A New Guardian
The Four Seasonsballroom still glowed with tea lights floating in water-filled vases. Grant had never seen so many roses in one room before. He wondered if the money raised at the heiress’s charity event justified the cost of throwing a gala like this together, or if she’d have had the same impact with less hassle by just donating the cost of the event altogether. If, he realized, she’d even paid for most of it. Sponsorship signs lined the walls; every luxury business in New York seemed to want to be affiliated with Penelope Crofter, daughter of west coast shipping magnate Harold Crofter. Penelope also seemed to know everyone with money in New York City.
Grant watched from the sidelines as Penelope made nice with the high rollers who’d shut down the party, crystal champagne flutes still in hand. Penelope had founded a grant raising organization through Crofter Shipping, with a focus on teaching low-income children how to sail to engage them in extracurriculars that Grant assumed were anything but drugs, sex, and whatever kids might do to get in trouble. He could hardly remember getting in trouble as a teenager; he’d spent all his free time with Faith.
He shook the name out of his head. She always found a way to pop up in his mind when he was trying to focus on other things. He twirled the edge of his silk-lined tuxedo jacket around his finger, thinking of her dark curls.
“Grant?” Penelope sauntered across the room, diamonds dripping from her ears and her neck. “I think that’s the last of the guests. The caterers will clean up. I’m not quite ready to turn in for the night.” She shook out her arms. “I get so exhilarated during these events, I just can’t sleep. Could you? Your job must be full of excitement.” She placed a hand on her slender hip, her nails painted with silver flecks like a disco ball. She glittered all over - her eyeshadow, the sheen on her caramel colored hair, her diamonds, her black dress with her thigh peeking out from the high slit of her gown.
“More patience than excitement,” he said. “If I do it right, there is no excitement.”
“I suppose that’s true,” she said. She licked her lips. “I’m going down to the bar. Are you coming?”
Grant nodded, tugging his jacket hem to straighten it. “I’m at your disposal.”
“I could get used to a man like you as an accessory,” she said. “You ever been to Seattle?” She led him out of the ballroom toward the elevator. “Let me buy you a drink. You’re off the clock as soon as I arrive safely in my hotel room, right?”
“That’s the agreement.”
“Then I insist.” She pressed the button to close the door. “You wouldn’t let a girl drink alone, would you?”
“I doubt a woman like you ever drinks alone,” Grant said. The elevator felt small and hot. Penelope’s dress barely covered her breasts, and they rose and fell as she breathed. Grant tried not to stare, but it was difficult not to. He’d found her breasts far more captivating than the long speeches thanking all of the donors and sponsors she’d had to make throughout the night.
“You’re right,” she said. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Penelope stopped at the concierge desk and removed her jewelry, handing it to the woman on duty to lock in the hotel safe.
“There,” she said, shaking her hair loose. “I feel so much lighter.” She pinched her earlobes and pressed her hand to her chest. “No more targets on my body, right?”
“Not flashy ones, at least,” Grant said. He imagined an heiress of her net worth would merit a hefty ransom of her own accord, no accessories needed.
“You know, I never like to be easy,” she said. “Though I have my moments.” She winked at him, then chose a round booth in the corner of the hotel bar, out of sight of the rest of the patrons. She ordered scotch on the rocks for both of them, and Grant was relieved for the drink. His injuries had been bothering him throughout the night of constant standing, and the painkillers he’d taken before the gala began had long since worn off. Penelope sidled up to him. “Mr. Redmond tells me you just came back from Afghanistan. What was it like?”
Grant drained his drink. “Beautiful.”
Penelope’s eyes widened in surprise. “Beautiful? Not what I expected you to say.”
“Mountainous,” Grant said. “Like Colorado.”
“Colorado? I love Vail.”
Grant smiled; of course she loved Vail. “Haven’t spent much time there,” he said.
She bobbed her foot up and down under the table, occasionally touching his leg with the toe of her shoe.
“I grew up there,” Grant said. He bit his lip to keep from saying too much. She was a client, not a confidant. After tonight, he’d never see her again. Then again, maybe that was exactly why she’d be a good confidant? She slid the toe of her shoe up his calf and leaned forward, bulging her breasts out of the neckline of her dress even more. Grant felt his own bulge harden inside the tight seams of his tux.
“You seem nervous,” Penelope said, smiling. She leaned back, tossing her hair to the side. “I’m just an ordinary girl.” She was anything but, and her wide smile with perfect teeth and plump lips showed that she knew it.
“You can’t even say that convincingly” Grant said, grinning.
Penelope pouted. “Alright, you got me. Who wants to be ordinary? It’s boring.” She leaned in close to him. “I think veterans are anything but boring.” She ran the tips of her fingers down his jacket sleeve. “I might still be a little scared, sleeping upstairs all by myself. If you watch over me tonight I could show you just how thankful I am for your service.” She whispered the last word in his ear.
Grant cursed in his head. If he wasn’t on a job – a job for a friend – his first job, at that – he’d take this woman upstairs and give her something to be thankful for. He gripped his crystal tumbler and slid an inch to his left.
“Thank you,” he said, his teeth gritted. He didn’t want to say the words. “But I’ll just drop you at your door and say goodnight. If you extend your trip tomorrow and need further protection, you just call.”
“I think you’re the first man to refuse my advances.”
