Chapter One
Step One: Set the ground rules early on. Clear communication is key. You’re the muscle.
She’s the target. Simple. Easy.
“My name is Constantine Leos, and I’m your bodyguard.”
The beautiful blonde who’d been swiping a rather shady-looking white cloth over the top of the bar paused at Constantine’s announcement. He kept his shoulders back and his arms loose at his sides. This was supposed to be an assignment that he didn’t fuck up, and he was going to stick to the Wilde rules on this one. Okay, fine, so maybe Wilde—the security firm that now employed him—didn’t exactly have a set of rules when it came to this precise situation. So Constantine had decided to improvise.
Slowly, the blonde tilted back her head. Deep, dark chocolate eyes—warmed with flecks of gold—locked on him. Her bow-shaped lips curled in the faintest of smiles as she nodded. “Does that pickup line often work for you?”
Voices rose and fell behind him. It was a Friday night, and Sal’s, the bar in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was certainly hopping. Plenty of people were hooking up in the bar, no doubt about it, but Constantine hadn’t traveled across multiple states and enjoyed the comfort of his boss’s private jet just so he could hit on a pretty blonde. “It’s not a pickup line. It’s the truth.” He turned his head and cast an eye around the packed place. “Too many people are here. I don’t like it.” Talk about a logistical nightmare.
“Then, ah, if you don’t like it, you should probably leave. There are lots of less crowded places in the area.” Gravely polite.
His attention shifted back to her. “I’m not going to leave without you.”
She took a tiny step back. He saw her hold tighten on the off-white cloth. The smile slipped from her lips. “I don’t intend to go anywhere with you. My shift doesn’t end until 2 a.m.”
Constantine’s head shook. “Bad mistake. You never, ever tell a stranger when you’re getting off work. I could be planning to stay around and wait out back for you. You come out on your own at 2 a.m., and then I could grab you.”
Her eyes flared with alarm even as a gasp tore from her.
I am screwing this up. “Not that I intend to do that, of course,” Constantine rushed to reassure her because he certainly didn’t want her terrified of him. Her terror would just make things awkward. “I’m your bodyguard. My job is to keep you safe.” There. She should be feeling better.
She backed up a little more. Constantine noticed that she’d dropped the cloth. “Right.” Now she smiled again, and the smile took the woman before him from being pretty to absolutely stunning. Unforgettable. It was the most charming and warm smile he’d ever seen in his life, and Constantine found himself leaning forward because he wanted to get closer to her as—
“Johnny, gonna need you to escort this guy out.” She pointed straight at Constantine.
But, wait, Johnny—who the hell was Johnny?
A beefy hand closed around Constantine’s shoulder. Ah, that must be Johnny. Constantine lifted a brow as he turned to face his new friend. “There a problem?” It was his turn to be gravely polite.
“Yes.” Johnny’s eyes appeared as angry, dark slits. “You’re the problem. Either you take your ass out of here on your own, or I will escort you out.” His grip tightened on Constantine’s shoulder. “You really don’t want me escorting you out. Trust me on that.”
Johnny obviously had confused Constantine with someone else. Someone who could be intimidated. Sure, Johnny might have about sixty pounds on him, but that weight wasn’t muscle, and Constantine had never, ever backed away from a fight. He didn’t typically start fights, but he always finished them. “I’m not done with my conversation.” Again, he tried for politeness even as his patience waned.
“Oh, but you are done,” the bartender told him, her voice still pleasant and warm and—oddly—sliding over his nerve endings in the best possible way. “Once you said you’d be stalking me after work, that was your ticket for the door.”
He hadn’t said those exact words. His head angled back toward her. After all, she was his assignment. “Princess…” Deliberately, he said the magic word.
Her long, thick lashes flickered. “Excuse me?” Not so pleasant and warm. Sharper. A little scared.
“I never said I was your stalker. I said I was your bodyguard. There’s a big difference.”
She swallowed. “Do enlighten me.”
Fair enough. “A stalker would probably want to wear your skin.”
“Jesus.” Johnny’s hold turned punishing. “You are a freak. You’re getting out of here, now.” He jerked on Constantine’s shoulder.
Since he didn’t like being jerked around—not a favorite hobby at all—Constantine grabbed the guy’s wrist and twisted. The movement would appear deceptively simple to any onlooker. He’d trained for it to look just that way. But in reality, there was nothing simple about the pain that would be sliding all the way from Johnny’s thick wrist, up his arm and to—
“Owww! Dammit, that hurts!” Johnny hit his knees on the floor near Constantine.
His response was fair. The move was supposed to hurt. “You shouldn’t put your hands on people.” He let Johnny go.
The bouncer immediately surged toward him.
Constantine didn’t even tense.
Johnny went nose to nose with him. Seriously, nose to nose. Invading personal space much? Someone needed to learn appropriate boundaries. “Back up or you’ll be on your knees again.” A polite warning seemed appropriate given the circumstances.
Johnny licked his lips, glanced over at the gorgeous bartender, and took a quick step back.
“Smart choice,” Constantine applauded.
“Seriously?” Disgust coated the word as it came from the woman. “I thought you were the badass bouncer, Johnny!”
“Look, Jules,” Johnny hurried to say, “I’m just taking a minute for us to all calm down. Just a calming beat, ya know?”
“Jules?” Constantine forgot the bouncer and focused completely on her. “You prefer that to Juliet?” He could see where she might. Jules was a lot less formal, but…she was formal. Pretty much as formal as one could get.
Because the woman standing behind the bar and glaring at him was an honest-to-God princess. An exiled one, but still actual royalty.
“How did you know my name is Juliet?” Fear flickered in her eyes. He hated the fear. His job was to make sure she wasn’t afraid.
Trying to buy a little time because clearly, he had not handled the initial meet and greet well, Constantine tugged at the sleeve of his suit coat. Most of the other people in the bar were wearing jeans and sweatshirts. But he’d come in with his tailored suit and black tie. What could he say? He loved his suits.
But back to the matter at hand… “I’m your bodyguard.” She just kept getting stuck on understanding that point. “That means I know everything about you.” A deliberate pause and then… “Princess.”
Her gaze jumped to Johnny, then back to Constantine.
Right. More of an introduction would be in order. He extended his right hand toward her, holding it above the bar. “Constantine Leos, at your service, and I can assure you, I come with incredible references. I work for Wilde, perhaps you’ve heard of the protection firm?” He kept his hand outstretched even though she’d made no move to touch him. “We tend to specialize in high-end cases just like—”