"I'm here, talking to you, so it looks like i'm pretty safe right now doesn't it?"
I step closer, closing the distance between us. She doesn't back down. She never does. Her perfume hits me again, sweet and sharp.
"I'm the only thing standing between you and someone who wants you dead," I say, my voice low. "You want to fight me on that? Fine. But don't pretend it doesn't matter."
She scoffs, tipping her head back slightly, but she doesn't speak.
Her eyes flash, and for a moment, I think she's going to throw the champagne in my face.
But she doesn't.
She just stares at me, her chest rising and falling with each breath. The balcony feels smaller than it did a moment ago, the air between us charged.
I look down at her lips and then back up to her face.
Why the fuck did I just do that?
After a moment, she turns away, setting her champagne glass on the balcony ledge.
"I'm going back inside," she says. "Try to keep up."
She brushes past me, her shoulder grazing mine.
I follow her back through the service hallway, this time not a step behind, but right at her side.
She doesn't protest. Doesn't even acknowledge me.
But I notice the way her stride slows slightly, matching mine.
We reenter the ballroom, and she slips back into her performance seamlessly. Smile bright. Voice warm. Movements fluid.
No one would ever know she was just standing alone on a balcony, daring the world to take a shot.
I take my position near the wall again, my gaze tracking her as she moves through the crowd.
She's a fucking storm,I think, and shake my head.
I've protected diplomats. Oil heirs. Politicians.
None of them have made me want to step closer instead of maintaining distance.
And that's the problem.
Because the moment I stop seeing her as an asset to protect and start seeing her as something else?
That's when I fail.
That's when people die.
I've been down this road before. I know how it ends.
But as I watch her laugh at something someone says, her green eyes bright, I can't shake the feeling that this time is different.
This time, the threat isn't just external.
It's her.
8
