ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (156 page)

“I have to get dressed,” he said softly, his voice so gentle I wished the words he spoke were different. He turned and disappeared down the corridor, and I stood in the servant’s passage alone. I turned to open the door, but it was open already and Mike blocked it with the bulk of his body. I gasped and jumped back, feeling like a child caught in the middle of something naughty.

I swallowed.

“Excuse me, miss,” he said with a gravelly voice, and is stare was unreadable. How long had he been there? What had he seen?

I wanted to apologize. But I was Gemma LaGrange and this was my house. So I cleared my throat and pushed past him, back to my breakfast, trying to ignore the fluttering in my stomach and the fact that my cheeks were red hot.

When I was finished I disappeared to my room to get changed. I had a yoga class with my instructor and after that a personal trainer would walk me through horrible fitness training because I had to look perfect to be famous.

When I was finished, coming out of the room in yoga pants, trainers and a top that left my stomach bare, Colt stepped out of his room in his suit. He looked more controlled now, formal and controlled as always. But his eyes still had a wild glint in them that I couldn’t place.

“Are you ready to leave?” he asked me in a normal voice. I don’t know what I’d expected. There was nothing about our interlude, nothing about the fact that my world had been rocked off its axis. I’d half-hoped he would say something, so I didn’t have to, but he was pretending it didn’t happen. I nodded and he led the way down the stairs and toward the front door. Mike passed us on his way off-duty. He looked straight ahead, not making eye contact with Colt.

My yoga instructor was a pain in the ass, and by the time I was done with my toning-and-sculpting session I was hurting and in a bad mood. Colt waited for me at the door and took m my bag for me.

When I came home my agent was waiting for me in the hallway.

“What is it?” I snapped at him. I didn’t feel like talking fame right now. I was moody and sweaty and I wanted to take a bath and forget that being famous meant the last person I was allowed to be was myself.

“We need to talk,” he said. “There are some things—“

“Not now, Parker,” I cut him off and pushed past him. “Whatever it is can wait.”

“I don’t think so, Gemma,” he said. I turned and narrowed my eyes at him. He didn’t often use my name. I made a point of insisting that everyone addressed me as Miss LaGrange. With so many people in my life I reserved my Christian name for the few that were close to me. Close friends. Colt.

He shrugged off the mistake he’d made, and held up his tablet. The wide screen showed the headlines of the hottest tabloid. And my name was printed across it in big red letters.

GEMMA LAGRANGE SEXUALLY INVOLVED WITH HER BODYGAURD

I felt like my body was made of lead. It was suddenly very hard to stay upright, and white spots danced before my eyes.

“What is all this?” I asked, taking a step closer to Parker.

“You tell me, Miss LaGrange,” he said, his formality restored now that his attention. “This was posted less than an hour ago. Where would they get something like this?”

“I was at my fitness training the whole morning,” I exclaimed. Parker nodded and looked over at Colt who was standing silently in the corner.

“And he has nothing to do with this?” he asked, pointing at him. When I turned to look at Colt his face was closed with a stony expression.

“Call who you need to call to sort this out,” I said.

“You realize what this can do to your career?” Parker asked. “There are a lot of rules. His job is only one of the things you’re sacrificing. This will be a terrible black mark and you know how the public is about this sort of thing. They’ll ride it because it’s about sex.”

“But it wasn’t about sex,” I said under my breath, more to myself that to Parker. I squeezed the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger, closing my eyes. I felt a headache coming on.

“Just sort it out, Parker,” I said and turned. My agent turned and left the house. Whatever he was going to do, I would have to talk to him about it later.

“In my study, Colton,” I said. “Please,” I added. He jerked a little when I called him by his full name. I never did.

He followed me into the rich mahogany-clad room I hardly ever used. It was beautiful and way too business-like to me. I let my lawyer, my agent, and everyone else who was involved in my work-life into the office to file what they needed to. When I closed the door behind Colt he turned and faced me. I sighed.

“Are you going to keep pretending none of this happened?” I asked him.

He was quiet for a moment before he answered me. “Well, I don’t think it’s possible to ignore it now,” he said.

“They’ve always been a problem. But I thought I was safe from the paparazzi at least in my own home.”

Colt’s face softened a little. “Unfortunately this life doesn’t know privacy. I’m sorry it happened.”

I studied my nails. “Sorry what happened, Colt? Or this… this…” I took a deep breath. “Me?”

I glanced up at him. I’d been nervous to talk about it. I’d been scared that it had just one-sided. That I was an idiot. Because without my stylists and agents and lawyers and everyone else that worked together to make me larger than life, I really was no one.

“Never about you,” he said softly, and a shiver ran down my spine.

“I don’t regret it, you know,” I said, feeling more confidence after his confession. “Kissing you.”

“You should,” he said and the shred of confidence shattered again. “You don’t need this. I’m here to protect you.”

“What will this do to you?” I asked. Parker had mentioned his job. I hadn’t realized there would be such serious repercussions.

Colt scratched his head and crinkled his brow. He looked worried, which was a change. I’d never seen him show any kind of emotion other than battle-ready.

“The agency is very strict about these kinds of things. They might do an investigation.”

“And if it turns out any of this is true?”

“Isn’t it?” he asked. I closed my eyes and ignored the plethora of meanings that his question could hold.

“I mean, if they find that you have been involved with me. What will happen?”

“Suspension, I guess. While they decide. And after that perhaps termination.”

I felt blood drain from my face.

“Are you telling me that I cost you your job?”

He smiled tightly, the corners of him mouth curling upward even though it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Not yet,” he said.

