Her Bodyguard: A BBW Billionairess Romance Read online

  She opened the door to a ton of smoke. Holy shit, the fire must be right on her floor. On her hands and knees, she tried to visualize the closest way to the stairwell. Was it to the right? Or the left? Aw, hell. She never paid attention to the stupid fire drills, because she was always in some kind of meeting. Now look where that got her.

  Her heart thundered in her ears. Wait, no. That wasn’t her heart. Were those...? Those were bullets she heard. What the fucking hell? She crawled to the right, hoping she made a good choice in the smoky hallway.

  Gunfire surrounded her. She couldn’t see anything, and as much as she hated to admit it, she was starting to get scared. Then she heard someone yell her name. The voice didn’t sound familiar. Tom had hired people, though, so it could be one of the new guards. But why the hell did it sound like someone was shooting? This wasn’t a bank, and nothing of value was housed on her floor.

  Crawling as fast as she could, with her head almost touching the carpet and her ass up in the air, she felt like a complete idiot. Thank god there was too much smoke for anyone to see that. And fine day to wear a skirt suit. Her knees chafed from rubbing on the carpet. She didn’t mind a few carpet burns, but there were better, more enjoyable, ways to get them.

  With the loud noises to her back, she crawled faster until she reached out and touched a big boot. She brought her face close. The boot was black and had a leg attached to it. Thankfully.

  She moved her hand further up the leg. He was braced, looking into the smoke. Definitely had to be one of the new guys. She got a vague impression of a powerful body in a ripped T-shirt. Then he looked down at her and smiled.

  “Hey there, sweetheart.”

  He did not work for her. No way in hell she’d be that clueless to not notice him. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Well, there went making a good impression until she knew what the hell was going on.

  “Um, hi. Are you new?”

  Please say yes. Because if he said no, then she’d have to kick her own ass for being so oblivious to that kind of hot in her own damn building. They were in the middle of a fire, and he was hot enough to make her think about every dirty thing she’d ever wanted to try with a man. And what she really wanted to ask was if he was single, wanted to have babies, and maybe do some kinky stuff together. But she really didn’t want to scare him.

  “Yeah, you could say that.” He reached a hand down and hauled her to her feet with ease, then spun her and trapped her between his hard body and the wall.

  “As nice as it is to meet a new employee,” she bit back a groan. She’d almost forgotten about the fire thanks to him. Wow, what a muscular chest he had, all pressed up on her and… Oh, hell, was that a gun or something else? She sure hoped it was something else. Her hormones raged, probably from her lack of sex. Great timing. “Can we get off of this floor? There’s a fire somewhere.”

  He looked down at her, and another smile flirted with the corners of his lips. “Sure thing, sweetheart, we can get out of here. But I’m going to need you to do exactly what I say when I say, okay?”

  “You’re the new guy. Shouldn’t you just follow me? I mean, not to sound like a know-it-all, but I’ve been working in this building for a few years now, and I can find my way out.” She glanced at the door leading to the stairwell. “If we go down those stairs, we’ll hit the parking lot. My car is always right there. If you need, I’ll give you a ride.”

  The little smile became a full-on grin, and he arched an eyebrow. “Who am I to turn down a ride from a pretty lady? Lead the way, sweetheart.”

  She sighed. Thank goodness the hot new guard wasn’t going to be all macho on her. He probably wouldn’t know where to go. Besides, most of the hot men she’d encountered tended to have just a tiny, little bit missing in the smart-guy department.

  She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the door. “I don’t know what’s going on on the other side of the floor, but we should probably run. I think a copier exploded.” She glanced over her shoulder and caught him staring at her ass but decided to ignore it. “Seriously, the sound was deafening.”

  She shouldn’t think about how big his hand was covering hers. Or the fact he was a foot taller and could easily have thrown her over his shoulder in a full Tarzan move. Why the hell was she thinking of shit like that? No wonder Tom thought she needed extra guards. She was brain-dead the moment something critical happened.

  Having such a mundane life meant the smallest thing was exciting.

