Page 1 of Happily Ever Maybe

Chapter 1

Gus

Distractions killed. At least in my line of business.

I needed to keep the bestselling author turned screenwriterturned Oscar-winner safe. He’d received a few death threats in the past thanksto his current work, and my job was to keep him protected. It wasn’t anydifferent than what I usually did. Keeping my client safe.

The man was currently on stage with a reporter from a majorpublication doing an interview in front of thirty-five hundredof their closest friends. I was off to the side, hands loose in front of me,looking as casual as possible as I kept scanning the room.

In addition to the death threats in the past two months,he’d also had some sexual innuendos and stalkerish behavior when it came tobehind-closed-door activities.

I never understood the need to make up a relationship thathad no chance of being real, yet these fans put their whole personalities intoit. They sent him flowers, anniversary cards, and gifts just to remind him theyexisted and, in their minds, the two of them were in a relationship. It wasdownright terrifying, and while they weren’t allowed on the premises, thatdidn’t mean they couldn’t find a way in.

The company I worked for had done background checks on thestaff and other people here, but even though certain individuals were blacklisted from getting tickets, there were still ways toget through. And that’s why I was here. Well, that’s why the team was here.

I liked working for Montgomery Security. The crew I workedfor was nearly all from the same family, or about to be related with an upcoming wedding. They were smart, diligent, andknew how to use their team.

I was damn good at being abodyguard. I could usually sense a threat before it became a dangeroussituation. In my last job, I stopped a young woman from throwing herself on thestage, screaming that she wanted to be with my client until the end of days.There hadn’t been a scene. We had walked off calmly, and things were fine.

But for some reason, I was edgy now.

No, that was a lie. It wasn’t just some reason. Iknew exactly what it was.

And it wasn’t Daisy and Kane, my fellow team members today.No, it was the other one.

Her.

I didn’t want to think about her, but I wasn’t sure I couldstop. I needed to, however. My job demanded it.

I was a bodyguard and an installer. I not only protected myclients and charges, I also installed securityequipment for businesses and homes. While my bosses laid out the securityprofiles and programs for large corporations and small residences—and also worked with cybersecurity—I did the installs when I wasn’t on bodyguard duty. I enjoyed bothaspects of my job and was talented at it.

Yet it didn’t feel like that.

Not with her.

It was always hard to think about anything when it came toJennifer. My coworker and my nemesis. Not that she knew she was my nemesis. No,that was all on me.

Those blue-gray eyes of hers were piercing and saweverything. At least when it came to the job. She could scent an incomingthreat as quickly as I could, and that was saying something. I might be cocky as fuck when it came to my job, but it was for areason.

And Jennifer was sometimes even better.

Her dark brown hair was pulled into a tight bun away fromher face. I liked it when her hair was down, though, since it fell in softwaves past her shoulders. She pulled it back in a ponytail or a braid when shewas working out, but when she was on duty, like today, it was in a bun, sonobody could use it against her in a fight.

I always kept my hair decently short, but my beard wasgetting longer. I’d probably have to trim it soon. I wasn’t trying to blend inlike I had with my old job when everybody had long beards, and I wasundercover. Now, I needed to trim it a bit so nobody could pull it in a fight.

But Jennifer? She’d thought about all of that already. Hencethe bun.

She was slim with a narrow waist and average height—thoughnot much about her was average. But that delicate frame was allmuscle. She could bench press more than a few of the guys on the team and kickany of our asses on any given day. Hell, she’d pinned me to the ground once,and I nearly swallowed my tongue. And then I’d had to hide my erection fromher. Like I did most days. Because Jennifer was a distraction.

My distraction.

I pulled my gaze from her and wondered how she couldn’t feelmy eyes on her. I would think it would be piercing, as if she was the onlything that mattered. I could practically sense the heat of my gaze. Yet shecouldn’t feel me? That should worry me, or maybe I was just losing my damn mind because all I wanted was her. And that was aproblem. Because we worked together.

I held back a snort at that. No, that wasn’t the problem.Two of my bosses were getting married—not only to each other but also to thebarista next door.

That made me smile because it was about damntime the three of them got together.

I had always thought Noah and Ford, while best friends, werebetter suited as something more. But it wasn’t until Greer showed up that Irealized what had been missing.