Bedding The Bodyguard (17 page)

He tightened his arms around her, feeling her confusion like a punch in the gut. “It’s hard to fairly evaluate whether acting is really what you want when being an actress, being in the public eye, makes you feel unsafe, isn’t it?”

He’d hinted at that before, but here and now, he could only hope that she really heard what he was saying—that allowing herself to be protected wouldn’t be weakness, but evidence of just how much she cherished everything she had in life.

“Maybe. But what’s going to make me feel safe? Having someone follow me around constantly? It just feels so…”

She hesitated, and he shook her. “What? Finish what you were saying.”

“It makes me feel weak,” she whispered. “As weak as my mother. Like I can’t live in the real world. Like I’m not special. Like I’m not even normal. Like I’m a—I’m a freak.”

He kissed her forehead. “A lot of your mother’s fears might be paranoid thinking, Kat, but the truth is, there is plenty enough to fear in the world that’s real. And if someone is expressly threatening you, how does that make
you
weak? It isn’t weakness to want to protect yourself and all you’ve worked for. It isn’t weakness to let someone care for you, either. Accepting your own value, and the value you bring to others—doing whatever is necessary to safeguard the life you truly want in spite of those who want to take that happiness away from you?—That’s true bravery.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Slowly, she reached up and cupped his cheek. “You were wrong about one thing though.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s
you
who are the special one, Luke. Not me.”

He smiled. “We’ll just have to agree to disagree on that, Kat.”

“Okay,” she half-said and half-yawned. She let out a contented sigh and snuggled in closer to him.

Luke felt the smile slip off his lips even as he kissed the top of her head. Then

he took a deep breath. Based on everything that Kat had told him, everything he’d seen of her in her movies, he truly believed she was meant to act. That it fulfilled her in a way that nothing else could. For all his talk that feeling safe was what she needed first and foremost before she made any decision about her career, he’d withheld information that would make her feel safer. The information about the elderly man who’d almost
accidentally
run her off the road and the information he’d received earlier from Cole about her stalker now being in police custody. He couldn’t avoid it any longer. He had to tell her, even if it meant losing her. “Kat, there’s something I have to tell you. Something important,” he began.

Only when he looked down at her, her eyes were closed and she was snoring softly.

He sighed. Pulled her in tight. And promised himself he’d tell her the complete truth when they woke.

Kat woke up wrapped in Luke’s long arms and legs. He was so warm and she loved the way his hard body felt against her so much that she didn’t want to move at all. She could have spent hours just lying there in his arms, relishing the way he felt against her. She turned her head slowly, trying not to wake him up, but with a driving need to see his face. She inched up onto her elbow and felt a tug deep down in her core. He had a strong, prominent jaw, yet it had a graceful curve to it. The strength of his neck was apparent in the twining cords of muscle that went on to shape the rest of his perfect body. She lifted the comforter gently and took a peek at what lay below it. She shuddered as the sight of his naked, taut muscles called up memories of their lovemaking. He knew exactly how to treat a woman in bed and she’d never truly known what satiation was before Luke.

She snuggled back down next to him and he shifted slightly and threw his arm back across her. That big, strong arm…Lord, this man made her feel safe. Like nothing could get past him to get at her.

She thought back to the conversation. About his theory that until she actually felt safe again, she couldn’t fairly decide whether to quit acting or not. It was a good one. Because right here and right now…being in Luke’s arms…she felt invincible. And if she was invincible, what kind of life did she want?

He’d posed the question to her before but she hadn’t been prepared to answer. Now, she knew. She wanted to continue acting. And she wanted Luke. Those two things would make her happy, and if she chose to safeguard that happiness by hiring a bodyguard, well that wouldn’t make her weak. It would make her smart.

Strong. Just as Luke had said.

She closed her eyes and reveled in her newfound feelings of confidence. Not fake confidence. Real confidence, this time.

She knew the life she wanted and she was prepared to protect it at any cost.

