Rock the Bodyguard (7 page)

“Yeah,” she said non-committedly,
her face turned from him, a curtain of dark hair shielding her expression from
his eyes.

“Do you mind if I ask why the
change of heart?”

Mattie didn't respond. Instead, she
put the cigarette to her lips and took another long drag, then exhaled almost
as quietly.

“Are you going to tell me what
happened to you?” He didn't expect her to start spilling her guts, but he had
to at least ask the question.

“Nothing that will blow back on
Cash, so don't worry about it,” Mattie said, turning so that her back was to
Miles. She clearly wasn't in a chatty mood. Miles guessed that she was probably
in pain and maybe embarrassed at having come off second best in the fight.

“I'm not asking just because of
Cash,” he clarified.

“It was nothing,” Mattie said. “Okay?”

It was Miles' turn to be silent. It
was not okay, but he couldn't exactly interrogate Mattie. He would have
preferred it if she trusted him enough to tell him. But Mattie didn't seem like
the type to trust easily, not like Cash who trusted almost everyone. He watched
as Mattie stubbed out her cigarette, dropped it in the ashtray and sauntered
back inside without another word to him. Clearly the agreement to do things his
way still rankled.

“Mattie,” he said, following her
inside. “You and I need to talk.”

“No we don't,” she said. “You want
things done your way, and I've agreed to it. I've agreed to the curfew, I've
agreed not to have any friends come here, I've agreed to follow your
directions. That's all that matters.” She walked gingerly into her room and
closed the door firmly behind herself. The conversation was at an end.

Cash came over, a curious look on
her face. “Are you two fighting already?”

“No,” he said, frowning slightly as
he looked at the closed door in front of him. “I just wanted to talk to her.”

“I don't think Mattie is much of a
talker,” Cash said. “She's more of a doer.”

“You're probably right, Miss
Raine,” Miles agreed.

“Besides,” Cash said, batting her
eyelashes at him. “Wouldn't you rather be talking to me?”

A smile spread across Miles' lips
before he could stop it. Cash was just relentless. He'd thought that after
being spanked naked, she'd be cowed for some time, but she'd bounced back from
it with all the good natured enthusiasm of a boisterous puppy.

“Day after tomorrow,” she said,
“we'll be on a plane.”

“Yes,” he agreed.

“And then we'll be in London,” she
said.

“Yes.”

“I wonder if spankings hurt more in
London.” She looked at him with a gleam of mischief in her pretty eyes and
Miles groaned inwardly. It had been obvious that she'd enjoyed the spanking,
her arousal was testament to that, but he'd been hoping that it would be
something that could go unremarked upon. He realized that had been some
seriously wishful thinking.

“Miss Raine,” he said, composing
himself so that his expression was full of stern warning. “Though you might
have enjoyed our last encounter of that kind, I can promise you I won't make
that mistake again.”

Cash smiled and bit her bottom lip
as she moved to stand in front of him, pressing her body against him in a way
that was arch and shameless. “What mistake was that, Mr. Rock?”

“The mistake of letting you enjoy
it,” he said. “If I have cause to spank you again, Miss Raine, I promise you
there will be no arousal involved. You will be a very sore, very sorry little
girl.” He lowered his voice to a deep rumble and gave her a hard look. “Do I
make myself clear?”

Looking up at him with an
expression somewhere between surprise and shock, Cash gulped. “But... I
thought...”

“I know precisely what you thought,
Miss Raine,” he said, taking her by the hand and drawing her toward her
bedroom. “You thought that perhaps you could orchestrate another situation in
which you could squirm your bare bottom over my lap.” He led her into the room
and pushed the doors closed so that they had some privacy. He then let her go
and stood with his hands on his hips as he lectured her.

“Miss Raine, I do not do this for
your pleasure. I do it because you are in dire need of discipline, and your
antics last night only proved that.”

“What?” Cash blushed profusely.

“You tried to seduce me, Miss
Raine, you tried to use your naked body to manipulate me.”

She didn't deny it. “Most men
wouldn't complain about that.”

“I am not most men, Miss Raine,” he
said. “From the moment we discovered the break in, you were petulant and
uncooperative. You deserved a damn good spanking, and you got one.
Unfortunately, you got it in the wrong way. That was my fault and my mistake. I
will not make the same mistake again.”

