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“Many celebrities have overly enthusiastic fans.” She waved her hand, and Rick could practically see her walls going up. “But my property has a security gate and cameras.”
Rick narrowed his eyes. “Have you dealt with this Todd Jeffers guy before? What kind of unstoppable fan is he? The sort who writes you pretty letters or the type who pens twisted ones?”
She shrugged. “He tried to scale my property fence once, but he was spotted by a landscaper and shooed away even before he got within view of the security cameras. I haven’t heard from him in the months since.”
So today’s guy was the same person who’d shown up at Chiara’s house once, and yeah, she wasn’t understanding the risk... Still, Rick strove for patience. “How do you know it was Jeffers at your house that day?”
She hesitated. “He wrote to me afterward to say he’d tried to see me.”
“He wrote to you about an attempted criminal trespass?” Rick let his tone drip disbelief. “Have you gotten a temporary restraining order?”
Chiara sighed. “No. He’s never been a physical threat, just a pest.”
“Just because he only tried to jump the fence doesn’t mean that’s what he’ll settle for doing in the future. There’s often an escalation with these nut jobs once they figure out that plan A isn’t working.”
Chiara raised her chin. “He’s probably a lonely, starstruck guy. Plenty of fans are.”
“Probably? I don’t deal in probabilities. Your run-of-the-mill serial killer often starts out torturing animals before moving to the big time. As I said, escalation.”
“Like A-list stars starting out in B movies?” she asked snippily.
“Right,” he said, his voice tight even as he ignored her flippant attitude. “Listen, Snow White, there are villains out there aside from the Evil Queen.”
Rick raked his fingers through his hair. He could understand why this guy was besotted with Chiara. Unfortunately Chiara herself wasn’t appreciating the gravity of the problem. They were like two trains on parallel tracks. “You’ve got a stalker. It’s time you acquired a boyfriend. Me.”
He’d been mulling things over, his mind in overdrive ever since he’d tackled Jeffers. If he pretended to be Chiara’s boyfriend, he could stick close and keep an eye on her. Maybe once this guy realized Chiara had a supposedly real boyfriend, he’d back off. Odele may have been onto a good idea.
Chiara opened and closed her mouth. “You’re not in the protection business.”
“I’m appointing myself right now. Besides, I’ve got the right background. I used to do security.” He’d worked as a guard at an office building during his college days and beyond in order to earn extra cash. He’d been a good bouncer, too. His parents had instilled the value of hard work in their children even though they’d been well-off.
Chiara slid off her seat and stood. In the confined space, she was within touching distance. “You can’t unilaterally decide to be my protector.” She spluttered as if searching for words. “I won’t agree to it.”
“You could solve two problems at once. The bad press from your father, and the issue of your stalker and needing security. Don’t quibble.”
“I’ll get a restraining order.”
He took a step forward. “Damn straight, you will.”
“So I don’t need you.”
“You need physical protection, too, unless you have seven dwarves hanging around, because a court order is just a piece of paper.” He didn’t want to think about how many news stories there’d been concerning an order of protection being violated—and someone getting hurt or killed.
She looked mutinous. “I’ll hire professional security.”
“It still won’t solve the problem of your father and distracting the press.”
Chiara threw up her hands.
“Don’t worry. I’ll always be a step behind you, like a good prince consort—I mean, bodyguard.”
“Hilarious.”
“I’ll make sure to hold an umbrella open for you in the rain,” he added solemnly.
“What’s in this for you?”
“Let’s just say I have a vested interest in the star of my next blockbuster staying safe until the end of filming. Everyone working on this movie wants to see it finished so they can get paid.”