She lay there like that for a long time as more and more light began to pour in through the slats in the blinds. Luke didn’t seem to be waking up any time soon. She wondered if he’d miss her if she snuck over to her own cabin for a shower. She could dress and fix her hair and come back over and make breakfast for him. She slipped out from underneath his arm and sat up. He groaned again and rolled over, but he didn’t open his eyes. She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on the side of his gorgeous face. “I’ll be back,” she whispered as she slipped out of the bed.

When she got over to her cabin she took a long, hot shower, lavishing a delicious lavender-scented body wash over her skin. She got out, patted a soft and lush moisturizing oil on her skin, smiling when her fingers found a few small sore spots on her hips. He’d left tiny bruises there in the rush to make love to her the night before.

She dressed in one of her favorite sweaters, a soft, green cashmere, and a pair of jeans. She took her time brushing her hair then braided it.

She carefully applied a light touch of make-up: mascara, a quick swipe of tinted gloss, and a thin dark-brown smudge of liner on her upper lids and checked her reflection. Her eyes shone and the smile on her face was wide and genuine.

How long had it been since she’d been so happy?

Too long.

Kat decided on impulse to give Charlie a quick call just to check in. She could picture him already at his desk, stressing over one thing or another. Charlie was one of those people who thrived on stress. He drank Maalox the way others drank coffee.

She found her phone and hit his number. As she expected he answered on the first ring. “Hey, Charlie!”

Charlie’s voice held panic. “Oh my God, Kat! Are you okay?”

She frowned and took the phone from her ear, looked at it and put it back up to her ear. “I’m fine, Charlie. I’m sorry I haven’t answered your calls, but I’ve been lying low.”

“Not low enough, apparently,” he said.

Kat frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Oh shit. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I assumed you saw them and that’s why you were calling.”

Kat suddenly felt like she was having a serious bout of déjà vu. When Ray had leaked the photos of her sunbathing topless, this was exactly the reaction she’d gotten from Charlie. “Assumed I saw what, Charlie? You’re not making any sense.” Maybe he’d finally cracked. She’d warned him about eating raw coffee beans and popping those energy drinks just so he could work longer hours.

“The photographs. The ones of you and the bodyguard.”

She blinked. What was he babbling about? “I’m sorry, Charlie, but I’m still not following you. What photographs? What bodyguard?”

She took two long breaths and let them out slowly. The room spun around her but she managed to keep what she hoped was a reasonable amount of calm. Had Ray leaked more photos?

“Charlie! Please slow down, take a breath and tell me what you’re talking about. You’re scaring me.”

Charlie’s voice held contrition. “I’m sorry, Kat. Someone leaked photos of you and Luke Indigo at a casino in Tahoe.”

She blinked. Nothing made sense. She tried to get her thoughts together. “Wait…what? Luke
Indigo
? As in Mr. Indigo, the bodyguard that cancelled our meeting at Hang Tough Café? That’s the Luke I was with at the casino?”

“Okay, now
I’m
confused. Yes, the guy in the pictures is Luke Indigo, the bodyguard. The press is calling him ‘
Bailey’s Bodyguard Beau
.’”

No, she thought. Please no. Oh God please do not let this be true. It can’t be true. He wouldn’t have lied to me that way! Her chest hurt and her eyes burned. When she spoke again, her voice was tight. “He’s a bodyguard? What the hell, Charlie? Did you send him after me?”

“Not exactly. He found out you were almost run off the road and about the other bodyguard disappearing. I guess he was worried about leaving you high and dry, so he went after you. How...I mean, you really didn’t know he’s a bodyguard?”

Her confusion and sense of betrayal quickly turned to anger as her mind began to put the pieces together. “How well do you know this guy, Charlie?”

“We’ve worked on a couple of jobs in the past. He has a sterling reputation in the field. He’s the best of the best.”

Kat snorted. “Yeah, well. He’s certainly that. I’ll talk to you later, Charlie.”

“Kat, wait—”

Kat ended the call. She was too pissed to make nice with anyone right now. She tossed her phone onto the counter and stood there just staring at the wall.

