Done and done.
“Maximoff,” he says like I’m being a stick-in-the-mud prick.
“What are we dealing with exactly?” I put the train back on the tracks before he catches my actual reasons.
“What I share with you—they’re notsecrets. At least half of us don’t consider them secrets. The other half are so uptight they could be mistaken for the Queen’s Guard outside Buckingham Palace.”
“So you’re pretty much like arebelin the security team.” I give him a blatant once-over, eyeing his tattoos, the black wardrobe, the piercings. “All this time, I had no idea.”
Farrow lets out a short laugh into an agitated, amused smile, nodding a few times. I thinksmartasssits on his tongue, and then his gaze falls to my lips—for the briefest second.
Before I even process what that means, he acts like nothing transpired. And he starts to unlock the door.
It could’ve just been in my head.
I’m prone to fantasizing. What’s to say I didn’t invent that out of the horny recesses of my sexually frustrated brain?
I need to go out and find a one-night stand tonight.
It’s my first thought. My second jarring thought slaps me cold:Farrow has to come with me.
I can’t escape him. For pretty much all of eternity.
4
FARROW KEENE
Luggage in hand,I lead the way up two flights of narrow wooden stairs. Much to Maximoff’s chagrin. I’m certain he’d love to be the oneleadingthe nonexistent pack, but he has to be second-place to me this time.
And really, every time as far as I’m concerned.
It’s not just me being pompous or arbitrarily arrogant. For his safety, he has to learn to let me lead.
Thick silence stretches while we both ascend the stairs. I’m not used to uncomfortable tension, and I doubt he is either.
See, I didn’taskto be his bodyguard. I didn’t apply for the position or submit an application. I fell into the role at his mom’s request.
I like change.
Iwelcomechange. But when one of my favorite pastimes is pissing off Maximoff Hale—I’m not so sure I’d have volunteered for this job.
Another tense beat passes between us before Moffy warns me, “Your room is small.”
I end up smiling because I’ve been in these two townhouses multiple times. They’re identical. Second floor has twobedrooms and the only bath. Third floor is an attic bedroom. Everything else is crammed on the first floor.
Maximoff lives in the third-floor attic inside the other townhouse. A room barely big enough for a full-sized bed, a bookshelf, and a dresser.
I’m about to live in the identical version ofthatsame attic room. “I can manage. It’s the same size as yours.” I glance back at him.
Only two stairs below me, one of the most beloved celebrities stands confident and agitated at my heels.
And he has my fifty-pound suitcase easily hoisted on his shoulders like a soldier carrying a rucksack. He’s not flaunting his strength. With Moffy, he’s just beingefficient.Giving himself more room to walk up the narrowest staircase imaginable.
His carved biceps stretch the fabric of his green tee.
I smile. I’m sure most people would faint at his feet right now. Possibly stammer. Maybe try to seduce him. Say all the right things in the right way.
Instead, he has me.
