Fuck it. He was bored and kind of desperate so he swiped the screen to connect. “Hello?”
“May I speak with Kyle Jones, please?”
Crap. Had he just answered some solicitor’s call?
Was this guy going to try to sell him an extended warranty on his vehicle, which was a used junker he kept on base for the times he was stateside and needed to get somewhere?
Scowling, he was poised to hit to disconnect the call as he said, “This is Kyle Jones.”
“This is Jon Rudnick from GAPS. You’d called and left a message with one of our assistants.”
Well, shit. This was a call he actually wanted to take.
Rudnick’s words began to sink in. One of our assistants… From that comment, Kyle guessed she was one of many. This organization might be bigger than he’d originally assumed.
“Uh, yeah. I did. Thanks for getting back to me.”
“Sorry it took so long. It’s been one hell of a busy summer around here and autumn doesn’t look much better.”
At least someone was busy…
“No problem at all.” Seriously. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do except sit around the house and wait.
He could walk but he couldn’t climb a ladder or carry heavy tools or materials so he was useless to his father. Why he thought he could be of use to Rudnick, he wasn’t sure.
“I’ve got a job for you.” Rudnick’s statement took him by surprise.
“You do?” He’d figured this was a courtesy call. A thanks-but-no-thanks kind of thing. Maybe Rudnick wasn’t aware of his situation. “Um, did your assistant tell you about my injury?”
Probably not. And when Rudnick heard he couldn’t run, could only walk with a limp in a big black boot, this job offer would go away as quickly as it had come.
It had been a nice few seconds of hope anyway. At least it broke up the monotony of life back home.
“She did. How is the ankle feeling?” Rudnick asked.
“Better. Much better. But I gotta be honest with you, my mobility is limited. I can get around fine, but I won’t be running the obstacle course any time soon, if you get my meaning.”
“Gotcha. Let me be honest with you. My entire crew, save for myself and one of our guys, is over in Afghanistan eyeball deep in that clusterfuck.”
Shit. GAPS was helping the government with the evacuation? This organization was the real deal.
“A level one job just came in that needs someone on it like yesterday and I’ve got no one to put on it. You’re a team guy and Blessing recommended you. That’s good enough for me. And the job is in New York.”
“I’m in New York,” Kyle blurted.
“I know. The job’s yours if you want it.”
Hell yeah, he wanted it. But… He glanced down at the hated boot. “I’m more than interested, but I don’t want to take on something I can’t handle. I need you to know I can’t run right now and I walk with a limp.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. It should be a lot of sitting actually.”
“Is it like watching monitors or something?” Not that he cared. He’d take anything.
Sitting around somewhere else would be a nice change. He loved his grandmother but if he watched one more daytime talk show he was going to lose it.
Rudnick let out a laugh. “Sometimes I wish GAPS got contracted for jobs watching monitors, but no. We charge too much for that so the clients who come to us usually have assignments that are a bit more complicated. Speaking of what we charge… We can go over your compensation. And I can email over a contract and an NDA for you to sign.”
Kyle’s heart began to pound. This was really happening.
“Okay. Um, so what will I be doing?” He was curious.
If he wasn’t sitting around watching monitors, what would he be watching?
“Have you heard of Luna Sanchez, aka Luna Blue?” Rudnick asked.
Kyle’s eyes widened. “Uh, yeah.”
“She needs close personal security twenty-four hours a day. She’ll be in Manhattan for a few days and then moving to another location for a few weeks. She rented some house up in the mountains. After that, you’re done. She’ll be leaving for Miami. Basically, she wants completely off the grid for the next few weeks. No fans. No paparazzi. No press. You’ll be staying with her at all locations. You’ll have a room in her hotel suite in the city and in the rental house.”
A few thoughts careened through Kyle’s mind as Rudnick laid out the job. The first being, holy shit! Of all the people in all the world, he’d been hired to guard her?
Next thought was that Scooter would lose his freaking mind if he told him. Which he wouldn’t, of course.
And finally, Kyle’s last thought was how the hell was he going to survive twenty-four-seven in close quarters with a stuck up, self-centered, spoiled diva like Luna Blue?
nine
Dan hung up the phone in the suite and glanced at Luna.
“That was the front desk. The bodyguard is on his way up.” Pinning her with a stare, he said, “And stop pouting. You don’t want him to see you like this, do you?”
Luna couldn’t deny that she might actually be pouting, so she scowled instead and turned on Dan. “Why not? He’s the reason I’m pouting.”
“Let’s just get through this, okay?”
“Don’t want to,” she mumbled.
Okay. Yeah, she felt it that time. Definitely a pout.
She drew in a breath and tried to remember she wasn’t twelve anymore. Wasn’t surrounded by other show biz kids her age. No longer being catered to by set staff or tutors.
“Luna, think this through. Crazed stalker in the bathroom with you while you’re in the shower. Or bodyguard in the suite with you.” Dan held his hands out flat, each palm facing up and weighed the two options against each other. “Hmm. Doesn’t seem like much of a choice to me.”
Most people wouldn’t think so, but most people didn’t have cameras up their asses all the time... Still, that stalker in the bathroom was scary.
Damn Dan for being logical. She hated when he was right.
She sighed and gave in…just a little, spatting out, “Fine.”
The sound of locks disengaging had her spinning to look at the door to the hallway behind her. Wide-eyed, she spun back to Daniel.
“I had the front desk give him a keycard,” Daniel explained without her having to ask.
She frowned. “Before I even met him?”
“Luna, he’s going to need to get in and out of here on his own. And he comes highly recommended.”
She scowled as the door opened and the man in question appeared.
Then and there she made a snap decision about what he’d be like just from that one look.
Typical brute. Tall. Broad. Serious, judging by the way his brows formed a straight line over his eyes as he glanced around the room.
A hard man who’d lived a hard life, from the looks of him. At least that’s what she assumed from his pronounced limp.
Dan had hired a bodyguard that walked like an invalid. After that decision, how could she trust that he came highly recommended, as he’d put it?
She glanced at him again. He seemed kind of familiar.