Chapter 76
708 Words
On Monday morning, Olivia sat in the Solid Security offices, sipping a cup of coffee and feeling very impressed. Dallas had chosen to set up his business in a former factory, and the space was massive. High ceilings and lots of open-plan areas, several private offices and two conference rooms. There was even an interrogation space – quite forbidding in its starkness – with an observation room behind the two-way, bullet-proof glass.
She looked up as Dallas entered his office now; two large men followed him and Liv blinked. They were scary as hell, no doubt about it, and they gazed at her coolly, looking her up and down. She was used to being assessed by strangers – usually by clothing designers and companies looking to book her – but this was a totally new experience. She was sure these men weren’t mentally sticking her in a bustier or bikini, trying to figure out if her breasts were big enough and her ass small enough. She got the feeling that they were seeing something totally different about her, but hell if she knew what that might be.
“Olivia, hon,” Dallas said, “I’d like you to meet Mark Hayden, my second-in-command, and Hunter Sullivan. They’re going to be your main protective detail.”
She was startled. “So… you won’t be on my detail anymore?”
His blue eyes were gentle. “Of course I will. But I can’t do it all alone, right? Mark and Sully are with me. OK?”
She nodded and held out her hand to Mark. “I’m so glad to meet you.”
He smiled now, and she relaxed a bit. His mint-green eyes were amazing against his café-au-lait skin and his grin was almost boyish.
“You too, Ms. Jameson.”
“Liv, please.”
Sully smiled too, but didn’t say anything as he shook her hand. He was older than Mark, she guessed, and was somehow less approachable with his hard black eyes. She figured he’d be the strong, silent type, the kind to simply step forward without a word and act as a human shield, if need be.
As she stood there staring back at these three men now tasked with keeping her safe, she felt a wave of relief wash over her. In just thirty seconds with these guys, she felt safer and more secure than she’d felt in almost six months of being under the protection of Greg and the Blue Star group. Somehow, instinctively, Liv knew that Dallas and his team were the real deal.
Sully held out a chair. “Sit please, Liv.”
“Thank you.”
The men sat too, and she suddenly felt alert. The mood in the room had just sharpened and tightened, somehow. Like s**t had just got real.
“OK, Olivia,” Dallas said. “Mark and Sully have gone over all the documentation from Greg Wallace, and of course, you and I went through it all repeatedly over the weekend.”
She nodded. They had indeed. Dallas had asked every single question at least seven different ways, and if he noticed any discrepancy whatsoever in her answers or in the time line, he had jumped on it and clarified until he totally understood. She had been in awe of his memory for detail, and her respect for him as a professional bodyguard was now officially through the roof.
“I gave you the copies of the contract yesterday – have you got any questions?”
“No.” She took the papers out of her purse. “They’re all signed.”
Dallas took the contracts and signed the three copies himself. He slid one across the table back to Liv and said, “One copy I’ll keep in my home office, under lock and key. The other stays here in the HQ.”
“OK.”
“So. I want you to go with Sully and Mark now… they’re going to take you home.”
She froze. Her last memory of being in her own house was the terrified knowledge that her stalker had stood in her living room.
Maybe in her bedroom. Maybe right outside the master bathroom, where she’d been cowering in the tub.
- Writer
