Priyanka and I were sitting in the two chairs in front of the mixing board in one of the recording rooms, staring out in front of us at the couch that had been serving as the interviewee’s place of residence. At this point, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find a security guard before I even announced tour.
“This is feeling hopeless,” I said, leaning back in my chair while the fourth applicant's presence lingered in the room. “Were there anyrealapplications, Pri?”
She scoffed at my comment, rapidly scrolling through her phone. “I promise not all of these are fans. They can’t be, right?”
I sighed. “Maybe this is a sign that I don’t need security. Maybe I don’t need someone tailing me all the time.”
“Alistair, youdoneed security.” Priyanka countered. “You’re gaining followers like crazy, your name is constantly on socials, you need security. Hopefully this fifth interview will be more legitimate.”
Granted, I hadn’t tested the theory in person. For all I knew, my newfound fame could’ve been a collective hallucination that everyone around me was sharing and I wouldn’t be swarmed by fans. I should have probably walked around Nashville to test it. People living in Nashville were used to people in the music industry living here, so maybe it wouldn’t have been a big deal. But with the way people were these days with music artists, I didn’t want to wait to be another headline in the news in a negative light.
“Alright,” Priyanka’s high pitched voice tore me from my reverie. “Holly just texted, the next interview is here.” Referencing the amazing secretary that manned the front desk, I nodded. I was seconds away from crossing my fingers that this interview wouldn’t be like the previous four. “I told her to send him back.”
I looked over my phone while we momentarily waited. Smiling, I saw that fans were eager to hear about tour. I needed to work out what the best strategy was for announcing the tour dates with Priyanka, once we finished with the bodyguard interviews, of course. Assuming we even had more than one applicant to choose from.
There was a light knock on the door, jolting both of us to attention. The door opened and my head swam to make sense of the beauty before me. A tall, dark, and handsome man walkedinto the studio, giving both of us a shy smile as he made his way over to us.
He was a fucking god.
The man had broad shoulders that told me he either worked out regularly or was blessed with adonis level genes. He had to be about six foot six or something, because he was definitely taller than me and I was six foot even. Skin the color of iced coffee with a decent amount of creamer greeted us as Priyanka welcomed him and asked him to have a seat on the couch. When he did, his toned body stretched behind the fabric of his well-worn black suit that made him look the part he was applying for. His dark hair was kept short and tidy, only a few steps above a buzzcut. And he had the perfect layer of scruff decorating his handsome face, more dark hair that obscured the skin underneath.
He looked absolutely handsome in a way that devastated my senses. He even wore black nail polish on every fingernail, giving him a mystique that I hadn’t been expecting by the way he was dressed.
I couldn’t manage to speak because he was so fucking breathtaking. I tried to tear my gaze away from him, but I couldn’t. Every feature was an obvious delight. But it was his eyes that stole the show.
They were purple.
Not the kind of purple you would normally see. They were a deep purple, so deep that I might have thought they were a deep blue if the fluorescent lights in the studio weren’t so accurate at casting light around the room. There was something about them that seemed a little off, like there was something just beyond the field of normal vision that was desperate to be seen by someone worthy enough to find it. Clearing my throat, I tried my best to regulate my demeanor so I didn’t completely freak the guy out.
“Thank you so much for coming in.” Priyanka said, appropriately starting the interview while I continued to put on a brave face and acted like an ethereal being hadn’t just graced us with his presence. “I’m Priyanka, and this is Alistair Finn.”
My name sparked me to go into my usual routine of formally introducing myself. I stood up and placed my hand out in front of me. He looked down at the hand as I said, “Hi, I’m Alistair. It’s nice to meet you.”
He mirrored me, standing up and grasping my hand. We shared a firm handshake, doing my best to ignore the soft caress of his palm along mine as we came out of the greeting. “Thank you. My name is Van Argent.”
Van. Maybe it was because of the negative attention I’d just gone through over the phone with Reed, but meeting a man like Van at this exact moment in my life made me feel like the luckiest guy in the world. I wanted to know more about him. And I certainly wouldn’t have minded getting to know him behind the closed door of my bedroom.
He took his seat back on the couch and I quickly sat back down in my chair, mentally chastising myself.This was your potential bodyguard, Alistair. Lusting after him would only complicate the very professional relationship that could happen between the two of you. I closed my eyes momentarily and breathed out before opening them. I needed to act like he was any run of the mill man I’d ever laid my eyes on to get through this interview. Then I could take care of the plumping erection that was starting to strain my pants when I got home.
“Have you ever worked private security before? I see on your resume you have corporate security experience, but was curious about anything else.” Priyanka pried, getting right down to business.
“I have.” Van nodded promptly, weaving his fingers through each other so that he held his hands together in a fleshy knot. God, why was everything he did so goddamn sexy?
Get it together, Alistair. You need to chill the fuck out.
Van continued his explanation, thankfully not catching wind of my complete failure to keep it together. “I’ve worked security for a hospital for eight years, and then for the last five years, I’ve been working private security.”
“Oh, that’s great.” Priyanka beamed, tapping across the virtual keyboard on her phone as she took notes. “Anyone of note that you can speak on?”
“I’m still under an NDA, though I’m no longer employed with the individual. I can get you verification, though, if that’s an issue.”
The fact that he had knowledge on nondisclosure agreements would work well in his favor, especially with Priyanka. None of the previous applicants had any such experience, so this was already the best interview of the day.
“Wonderful. And you have experience in signing NDAs, which would be the case here, if you went through the rest of the process, of course.”
Van unveiled his perfectly blinding white teeth as he graced us with his smile. “Totally understandable.”
“I’ll definitely need that verification, when you get the chance.” Priyanka typed away at her phone, still taking copious notes on the answers Van delivered. Once she looked back up from her phone, she added, “Are you familiar with Alistair’s work at all?”
