Henry jerks his chin.
“Go shower. You can borrow some of my clothes.”
With a heavy sigh, Henry gets to his feet and pauses. “Sorry, Alice. About what I said downstairs and puking on you and all that.”
I just nod.
While the teenager slouches off into the bathroom off the main room, Beck turns to me with a quizzical look. “What did he say to you downstairs?”
“The usual drunken nonsense. It’s not a big deal.”
“Fine. I’ll get the details from Aaron, then.” There’s a knock at the door and Beck rises to go answer. “Or you could just tell me.”
“It’s over and done with. Let it go.”
“Why can’t you pander to me like everyone else does?”
My eyes go wide. “Wow. No. I’m afraid you chose the wrong girlfriend for that.”
“Not possible. I’ll have you know that as of a couple of weeks ago, my taste in women has been impeccable.” He opens the door. “Smith, come on in.”
The big driver/bodyguard strides in. But really quietly. How does someone so big walk so softly? There must be a trick. “Miss Lawrence.”
“Hello,” I say.
“Smith works for us now,” announces Beck. “Mind taking a seat outside or in the office while I talk to Alice, please?”
The man nods and slips outside, closing the door behind him. He’s in one of his usual black suits. No doubt carrying a weapon.
“You stole your grandma’s driver?” I ask. “Have you told her yet? What did she say?”
“Nothing. There was just this really long silence.” He sits back down on the couch beside me. “I think I’m getting cabbage again for Christmas. Anyway, I was always his favorite. And I doubled his salary. It wasn’t a hard sell.”
“Good God, you work fast. I wasn’t even out of the room for that long.”
“You’re frowning.” He licks his thumb and wipes it between my brows. “There you go, beloved. All better.”
I wrinkle my nose. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t do that. And I thought I’d made my feelings about bodyguards clear.”
Beck winces. “Yeah, but…how do I put this? You’re wrong. You see, whatever we decided to do with Henry, we were going to need someone helping us keep a closer eye on him. At least for the next few days until he goes back to school.”
“But you’re not talking about Smith being here only for a few days, are you?”
“No. And he probably won’t be the only security person I bring in.” He loosens his tie, pulling it free. “Thing is, if you suddenly became rich, you’d realize quickly that you need to be more security conscious. You’d be a target in ways you never were before. That’s basically our reality now. I know you don’t like it. But I don’t know how else to explain it to you.”
I think it over. “You’re right; I don’t like it. Though I don’t want to see you get hurt, or have some nut job try to kidnap you and cut you into little pieces and send you back in gift boxes to me, either.”
“That’s very kind of you. And it’s quite the visual image.” He picks up my hand, pressing a kiss to my knuckles. “Now, how do we keep a teenager occupied and out of trouble for the next few days?”
“Good question. I used to go to the mall with my friends or to the library. Neither of those options really strike me as being Henry’s thing.”
“Probably not.”
“By the way,” I say. “We need to discuss that watch.”
He arches a brow. “What watch? Do you need one?”
“A diamond watch appeared in the closet this morning. It’s beautiful, but…excessive. I looked it up. It’s a Patek Philippe.”
“Rachel must have sent it over.” He taps his lip with one finger. “Unless, and hear me out, the closet is in fact a magical portal.”
“You think Narnia might be back there?”
“Maybe.”
“I have to admit, that hadn’t occurred to me.”
“If a box of Turkish delight appears, we’ll know for sure,” he says. “To be honest, it’s more likely Rachel and Selah still trying to help you look the part of an Elliot consort.”
I laugh. “Consort my ass. You, my friend, are a lot of things. But a king is not one of them.”
“Couldn’t we pretend?”
“No.”
“But you’d look so pretty on your knees.”
I give him good side-eye. “You know what you have to do to get that.”
“The sex ban will lift in due time,” he says, tone solemn. But it doesn’t last. “It’s your call, dearest. If you like the watch, keep it. Though it might be nice to hang onto it for a while and appease Rachel a little. She seems to like you.”
“She doesn’t know me. What she likes is you being back.”
“That too.”
Beck waves his hand and Smith comes back inside. While he appeared to be chilling and taking in the skyline, he apparently also had us in the corner of his eye the whole time. More bodyguard magic tricks. Henry comes out of the bathroom on a cloud of steam with a towel wrapped around his waist and dark wet hair dripping in his eyes.
“Your soap and shampoo smells of girly shit,” he grouches.
“Good to know.” Beck crosses his arms, taking my hand with him. It’s not exactly comfortable, but oh well, whatever makes him happy. “Smith is going to take you over to Bertram Street to grab your stuff. Get anything you need for school too, okay?”
Another chin jerk from Henry.
“Get dressed. Closet’s through there.”
“I’m putting on a suit. A Westmancott, maybe.”
“You put on one of my suits, we’re going to have problems.” Beck looks to heaven. “You really want an ass kicking when you’re hungover? ’Cause I’m telling you now, been there, done that, and it does not feel good.”
“You got into a fight?” I ask, curious. “When did this happen?”
“There may have been a misunderstanding or two during my younger, wilder years.”
Henry claps his hands together. “You mean she hasn’t heard about the time you—”
“Rule number four, you will not tell Alice any stories,” orders Beck. “I mean it. And anyway, that was a long time ago. I’ve matured since then.”
At this, Smith snorts and Henry’s diabolical laughter echoes through the apartment. Thing is, he almost sounds happy. And Beck does one of his sneaky smiles, the kind he tries to hide for one reason or another. But it’s there and it’s beautiful like everything else about him. If the man was a book, I’d reread him a hundred times or more. Learning every nook and cranny of his mind and emotions until I knew him inside and out. Get to know his history, the things that helped to shape him, like the back of my hand. I don’t think I’ve ever been this curious about anyone before. So wholly taken up with another person. A corner of my mind seems to have been set up just to dwell on this man specifically. It’s crazy. This goes so far beyond a crush it’s not funny.
When he catches me watching, he gives me a wink. Then his gaze lingers on my face, just staring at me. And the feeling that I’m not alone in all of my wanting means everything.