“But—“
“There are nobuts, Rose. That’s it. They’ve hired us. They trust us to carry out their wishes—which we’ll do. Discretion is the name of the game. Can I count on you for that?”
I look away and bite my lip.
I think I could handle the sports and the royalty, but it’s the lying to Anton that makes me feel like crawling out of my skin. He’s always been so open with me. Deceiving him is like my own personal torture chamber. It’s a constant drip of water, splashing on my forehead until I go insane.
“This is how it has to be.” My dad’s voice takes on a slight edge of exasperation, as if he doesn’t understand why I can’t reconcile this aspect of the job. To his point, I’ve been doing this sort of work for almost a decade. Ishouldbe able to handle everything that comes with it.
But all the lying and the deceit…it’s chaffing. I’ve been keeping pace and outrunning it, but it’s gaining ground—reaching out its skeletal hand to grab me around the ankle and yank me down into a heap of dust and self-inflicted destruction.
Not just with Anton.
It’s things like shutting off the security system without Mia knowing. Sure, she’ll likely never find out. But it doesn’t sit well with me.
It’s the fact that Noli had a deranged ex-boyfriend stalking her for over a year, and she didn’t come to me about it. I could havehelped her. I could have done something. But she doesn’t know that, because I can’t be open with my own sisters.
Heck, I’ve had to find roundabout ways to help Poppy keep a roof over our heads for years, not ever letting her in on the hefty salary I’m pulling in, because she’d ask questions I don’t want to answer. So instead, I’ve gone behind her back to landlords, worked out deals, and played dumb when I had to. I hate it. But it’s what I signed up for.
I could always get a job elsewhere, doing security but not working for my dad. Then I could come clean with my sisters and everyone else about what I actually do. Although, at this point, I’ve been lying to Poppy and Noli for so long I’m terrified of what they’ll say when the truth comes out. And a job with a different agency wouldn’t solve my problem where Anton is concerned. Nothing changes how I’ve lied to him. He’ll always be the one who got away…the one I had to let go. If he knew the real me, he wouldn’t want me anyway.
“Fine. Yeah. I know.” I hand the tablet back to my dad. “To be clear, I don’t have to date him again? Just pretend to write the article?”
“Nothing’s off the table. If you need more access to him, then…” My dad shrugs as if stringing Anton along, trying to make him trust me again, is such a blip it doesn’t even require an explanation.
I swallow away the feeling of sick that’s piling up in the back of my throat.
He slides the tablet in his bag. “You start tomorrow. You’ll have a meeting at the River Foxes stadium in Green Bay. Then you’ll get to work. I’ll need daily reports of who Anton is with, what he’s doing. That’s how we’ll identify patterns. You know the drill. Do your job well, and he stays safe. It’s as easy as that.”
Ha.
That’s what I thought too…once upon a time.
3
A Stranger at a Bar
Rose – Five Years Ago
The thick, hoppy scent of beer hits me like a physical force the second I walk into Billy Bob’s Bar. I blink, giving my eyes a chance to adjust to the dim light of my surroundings. Billy Bob’s is packed, and the place is rowdy. There’s a live band playing nineties country music, and between the loud rendition of Brooks and Dunn’s “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” and the laughter and hollering of the crowd, my senses are overwhelmed. There’s an impromptu line dance set up in the middle of the establishment. Tables have been pushed off to the side, and men and women are two-stepping, laughing, and twirling in front of the stage—the picture of general merriment.
I mentally go through the list of things I know about my target: Anton Bates. Blond hair. Blue eyes. Tall. Muscular. Supposedly here with a bunch of his teammates. He can’t be too hard to find. I scan the crowd, looking for oversized football players.
My job, should I choose to accept it—and spoiler alert, I have—is to find him, make nice, and establish the foundation of a relationship. Basically, I’ve got to get the guy to fall in love with me, Andie Anderson style.How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, anyone? Actually, I guess I’m playing the role of Benjamin Barry here. Either way, I cringe. It feels all sorts of icky, but what can I do? Anton is a prince who needs an extra set of eyes and ears around him in case of a threat to his person. I’m the girl for the job. He doesn’t know that. He can’t know it, according to the queen. And we work for her.
So that’s that.
Now, if I could find—
A broad shoulder knocks into the center of my back, sending my arms pinwheeling and my body stumbling forward. I’m a hair’s breadth away from falling flat on my face onto these disgusting, sticky floors when I’m yanked upright.
I look up—and then up some more—and into the cerulean-blue eyes of my target. If I didn’t already have them memorized from the photos I’d been shown, I would now. I’m struck by the small circle of green around his irises that spills into the outer blue rings like tie-dye. That doesn’t show up in photos. Pictures cannot do this man justice, apparently.
Anddddnow I’m staring.
“Are you okay?” His voice is softer than I expected from someone who commands offenses—and countries—for a living. It’s plush, with a richness to it. Like the fur of a brand-new stuffed animal. I want to nuzzle my nose into it.
I blink and glance down at where his hands still rest on my hips.
