Protecting Lulu (Global Protection Agency) (10 page)

Sylvia
popped into the room, “Sorry to interrupt Mr. Bennington, Mr. Canfield and the
other Union reps are on their way.”

“Gentlemen,
Lulu, I have to take this meeting,” Wilder said. “Can we resume this later? And
Mr. Desha, I’d like to talk to you later today.”

“Dude,
I’m all ears. I’ll be here all day playing with your security system.”

Wilder
nodded as he waited for them to pack up their gear.

“Ka-ching,”
Desha said under his breath as he slid his iPad into his briefcase.

Callahan
folded up his notebook and tucked his pen back inside his jacket.

Lulu
bounced to her feet and bent over to kiss her brother. “Go get ‘em, tiger.” She
slipped out with Callahan following her,

“Ms.
Bennington,” Callahan said. “You and I need to have a little talk.”

Wilder
watched them. Those two were very interesting together.

She
sighed. “Can we do it over cocktails?”

“It’s
eleven o’clock in the morning, Ms. Bennington.”

“It’s
five o’clock somewhere in the world. We’ll make it mimosas.”

Wilder
smiled. His sister was in trouble. Good.

Lulu
walked into her office and headed straight for the liquor cabinet.

“So
why did you get that dickhead Mills a job?” Noah asked. He was beginning to
think Lulu Bennington was a very surprising woman. She seemed larger than life,
but with depth that crept out at the oddest times.

“I
can be vindictive.”

“No,
you’re not.”

“I
know, but I do like to play like I am sometimes. As much as I disliked Danny,
he didn’t deserve to be completely jobless. I just found him a place where he
could ruffle feathers all he wanted and people would probably just laugh at
him.”

“You’re
not fat.”

“I’m
healthy.”

He
was silent for a moment. He didn’t know what to say. He wanted to say sexy,
beautiful, desirable, but he knew she’d heard it all before. There was no way
he could say it better than the men she was used to. “You’re not a bitch
either.”

“Oh,
but I am.”

He
opened his mouth to deny it.

“Not
the word, the acronym. I’m a Beautiful Intelligent Talented Charming…Heiress.” She
twirled her finger around. “See, put a positive spin on it.”

Don’t
laugh he commanded himself. Don’t you dare fucking laugh. “I see.”

“Would
you like a drink?” She opened the liquor cabinet and glanced up and down the
rows of bottles racked on their sides.

“I’m
on the job.”

“Did
it ever occur to you that I just might be testing you?”

“Lucinda,
you are the type of woman who could drive a man to drink.”

She
put her hand over her heart, “You’re so cruel.”

He
held his hand up, his patience finally snapping. “We’re done playing, Lucinda. I’ve
given you enough leash and let you play around, but no more. This isn’t a joke.
Someone out there wants you permanently out of the picture. You’ve done nothing
but make jokes about it. So you are going to sit your ass down and deal with
this like a grownup.”

He
stared at her and stepped forward, intending to intimidate her. But in her
stilettos, she was on eye level with him and his tactic wasn’t going to work. She
stepped up to him, the tips of her breasts pushing against his chest.

In
the military Noah had stared down men who wanted to kill him on a daily basis. He
had to force himself to stand still. He’d dealt with a psycho father, and never
in all his life did he want to take a step back. He didn’t want this woman
touching him. He took a breath inhaling her fragrance. Danger flashed in the back
of his head.

She
poked his chest with her finger. “Do not dare intimidate me with your physical
presence. Who the hell do you think you are?”

“I’m
the man who’s trying to keep you breathing.”

“Then
don’t bully me and I’ll cooperate.”

“I
don’t have time to be nice. You’ve danced around all my questions for almost
three days now. I’m done. If you don’t start answering me, then I’m out of
here. I don’t give a damn.”

A
flash of fear crossed her face. She bit her bottom lip.

He
stared at her almost cynically.