Damn him! The man she’d begun to care for, the man she’d just spent hours making love to and sleeping snuggled up with had lied to her from day one. He’d known who she was and the reason she was here the whole time.

Tears sprang to her eyes but she blinked them back. This was no time for tears. How had she not known? How had she overlooked all the clues?

She should have seen it.

Lucas Indigo.

Luke.

Her bodyguard going missing.

Luke showing up. His easy manner. His offers to “take care” of her. The fact he hadn’t seemed to recognize her or been fazed by her fame. Of course he wouldn’t be. The damn man had been protecting stars for a long time.

Protecting? Or sleeping with them?

That made an even bigger jolt of anger hit her.

Was it possible that he just viewed sleeping with the women he protected as his due?

That would explain why he hadn’t seemed distressed that they’d soon part and perhaps never see each other again. He was probably used to having short flings with stars, and then moving on without a second glance.

The bastard!

Kat kicked a nearby wall. It didn’t make her feel any better. She took long breaths, trying to calm herself down. The urge to storm over there, wake him up—preferably by pouring a pitcher of icy water on his head—was so strong she nearly went out the door to do that very thing.

In the end she managed to restrain herself.

She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of such childish, diva behavior.

The silent hung around her, heavy and taunting. She took a seat on the sofa, put her head in her hands and drew a long breath. “He lied,” she said hollowly. “He lied to me.”

* * *

Luke tried to pull Kat in close, frowning when his reach came up empty. He cracked his eyes open to find her gone. For a moment, he lay there stunned. With his instincts, she shouldn’t have been able to get up without him knowing it. But he’d been dead to the world, exhausted by their lovemaking.

The sheets were cold, so she must have left the bed quite some time ago. After throwing back the covers, he sat up and looked around the small bedroom. She wasn’t there, obviously. Swiftly, he pulled on his jeans and walked through the cabin looking for her. She wasn’t in the bathroom or the kitchen. As he walked through the living room Bella wagged her tail. “Where’d she go, girl?”

Bella lifted her head. If she’d been human, she’d have raised an eyebrow at him. “Some guard dog you are.” Bella let out a short bark and then lay her head back down between her furry little paws while Luke grabbed his tablet and activated the monitoring program.

He rewound the file; she’d left about an hour ago to head back to her cabin. He wondered why, but he wasn’t really worried about it. She hadn’t been purposely run off the road and the stalker who’d been threatening her was in police custody. Danger hadn’t followed her from Hollywood. She was probably just showering and changing.

He was dreading it, but it was time to go over there and tell her the truth.

Quickly, he dressed and headed next door with Bella following close at his heels. He saw the curtain move as he stepped onto the porch and knocked. He waited a minute with no response. He knocked again, louder this time, and she finally pulled open the door, her expression neutral.

“Good morning,” he said with a smile.

“Morning.”

They stood there for a few seconds. When he realized she wasn’t going to invite him in, dread filled his heart. She was angry, and there could be only one reason for that anger. Somehow, she’d found out who he was.

So be it. He’d come there to confess and he would. He just hoped she’d hear him out.

“Kat, I need to tell you something. I haven’t been completely honest with you…”

“Oh really?” She snorted and crossed her arms. “What was it you forgot to tell me, Mr. Indigo? Are your parents even dead, or was that just another way for you to snow me? To make me think we actually had something in common?”

“Everything I told you about my parents was true, Kat.”

She looked at the ground briefly, then back up at him. “Then I’m sorry for that. But you aren’t a cop, are you?”

“My father worked for the LAPD. When you assumed I did…” He sighed. “Look, maybe I should have told you from the start who I was. Maybe. But I’m not sure if I wouldn’t do things the exact same way again. I’m being honest here. Finally. At first I was here to watch you. I was worried because the bodyguard service I’d recommended had let you down. But I was attracted to you from the moment I first saw you, Kat, and as I got to know you and I started to care about you…”

She held up her hand. Anger twisted her lovely features. “Please stop. You don’t care about me. You came here because it was your job. Or because you regretted turning down the job in the first place and saw another opportunity to take your shot at a little fame.”