My heart flutters up into my throat. “Is this okay?”
Mack swallows. “You’re stunning. I’m sorry, I just…stunning.” His head shakes, then he grins. After reaching into his pocket, he takes my hand. “Do you, Layne Anderson, promise to be my wife for the weekend and to have a little fun with me on this assignment?”
I’m already laughing as he slips a ring onto my finger. “I do.” Looking down, it’s actually two rings: a massive diamond solitaire, and an emerald and diamond wedding band. I stare in disbelief, my hand starting to quiver.
He grabs my wrist. “Breathe. I got us fakes.” He waves his left ring finger in the air while his right thumb drags slowly along the length of my wrist in a way that is sweetly calming.
“Sorry. It’s all just a bit of a shock.”
“Definitely. Let’s talk about it.” He opens the door for me as we get in, which feels charmingly old-fashioned.
It's a two-hour drive, which is perfect for us to get to know each other a bit. We chat about driving music, and I'm impressed that he packed a traveler mug of black decaf for me, along with water. My boss is more thoughtful than I would have guessed. Sorry, my husband.
"Did you go over the updated assignment brief?" I ask. "They sent more details once everything was signed off."
"Yes, but since this is your first time in the field, why don't we go over it together?"
"Sure." I call up the file on my phone, not looking at it to be sure I remember everything.
"It’s a typical wedding weekend. Mr. Gillis is the father of the bride, Angela, who is marrying Steven. At the previous two weddings, things have gone missing. But because of the nature of his business, and some very gossipy relatives, he doesn't want anyone to hear about it. He certainly doesn't want anyone to know that he's hired professional security this time." I shoot Mack a sideways glance. "Apparently there's a few people in particular who would call him paranoid."
"Exactly. So we are just there for the party."
"Distant cousins Astor and Ryland are aware that we’re there in a professional capacity. Apparently the rest of the family kind of ignores them, so if we stick close to them the others will probably ignore us by association."
Mack chuckles. "We’ll socialize just enough to blend in. People always pretend to know everyone at these things."
"Right." I stare at the road ahead for a moment. "Oh, right – we'll know them by their hair. Mr. Gillis said he couldn't say what color it is because it changes weekly, but we can't missthem." I can't help but laugh. "Hopefully they’re cool art kids. We're going to be at the party table, for sure."
"Not too much of a party." He glances over sharply.
"Right. There are notes on the people who might be problem drinkers. We'll keep an eye on them so hopefully Mr. Gillis won't have to have a word with them."
"You'd better start calling him Ron, since we're family."
"Oh – sorry. Yes."
"Now, I would never let anyone come into the field without thorough safety training. This is a unique position where the odds of any physical danger are almost zero, but I’m still going to run over the basics."
For the next twenty minutes, Mack briefs me on everything from watching exits to spotting people who might be unstable to always keeping him in my line of sight. Even though this just is a light overview, there's something in his voice that makes me pause. Mack is going to be keeping an eye onmeall weekend as well.
Being this close to him in the car makes me feel electrified. But I'm able to speak a lot more freely with him now, too.
"Does all of that make sense?" he finishes.
"Yes. Thank you."
"We'll both keep our phones on silent. We might have to chat without anyone knowing."
"Sure."
There’s a lull in the conversation for a moment, then I have to ask. “Why is it the Barrow Agency if your last name is Wentworth? It’s been bugging me.”
For such a serious guy, he has a very sexy chuckle. “You were emailing with Christina. I think of her as a little sister since our moms are friends. She’s the one who originally told me that Warren, the owner of Barrow Security, was retiring to take someeasy bodyguard gigs in the south. I’d had some experience in various tactical training over the years, so I threw myself into it.”
“Did you do anything else besides the tactical training?” I have no idea what that is, but it sounds…hot.
“I owned and ran several businesses, then took a year off until I realized that babysitting my investments wasn’t enough. I needed something different to sink my teeth into. And that’s how Mr. Wentworth came to run Barrow Security.”