Cash's face went bright red with
both embarrassment and anger. “If seeing me naked is so repulsive to you, then
maybe you should try being Raoul's bodyguard.”

“I never said it was repulsive,
Miss Raine, far from it,” he replied. “But having a gorgeous body isn't a
ticket out of trouble.”

Her anger faded almost immediately.
“You think I'm gorgeous?”

“Again, Miss Raine,” he growled.
“You miss the point. This isn't about your undeniable attractiveness. This is
about your undeniable and growing need for a spanking you can't masturbate your
way out of.”

Cash's jaw dropped and she clapped
both hands over her open mouth, whilst uttering a squeak of surprise. “You saw
that? Oh my god I am going to die.”

“No you're not,” he said, softening
his voice to a more kindly tone. “But you are going to keep your hands away
from there unless directed.”

“Unless... directed?” Horror and
humiliation were replaced with curiosity and Miles realized he'd said too much,
yet again.

“The next time I spank you,
sweetheart,” he said, knowing that there would be a next time because Cash's
curiosity was far too great for there not to be, “you'll know exactly what I
mean. For now, I want you to stay in here and think about how you behaved.
Understand?”

“I understand I just got sent to my
room,” Cash said, pouting.

“Yes you did, and be glad that's
the limit of the trouble you're in for the moment.”

Miles left Cash sitting in her room
wide eyed and returned to the main suite. It was quiet. With Mattie sulking and
Cash confined to quarters, he finally had a moment's peace – and he intended to
take full advantage of it. The tour was looming quickly. In less than 48 hours
they'd all be thrown into almost continuous performances interspersed with the
cramped quarters of a tour bus. Stretching out on the sofa, Miles closed his
eyes for a moment. Before he knew what was happening, he was asleep.

He woke up when a glossy gossip rag
was tossed at his midsection. He opened his eyes to see Kevin standing over
him, an expression of annoyance clearly written over his usually placid face.

“Look at that!”

“Look at what?” Miles batted the
paper away, not at all appreciating the manner of his waking.

“Look!” Kevin snatched up the
crumpled pages and held them open in front of Miles' nose.

There in bold red print three
inches high were the words 'WHO IS CASH RAINE'S SAND HUNK?' The picture below
was of him and Cash walking in the sand dunes, shot by a night vision camera
that revealed little detail of their faces.

“I hired you to protect her, not
seduce her on moonlit walks.” Kevin dropped the glossy pages into Miles' lap.

“So someone took a picture and made
up a story, so what?” Miles shrugged. “What's the big deal?”

“The big deal is this could ruin
Cash's career.”

“I don't see how. Aren't these
young singers and actresses dating people all the time?”

“If Cash is linked to you, to her
bodyguard, there's no value in that.”

“Value?”

Kevin sighed. “Cash has to be
single. She has to be desirable and she has to be vaguely obtainable. Why do
you think so many young celebrities are either single or in short term relationships
with other celebrities? Nobody in Cash's position is attached. In five years
she can get married, in a couple more she can have a baby.”

“What the hell are you talking
about?”

“I'm talking about the celebrity
life cycle,” Kevin said. “This is how the game works. When her popularity
begins to wane, she gets married. When it dips further, she has a kid. Then she
releases a studio album.”

“I hope to high heaven you're
joking.”

“I didn't make it this way.
Whatever you do, don't knock her up,” Kevin warned.

Miles bit back the sharp retort
that came to his lips. “I don't know when you became this damn cynical, Kevin,
but if you talk about Cash like she's nothing more than a product again, you'll
regret it.”

“She has a job to do, Miles.”

“Yes, and she's a human being.
She's a girl with dreams. Don't you dare speak in such a vulgar manner about
her. She's nineteen years old!”

“Yes, she's nineteen. And there are
dozens of younger, hotter up and comers snapping at her heels. She needs to
make hay while the sun is still shining – and you need to keep yourself out of
her way.”

Miles gritted his teeth. He did not
at all appreciate Kevin's tone. He appreciated the things Kevin was saying even
less.

