Protecting Lulu (Global Protection Agency) (11 page)

“We’re
all ears.” Noah leaned forward

She
let out a shaky breath. “Things were good. I met him when we hired him for an
episode of Interludes.” Interludes was a TV show she’d developed. Each week was
one story of a woman finding herself. Jake had been so pretty to look at, she
couldn’t say no when he asked her for a date, and then another date until they
were suddenly a couple.

“So
what happened,” E.J, asked.

“You
spent all afternoon with Aiden. I’m surprised he didn’t fill you in.”

“He’s
very protective of you,” E.J. replied.

“He’s
my gay husband. It’s his job.”

E.J.
grinned. “He did mention Jake and you.”

“Did
you bond over Balmain and Michael Kors?”

E.J.
shook her head. “No, he took me to ‘The Closet.’” She raised her hands and did
air quotes. “Once he got around all the swag, he cracked like a nut and it all
came gushing out.”

“Said
with the appropriate reverence,” Lulu added.

“Is
that a gay thing?” Gideon said glancing up from his cards. “I don’t get it.”

“No,
let me explain ‘The Closet,’” Lulu said. “Designers send samples to be featured
in my fashion magazine. Shoes, belts, purses, clothing. At the end of each
season, I open up ‘the Closet’ and my people are allowed to get free swag,” she
said.

E.J.
held up her hand. “I scored a Fendi hobo bag.”

“Is
that all you took?” Lulu asked.

“Aiden
said I could borrow whatever I wanted forever.”

“Get
back to Jake O’Malley,” Noah said with a frown.

“Sorry,”
Lulu said though she didn’t feel the least bit contrite, “we got sidelined by
leather goods.”

“His
career was progressing, he was doing a lot of guest roles on TV then he was
turned down for the lead role in this big movie because he wasn’t high profile
enough. He was devastated. His people told him one of the things he could do to
enhance his profile was date the ‘right woman.’ Apparently, a media mogul, ex
supermodel, heiress wasn’t high profile enough.” Even to her she sounded bitter.
“He showed up at the Academy Awards with Bethany Forrester when he had
originally asked me to accompany him. He thought it was just business and life
would go on, but I gave him his walking papers.” She still remembered the pain.
“I can forgive a lot of things, but I don’t do public humiliation well.”

“Nobody
does,” Ian said. “For myself, I don’t understand why he would pick her over
you.”

Lulu
sighed. “According to his people, a thin starlet beats me. The last year his
career has defiantly been in high gear. He just got the new Ron Howard film and
been attached to a Clint Eastwood one. A person has to move forward. I haven’t
dated anyone seriously since. We’re all caught up on my love life.” That wasn’t
as bad as she thought it would be. Looking around no one pitied her. Aiden had
cried buckets right with her.

Noah
shook his head. “Thank God, I don’t think I could take any more. I don’t think
we need to worry about the boy you kissed in kindergarten.”

“You
never know.” Lulu took a sip of her wine and took a moment to reflect on Billy
Baxter. She could still see his freckled face and red hair that stood out from
his face. He’d been her very first first love. She smiled at the memoires. She’d
enjoyed telling Noah, even though she’d only gone through the list to make him
squirm.

A
ruckus suddenly sounded in the foyer. The door opened followed by a peal of
high pitched laughter which echoed in the hall. Every head in the room turned.

Lulu
recognized the laughter and found herself smiling. Noah was about to be
introduced to Aunt Julia.

Aunt
Julia entered the living room, scarves and gloves flying as she removed her
winter coat. She hung on the arm of young man dressed in a flowing robe under a
long coat. “Darling, I’m home.”

All
the men jumped to their feet, their mouths open as they stared at Aunt Julia. Lulu
had to stop herself from laughing. Aunt Julia had the same effect on everyone.

Julia
glanced around the room and a broad smile crossed her face. “Lulu, my darling. You
have finally taken my advice and gotten yourself a harem. A very nice looking
harem to begin with.” She walked over to Dante, and with her finger under his
chin, lifted his face. “Very pretty. Very pretty indeed.”

