Page 16 of Mile High Baby

"If he works for Saint Security, he must be trained. Vetted."

"But I don't know him. I can't pawn you off to just anybody. Your father is adamant that someone he can trust be your bodyguard.”

My hackles rose at his use of pawning me off. Like I was a chore. "You know, my first impression of you was correct. You're a jerk."

"You didn't seem to think so in the bathroom yesterday."

My eyes narrowed. "That comment just proves my point even more. Only an asshole douchebag would make a comment like that."

To his credit, he looked chagrined.

"Your behavior today has totally eliminated any pleasure I had from our encounter yesterday. Now I'm just totally embarrassed and repulsed."

"That makes two of us," he quipped.

"What do you have to complain about?” Why was I still here, taking his abuse?

"I fucked my best friend’s kid."

"Once again, I'm not a kid. I'm a grown woman, as you fully discovered."

He started to turn that pale shade of green again. "The point is, you're Henry's daughter."

"And because of that, you don't want to be around me. So let Ian do it."

His lips curled into a snarl in a way that had me wondering if this was just about finding somebody my father trusted. It was like he didn’t like Ian, but he admitted he didn’t know him. Was it that he just didn’t like the idea of Ian being my bodyguard? While that didn’t seem possible, I decided to test the theory.

With a shrug, I said, "Ian is good looking and is closer to my age, so it would make sense that I’d be hanging around him."

Alex stepped toward me, another one of those growls emanating from him. "You're stuck with me."

Just to mess with him, I said, "That’s fine, but you'd better not get in my way. There’s definitely not going to be any more adventures. Like you said, one and done."

His nostrils flared, but he gave a quick nod. "Good, then we understand each other."

As long as I could stay angry at him, it wasn't going to be a problem for him to be my bodyguard. "Good. I'm going home now." I started to turn away, but once again, he took my arm and stopped me at the door.

He stepped close, pinning me in. His heat and scent enveloped me, and I had a flashback to our adventure in the bathroom. My traitorous hormones reacted, making my breath hitch.

He sucked in a breath, and his eyes drifted down to my lips.

Push him away, Tori.

His gaze drifted back up to my eyes, and he cleared his throat as he stepped back. "You stay here with me until I've put a security plan in place. What you can do is call your father and let them know where you are."

I looked up at him defiantly. "How do you know he doesn't know that I'm here?"

He shook his head. "Because nobody is with you. That tells me you snuck out."

Dammit.

“Stay here. Call your dad. I’ll be back.” He jerked the door open and left like he’d done at my father’s house. Like he couldn’t get away fast enough. Jerk.

I didn’t want to talk to my dad and explain how I’d gotten here, so I texted him, letting him know I was at Saint Security with Alex. I didn’t like taking orders from Alex, but he was right. My father would worry when he realized I was gone.

With that out of the way, I scrolled through my email until Alex returned with one of the other men he’d been talking to before.

“Victoria, Dax Sheppard. Dax, Victoria Banion,” Alex introduced us without interest. We’d barely said hello when Alex jumped into business. “Henry’s house is fairly secure, but I’d like a team to go through the place to find potential weaknesses.”