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Chapter Seven
Birch spent the next five days orienting himself to the security of the Jewels’ Jackson Hole estate, monitoring cameras, working out, and avoiding a certain beautiful and appealing actress. He could sense that Allison was different than his mother, sister, Bermuda, and especially Amelia, whom he blamed for Blade’s death. Yet the fact remained that he’d made that promise to Blade and he personally had been burned far too many times to think it was smart to get too close to the fire. Thankfully, Allison was preoccupied with her brother and sister-in-law and he could let them have their space while in the mansion and simply trail along when they left the house for hikes or mountain bike rides. He acted to exactness the role of security guard: always watching but staying in the shadows.
What he’d do when Abe and Rachel had to go back to work and school, Rachel was in law school and Abe ran a billion-dollar corporation of his own creation, he had no idea. The real problem was the main focus of his job—watching Allison. She was … incredible and appealing and adorable and sassy. Basically, she was the woman he’d always been looking for, except she was off limits. He had to keep his distance as simply observing her was torture. He couldn’t imagine how he’d survive if she hugged him again like she had the night he’d protected her on the beach.
Unfortunately for him and hopes of Allison’s stalker being caught, everything had been quiet in Dana Point. No sighting of the stalker even though the police had an officer impersonating Allison and had great security equipment and officers monitoring the property. There were dozens of men working to find the famous Sticky Notes Stalker, especially now that someone had been attacked, but nothing had turned up yet.
The day Abe and Rachel were to leave, Birch was exiting the home gym from his early morning workout as a lithe shadow walked in the door. He instinctively wrapped his hands around her forearms to stop from plowing her over.
Allison glanced up at him, her pretty mouth slightly open and the pulse point in her neck visibly racing. “What are you doing?” she asked in a breathy voice that stirred something deep in him. He had to mentally slap himself to remember that she was an actress and could make any man believe that she actually cared, and quickly released her arms. He could not break his promise to Blade, or end up like him.
“Exercising,” he said, “and you?”
“Oh.” She backed up a step. “I was … going to lift but if you’re in here.” She glanced around. “The room seemed a lot bigger yesterday.”
He chuckled, unable to help himself. “I make the room shrink?”
She glanced over him, her gaze lingering on his chest and arms. “You do seem to have that talent.”
He smiled and eased a little closer to her. “Because I’m a big, tough guy?”
Allison checked out his muscles again before giving him a sassy smile and saying, “No, because you’re a pompous windbag.”
Birch laughed. He simply couldn’t help himself. As he’d learned from observing her the past few days, she was witty and charming. “So I fill up the room with hot, stinky air?”
She nodded, grinning now too. “Well I wasn’t going to go straight to how bad you reek.” She plugged her nose. “Whoo-ee, how hard did you work out to be so sweaty?”
Birch laughed again, shaking his head and then in a completely uncharacteristic move he lifted both arms and flexed as if he were on some body-building poster. “Really hard.” He winked. “Was it worth offending your delicate olfactory neurons?”
She unplugged her nose and softly wrapped her palm around his right bicep muscle. He instinctively flexed it harder. “Yes, sir,” she murmured. “Very worth it.” She wrinkled her nose again. “But a shower, or a bottle of antiperspirant, wouldn’t be out of line.”
He chuckled. “Noted.”
She gave him one last appealing grin and then sauntered past him to the free weights, pulling a set of ten-pound dumbbells off and slowly executing a lateral raise to warm up. She looked … fabulous—trim and fit and oh-so-appealing. Birch reprimanded himself for staring, turned, and strode away. He’d really enjoyed the interaction with her and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed so freely with a woman, never with an actress. At least not since Bermuda showed her true colors eight years ago.
An actress. He shook himself. She was an actress. He knew it was wrong to judge an entire group of people, but actresses were simply too good at pretending they felt something for someone, then stabbing them in the back, like Bermuda had done to him. Worse, like what Amelia had done to Blade. Every interaction with Allison was suspect in his mind, he simply couldn’t know if she was sincere or if she was only acting. It was what his mother, sister, Amelia, and Bermuda knew how to do best. Wring emotion from him or his brother while manipulating them for their gain.
His jaw clamped tight as he hurried up the stairs and to his suite. He was sleeping in the room next to Allison as of a necessity but he would have to remember to steel his heart. Not only was she a client, but she was completely off limits because of his promise to Blade.
* * *
Allison hated saying goodbye to Abe and Rachel. She clung embarrassingly to both of them. Simply being with them these past five days had been incredible. They were such a fun-loving and devoted couple and they both loved her without question. They weren’t like many of her friends and so-called friends in Hollywood, judging each thing she said and did to see if it was politically correct or trendy enough or if it could further their own ambitions. Bermuda was one of the few exceptions to that and she missed her friend. They’d texted a few times but she hadn’t dared confide too much as Detective Jones had cautioned her not to be open about the stalker or her current location until the man was caught. Her friend understandably didn’t appreciate being in the dark about why Allison had disappeared.
Abe and Rachel also weren’t like Birch, who assumed the worst of her because of her profession. She’d really enjoyed her interaction with Birch in the gym this morning. She’d thought they’d broken through some barriers with them both smiling and him gifting her with a laugh that warmed her clear through. It had been adorable when he’d flexed like an egomaniac teenager. She’d never tell him, but he’d hadn’t stunk like she’d teased him about. He’d smelled like a man who knew how to work hard, and the salty and manly combination hadn’t bothered her at all. Of course she preferred his musky cologne, that was currently infiltrating her senses as he stood a little too close behind her on the porch, at least for her peace of mind, while she waved Abe and Rachel goodbye.
Their car disappeared and she took a deep, steadying breath. Big mistake as she got an even deeper whiff of that cologne. Dang he smelled good.
She pivoted slightly to face him. “So … what should we do now?”
Birch’s eyebrows rose and his dark eyes seemed to almost smolder at her. Her knees got weak and her stomach filled with a hot desire. As quick as his look had appeared it vanished. He cleared his throat and stepped back. “You’re welcome to do whatever you’d like to do. I’ll observe at a distance and keep you safe.”
Frustration rushed through her. She leaned closer to him. “Why is it necessary for you to ‘observe at a distance’? If you haven’t noticed, it’s just you and me. Won’t it be easier to keep me safe if we’re close?”
He swallowed and his dark eyes trailed over her with a warmth that gave her good shivers. Her own gaze lingered on the lean musculature of his shoulders, outlined in the fitted t-shirt he wore.
He shook his head as if to clear it and his entire body became taut as if an enemy were lurking around the corner. “It’ll be better if I observe at a distance and don’t allow myself to become … distracted.”
So she was a distraction now? It was slightly better than a she-devil actress. As he’d clarified, he’d never used that term but she felt it had definitely been implied by him.
