***
Son of a bitch, now she was really late. Kat dashed out of the ladies’ where she’d spent the last few minutes sitting on the loo – yes, she could multi-task but no, in this case she’d put the lid down – trying to talk her sister out of a total meltdown. Mandy, who she’d just dropped off at rehab, had totally freaked out on being told she needed to stay there for sixty days.
‘Two fucking months, Kat,’ she’d screamed down the phone. ‘I can’t do that long. Debs will go nuts.’
Kat had already warned her niece that her mum would need to stay longer this time. ‘Debs will be cool with it,’ she’d reassured her sister, though having spent the second part of the crappy morning taking her truculent fourteen-year-old niece to school, she’d said it with her fingers crossed. ‘I’ll be there for her, and we’ll come and visit you. Chill.’
‘I can’t chill. Come and get me, please. I don’t want to be here.’
Kat’s heart had ached for her, but she’d lived with Mandy’s addictions for too long. Softening her voice, she’d told her the truth. ‘You’ve tried outpatient therapy and shorter stays, and they didn’t work. If you want your daughter to remember you as the strong, vibrant woman I know you are, then you need to work through this.’
It had done the trick, and her sister had promised she’d stick it out.
But damn it, now she was running so far behind even she was embarrassed by it. Collier, the guy in charge of security for the production company, would likely go apeshit. He’d asked her, via Mark, her boss, to turn up half an hour before their meeting with Zac Edwards, so he could brief her. Now she was just hoping she could get to Collier’s office before Edwards did. Why the hell had the man arrived early? Didn’t he realise celebrities were allowed to be late?
Dashing towards the lifts, she jammed her hand on the button just as the doors were about to close. As they slowly opened again, she stared at the man inside and sighed.
Looking as cool and laid back as he had in the car park in his immaculately fitting suit, designer shades now slotted into the top pocket, Zac Edwards gave her a sexy smirk of a smile. ‘Not content with pinching my car park space, I see you now want to encroach on my lift.’
‘I’m joining you in the lift.’ Ignoring the flutter in her chest, she went to press the second floor, but it had already been pressed. Of course, it had. Because the man she appeared to be having an embarrassing hormonal reaction to, was her new client.
‘Apparently you are.’ With a languid grace she’d never aspire to, he leant back against the wall of the lift and crossed his ankles. ‘Are you always so … impatient?’
She hiccupped out a laugh. ‘I’m not impatient. I’m late. And please don’t give me the speech about setting off earlier, because I know that now. Trust me when I say I’ve had the sort of morning it would be hard to predict.’
He gave a lazy shrug of broad shoulders that were showcased by his perfectly fitted jacket. ‘Expect the unexpected.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Hey, you’re preaching to the converted. That’s totally the motto I live my professional life by.’
‘But?’
‘Let’s just say my private life is way too chaotic to call.’ Suddenly the lift came to a shuddering stop. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’
He eased off the wall. ‘Not claustrophobic, I hope.’
‘No. Just frustrated that I’m now going to be even later.’ She jabbed at the emergency button. ‘Come on, come on.’
‘There’s that impatience again.’ His lips curved into the smile that had made him a household name. ‘Relax. It’ll just be a temporary blip.’
Sighing, she turned to face him. ‘I suppose there are worse things than being stuck in a lift with, you know.’ She waved a hand in his direction. ‘You. I could have been stuck here by myself, or with a sweaty, overweight bloke who smelt of BO.’
‘I’m glad I was here to save you from that purgatory.’
Kat had to bite into her cheek to stop an unprofessional giggle. This man with his fancy suits and fancy looks sure used a lot of really funny, fancy words.
The lift gave another shudder before moving again, smoothly coming to a stop a few seconds later.
As she stepped out and turned down the corridor, she was acutely aware of him walking beside her. The warmth of his body through that ridiculously smart suit – who wore a suit during the hottest June on record? Then there was his expensive aftershave. She was almost hyperventilating with the desire to keep inhaling it.
‘I see we’re going in the same direction.’ He gave her a quizzical look. ‘What is it you do for Vision Films?’
They both came to a stop outside Jerry Collier’s door and she sucked in a deep breath. ‘You’re about to find out.’
At his bewildered expression, she felt the first jangle of nerves. This wasn’t how it had been planned. Mark was already worried about assigning her to such a high-profile case, a fact that had both touched and really frigging annoyed her. Despite assuring him she was totally up to it though, here she was, ballsing it up before she’d even properly started. She wasn’t supposed to have met Edwards yet. She also wasn’t supposed to be so late this morning that she was arriving with the guy. And they certainly shouldn’t have been flirting with each other, no matter how mildly.
The door swung open and Jerry, a big, imposing guy in his mid-fifties you wouldn’t want to piss off, stared at her before reaching out to shake the actor by the hand. ‘Good to meet you, Zac. I see you and Kat have already been introduced.’
‘Err, not exactly.’ Usually Kat had no problem talking herself out of a situation, but this was a bit tricky. ‘We sort of bumped into each other last night.’
‘Literally.’ Zac narrowed his eyes. ‘What’s going on here?’
Jerry looked between her and Edwards, and sighed. ‘When I heard about the note stuck on your front door yesterday, I asked Kat to discreetly keep an eye out for you last night. Today she was supposed to have arrived before you, so I could make the introductions properly, but it seems she’s jumped the gun.’
‘Keep an eye out for me?’ Zac was clearly confused, and Kat felt a knot of tension tighten in her stomach. Her gut told her he wasn’t going to like what he heard next.
‘Yes. That’s what she’s here for.’ Jerry nodded in her direction. ‘Zac Edwards, meet Kat Parker. Your bodyguard.’
As she watched the news sink in, Kat noticed the differing emotions flicker across her new client’s handsome face. The bewilderment and disbelief, she was used to. All part of the joy of being a woman in a man’s world. She didn’t mind the annoyance either, because God knows she wouldn’t like to have someone foisted on her. No, it was the interlaced horror that alarmed her.
Was he horrified Vision Films were so worried about his safety they’d assigned him a bodyguard? Or horrified his bodyguard was a woman?
Worse still, was the horror because his bodyguard was her?
Kat unconsciously squared her shoulders. She couldn’t do much about her job, or her gender, but she could make sure he only saw Kat the professional from now on.