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This man clearly changed the whole aura of any room he was in. Hell, I felt like he changed the way my body felt the moment he was looking at me.
“Have—have you two met?” Madeline asked, furrowing her brow.
“You really still don’t know who I am,” Theo said, the same wonder in his voice that had been there the other night.
I stood up straight, adjusting my suit, before I pulled out a chair and sat down. “I don’t, sir. But I’m prepared to work tirelessly as a personal security detail. Safety is on my mind every moment of every day.”
It was a Hail Mary to end all Hail Marys. I knew I was toast, but I was at least going to pretend as if this was a professional interview.
And I obviously was supposed to know who Theo Castille was, but I didn’t. The name definitely sounded familiar, but I was always out of touch with pop culture, and this was no exception.
“Theo is one of the most famous actors in the world,” Madeline said, peering at me like I was an alien. “Have you seen Base of the Mountain? Or Violet Fire? Gale?”
I shook my head politely. “I don’t follow pop culture much. I haven’t seen them. Maybe I heard the name Violet Fire once, but no dice.”
“Wow.”
“The job you’re interviewing for won’t be a fun one, but it will pay disgustingly well, and I do promise it will be worth your time,” Theo said. He leaned forward, looking at the papers in front of him. “Your resume says you’re a college campus security guard. Are you aware that this bodyguard position will require you to be on-call, 24/7?”
Whoa.
Either he was just toying with me, just being polite, or for some strange reason, he was actually still considering me for the position.
I nodded. “I’m prepared for that, yes. I would be proud to have such a high level of responsibility.”
“Even if I travel,” Theo said, watching me closely. He had to be aware how affecting his eyes were, how they made me feel so seen. “Even if I decide to go out for a soda at three in the morning. Even when I have to make overnight flights to LA or New York.”
“Yes,” I said.
“You’ll have to be by Theo’s side at all times, if you are selected for the position,” Madeline added.
“I understand.”
Theo and Madeline tossed questions at me, rapid-fire, for about an hour. They asked everything from personal questions—my hobbies, my first job, my background—as well as more technical questions about the martial arts and defensive training I’d had. They seemed interested in the answers, definitely. But it also seemed like they were trying to see how much I could take. See if I would get flustered by the barrage of questions.
But this was what I was made for. I was calm and collected. In fact, I almost felt more comfortable under their scrutiny. I liked the idea of working for someone who was so rigorous about who he was hiring.
“Do you have any questions for me?” Theo asked, peering at me after a long line of questioning about my childhood dog, of all things.
“I have about a thousand, I think,” I said. “But mostly, I just want to know… why Kansas? Why Amberfield? Why are you here?”
Theo sat back, nodding once.
“The idea of being in such a small town was interesting. My grandfather was from here, before he moved to California in his twenties because my grandmother wanted the California lifestyle.”
It seemed like a question he’d had to answer a million times before. Like he’d had the answer prepared and ready, a long time ago.
“With all due respect, Mr. Castille, I still don’t quite understand,” I said, shifting a little in my seat. “If you could be in Los Angeles or New York, why would someone as… well-known as you are want to come to Nowhereville?”
“I thought you liked it here,” Theo said.
“I do,” I said. “I love it. But it’s still Nowhereville. I’d never deny that.”
Theo paused for a moment, taking a breath. He picked up his glass of red wine, swirling it, but putting it down before taking a sip.
“I needed to be away from the hustle and bustle of big cities.”
I bit my lip. I couldn’t tell if he was uncomfortable or just being secretive and mysterious. “Also, I am curious about why, specifically, you want to hire a bodyguard here in Amberfield,” I said. “It’s not exactly a dangerous place.”
Theo looked at me with wonder in his eyes again. “God, it is so nice that you don’t know anything about me,” he said softly.
“Theo has had… a situation emerging over the past year,” Madeline said.
“She’s trying to be polite,” Theo added. “What I have is a stalker. Who is absolutely out of his mind.”