  “Don’t worry,” she huffed, rushing down another level. “I bet Tom and the others have the fire department on its way here. If they’re not here already.” She stopped to adjust the huge carry bag that held her laptop and the files she would work on from home. “This thing weighs a ton.”

  “Here, let me.” He tugged the bag out of her hold.

  “You don’t have to do that.” She yanked on the bag. “I don’t make anyone carry my stuff.”

  “Maybe not.” His tone was firm as they reached the bottom of the stairs. “But all hell will break loose when we step through those doors, and I need you to have your hands free.”

  What the hell was he talking about? It was just a fire. He pushed her behind him and held her hand in a tight grip. If she was a worrier—which she wasn’t, nope, she was not worried, that trembling in her stomach was just hunger—she’d wonder why all of a sudden he appeared a lot more dangerous than before.

  He glanced over his shoulder at her and winked. “Exactly as I say. Just remember that.”

  Chapter Two

  He pushed the door open, and, as promised, all hell broke loose. Smoke and noise filled the air. Gunshots.

  People were shooting at them.

  She shrieked and turned blindly toward him, but he turned her around, his big chest hard against her back, and pressed something against her neck under her ear. A gun. Shit.

  “I’ve got Ms. Rey,” he yelled into a lull in the noise. “Put your weapons on the ground, and she doesn’t get hurt.”

  Wait. What the hell did he just say? She tried to look over her shoulder at him, but he had her in tight grip. “What do you think you’re doing? Let go of me this instant. This is going to get you fired! And on your first day too.”

  Dammit, why did all the hot ones have to be stupid?

  He leaned down, his warm breath stirring the tiny hairs on the side of her neck. “Sweetheart, I never said I worked for you, now did I?”

  “If you don’t work for me, then who are you?” Her voice trembled despite the clenching of her teeth. She was nervous, pissed, and scared.

  “If you’re a good girl,” he murmured, sliding a big hand over her waist to hold her securely against him. “Then you can call me gone. Very soon.” He lifted his head, and his voice rose. “I’m bringing her out now. No one makes a move, or she gets hurt.“

  Oh, crap. She was going to die. Not the way she had hoped to go one day, due to multiple orgasms, but by the hand of a hot, muscular idiot bent on using her as a human shield. Life was so fucking unfair sometimes.

  “Listen,” she cleared her throat, “I’m sure we can work this out. You don’t want me.”

  “Is that so?” he drawled, pushing her ahead of him into the parking lot. “Why’s that? Seems to me I could have a lot of fun with a sweet armful like you.”

  A security team stood around her car, their guns on the ground. Tom was by the driver’s door, his face white.

  “Open the door,” her captor snarled, pressing the muzzle of his pistol harder into her neck. “Keys in the ignition.”

  “Mister. Um...look you don’t want to do this. You’ll go to prison, and it will not be fun. It would be such a shame to see you turned into some big dude’s bitch.” She tried to drag her feet as he closed the distance to her car, but it made no difference. She’d never been skinny, but he handled her without breaking a sweat.

  “You can find someone a lot more interesting than me to abduct. I’m boring,” she squeaked, fear making her babble.

&
nbsp; Even his chuckle was sexy. Crap, she was really screwed in the head if she found her own kidnapper sexy. “Sorry, sweetheart, I’m not buying it. I happen to think billionaire CEO’s are sexy as fuck.”

  She didn’t think, words just flowing out of her mouth. “I haven’t even had sex in months. Seriously, I am so boring. There’s tons of more-fun people to take.”

  He barked out a laugh, half carrying her toward the door Tom opened. “Months? Well, that means you’ll be gagging for a bit of action, doesn’t it?”

  He threw her into the car, bundling her over and sliding behind the wheel. A whimper escaped her as he threw it in gear and accelerated for the exit. She shifted to face her captor, watching him floor her car and steal it with her in it.

  “You’re insane!” She kept from saying more for fear of the gun he had pointed at her. If they left the building, she was fucked. Her only consolation was that her babbling had kept him from shooting at any of her guards. Or Tom. Oh god, how many had he shot in the building?

