The Socialite and the Bodyguard (7 page)

Kayla normally enjoyed these events. They were the only public functions she attended where the attention wasn’t on her. Everyone who came here came for the dogs, was fanatical about the competition, and seeing someone famous was nothing but a minor ripple in the day. She liked these shows and unless she had conflicting engagements, she made a point to be here for Tsini. But this time around, try as she might, she couldn’t get into all the excitement and anticipation as she usually did. Her nerves were on edge.

As if sensing that, Tsini came over and put her head in Kayla’s lap.

“Starting tonight, I’ll be sleeping in the living room here.” Nash pointed at the couch Kayla was sitting on. “Mike can have my room.”

Mike glared at him. Animosity simmered in the air. She hated how her safe inner circle had gotten turned upside down in the past two hours. Everyone was filled with negative energy all of a sudden.

She still couldn’t believe that any of them would betray her, wouldn’t believe it until she saw solid proof. She prayed that would never happen.

He’d asked them all a lot of questions and had reshuffled the power structure of the team, but he hadn’t outright accused anyone. He’d said that technically anyone could have gotten into her room. He’d mentioned the picture from her home, as well, but had left open the possibility that whoever was behind all this could have paid off a member of the camera crew who had been there that night. He didn’t want her team to know that he suspected one of them.

Not yet.

Lull the bastard into a sense of complacency
, were the words he’d used when they’d discussed his approach earlier, although
discuss
was a rather strong word for what had really happened—he’d told her what he was going to do, and this time he hadn’t listened to any of her objections.

She’d been crazy to ever think that she could keep him in check. Nobody was the boss of Nash Wilder. He stood in the middle of the room now like a general mustering the troops. He watched, assessed, gave orders.

She knew a ridiculous number of powerful people. But their power came from the outside—from their companies, their money, their social and political connections. Nash’s power came from within, and every other man she knew simply paled in comparison.

If she got involved with him, the media scandal would be out of this world. Popcorn Princess Takes Bodyguard as Lover. She flinched at the imagined headline. But at the same time, the thought of them being lovers stirred something deep inside. She was a woman. That was it. Nothing more. She couldn’t imagine any woman not responding to all that male energy. But he was not what she needed.

She’d made so many mistakes in her past relationships. Painful mistakes. Public mistakes. Figuring out what she needed, what she wanted in a man, had taken a long time, but she had it now at last. Nash Wilder was definitely not that man.

She wanted someone in her own social circle, someone who would be less likely to be interested in her money. She wanted someone with a business background who would help her run the company.
Help her.
Not take over. A sensitive, diplomatic, wonderful beta male. Nothing like Nash Wilder.

Okay, maybe similar in looks and sexiness. But not as sexy. She couldn’t imagine anyone as sexy as Nash. Which was fine. For a sensitive, quiet man who supported her every step of the way, she was willing to give up the washboard abs and those wide shoulders.

“Kayla?”

His voice snapped her out of her musings.

“Did you want to add anything?” One dark eyebrow arched. He watched her as if trying to figure out what she’d been daydreaming about.

God, she hoped her face didn’t give anything away. “No. That’s it. Thanks.”

“All right.” He turned to the rest of the team. “I know this was difficult. I appreciate everyone answering all my questions. Let’s grab something to eat then get to bed. We have a big day tomorrow.”

His attention being focused elsewhere, the tension in her shoulders eased, and she got up to check on Greg. She’d talked him into staying in his room while Nash talked to the others. Being in a strange environment was already hard enough on him. She didn’t want to add any more stress on top of that.

She walked in after knocking. “How is the movie?”

“Almost over. Pretty much everyone’s dead.”

Greg had developed a fondness for mafia flicks of late. She couldn’t figure out what the appeal was. Maybe the rules that governed them. Greg liked rules. They made him feel safe. He liked any kind of orderliness in general.

His room was as superclean and organized as Nash’s. Greg didn’t deal well with a mess. He was so highly functional in other areas that his small idiosyncrasies took people by surprise sometimes, but Kayla was used to them.

She went over to the armchair where he sat and pressed a kiss to his head. “Good night.”