Aunt
Julia, like Lulu, was tall. Even though she was only fifty-seven, she’d gone
completely silver gray and wore her hair in a shoulder length style. She was
dressed in a maroon and gold silk Moroccan caftan which flowed around her like
a cloud.

She
embraced her aunt. “I wasn’t expecting you back until Saturday.”

Aunt
Julia stepped back. “A woman cannot speak her mind in Morocco.”

“Do
I have to call Hilary Clinton again?” Lulu tried not to sigh. Not another
international incident. The woman could never go to Chile again.

Aunt
Julia tilted her head and gave Lulu a flirty flutter of her eyelashes and a
sweet little smile. “I smiled my way out of it and promised never to return.”

Lulu
simply laughed. “Remind me to put a pin on my map so I remember Morocco is
another country you can’t go back to.”

“The
king just couldn’t take joke,” Aunt Julia said with a shrug.

Lulu
loved her Aunt Julia with a passion. This woman had raised her, given her
unconditional love and taught her to speak her mind. She couldn’t really fault
her aunt. “Aunt Julia.”

“It
was just one word,” Aunt Julia fluttered her eyelashes again.

“That
word was?”

“I
learned to say swine in Arabic,” Aunt Julia said with a jut of her chin and
eyebrows raised.

Lulu
sighed.

“Women
who speak their minds must run in the family.” Noah held a hand out. “I’m Noah
Callahan.”

Aunt
Julia looked at his hand and then grabbed him by the shoulders and kissed him
on the cheek. “I’m not formal.” She glanced at Lulu who could barely contain
her grin.

Lulu
quickly introduced everyone. She twined her arm around Aunt Julia’s elbow to
keep her from kissing them all. The man Aunt Julia had brought with her simply
looked confused.

“This
is Hassad,” Aunt Julia said. “He doesn’t speak any English.”

“You
speak very little Arabic,” Lulu said, not that she was surprised. Aunt Julia
seldom went anywhere without a man on her arm, a younger man at that.

“The
language he speaks is international,” Aunt Julia said with a sly grin. “What’s
going on? All these men are wearing guns, very big guns.”

“I
seem to have acquired a stalker. Wilder and I acquired the bodyguards.”

Julia
took her hand. “Oh my God!”

Lulu
hugged her aunt. “Everything is going to be fine. Don’t worry. That’s why they
are here.”

Aunt
Julia took a moment and seemed to compose herself. “So many of them,” she
purred with an admiring glance at Dante.

“Why
don’t I save the details for Sunday, Aunt Julia. I’m glad you’re home. You must
be exhausted, your room is ready for you.”

Aunt
Julia yawned. “The plane was late or I would have just gone home, but I
couldn’t bear the idea of such a long drive so late at night.”

“Before
you go up,” Dante said quietly, “May I borrow your young man here for a few
minutes?”

“Do
you speak Arabic?” Aunt Julia asked.

“Fluently,”
Dante replied.

“Tell
him I think he’s fabulous, if you get my meaning.”

Dante
blushed. He said a few words to Hassad. Hassad looked startled, but nodded and
followed him out to the foyer.

“Aunt
Julia,” Lulu said, embarrassed for Dante.

“Just
having a little fun, Lulu. They all look a bit uptight. Especially Noah. You
need to work on these men. Loosen them up a little.” Aunt Julia nudged Lulu and
winked. “If you know what I mean.”

“You’re
incorrigible.”

“Thank
you, darling,” Aunt Julia kissed her cheek. “That’s the sweetest thing you’ve
ever said.” She yawned again. “I’ll be toddling off. We’ll talk in the
morning.” She didn’t so much exit the room as explode out of it.

“I
thought you were a force of nature,” E.J. said.

“I’m
a tropical storm. Aunt Julia is a hurricane.” Lulu started to pick up glasses.

