“Hey!”
I turned at the sound of the voice and saw another guy jogging toward us. At first I thought the reporter had brought a friend, but this new guy had fire in his eyes, and his glare was all for the reporter harassing me.
“The lady asked you to leave her alone,” he said in a voice of steel as he put his body between me and the reporter.
“Hey, man.” The reporter raised his hands in surrender but kept his phone’s camera pointed at me. “I was only asking a couple questions.”
“You were harassing a pregnant woman, and I suggest you get lost.” He turned to me, gesturing toward the building. “Would you like to go back inside, ma’am?”
I immediately headed in that direction, the guy following close behind me, acting as a shield as I made a wide arc around the reporter. I couldn’t help glancing back.
The reporter was eyeing me, a smirk on his face as he continued to hold up his phone. “Nice to meet you, Libby.” He had the gall to wink.
I turned away from him and hurried even faster to the entrance. Once inside, I found the closest chair and collapsed into it, my body shaking with adrenaline. My rescuer stood at the door, looking out at the parking lot. After my breathing had moved from panicked to just stressed, I spoke up. “Thank you.”
He turned to look at me.
“I really appreciate what you just did,” I said as the relief started to sink in.
“No problem, ma’am.”
I wondered if his “ma’aming” me was because he had a military background. Then I noticed the phone he held to his ear and my brow furrowed. Was he calling the police? Maybe that was a good idea.
Then whoever he’d been calling picked up and he moved the phone closer to his mouth. “Hi, Sean. We’ve had an incident here at the conservatory.” Pause. “She’s fine. But an overzealous paparazzo got in her face.”
I blinked as I realized that he was reporting back to Sean. Like he worked for him. Like he’d been assigned to look out for me. My eyes closed as I puffed out a breath through my nose.
Apparently he wasn’t just a Good Samaritan. He was my bodyguard.
This left me very conflicted. I was incredibly relieved that he had been there in that moment, but I was super annoyed that he’d been covertly following me around for who knew how long.
“Yeah,” he continued, talking to Sean. “She’s right here.” He walked over to me and held out the phone.
I took it and put it to my ear. “Sean,” I greeted.
“Libby, are you all right?” His voice dripped with concern.
“I’m fine. I think.”
“You think?”
“Yes. I think. I’m allowed to be unsure right now. I was just accosted by a reporter. I’m allowed to be a little shaken up.”
“Did he touch you?”
“No.”
“Okay,” he muttered to himself. “Okay. I’m on my way.”
“No. Don’t come here!”
“Why not?”
“Because—” I cut myself off and looked around. The lobby was mostly empty, but a couple people were talking near the stairs. I lowered my voice. “Because if you bust in here in all your famous glory, people will notice. And the reporter is probably still sitting outside, hoping to get a photo of you coming to my rescue.”
He sighed loudly. “Okay. Just…let Nick take you home. He’ll be able to get you here without a tail. We can get your car later.”
“I assume Nick is the bodyguard?” There was a chill in my voice. Yes, it was on purpose.
“Yeah. Nick is a great guy and…we’ll talk about that when you get home.”
“Yes, we will.”
“So you’ll let him bring you home?”
“Sure.” My fear of the reporter was greater than my annoyance with Sean.
“Okay. I’ll see you when you get here. Can you hand the phone back to Nick?”
I did so without saying goodbye.
“Hey, man,” Nick greeted.
When they ended the call, I gave Nick a sardonic smile. “Nick, I presume?”
“Yeah.” He had the grace to look a little sheepish. “Sorry we had to meet this way.”
“Would you have preferred we never met?” I asked, a bit darkly.
“No, I wanted to meet you up front, but Sean was under the impression you wouldn’t accept protection.”
“He was right.” I heaved myself to my feet. “Shall we go?”
He nodded. “I’ll pull my car up to the back door. Then you can come out.”
I gave him a mock salute and he left through the side door instead of the main entrance.
I sat back down, chewing on one nail, lost in chaotic thought. It startled me when Heidi and Gemma came and sat on the couch with me.
Heidi’s face was all concern. “Are you okay?”
I blew out a breath. “Yeah, just…reporters.” I grimaced, knowing they likely knew what I was talking about but feeling awkward that I hadn’t spoken about it with either of them. To their credit, neither of them had pounced on me for information after the article came out.
Gemma gave me a sad smile. “I’m sorry about that.”
I waved it off. “Not your fault.”
“So…” Heidi started with a weighted look. “Any chance you’re going to give us the low-down on that situation at some point?”
A startled laugh escaped me. I kind of liked that Heidi was willing to broach the subject now that I had. Her face was genuinely curious instead of having the hungry look that some people tended to get. “Yeah. I’m sure I’ll tell you the whole story at some point.” I patted her knee, trying to be friendly while also trying to leave. “But right now I have to go.”
“Okay,” Heidi said. “Stay safe.”
“That’s the idea.” I waved to them both and when I got to the back door, Nick was just pulling up.
I got into the car without incident, but once we were on the road, he had to do some fancy driving to ditch the reporter. I just closed my eyes and held on for dear life. Not that he did anything truly dangerous, but the entire situation was raising my blood pressure.
When we got back to my house, Nick hustled me to the door and then left to move his car somewhere else.
I stood just inside the door, looking at Sean where he stood in the living room. His hands were deep in his pockets and he looked almost as unsure as he had on that first day when he showed up at my door. He lifted one shoulder. “I told you you needed protection.”
My shoulders fell and I dropped my bag on the floor. “So you decided to go behind my back?”
“You were pretty adamant.”
“Yes, I was.” My voice rose just a little. “Which is why you should have tried to persuade me.”
“You wouldn’t have listened.”
I pulled off my shoes and chucked them toward the closet. “You never know unless you try, Sean.” I walked past him toward the kitchen. “I guess you’ll never know.”
“I love you,” he blurted out, like he just had to say those words—like they’d been torn from him simply because they were true.
It should have been sweet. It should have given me chills or a fluttery feeling. Instead his profession of love just stoked my anger and I turned on him. “Then respect me enough to include me in the decision-making. Or at least tell me you’re going to override me.”