Secure Love

Chapter 6

  As much as he didn’t want to spend any extra time there, Tom arrived at the gala two hours before it would even be starting. Once again, Adam had stressed to him that he was not on duty, and that he should enjoy himself, but Tom hadn’t been able to stay still all day and decided he should at least check out what security the venue had. Every time he had sat down he found himself fighting an internal battle to message Dave to see if he had found anything yet. At one point he had set his phone down and picked it up at least ten times in the space of a minute before growling at himself and stomping to his garage to lift weights. Maybe if he tired himself out he could refocus.

  But every time he blinked he saw green eyes burning into him, and as his body started heating up he remembered how warm and soft she had been in his arms. He sighed, closing his eyes and felt her fingers running up to his shoulders again, leaving sparks lingering just under his skin that made breathing harder and harder. He reached up and brushed his lips with his fingers softly, remembering the vibrations on them when she had moaned into him. If he concentrated he could taste her again, remembering how their tongues had danced together for a mere moment before he had lost his mind and probably scared her off forever.

  When he remembered how rough he had been with her he growled at himself again. He had never had a problem controlling himself around women before, but something about her…He had lost control of his mind and body the moment they locked eyes across that isle and he knew he belonged completely to her now. Once he had her again.

  He just had to keep control this time so as not to scare her off again. That had to be why she left. Angela had always drawn people in, and she had been so charming at the game, surely those two would have gotten along, so Lisa had to have been running from him. It made sense with how immature he had been. He had spent so many years looking down his nose, literally, at guys who would grind or go over the top with women in public, and that’s exactly who he had become. He hadn’t even scored any points with great conversation beforehand.

  “No doubt she just remembers me as the big dumb brute she had to run from at a ball game.” He knew that once Dave found her he had to think of a sweet way to accidentally run into her and somehow convince her to give him another chance. He had been working with the Rile family long enough to learn a bit about how they charmed when they needed to, but he also determined he wanted to be totally honest with her. He could only hope she would give him the chance to prove he wasn’t a thoughtless rock who couldn’t control his own urges.

  He couldn’t concentrate on anything for more than a few minutes, so quickly gave up the exercise and showered before heading to the opulent mansion that had been chosen for this event. It was a fairly new fund-raising gala that some of the local business men had asked their wives to start organizing a few years ago, that had quickly turned into more of a chance for all the company owners in the city to flex their financial status. The only thing he could say in its favor would be that it did raise an increasing number of funds each year, as all these men would compete to gift the largest dollar amount by the end of the night. Tonight there would be a silent auction, as well as some gambling and dancers so he was sure the amount would be at an all-time high with the three things these men loved the most.

  The first year Tom had gone had set the tone for every year after and he quickly lost what little interest he’d had in this event. At first the men there had been very interested in him, until he said he was employed as a bodyguard for Rile. Suddenly they had nothing to say to him. The women were on the opposite side of that, which made it worse for Tom. Once their husbands began ignoring them and they’d downed a few drinks, suddenly his tall figure and broad shoulders became very interesting to them and he’d had to hold in some angry words over the years when they would start getting far to handsy with him the longer the evening lasted. The only good thing about his size was that the husbands never even thought of acting out on any jealousy they had for him being of interest to their wives. One look at him scowling in the herd that inevitably surrounded him and all those blustering men went back to their own drinks.

  “How can he possibly be unhappy with all that attention? My wife didn’t even faun over me that much when we first got married!” One man gestured drunkenly at Tom.

  “She was too busy spending all that money she’d just won into once she caught you.” Another man laughed, causing the first one to glare at him.

  “I wouldn’t laugh to much. Can your woman even feel her face with all those injections she has to get to keep a somewhat youthful appearance? Someone should tell her, it stopped working for her twenty years ago.”

  Even though Tom was surrounded by the women he kept his gaze steadily over them, even as a couple started bravely giving his folded biceps a squeeze. He scanned the crowd continually going to each member of the Rile family, trying his hardest not to feel mortified by the brashness of these women. He knew better than to say anything bad to any of them, and trying to stop them at this point would just lead to them being angry, which he knew could indirectly impact any business deals Adam had made tonight since Tom was his employee…sort of. But no one except Tom and Adam knew that.