“What
are you doing?” Noah asked curiously.

“Cleaning
up the living room. Do you think I’m going to wake a maid at this hour? I may
have been raised with a silver spoon, but I’m perfectly capable of taking that
silver spoon to the kitchen. Then I’m going to my room.”

The
men picked up their own leftover dessert plates and glasses and followed her. Roman
and Ian were headed to bed. Gideon had the nightshift.

Noah
picked up some dishes and followed her to the kitchen. She started putting the
dishes in the dishwasher.

“Why
did Dante take Hassad into the foyer?” she asked casually.

“We
have to check him out.”

“You’re
doing a threat assessment on him! He’s barely out of puberty.”

“Yeah,
what is it with your aunt? Does she go after the young ones all the time?”

“Aunt
Julia likes them young, dumb, and hung. Her words not mine. They’re less
complicated and she doesn’t like complicated otherwise she would have gotten
married decades ago.”

“Are
you saying marriage is complicated?” Noah asked.

“Marriage
is always complicated,” she replied as she loaded the dishwasher. He seemed
deep in thought. “Is Hassad dangerous?”

“Dante
will run a computer check on him tonight before he goes to bed.”

“What
happens if the post office sends me a new mailman?”

“From
now on everyone who comes into your life gets checked out.”

She
pulled out a chair and sat down. She lifted her leg and stared at her foot. “I’m
even too exhausted to bend over to take my shoes off.”

Noah
knelt down in front of her. He slipped his hand down her ankle to her shoe and
eased it off. His fingers left tingling sensations on her skin.

“How
do you walk in these things?”

“My
aunt swears I was born wearing stilettos.” Lulu smiled. She remembered the
first time she’d worn her mother’s high heels. She’d been three and cried when
she had to put them back. Even at three she’d had an eye for fashion.

He
held the shoe up, shaking his head. “They are high.”

“I
know. Impractical as hell, but gorgeous. I adore shoes. These are Gucci.” She
smiled at the shoe.

“You
need to put away the Guccis and get yourself a nice pair of sneakers.”

Her
mouth fell open in surprise. “What? You’re kidding me.”

“Lucinda,
if I have to get you out of someplace in a hurry, you’ll never make it in these
stilts.”

“Can’t
you just get me a Kevlar poncho? I can’t be seen in sneakers. My reputation
would be ruined. That could have serious impact on my financial standings. Then
I’d have to fire you because I couldn’t pay you.”

“I’ve
seen your financial statement. You’re— ”

“You
don’t understand.” She shook her finger at him.

“Then
break it down for me,” he said, sitting back on his heels.

She
took a moment to gather her thoughts. “You have to understand the world I live
in.”

“Talk
slow and use little words,” he said.

“When
a person reaches a certain level of celebrity, the public watches your every
move, critiquing everything you do from what you say, to what you eat, and what
you wear. Every moment since you’ve been here, how many photographers have been
on the street waiting for me to come out? They are waiting for me to look like
a messy, unkempt fat girl. They are hoping they’ll see me falling apart. I
can’t wear Dolce and Gabbana with a pair of sneakers. Star Magazine would have
me on the cover on my way to the loony bin saying only God knows what’s wrong
with me. My mental breakdown would be on the cover of every rag magazine in the
world within twenty-four hours.”

He
raised an eyebrow. “All of this over a pair of sneakers.”

“Women
buy the image I present.”

“Ergo,
you wear sneakers; you’ll be poor and crazy.”

She
nodded still shocked that he wanted her to give up a vital part of who she was.
Sneakers! Was he insane? Aiden would have a fit if she appeared in a heel less
the four inches.

“Like
I said, I’ve seen your financial statements. You’re a long way from being this
poor.” He held his hand up, thumb and forefinger barely touching. “I’d rather
see you poor and crazy, than dead and fashionable.”

“That’s
just because you want to kiss me again,” she said with a little flirty toss of
her head.

He
stared at her. “Kissing is only a small part of what I want to do to you.”