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“I’m quite sure—”
My mom laid a hand on my arm. “Let me handle this.”
“I am an adult.”
“You are my son, and I intend to make sure you have the best protection available.”
“I need to stay here, in town, at my own apartment.”
I realized I sounded very much like a pouty toddler. Giorgio was probably laughing at me behind his stoic expression.
“You can’t do a gallery showing if that man hurts you or… worse.”
“I don’t think he—”
“You need to take this threat seriously.” That came from Giorgio.
I held his gaze and smiled. “If it’s so serious, maybe my mother is right, and I do need only the best.”
Something flickered in his eyes for just a moment. He didn’t like me challenging him. He liked control. I remembered how much. I wanted him to control me again but only in bed, not twenty-four hours a day. Not controlling my entire life.
I’d lived alone for the last two years. I did what I wanted when I wanted. I might paint all night and sleep all day. I might not sleep at all for a long stretch. I might go out and party for days on end, waiting for inspiration to strike. I liked controlling my own life. My mother had been in Europe for the last several months, so I’d even been out from under her watch. I didn’t need somebody standing over me all day. My mother worried about me constantly, but why was Giorgio so concerned? There had to be something they weren’t telling me.
“As you mentioned earlier,” Giorgio said, his voice sharper than it had been before, “anyone at our… agency is quite capable of keeping you safe.”
“I don’t want anyone. I want the best.” I could be just as imperious as my mother. I’d learned it from the cradle.
“Do you really?” The look he gave me let me know he was asking about far more than who I wanted for a bodyguard.
What was I doing? I was even more certain now than I’d ever been that Giorgio was dangerous, really dangerous, but I wouldn’t have anything to fear from him if he was working for me, would I?
Not physically anyway.
Unless…
How well did my mother know this friend of hers? How sure was she we could trust him?
I dismissed my concerns quickly when I remembered the night I’d spent with Giorgio. He’d pushed me, and he’d enjoyed giving me orders, but he’d never hurt me. He read my responses easily and never pushed me beyond things I was comfortable with. He was nothing like Alan, who’d put his pleasure first and never listened to my needs.
My mother could be extremely impulsive—I’d come by it naturally— but she would never compromise my safety. She must be certain of her friend.
Giorgio turned to my mother. “I will accompany Mr. Porter home. We’ll gather what he needs to take to the cabin. I will see that he is settled there and wait until someone else can relieve me. He will never be left unattended, and he will only be protected by the best. My boss doesn’t hire anyone whose skills aren’t superior and well vetted.
“I will speak to him about this,” my mother said.
Giorgio gave her a curt nod. “So will I.”
I looked at Giorgio. “I assume you have my address.”
This time his smile held the danger I’d seen that night at the club. “I know everything about you.”
He would have been given basic information about me from his boss and likely would’ve investigated further. That was his job. But the way he said the words, letting his voice go lower, I knew he was thinking of the other night and how he knew that I would surrender to him, that I would beg, that I would let him use me however he liked.
I had to remind my stupid cock that this was not the time to get interested.
“I have some things I want to say to my mother, so I’ll have her drop me off. You can follow us.”
“Yes, sir.” All I could think about was how I’d said that to Giorgio while he’d had me on my knees. His voice was steady and even, but I saw the hardness in his eyes. He didn’t like me giving orders, not one bit. I had a feeling he was going to make me pay for it later. I also had a feeling I was going to like that a lot.
5
Giorgio
The day had gotten worse and worse. First, I’d thought I had a new assignment, something to distract me from constantly thinking about Lane, something to calm the agitation that almost had me seeking him out again, then I’d found out I was going to be stuck on bodyguard duty for some kid who’d gotten himself mixed up with an asshole.
No. That was unfair. From what I could tell, Alan Hendon was a fucking predator. He truly was dangerous. I hadn’t been exaggerating about that.