  “Why are you doing this?”

  He flicked her a glance, then slammed the brakes on. The car squealed to a halt, back end fishtailing wildly for a few seconds before they came to a stop right in the exit.

  “This, Ms. Rey…,” he said as he ejected the magazine from his gun and handed it to her, “was your wake-up call.”

  She watched, dumbfounded, as he got out of the car, leaning on the side as Tom approached.

  “You were right, mate. She needs help. Serious fucking help.”

  It took her all of thirty seconds to go from confused and scared to pissed as hell. She hopped out of the car and poked the big jerk in the chest. “Are you fucking crazy? Is this some kind of joke to you? Scaring the crap out of people just for fun?”

  Shit, the stuff she’d said. Heat crowded her cheeks. She’d told him she hadn’t had sex. She’d kill him. In fact, she’d kill them both for putting her through this.

  She turned her anger on Tom. He’d very intelligently kept a distance from her. “I don’t know what the hell this was about, but if you try this kind of crap again, I will hurt you.”

  But she wasn’t done. She was humiliated. Anger bubbled in her veins over the entire episode. “And you,” she turned to the hot bastard again. “Unless you like the taste of balls, I don’t think you should ever try that again. Because I will cut yours off and feed them to you.”

  ***

  She was gorgeous when she was mad. But as much as he wanted to give in to the temptation to lean down and see if her lips were as soft as they looked, Drew wasn’t here for romance. He wouldn’t be if he even knew how. Mr. Romance he was not. A hard and dirty shag, maybe, with some tying up involved, yeah, that he could do. Romance, no.

  Instead he cocked his eyebrow again. “Sweetheart, if I thought you’d do more than tickle them, I’d let you have a crack. But I need a…” He flicked a suggestive glance down her, letting heat fill his eyes for a second. “…firmer hand, shall we say?”

  Steeling his expression, he reached out and plucked the magazine from her hand, turning it to show her the contents.

  “Rubber bullets, sweetheart.” He kept his voice hard, his expression moreso. She needed to know just how much danger she was in. “One man took your building, took you, with nothing more than smoke grenades and rubber bullets. No casualties apart from some bruises and wounded pride.”

  Her eyes widened as she looked at the bullets, but the sassy expression was still there. He resisted the urge to smile. Stubborn woman. He had to break her, or someone was going to take her.

  “Tom brought me in to test your security, and, well, to say it failed is an understatement, isn’t it?”

  He flicked a glance at Tom, who looked a little shamefaced. As he should.

  “In fact, it was fucking balls-up from beginning to end. I shouldn’t have gotten past the lobby. I certainly shouldn’t have gotten up six floors, onto the primary level, and been able to take you without some form of challenge other than a couple of rent-a-cops who couldn’t find their own arses if you drew them a fucking map.”

  He paused, aware that his voice had risen. The men around Tom refused to meet his gaze.

  “You’re Tom’s Special Ops guy,” she breathed, looking from Tom back to him. “The one he wanted me to meet. He said you were top-of-the-line.”

  As he watched, she marshalled her defenses and glared at him. “Which means that only someone like you could get in. Our security is good.”

  Drew blinked, surprise rolling through him, quickly followed by irritation. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me, lady.”

  He threw an is-she-serious? look at Tom, then looked back at her.

  “Yeah. I’m good. I’m the fucking dogs. But get this…”

  He crowded her personal space, almost hoping she did take a shot at him. Since he’d yanked her against him to march her across the car park, his body had been itching for the feel of hers against him again.

  “I. Can. Be. Bought.” He paused to let that sink in. “So can others. And you can be damn fucking sure they aren’t gonna hit this place with rubber bullets or stop before they get you out of here.”

  He shoved his face closer to hers, knowing he was scaring her and well past caring.

  “And just in case you think we’re talking about normal people here. We’re not. They won’t care about you. You’re a paycheck. As long as you get returned breathing, everything else is secondary.” He added a leer. “I sure hope you like cock, sweetheart, because if you get taken, they’ll fuck you in every hole you’ve got.”