“I’m
scared,” she said quietly. “I’m scared for my family. I’m scared for myself and
I don’t like it.”

He
took her by the arm. “Its okay, Lucinda.”

“It’s
like I’m ten years old again. I can hear my mother screaming and guns firing. Wilder
is bleeding and I’m dragging him toward the window to escape.”

He
pulled her into his arms. Her whole body shook with a deep sob and her whole
body shook. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“Promise?”
she asked in a tremulous tone.

“I
promise.” He tried not to stroke her back, but she smelled so good and felt as
though she belonged in his arms. A thousand thoughts ran through his head.

She
looked up at him, “I trust you, Noah.”

Her
lips met his. Then he was kissing her back, pushing his fingers through her
long hair and caressing her back, her arms and her cheeks. Her skin was so soft
and he was on fire. He didn’t care that he was compromising his ability to do
his job. He wanted this woman in a way he’d never wanted any other.

Suddenly,
he pulled away. He looked at her, her face flushed and her lips slightly
swollen from his kiss.

“Excuse
me,” he said. He turned on his heel and left. He knew he’d confused her, but he
couldn’t stay near her anymore. He wanted to do more than just kiss her.

He
walked down the hall to the conference room where Harrison had set up a command
center for himself.

Harrison
raised his head. “What’s wrong?”

Noah
forced the panicked look from his face, “I…uh…” How is he going to tell
Harrison he’d just kissed Lucinda?

“What’s
on your mind, Noah?”

“I
just kissed Lulu Bennington.”

Harrison’s
eyebrows rose and he held up his hand. “Hold that thought for a second.” He
picked up his cell phone, pressed a button and held it to his ear. “Biscuit, take
a second and transfer $6000.00 to the kids’ college fund.” He paused listening.
“Daddy’s horse came in.” He laughed and disconnected. He giggled like a school
girl and started texting. “Thank you for the six large. You were saying?”

Something
was up and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. “What do you mean six grand for
the kid’s college fund?”

Harrison
just grinned. “We had pool.”

Noah
frowned. “A pool for what?”

“The
date for when you were going to kiss her.”

Noah
found himself glaring, stunned. “You what?”

Harrison
started laughing again. “You’ve been wound up so tight, I knew you were going
to crack.
L’amour
my ass, I beat the Frenchman. I know you better than
anyone. I knew you couldn’t resist the temptation of Lulu Bennington.”

Noah
wanted to slam his head into the wall. “What the--”

“With
the exception of E.J. because she don’t swing that way and myself because I’m
already married to the finest woman in the world, there isn’t a man here who
wouldn’t fall all over themselves for a taste of Miss Lulu.” Harrison
snickered.

“You
had a betting pool going on me?” Noah asked.

“Yes,
we did. We just knew it was only a matter of time before…” He wriggled his
eyebrows.

“I
can’t be on the job anymore,” Noah said, “I’ve compromised the situation.”

Harrison
sighed. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You said it yourself, she’s a force of
nature.”

“I’ve
guarded beautiful women before and never wanted to kiss any of them.”

“They
weren’t Lulu Bennington.”

“She’s
my client,” Noah rubbed his aching forehead.

“She’s
our client,” Harrison replied. “Look, you may be attracted to her, but you
don’t put up with her shit. She needs a man like you.”

“Ian’s
more her type.”

Harrison
shrugged. “Not even. You’ll do the job because you have to. As long as you do
your business and keep your association with her on private time, I’m okay with
you kissing her.”

Why
wasn’t he getting all bent out of shape about this? “I can’t let this happen. Even
if I wanted to.”

Harrison
frowned at Noah. “What are you talking about? You sound like a man who’s
already decided to have an affair.”

Noah
paused, thinking,
have I?
He sat down and covered his face with his
hands while he thought everything through. “Everybody knows?” Noah asked. Had
he been that transparent?