“I suggest,” he said, his voice
dangerously calm, “that you keep these little industry pep talks to yourself. I
intend to treat Miss Raine like the young lady she is. You manage her career,
I'll handle security.”

A dark look was thrown in his
direction. “Just as long as that's all you're handling.”

Miles bit back a growl. “You're
getting on my last nerve, Kev.”

“Well you'll have to suck it up,”
Kevin replied. “You're not my CO anymore.”

Miles stood up, an action that
would have put him nose to nose with Kevin, were Kevin not shorter than he.
“What is that supposed to mean?” He asked the question in a dangerously soft
voice, making no move to intimidate the man he liked to regard as being a
friend, when he wasn't being a complete ass.

“It means,” Kevin said, taking a
step back. “That we're civilians now.”

“Yes we are,” Miles agreed. The two
men glared at one another. The days of strict hierarchy were gone and they were
not who they once had been. The identity of soldier and officer had been left
behind in blood soaked dust, but the echoes of those roles remained.

“Oh my god, kiss and get it over
with already.” Mattie's feminine but gravelly voice rasped. “The sexual tension
in this place is killing me.”

Both Kevin and Miles gave her dirty
looks, which did not faze her in the slightest. She smiled sweetly and flipped
them off as she limped back out to the balcony for yet another cigarette break.

The day of departure had arrived.
Cash could not have been more excited. She'd barely slept the night before. Now
they were on the plane, and the plane was in the air. There was no turning back
– not without a parachute anyway. Cash sat next to the window with Miles beside
her. Mattie and Kevin occupied the seats across the aisle. It was all very
exciting, seeing the world drop away and then heading out over the ocean. Cash
was glued to the portal for quite a time, until the stewardess offered her
champagne, which Miles declined on her behalf. She scowled at him, but he
didn't seem to mind that much. He didn't seem to mind much of anything, let
alone her.

Miles' ongoing refusal to give in
to her seduction was becoming tiresome. To think he had seen her naked, he had
laid his bare hand on her bare behind, he had seen her in all her vulnerable,
naked glory and now he sat next to her, as unyielding and disinterested as
ever.

“Why don't Mattie and I sit
together,” Cash suggested, hardly relishing the prospect of twelve hours next
to a man doing a decent impression of a brick wall “then you and Kevin can
discuss manly man issues.”

“You will stay in your assigned
seat, Miss Raine,” Miles rumbled.

“For the whole twelve hours? You're
going to make me sit here for a whole twelve hours?” Her voice rose in a whine.

His dark eyes slid across to settle
on her. “If you keep that up you can spend some of those hours over my lap.”

“Oh yeah, Cash Raine spanked in
front of an entire plane, like that's going to happen,” Cash hissed under her
breath. “Kevin would kill you.”

“Then I'll defer it with interest
until we get to the hotel.”

Cash scowled at him again. “You
wouldn't.”

“I assure you, I would.”

“Mattie!” Cash said, leaning across
Miles. “Want to switch seats?” If he was going to insist on being in the way,
she was happy to use him like furniture, plus, she couldn't deny that it felt
good to press her body against his.

“Fuck no,” Mattie replied
succinctly.

“Cash.”

She stiffened as Miles murmured her
name against her ear. He hooked his fingers in the back of her pants and pulled
back, drawing the crotch tight across her pussy. She was forced to stifle a
moan right there on the plane.

“Cash, honey, when we get to the
hotel in London, you're going to get a spanking,” he murmured in her ear.

A tremor of excitement ran down her
spine. He might have threatened her with a sore bottom, but there was much,
much more promised in the husky drawl of his voice. She pushed up from his lap
and caught his eye, blushing as his desire registered.

“I think I'll like that.”

“I think you'll find a way to like
it, minx,” he rumbled under his breath.

Cash giggled and blushed. He was
flirting with her, well, as close to flirting as a man like him ever got. It
was a surprise. A very pleasant surprise. “I thought you said you were going to
be professional with me. Strictly professional.”

“A conversation I had recently made
me re-think that,” he said, lowering his voice so that only she could hear him.
“You're a client, but you're also a person, Cash, and it's futile to pretend
otherwise – if not outright wrong.”