  Tom stepped forward. “Dav, that’s a bit str—”

  “Shut the fuck up, Tom.” Drew turned his head to snap. “She needs to hear this. She needs to know what these people will do to her. And…” He turned his head to glare down at her. “While we’re at it, just think about the men who’ll die to protect you, when you’re being a selfish bitch and insisting you don’t need my advice. Men with families who won’t go home again, because you think you’re fucking superwoman.”

  “You...asshole.” Tears filled her eyes. She obviously hadn’t thought about that. “That was low, even for a jerk.”

  His lips compressed. “No sweetheart, I’m a bastard. There’s a difference. And believe me, I’ll go lower if it gets the message through to you.”

  “Well, what the hell do you suggest I do then?” She turned to glare at Tom. “You brought him in to help? Was scaring the shit out of me part of the process, or does he only do that for fun?”

  “Scaring you, sweetheart, was necessary.” He eased away, gave her some space to breathe. “From what I hear, Tom’s been telling you this could happen. Better it happens with me than someone who wants to take you for real. Or perhaps you’d have preferred me to be the real deal?”

  He reached in his pocket for his cell. “If so, give me a moment, and I’m sure I can find a buyer for the CEO of a…” He looked at Tom. “Fortune 100 company?”

  She gasped as Tom nodded. “You really are a bastard! And how do you propose to help me? So far all you’ve done is piss me off.”

  He left his cell in his pocket. “Pissed off is better than taken or dead, sweetheart. As in help you? Let’s get one thing clear from the outset. I’m not helping you. I don’t work for you. I’m doing this for a mate.”

  He folded his arms and looked down at her. “So this is the plan. We’re going to go up there. You, Tom, and I are going to go through every step of my actions this morning, and he’s going to arrange to fix the fucking big security holes you’ve got here. Which will take time. Until then, you just got a new shadow. I hope you don’t snore.”

  “Snore? You’re not seriously proposing...” She stared at him wide-eyed. Her gaze raked down his body in a swift caress. She cleared her throat and turned to Tom again. “He’s kidding right?”

  Tom shrugged. “He’s British. He doesn’t have a sense of humor.”

  ***

  “This is really not the way I expected to sp
end my day, Tom,” she grumbled.

  “I told you he was the best.”

  Yes, he had. So far she’d found out a few things about Drew. Jerk even had a nice name. Andrew Davidson. He really knew what he was doing when it came to security. Thanks to his sexy accent and habit of looking directly into her eyes as he spoke, she’d been lost in his explanations within thirty seconds, mainly because her mind kept straying from the conversation to play images of him stripping for her. It was not the time for that. She needed to focus on what he wanted to do with the overall safety. He had some great ideas on how to amp up security in her building without calling the damn SWAT team. Why the hell did he have to be such a bastard and hot too?

  Tom held Drew’s bag while they waited for him to change to discuss his new employment. She would have preferred to send him to hell and give Tom another tongue-lashing for hiring a bodyguard against her wishes, but dammit he was right. She did need him. She wasn’t stupid.

  “Was he seriously saying he’ll be with me all the time?” She gulped, thinking of her very girly bedroom. That would not be fun at all.

  “He takes his job seriously,” was all Tom said.

  After a few quiet moments of her daydreaming of Drew getting up close and personal with his guard duties, the door to the bathroom attached to her office opened.

  “Holy shit!” She didn’t realize she said that out loud until Tom tried to cough to hide his laughter.

  Drew was...hot. No, not hot. Panty-dropping gorgeous. What the hell had he done in her bathroom? He’d clearly showered, changed, and shaved, but with all that came a man so sexy she had a hard time keeping her jaw from dropping open.

  He wore a suit like he’d been born in it. And though she’d found the scruffy look sexy, the clean-shaven face allowed her to see his features with a lot more detail. Heck, even his hair moved out of the way to show off piercing eyes. Yeah, wow. To make matters worse, he smiled.