  He could maintain a more stoic versus angry look by thinking of all the different ways he could win Lisa, but the more brazen the women around him got, and the angrier the men’s glances got the harder he found it to focus. He only let out a small sigh of relief when one woman’s voice rose above the others.

Angela had been hanging around at the back of the crowd of women with her own small group of loyal followers.

  “These old crones really do grow more desperate each year. You’d think they weren’t sleeping with half the city every chance they get the way they hang on that body bag.” She scoffed, until she rolled her eyes and accidentally met her fathers. He gave her a pointed look and gestured at the “body bag” as she described him. She didn’t feel like fighting him tonight, and before she’d really thought about it she realized if she played this good enough she might not have to deal with Tom for a while.

  “Oh, Tom, sweetie, there you are! Where have you been hiding?”

  He looked down at her with a small, grateful smile, probably thinking she had come just to rescue him.

  “This is too easy.” She snickered to herself.

Some of the drunker women sneered at her, somehow convincing themselves that Tom wanted to stay here and be ogled by them all in their drunken stupor. She only rolled her eyes and made a show of pulling herself into Tom’s side, molding her curvy body so there would be no space in between. She grinned at the jealous eyes. No matter how brave alcohol made them, none of these women would ever dare touch him like this. It had even taken her years before she had been that bold.

  It didn’t matter that her father already told her that he worked for the Rile family, the first time she had seen Tom, she had been just as afraid as any other sane person. Eventually she had grown accustomed to his looming presence following the family everywhere they went, his piercing blue eyes always scanning and assessing their surroundings. Adam had said she should feel safe, but she had only grown to hate how everywhere they went, it was Tom that got more attention that anyone in the family he was supposed to protect. Even now, when she wore the most expensive outfit in the whole room, no man had noticed (not that she really wanted these particular men to), and the women were only interested for the first hour.

  But being on Tom’s arm was the only way to get as much attention as she wanted. And that was what disgusted her most.

  She had to fight the urge to pull away when Tom placed a large hand over hers where she had twisted her arm through his. He looked down at her in what could only pass for an affectionate gaze and she wanted to barf. A cough hid her aggravated groan as he started gently leading her away from the crowd, even as she desperately tried to start some kind of conversation with anyone around to get him to pause so she could keep in the center of the crowd just a while longer. How could someone who grabbed attention so easily hate it that much?

  He led her to the backyard, where lamps had been set up around a small walkway that ran between bushes and around fountains without a word. He never had been one to talk. While there were still people in earshot Angela prattled on about who had said what all night, but she steadily grew quieter. What was the point? He barely answered and his eyes kept drifting off. If she had bothered to look at his face Angela would have noticed how soft his features had become now that he was able to follow his mind where it wanted to be.

  But she didn’t. Now they were alone she could barely keep a scowl from coming to her face.

  “Do you believe in love at first sight?” Tom asked softly.

  “No.” Her reply came too sharply and he turned to her. Realizing her mistake she gave him her sweetest grin.

  “No, sweetie. I think love should grow. First sight doesn’t tell you anything about the person other than if you think they’re attractive.”

  He nodded, but gave no further reply. After a moment of silence Angela made the excuse that she was cold and wanted to go back inside. He only nodded. Now that he’d walked away, even the Rile family’s protection couldn’t draw him back inside.

  On her way in she ran into her father.

  “You should stay out there with him. Get him to talk and open up to you.”

  “Oh, we did talk! He was very grateful for my rescue and hopes he doesn’t have to return the favor. As for talking, the less he does of that the better for us all.” She sneered and continued walking.

  Adam sighed and leaned against a column. All his hard work over the years and his only child was determined to throw it away to some i***t who now walked idly through a garden in the middle of a party like a madman, unfocused on anything happening around him. The callous giant seemed just as out of place in the garden as he would running the Rile company. Adam grit his teeth. He would make sure Tom didn’t get the whole company. He could not let his legacy be handed over.