Cash nodded solemnly. “I agree,”
she said. “If one more person treats me like I'm a product, I think I'll
scream.” She picked at the vestigial ashtray in the side of the armrest. “Then
they'll probably auto-tune it and put out a single.”

Miles chuckled, and she beamed,
pleased to have amused him. Miles did not laugh easily. She could count the
number of times she'd seen him genuinely amused. She was rather proud of
herself as she sat back in her seat and started looking through the in-flight
entertainment options.

*
* * * *

Eleven hours later, Cash discovered
London. It was difficult to make out much of the place, because a pea green fog
was settled across the land as far as the eye could see. The buildings were
impressive, but in a way that made Cash feel just a little depressed as they
drove through the narrow streets.

“What a fucking shit hole,” Mattie
observed succinctly.

“Ms. Dwyer, the city of London is a
historical wonder,” Miles reproved.

“It's a wonder anybody ever wanted
to live here,” Mattie agreed, making Cash giggle. She could see both Miles and
Mattie's perspectives. There was a sense of age to the place, a great and
wonderful history. Simultaneously, there was something deeply dreary about it
all. Maybe it would look better when the sun came out.

Cash's concerns regarding the
weather slipped into insignificance as they drew closer to the hotel. It was
completely surrounded by men and women with cameras slung about their necks and
perched on their shoulders. The furor was far greater than anything in Los
Angeles, where celebrities were a dime a dozen, where almost everyone seemed to
be famous. Cash was quite used to clusters of photographers, but nothing like
the mass bubbling around the hotel.

“Are they all... here for me?”

“It looks like it,” Miles said
grimly. “We'll have to circle around.”

The technique might have worked in
Los Angeles, but the British paparazzi were hungrier than their American
brethren. They gave chase, and within minutes Cash's car was being followed by
dozens of paparazzi, many of whom were trying to take pictures through the
windows.

Finally Cash's little party was
given no choice but to drive up to the front of the hotel and scuttle inside.
Miles wrapped a sheltering arm around Cash as flashes went off in her face.
There was a lot of shouting, compliments and insults alike. She knew that the
sort of attention she was getting came with being a celebrity, but there was
nothing glamorous about the press of people, nor the curses that they were
shouting in between pleas for poses.

Mattie ended up obliging them by
returning the profanity and aiming a few swift kicks. It took Kevin to drag her
away from one particularly foul-mouthed fellow. Once inside the hotel, things
did not improve overly much. Somehow the paparazzi had gotten inside and the
photographs didn't stop until they got into the elevator. Hotel management was
politely apologetic, but they did not seem entirely impressed by Cash. She got
the strangest sense that her presence was seen as an inconvenience.

Fortunately, Kevin had the
situation well in hand. He looked quite impressive, his hair slicked back from
his head in a way that gave him a refined but hawkish appearance, his usually
mild eyes glinting with annoyance. “Miss Raine needs privacy, can you explain
to me how her reservation here became public knowledge?” Whilst he spoke he
kept one hand firmly on the scruff of Mattie's neck, where it had been since they
entered the hotel.

“I couldn't begin to imagine sir,”
the stuffy, jowled manager replied in a plummy voice that somehow managed to
convey a sense of insult at having been asked the question. “Our establishment
prides itself on preserving privacy.”

“Well you've done a terrific job,”
Mattie interjected. “Half the fucking country is here.”

Stationed at the front of the
elevator, Miles looked on with stark disapproval. He looked sexy when he
disapproved of things; it made the hard lines of his face look even harder than
usual. Cash was very impressed with both Miles and Kevin, and in spite of the
tumult of photographers she felt completely safe and secure with the two men
looking out for her.

Fortunately the floor they had
booked was free of photographers, and when they stepped off the elevator, they
finally had a chance to relax. The hotel representative presented them with the
Queen Margaret suite with all the pomp and ceremony of an architect unveiling
his latest wonder. He seemed miffed when they entered without so much as
looking at the room, far more concerned with one another than with the
furnishings.

Mattie was struggling in Kevin's
grasp, whining and complaining as she had all the way down the hall. “Let me
go!”

“I'll let you go when I'm done with
you,” Kevin said. “You cannot kick people, Mattie. You cannot attack anyone, no
matter how much they provoke you.”