Dante
walked into the room. “Really, Irish? I just needed two more days and that six
could have been mine. Damn, you have no will power.” He turned and left.

Noah
stared after the man, totally amazed. He turned back to Harrison. “I thought
you were my friend.”

“I
am, but I only have two kidneys and my baby Katie wants to go Ivy League. Daddy
needs some Harvard scratch.”

 Damn,
how could he be mad at that?

The
door to the conference room crashed open and Lulu stalked in. “What the hell? You
kiss me and then run away.”

Harrison
took one look at her face and gracefully pushed back from the table and left,
closing the door behind him.

Lulu
stood in front of Noah, her hands on her hips, her feet slightly spread as she
glared at him. He stood up. “I was unprofessional.”

“I
don’t care. You plant a kiss on my lips and then you rush out, leaving me
wondering what I did.” She grabbed him by the arms and pulled him to her. She
kissed him again, pressing herself against him, winding her arms around his
neck. Suddenly she pushed him away, glaring at him. “I’m going to kiss you
again, as many times as I want.”

She
turned and stalked out of the conference room.

 “Shit.”
They needed to find her stalker by noon tomorrow.

Lulu
sat in her favorite chair in front of the fireplace. Dinner had been an amazing
success and she’d agreed to help Bono on a charity event for his Red campaign. He’d
left early to catch a flight back to London and now all her bodyguards sat her
living room except for Harrison and his wife, who’d left early. Aiden had to go
home and sort out his new wardrobe additions.

E.J.
sat across from her looking very chic in her leather dress. Aiden had done a
marvelous job with her. E.J. held a glass of pinot noir while Lulu sipped at a
lovely peach chardonnay. Noah prowled the room the room restlessly. She wished
he’d just sit down, but he kept sending glaring looks at her as she recounted
her long list of boyfriends. He’d wanted to know about her personal life so
she’d started with the first boy she’d ever kissed which happened to be with
Billy Baxter in kindergarten.

Dante,
Gideon, and Roman sat at a table playing cards. She thought they were playing
crazy eights, but they seemed more to be listening to her than actually looking
at their cards.

As
Lulu talked, she sipped her wine and admired her brand new, blue python Gucci
stilettos which she’d chosen for the Roberto Cavalli leopard print jumpsuit. “It’s
just such a relief to get this all off my chest.” She looked around the room. Everyone
looked a little stunned. “This is like group therapy.”

E.
J. grinned. “I’m glad we can oblige you.”

“Now
where was I? Oh yes, Vince Dunbar who by the way was born Myron Strossberg.”

Dante
perked up. “The guitarist for Blue Moon, I love that band. They are the classic
bad boys of rock.”

Lulu
nodded. “Vince wasn’t the wild guy the press painted him. That was all P.R. Vince
sat around reading Tolstoy. Trashing hotel rooms was his P.R. team’s doing. Vince
hired someone to trash the hotel room.

“Oh,
you just ruined it for me,” Ian said.

“I’m
sorry.” She bit her bottom lip.

“Then
why did you date this guy?”

“Well,
he is brilliant and he got something out of it. Rock stars like models and
actresses. It’s free publicity. It’s a step up from sleeping with porn stars or
strippers.” She glanced at Noah. She could see he was really uncomfortable. “Or
so that’s the theory.”

“Do
tell,” E.J. said.

“It’s
proof that you made it. Makes them feel better than the rest of the guys. Thank
you, NYU School of Psychology. I never thought that degree would come in handy.
Just so you know I have theorized, analyzed, and catalogued all of you.”

“Really?”
Noah said, a sarcastic tone in his voice.

She
had everyone’s number but his. But that was only a matter of time. “We’ll talk
about that later.” She picked up her glass. “I was just getting to Jake O’Malley,
whose birth name is Louis Kopecky. Now Jake is a story.” She sighed. A tale
that took a few glasses of wine and almost a year for her to talk about
publicly. Well this was as public as she intended to get about it.