Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 168121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 841(@200wpm)___ 672(@250wpm)___ 560(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 168121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 841(@200wpm)___ 672(@250wpm)___ 560(@300wpm)
And what a fucking day. He woke that morning with the same ache he always had, Charlee’s death at the forefront of his mind. Then there was his drug-induced meltdown after discovering her alive but in bed with another man. And the shooting. The dead man. The fans and paparazzi. And Roy. Concluding with the most intimate moment of his life while flying across the country. Through it all, he’d only used blow twice. Hadn’t even crossed his mind in hours. Why would it? Everything he wanted was alive and in his arms.
“Night, lover boy.” Laz’s teasing voice ricocheted through the twenty foot ceilings, followed by the squeak of leather as Rio and Wil threw themselves onto the couch.
Jay didn’t slow his strides through room. Neither did Nathan’s footfalls trailing behind him.
Laz flicked the controls that sent the exterior glass doors whirring into action. The panels glided in their tracks, vanishing the wall of the U-shaped estate and extending the indoor space to the aqua blue of the pool, the lounging deck, and the twinkling lights of their L.A. view.
The yawning vista usually invigorated Jay with a sense of autonomy. But holding Charlee in his arms, the panorama came with susceptibility. Could someone see in from the surrounding hillsides? Were the perimeter walls high enough? Should they keep the patio doors closed and reinforce the one-way glass? “Tony, give me a security update.”
She slowed her clipped pace ahead of him until he caught up. “I doubled the exterior patrol. Two men at the gates. Four more positioned throughout the property. I also contracted a third party—a company I’ve vetted and used before—to monitor the cameras while Colson and I sleep. The rest of the team will arrive from New York tomorrow, mid-morning.”
Nathan kept the pace at his back but hadn’t said a word since they entered the property. Jay knew that in his stoicism, he was scoping and analyzing.
They stopped at the double doors to Jay’s suite of rooms. Tony swiped her card key and the lock clicked. As was the protocol, she walked through first, leaving him at the threshold while she swept his sitting area, bedroom, bathroom, and closets.
Jay didn’t think the sweep was necessary, but since his were the only rooms that didn’t have surveillance, Tony argued for the additional security search. A debate he’d given up on a long time ago.
Thank God he’d been so adamant about maintaining his privacy. After Charlee’s experience with round-the-clock videoing, he doubted she’d appreciate it in their bedroom.
Their bedroom. A lazy sigh of contentment stretched through him. He turned to Nathan, who expectedly chose to stay with Charlee rather than follow Tony through her sweep.
Jay shifted her tiny frame higher up his torso. “I’ll have Tony go through the employment paperwork with you tomorrow…assuming you’ve agreed to join our team.”
Hands in his pockets, Nathan made a show of scanning the rare Macassar Ebony floors, the diagonal lines of the soaring ceilings, and the expansive open-air rooms behind him. “Depends on the pay.”
“You’re so full of shit. You’ll guard her whether I pay you or not.”
The grin Nathan flashed fell away as soon as it appeared. “To avoid a conflict of interest, you understand part of my job is protecting her from my employer.”
The sweet aroma of her hair infused Jay’s deep breath. “Understood.” And expected.
He hugged her close. They hadn’t severed physical contact since their liaison in the airplane lavatory. It wasn’t her body he was clinging to as much as it was the energy orbiting her. Their attraction, their bond, was an electromagnetic force. If it lost its charge, if she turned away even for a moment, would they lose the progress they’d made? Fuck, he knew it was all in his head, this idea that some magical force field they created warded off his triggers. But something was holding him together, and the way her hand curled around the back of his neck proved, even in sleep, she clung to it, too.
The door opened and Tony emerged. “Clear.” She nodded at Charlee. “Everything she needs is already put away in your closet and bathroom. You should give Faye a raise for her quick turnaround on this assignment.”
While Tony managed the security team, Faye managed the band, the household, and everything else. “I’m giving you both raises. I’ll fund it personally if the guys complain.”
She shifted her weight from foot to foot, her face otherwise blank.
“Thank you, Tony. For today. For everything. I mean it.”
The corners of her mouth lifted up. “My pleasure.” Holding the door, she pulled out her phone and tapped the screen. “I reserved a private shooting lesson at the gun range tomorrow. Seven in the morning was the only time I could rent the range exclusively.”
He cringed. That was only hours away. But he’d rather do early and empty than later and crowded. He nodded.