“But it’s still just a job.”
Sighing, I realized the protection she’d been afforded might have blinded her to the reality of the life she’d been born into. However, it was not my place to try to change that. In the world of this employment, she was a princess and I was a pauper.
“I guess we’ll need to disagree. I take my job very seriously, Emmeline, which means I’m willing to lay down my life for those I’m protecting.”
The slight tilt of her head and a haunted look in her deep blue eyes pinned me where I was standing.
She accepted my answer, heading to the bedroom door. With her hand on the doorjamb, she stopped and took a deep breath. “Why did you purchase flowers?”
I was almost surprised she’d asked the question. “Because every woman deserves to have something special for her birthday. There’s a small cake in the refrigerator as well. I remembered you liked red velvet cake and happened to notice a bakery down the street.”
Maybe my words surprised her. Maybe they didn’t. She didn’t respond or bother to look in my direction.
She simply walked out.
Wow. I’d known her to be an ice queen, but not usually with me. Maybe that meant I was getting to her. As if I should take pride in doing so. Shit. What was I thinking?
Finding her had gone exactly as planned. However, I’d yet to move into the position of being able to talk her into returning to New Orleans. Even when that occurred, I knew it would be a hard sell. Maybe I would need to hogtie her before dragging her onto the plane.
Exhaling, I finally allowed myself to groan, even doubling over slightly. While the ribs were healing, it was going to take a while. “Wow.” I moved toward the dresser, leaning against it while I caught my breath.
Maybe the best thing to do was not to push so hard with her. Lingering in what appeared to be paradise wasn’t going to make the situation any more dangerous. With her stringent efforts to alter her identity, she’d effectively managed to do just that. The only thing unchanged was her appearance, although she was rarely photographed.
Even in her social media pages, when she was the subject of the photograph, she was almost always behind huge sunglasses or holding a glass of wine. Usually wearing a silly expression that almost always made my cock twitch.
Which was occurring right now even as I dressed.
While I tried to understand her point of view, I found doing so somewhat difficult. Why? Because she wanted for nothing. Yes, she worked hard, but if she wanted, she could travel to anywhere in the world for a biweekly vacation.
Not that I was suffering either.
When finally dressed, I headed through the house. Hearing music, I realized she’d retreated to the back deck, which housed an infinity pool overlooking the pristine harbor.
As soon as I walked in, I noticed she’d taken the small cake from the refrigerator, cutting a piece. The knife remained close to the cake, the blade covered in thick icing. She’d even opened the card, which I’d hurriedly signed. I wasn’t some romantic guy. That wasn’t my style, but in the assortment of information I’d gathered about her through the years, I’d realized a long time before that she adored celebrations.
Of all types. Birthdays. Weddings. Baby showers. Christmas. The light inside her countered both the darkness of the world she’d been born in and the one she practiced.
I definitely wouldn’t want to be on the wrong end of one of her spells.
She’d been shopping, fresh bread on the counter, fruit in a basket. I snagged a banana, tossing it into the air.
After raking my finger through the icing, licking the remnants, I headed outside. She was standing by the railing in her bare feet.
The woman had the ability to ignore someone. I’d seen men try to obtain her attention by doing the craziest of things, including one drunk asshole standing on his head. He might as well have set himself on fire.
Given she was still pissed, I didn’t bother trying to talk with her at this point. There would be no reasoning with her.
I stood peeling the green banana while staring at the incredible turquoise ocean. While the Gulf of Mexico was beautiful, it was certainly nothing like the crystal-clear waters here. Only when I chomped down on the piece of fruit did I realize she was staring at me.
When I looked over, seeing her pained expression brought a chuckle. “What? I like green bananas.”
“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re weird?”
Shrugging, with two more bites I was finished with the piece of fruit. “Just my brother.” My kid brother. I usually didn’t think about him.
Just mentioning him made her expression soften. “What happened to your ribs?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.” I yanked my sunglasses from my shirt pocket, but not soon enough. She was suddenly in front of me, lowering the dark shades from my face.