“Good night, sis.” He patted her hand on his shoulder, but didn’t take his eyes off the screen.

She stepped back out into the living room, her hand on the doorknob.

“You should leave that open,” Nash told her from the couch. “Yours, too.”

“We’re on the sixty-third floor. What do you think the chances are of someone coming through the window?”

He watched her unblinking. “Even if it’s one in a million, I want to be prepared.”

He was always prepared, she had no doubt about that. She was the one who’d been caught unawares. But then again, she doubted anything could have prepared her for Nash Wilder.

He’d come to keep an eye on Tsini, and then he had taken over.

She understood that all this was for her own good, but on some level she resented the intrusion in her comfortable life. He was changing everything, making her question herself, making her question her staff. Making her want him, dammit.

That was the hardest admission to make.

Even if she lost complete control of her surroundings, she liked to think that she, at least, always had control over herself. She hated the feeling that she was losing that. Nash was getting to her without half trying. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if he ever actually put his mind to it and came after her.

She rolled over and tangled herself in the sheets, kicked to free her legs.

Her awareness of him was driving her nuts.

And there was no getting away from him. Even now, from the couch, he could see her in her bed. She could see him. How on earth was she supposed to fall asleep like that?

Nash sat between Kayla and Ivan as they watched Tom lead Tsini around the ring. Greg sat on Kayla’s other side, playing on his iPhone, looking up now and then to keep track of the show’s progress. Dave sat on Greg’s left, while Mike had a seat in front of them. Their side of the arena was set up as the Group Ring. The other side was for the Breed Classes. Tsini didn’t participate in that. Thank God.

Everything took forever as it was. They’d waited all morning for the Non-Sporting group, the group in which standard poodles competed, to have their turn.

He scanned the people around them, looking for anything suspicious. Everyone else’s attention was riveted on the dogs in the ring as they walked in a circle, led by their handlers. The crowd quieted as the dogs stopped and lined up for the judge.

A couple of handlers held up their dogs’ tails to offer the perfect stand.

Nash shook his head.

“I know what you mean,” Ivan said under his breath, low enough so Kayla wouldn’t hear.

Nash had noticed that she was rather sensitive to anyone making fun of the whole dog-show business. She was prepared to take all this completely seriously for Tsini.

“In my world, you can’t hold up your own tail, you get no prize,” he told Ivan and they shared a manly laugh.

Predictably, Kayla glared at them.

He cleared his throat. “Excellent showmanship.” He’d heard the phrase a few times while they waited all morning for their turn.

Ivan was shaking his head now. He was short and round, bald, a genial black man in his late thirties. He was a family man through and through with little twin girls and a toddler son. A dyed-in-the-wool hockey fan. He was in the middle of having a new house built in the suburbs, trading in his condo so each of the kids could have their separate bedrooms when they were older. He did have a mortgage, but nothing unmanageable. Nash could find no financial motive for him to be involved in anything against the Landon family. He handled a lot of money for Kayla, and as far as Nash could tell, not a penny of it was missing.

For this show, between Ivan and Fisk, they had scared up about a million dollars worth of advertising gigs with nothing left to do but finalize details. They had a couple of meetings that afternoon.

Tsini had nothing else to do for the rest of the day. The afternoon Group Ring belonged to the Sporting, Working and Toy categories. Whatever that meant.

Kayla was leaning forward in her chair, drawing Nash’s attention to the ring.

The judge called four dogs out of the lineup. Tsini was one of them. Was that good or bad?

Good, he figured when Kayla grabbed Greg’s hand with her left and his with her right. She was squeezing as she waited, perched on the edge of her chair as if she were about to fly away, oblivious to everything else.

He couldn’t say he minded her touching him. He could have stood a lot more of it, in fact. Sleeping on the couch, being up half the night and watching her sleep in her sprawling bed, had put a few improper and unprofessional ideas in his head.

Images that he tried hard to forget.

She was a client, he reminded himself for the umpteenth time.

He’d already done the whole celebrity-heiress thing and it had led to nothing but trouble. He’d lost his head before, and because of that, Bobby was dead. He was never going to forgive himself for that.