It didn’t make me feel any better. I’d been drawn to him. He was attractive beyond good looks and a well-built body. And he felt enough for me to sacrifice his life for me. And now I could have cost him his job because I hadn’t thought for two seconds? I sank down onto an armchair and dropped my head into my hands.

“I’m sorry, Colt,” I said, not looking at him. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I just…” I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

“If you don’t mind me asking…”

I looked up at him. He was still standing close to the door, but he was different now. Emotion-filled. Real. Not the bullet proof bodyguard that followed me around but the man under that, the one I’d seen when his eyes had been closed in the bed where he’d recovered after the attack. The man I’d felt against my body, on my lips, a few hours ago.

“What?” I asked.

“What happened?”

I didn’t know how to answer it. “I don’t know,” I finally said. “You’re just… well. You know.”

My sentence didn’t make sense, and I knew it. It wasn’t an answer. But he nodded his head, his expression closed again.

“Will you excuse me for a moment?” I asked formally. He nodded curtly and left the room to stand guard outside the door. I ignored the emptiness I felt when he left, the fluttering in my chest, my trembling fingers.

I picked up the phone and found the number of the Agency I’d worked through to hire him.

“This is Gemma LaGrange,” I said when the line picked up on the other side. “Will you put me through to Management? Yes… it’s about Colton Prior. Yes… I’ll hold.”

I took a deep breath, and when the woman’s voice on the other side crackled through my speakers I put on my most professional voice.

“I want to clear up the rumors that are doing the rounds. I’m sure you’ve read the headlines by now.”

I painted the picture in the most innocent way I could. I had no doubt how the story had come out. Mike had seen us, and he worked for the same agency. I couldn’t lie, not if one of their own told a different story. So I painted the truth in the prettiest way I knew how.

“You realize, Miss LaGrange, that this is very serious,” she said once I’d finished. “We can’t just let this slide, no matter how positive your statement.”

“Surely if I have no quarrel with him, if this is something I’m willing to overlook, it can’t be a problem?”

“The company policy, and the terms and conditions I’d like to remind you were signed by you, Mr. Prior and the agency, clearly states the steps that we will have to take to get to the bottom of this.”

“I don’t want him fired,” I blurted out. I took a breath, pulled myself together. “He’s the best guard I’ve ever had and he’s risked himself more than once for me.” 

“The best we can promise at this point is suspension until we’ve investigated. We won’t terminate his contract immediately, but we can’t do more than that.”

I nodded to myself and closed my eyes. When I hung up the phone I took a deep breath and blew it out shakily.

Colt

This was what I knew: I’d never felt more alive than when Gemma’s lips had touched mine. She’d been like a hurricane, ripping through me, and I’d been unable to stop myself. The moment she’d touched me I needed more of her.

I’d been an idiot. It had come out, and there wasn’t a question about who leaked. Mike had always had it in for me because he was on night duty. My role as her day guard meant I would get all sorts of promotions and credentials that he wouldn’t.

I also knew that Gemma was in danger if I was going to be out of the picture for a while. I couldn’t afford not to be around her, not after the witch’s warning this morning. And I couldn’t let her get another guard because no human could deal with the supernatural world that was after her.

I sighed looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes looked haunted and I didn’t like it.

“Keep it together, Colt,” I told myself in the mirror. It could all blow over. They could smooth this out. But in the LaGrange Mansion nothing was secret, and I couldn’t just expect it to all go away without a fight.

My phone went off and I answered.

“You’re wanted for a meeting at four,” the voice barked over the speakers. I agreed and hung up. There was nothing that could be done. I had to go in there and talk to them about it. Maybe that would change things, if they heard what had happened from me. I could tell them she’d pulled into me, and I would be blameless.

It was selfish, I knew. In any other circumstance I would have taken the fall for her. God I would do anything for that woman. But if I took the fall this time, I couldn’t watch over her again. It was the lesser of two evils.

I handed Gemma over to Carol. She was the guard that patrolled the balcony and windows around Gemma’s rooms at night. She was tough, solid and steady. She had a build like a wrestler, and if I were a mere human I was sure she would have been able to take me in a fight. She always wore her hair pulled tightly back against her head, and she was all business.

I always wondered how women like Carol got into jobs like these. It was a man’s world and it was ugly more often than not.

The agency was a stark monochrome building in the middle of Los Angeles with tinted windows that looked anything but welcoming. When I’d signed here I’d thought the place looked great, a uniform building that screamed out safety and security. Now the gray tones were intimidating and threatening, making me feel like it held only punishment for me and nothing else.

“Colton Prior for Ms. Hayes,” I told the secretary at the front desk. She picked up the phone and dialed upstairs without looking at me. I wondered if it was protocol or if SCANDAL was written across my forehead now. I tried to remember if she’d made eye-contact before, but I couldn’t even remember if it was the same secretary.

“You can go on through,” she said, still looking down at her desk, and I walked toward the elevator. I rode to the fourth floor, an iron fist of nerves clutching at my gut.

“Mr. Prior,” Ms. Hayes said when I knocked on the open door that led to her office. “Take a seat.”

She was as indestructible as ever, with a beige jacket covered in fine hound’s tooth print, a starched white blouse and her dull brown hair tucked into her neck in a neat bun.

“I’m sure you know what this is about,” she said and I nodded. I took a deep breath and explained to her what had happened. How Gemma had cornered me and kissed me. I’d left out the part where I’d kissed her back, where my hands had found her body, where her skin had seared mine and I could still feel the imprint of her body against mine.