Page 2 of Dangerously In Love
Someone was stalking Ava.
I finally understand the expression “seeing red.”
The idea of some sick person thinking they can encroach on what’s mine makes me angry. I tighten my hold on the stem of the flute, ready to break it into pieces.
Ava could never belong to me, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t go to the ends of the earth for her safety.
I don’t fill in the silence, letting Asher dictate what comes next. If it were up to me, I’d keep Ava locked away in a location only I know about until my team and I catch the brave bastard who thought they could come after her.
“Brandon, she needs a bodyguard, and I trust you with Ava’s safety.”
I release a breath. There it is. I wasn’t going to say no to my friend when it comes to protecting Ava, though my better judgement was telling me to do exactly that.
Executive protection was what I did best and what prompted me to create my own security firm. I’d been the personal protection for many celebrities and other high-profile people. After being shot at and in too many brawls, I could now set off airport security with parts of me that were damaged in the crossfire.
Protecting Ava required little effort. It was something I could do in my sleep.
But this would be the first time I’d taken a job where the person not only felt like family but was someone who I had a strong, albeit inappropriate, attraction to.
I should say no. Tell Asher that one of my team members would be better suited, but before I can get the words out, the stunner in question is heading towards us.
It’s as if my eyes were always seeking Ava out. As if I’m unconsciously aware of her every move. Like a strange, invisible connection, we were constantly aware of each other’s presence to the point that I spent less time around Asher when he was with his sister because the connection was too palpable.
She makes her way over to us, all long limbed and, judging by the tight set of her plump mouth, mad as hell.
“I can’t believe you,” Ava says, forgoing any greeting toward me and lighting into her brother.
“Ava—” Asher begins in a warning tone, one I’ve heard him use many times with his kid sister, who looks nothing like a kid tonight.
Ava’s recent birthday made her twenty-six, and because I’m a demented bastard, I’ve thought too long about the age difference between us becoming less creepy as she gets older. But that doesn’t negate the fact that she’s my best friend’s little sister.
Tonight, she wore an ankle-length red gown, showing the smooth skin of her slender back and shoulders. The heaters employed by the party organizers made it possible for Ava to wear a thin-strapped dress with a slit nearly up to her hip, exposing her long legs I would do well to avoid staring at with Asher standing inches away from me.
Ava continues her tirade. “I have to hear from Madison that you want to hire Brandon as my bodyguard. I already told you, Ash, I don’t need a babysitter!”
Wincing at the term babysitter only highlights our age gap, but it also lances at the fact that what I do is more thanbabysitting.
“Ava, this is for your own good,” her brother says, grasping a soft-looking shoulder.
She quickly shrugs him off.
“I have already filed the police report on this...matter. I don’t want or need to be followed around, Asher.”
“You’ll be glad to know I haven’t accepted the job yet,” I cut into her tirade. My deep, accented voice commands a room when I need it to, and right now it serves its purpose in getting Ava to turn her ire from Asher.
For the first time since I arrived, she makes direct eye contact with me. The brief greeting in the foyer hours ago was a quick, double-cheeked kiss, but she’d avoided my gaze entirely. This dance of barely acknowledging each other had only increased in the last few years. Ava avoids me as I do her because I know, without the words being spoken, that whatever invisible string draws us together could detonate our futures one day.
Her large brown eyes hold mine as I continue to speak. “Asher only just informed me of what is going on when you barreled over here.”
Ava crosses her arms, which only pushes her breasts up in the low front of her dress, requiring me to veer my gaze elsewhere.
Did she have the slightest idea what she did to me?
“Is that so?” Ava turns back to Asher.
“Yes, Avie,” Asher says solemnly nodding.
“I get what you’re trying to do, Ash, but really I don’t want to be followed around by—” She pauses. Her gaze meets mine again but holds this time.