The last thing he needed in his life was Kayla Landon. They had nothing in common. She was bossy as hell. Flashy. She’d want everything her way for sure.

He was definitely not going to go there.

And to make sure of that, he was looking straight ahead, not at her, not at her low-cut shirt and her breasts that were about spilling over as she leaned even more forward, holding her breath.

The four dogs had to walk another circle around the judge who only looked at them this time. She’d touched them all over when they’d first started. Even examined their private places, which struck Nash as rather odd, not that Tsini seemed to mind. She took everything like a pro.

Even now, Tsini practically pranced around the ring, her head held high, eating up the attention. She must have known on some level that all the excitement was about her, that she was doing well. She was eating it all up.

Then the judge pointed at her. “First.” Then at the dogs that walked behind her, a Dalmatian and a Boston terrier. “Second, third. In that order.”

Kayla was on her feet.

He jumped up to pull her back to her seat. Security was pretty tight, but he personally knew a number of snipers who could have easily gotten by the hotel security that worked the event.

“You need to sit. Don’t make yourself an easy target.”

Instead, she flew into his arms and folded her slim arms around his neck.

A couple of cameras flashed.

Great. Just what he needed.

“She won!” Kayla jumped up and down while still holding on to him, creating more frontal friction than he was comfortable with and a lot less than he needed. “She’s Best of Group!” She let him go, then turned to hug Greg who was grinning from ear to ear.

Then Nash succeeded in pulling her back into her seat at last.

“Oh, my God. Wasn’t she fantastic? Did you see that?”

People were still clapping as Tom took Tsini for her victory lap.

He watched her clap her heart out, practically jumping out of her seat again. It was the first time he’d seen her face light up with true joy. If he weren’t sitting, that smile could have knocked him off his feet.

No wonder A-list celebrities stood in line to date her.

The announcer congratulated the morning’s winners and released everyone for lunch. The spectators began to file out. Kayla wanted to go and see Tom and Tsini. Nash and Mike went with her. Dave was going up to the room with Ivan and Greg where they were all going to have lunch together.

They pushed through the crowd and then Tom and Tsini were there and Kayla was hugging the dog. “What a good girl you are. You’re a champion!”

“Not bad,” Nash said when Tsini pranced over to him. He produced a treat he’d stashed in his pocket earlier. He petted the dog, then pulled back, embarrassed when he caught Kayla beaming at him.

Then the treat was gone and Tsini went back to Kayla, jumping on her in excitement. Kayla was grinning from ear to ear, the dog’s paws on her shoulders. She hummed some song as they went around in a small circle. Craziest thing he’d ever seen.

“She loves to dance. Want to try?” she asked.

Dancing in public with a poodle? Not for a million dollars. “I think I’ll pass.”

Was that hurt in her eyes? Did she think he would?

He cleared his throat. “Ready to go up?”

“I need to stay a few more minutes for pictures and to sign paperwork,” Tom said.

Nash looked at Mike. “You stay with him.” The death threats had been for Tsini after all and, at this stage, he didn’t want any member of the team going anywhere alone, not even Tom, who looked like he could more than take care of himself. There was definitely a bad apple among them, but Kayla was right. The others should be protected.

“I’ll take Kayla up,” he told Mike, who glowered at him, but didn’t protest.

Now that the event was over, Nash wanted her out of that crowd as soon as possible. The location would have been extremely hard to control if someone had tried to do her harm here. Coming to see Tsini was one thing. Needlessly lingering was just plain stupid.

He took the shortest route to the elevators. Two elderly ladies got in with them, but they got off on the twentieth floor.

Kayla was still grinning, rocking to the tips of her toes and back. “I’m so happy for her. I know you think this is all craziness, but she likes to win and she knows when she does.”

“I believe you,” he said, surprising himself, as he considered the enigma of the woman in front of him.

The elevator jerked, cutting off his musings.

He put a hand out to steady Kayla.

“She has a chance at Best of Show. I think this is her year,” she enthused as the elevator came to a complete halt.

But the door didn’t open.

“What’s wrong with this?” She pushed the open door button.

“We’re not there yet. We stopped between floors.”

“Oh.” She sounded a little breathless.

“It happens. They’ll restart it in a second.”

