed to call you here. Shit. Most of the time I’d gladly welcome a gorgeous woman kissing me and anything else she wanted to do with me. I don’t have a problem with any of that. What I have a problem with is you being my boss and the fact that I’ve got to be on point to make sure nothing happens to you. It seems like someone is really out to get you for some reason. I can’t afford to be distracted by this or anything else. So you’re just going to have to excuse me for telling you that was a bad idea because it was really a fucking bad idea.” He’d started trying to be reasonable, but Cole could feel his voice rising in tenor as he continued with what he was trying to say. He could feel himself getting more and more frustrated with the fact that she didn’t seem to have any kind of concern that he was supposed to be there to make sure someone didn’t kidnap her in the middle of the night and wear her for a skin suit.

  Delia threw up her hands when he called her Miss Morgan, turning her back on him. It just drove Cole further into the mindset that Delia really didn’t give a damn about what was happening here.

  “Oh god, you’re going to be one of those guys. Let me guess. I’m going to have to check in with you and let you follow me everywhere no matter what, like you’re my dad and not my employee. This tour is going to be a whole hell of a lot of fun. I’m already grounded in my apartment while I’m here in LA. I can’t wait to be grounded to my tour bus while I get shuffled from city to city. I already got emancipated from my parents once.”

  Delia was halfway to her bedroom before Cole made a move to stop her. He wasn’t about to grab her, not after what had just gone down out there in the hallway, but he did put his hand on her shoulder. She wheeled around to face him with fire in her eyes.

  “What?”

  “Go ahead and fucking fire me if you want to. I don’t give a damn. I’ll just go out and find another job, but if you think for a single minute I’m not taking this seriously or not going to do everything I can to keep you safe, then you’re dead wrong, Delia. You might not think this is a big deal, but it’s a big deal. You can grow up a little bit and decide you want to play along or tell me to get lost. It’s no skin off my teeth either way, but there’s gonna be a lot of skin off your ass if this goes badly for you.”

  Delia had this look on her face he couldn’t make out. Either she wanted to kiss him again or she was about to punch him right in the jaw. He wasn’t sure how he was going to react to either one because every bit of fortitude he had was going into keeping up this argument right now, and he wasn’t going to have the strength left in him to persuade her to stop again.

  Instead, she turned and tugged down the bottom of the t-shirt she was wearing, leaving her back to him as she jerked open her bedroom door.

  “I’m going to bed. We can argue more in the morning if you don’t decide to quit in the middle of the night. Either way, I’ll understand. Good night.”

  That last sentence was punctuated with the slam of her bedroom door, leaving Cole standing alone on the other side. He shook his head, scrubbing a hand across the short cropped hair at the base of his skull and grumbling as he turned back to the food that was waiting for him on the coffee table. He scooped it up, tossing it into the trashcan before he went to his own room slamming the door so hard it echoed around the penthouse apartment. As large as it was, there was no way Delia was going to be able to miss the sound of it.

  Cole didn’t want her to. Maybe she needed to know the whole world didn’t revolve around her no matter how much the people around her might make her feel like it did. He decided to think about what needed to be done instead of sitting here seething about the fight they just had. If he still had a job, he had a big day tomorrow. He was going to have to figure out Delia’s daily routine and determine the best way to guard her wherever she w
ent. He would need to meet the people who came and went on a daily basis around here so he could exclude them from some of the protocols that were going to have to be put into place. He would also need to get a copy of her upcoming tour schedule along with floor plans for as many of the venues as he possibly could then make security plans for those locations as well. It was more than he really wanted to think about, and thinking about overlooking even a small part of it was more than enough to make his head spin.

  He grabbed a small pocket-sized notebook and a pen from the bag he’d brought with him before crashing on the bed with a loud sigh. Cole managed to make a few notes before he felt sleep beginning to overtake him, though he wasn’t going to be able to sleep before he walked back into the living room to check the front door and make sure it was locked and bolted as securely as possible.

  This time, Cole opened the door as stealthily as possible, not wanting to let Delia know he was out of his room or disturb her if he could avoid it. The last thing he wanted to do tonight was to start their argument back up. Luckily, he managed to head out, double check the locks and tiptoe back into his room, closing the door with only the tiniest click as the mechanism engaged in the lock. He flopped onto the bed, turning off the bedside lamp, though the room was still bathed in the glow of the lights from the city beyond.

  Cole had never been in the city this time of night. He usually tried to avoid it like the plague, though the glow from the lights was always on the horizon when he was at home. He just hadn’t realized how bright it was until he actually found himself laying here in the dark chasing sleep with that glow on the other side of his closed eyelids. Tonight was going to be a long night.

  ❖

  The next morning came faster than Cole had been prepared for. The morning light flooded through the floor to ceiling windows of his room as soon as the sun made it high enough to find a path around the sky-high buildings that surrounded him. Cole made a mental note to figure out how the blinds in this room worked without having to ask Delia. Maybe her personal assistant would be less of a pain in the ass to deal with.