“You bet I can,” Mattie said,
shrugging her jacket off to escape his grasp. “Did you hear what they were
saying?”

“It doesn't matter what they say,”
Kevin replied. “You keep your hands, feet, knees, elbows and teeth to
yourself...”

Cash was watching the argument with
interest when Miles took her by the hand and began leading her toward a
bedroom. “Let's allow them to sort this out between themselves,” he suggested.
“You and I need to have a word, Cash.”

Cash's tummy tingled with
excitement as he drew her into the largest bedroom in the suite and closed the
door securely behind them. It shut with a pleasing solidity, cutting out
Mattie's stream of profanity.

“I believe we have matters to
attend to,” he said, removing his overcoat.

She stared at him. He looked damn
good for a man who had just gotten off a twelve-hour flight. His hair was
slightly tousled, but that only added to his appeal. Miles looked good mussed
up, especially as he was now, looking at her with an expression that could only
be interpreted as desire. The world faded away as she gazed into his eyes. She
forgot that she was in England, she forgot about the rude paparazzi, nothing
mattered but the man standing before her, pointing towards the king sized bed.

“Pants off.”

Cash's eyes went wide. “What?”

“I'm not going to spank your
pants,” he said. “It's a waste of time.”

Hooking her thumbs in the waistband
of her sweats, Cash looked up at Miles under her lashes. “Are you sure?”

“Now, Miss Raine.” His face had
gone all hard and unreadable, but she suspected it was because he was trying to
hide something. He wanted her. He wanted her just as bad as she wanted him. She
grinned a naughty little smirk as she rolled her hips and pushed the waistband
of her sweatpants down slowly. Once they were past her hips, she let them fall
to the floor and stepped out. The motion left her standing in front of Miles in
nothing more than a short t-shirt and a very skimpy pair of pink silk bikini
panties.

“Bend over and put your hands on
the bed,” he ordered. “Spread your legs.”

“Mr. Rock,” Cash said, playing the
coy maiden. “That sounds almost indecent.”

“Assume the position, Miss Raine,”
Miles drawled implacably.

“But we just got off the plane.”
She pretended to object. In reality she had no objection to bending over in
front of him, just the thought of displaying herself that way made her feel
quite warm between her thighs.

“Bend over, Cash.”

There was steel warning in his
voice. She heeded it. Stepping forward, she bent at the waist and placed her
hands on the coverlet, arching her back to display her bottom. She felt him
move to stand behind her, then felt his foot pushing one of hers to the side,
parting her legs with gentle force.

“You see, in this position there's
no way for you to press and grind yourself against anything. In this position,
you get the full impact of my palm.” He smoothed his hand over her tight panty
clad cheeks. “It is time, Miss Raine, for you to receive your first proper
disciplinary spanking.”

She squirmed her hips and found
that he was correct. There was nothing for her pussy to get purchase on. She
was already burning with excited desire, but when the first slap landed, it was
a shock of pain, not pleasure that went jolting through her body.

“Hey!” She squeaked. “Not so hard!”

“This isn't hard, Miss Raine,”
Miles said. “This is just a warm up.” His hand landed again, bringing with it
another jolt of sensation that made Cash want to bounce up and down. She danced
on the spot, but kept her hands on the bed.

“Come on, Miles,” she whined. “This
hurts.”

“It's supposed to. And you earned
it.”

“What did I do to earn this?”

“The flirting, the teasing.” He
slapped her bottom again, this time catching her hard enough to make her go up
to her toes. “The refusal to keep our relationship platonic.”

“So you're spanking me because I
like you? How is that fair?”

“I'm spanking you because you're a
naughty little temptress,” he said, his voice slipping lower. “I'm spanking you
because you're impatient, disobedient and because your bottom begs to be
spanked.”

His voice made her hold her breath
and clench the muscles between her thighs. Her little bud tingled with
sensation, super sensitive even to the light motion of fabric.

“Have you been touching yourself
since we last spoke?”

“What?” She squeaked the question.

“I asked you if you've been
touching yourself... here.” He rested his palm on her bottom, then let his
fingers drift between her thighs, touching her ever so lightly over the smooth
fabric.

Cash arched her back, pushing
against his fingers. “I don't know.”