Two minutes later, he pushed the call button. That wasn’t working either. “They’re working on it,” he reassured Kayla, but his instincts prickled.

He called Mike on his cell while Kayla fidgeted next to him. “We’re stuck in the elevator. Call building services.”

“Which elevator?”

“Last on the right in the main lobby. We’re above the sixtieth floor.”

“Okay. I’m on it.”

He pushed his phone back into his pocket.

“How long do you think this is going to take?” Kayla sat on the floor cross-legged, her back resting against the wall. She wrapped her arms around herself, nervous but doing her best not to show it.

“Ten minutes.”

“Do you think we’ll have to climb out on top?”

They weren’t touching, but he was close enough to catch the faint scent of her barely there perfume. He would have lied if he’d said he wasn’t aware of her as a woman. He had been from the beginning, and it had ticked him off back when he’d thought her all fluff and no substance. Now that he was getting to know her better and like her a hell of a lot more, his awareness spelled trouble.

To their right, there was a mirror, to their left a poster of a famous singer who was performing that night at the hotel. She was looking at that, leaning ever so slightly closer to him. The elevator seemed to have shrunk all of a sudden.

She had an annoyed look on her face as her gaze ran down the show-time listings on the poster.

He understood how much she hated to give up her freedom, but he needed to keep her secure. “It’d be better if you stayed in your room. Whoever is after you, we know he’s here and we know he has the ability to get close. You can go see as many shows as you want once this is over.”

She shrugged as she turned to him. “I’ve seen him in concert more than enough. We’ve dated.”

Her admission didn’t surprise him in the least. “You date a lot.”

“Past tense. I’m not my reputation.”

“But you have one,” he observed, and it bothered him to think of all the men she’d belonged to in the past. Which was really stupid. But not half as stupid as wanting Kayla Landon for himself.

She was a high-class, high-society woman. She was one of the “pretty people” and went out with others from that circle. Anger flashed through him for a split second. Not at her, but at himself because even knowing all that couldn’t stop him from wanting her.

He should know better. He’d made that mistake before, a mistake that had cost the life of his best friend.

“Don’t believe everything you read in the tabloids.” She closed her eyes for a split second. “Or do. Everyone does anyway.”

He hated the resignation in her voice. And he hated that as much as he’d watched her in the last two days, he still couldn’t pin her down, although he was beginning to have a basic understanding. “I know you’re not a brainless socialite.”

She turned to him. “Since when?”

“Since I read your file after signing up for the job. You have an MBA. From a damn fine university. I don’t think even your daddy could buy that.”

“I tried to prove to my father that I was fit for the family business.” She leaned her head against the wall. Her neck was slim and long, her skin like smooth cream, the definition of kissable.

Focus.
“Did you impress him?”

“Nobody could ever impress him but Lance.”

Her older brother who’d died in the skiing accident. He’d been an up-and-coming star of the business world according to
Forbes
magazine.

“Lance was the golden boy,” she was saying, her tone thoughtful, her eyes looking into the past. “I was free advertising, once I started getting into all the tabloids.”

“Your father should have protected you from that.”

“It was the only thing I’ve ever done that my father liked. Any publicity was good publicity for him. He loved when they started calling me the Popcorn Princess. He brought me into the business because of that. I was the face of the company all of a sudden.”

“And Greg?”

She looked down at her hands. “Greg was his one mistake. He actually said that. He was embarrassed by Greg.”

And Kayla fiercely loved her brother because of that. Nash was beginning to understand the family dynamics. Hell, he’d always thought rich people had it easy. But from what she was telling him, her family was almost as messed up as his.

Almost. Her mother hadn’t driven her father to drink himself to death. He pushed his own dark memories away.

“If he liked publicity, he must have really loved you.” He’d read every piece of news he could get on her, going back a couple of years. Every gossip rag covered her. According to them, she was a hellcat in high heels. That side of her hadn’t come out yet, although he would have been lying if he said he wouldn’t have liked to see it.

“People know my family’s name. Landon Enterprises is a big deal. Back in college, boys figured out that if they took me to wild parties where there were paparazzi, they could get their pictures in the papers the next day.”