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Chapter One
“Got an assignment for you.” Ian Driscoll sat back in his chair.
Mendez Grant strolled into the office and sat across from his boss.
“Okay.” Mendez had worked for Driscoll Security for the past five years. So far it had been an interesting job. He mostly babysat the rich and famous, but there were times when he and others who worked here were sent to rescue the offspring of prominent people who’d been kidnapped.
The one thing Mendez really loved about this job was that Ian was a wolf shifter, and so were his employees. It made Mendez’s job a hell of a lot easier when he didn’t have to hide who he was. At least not at the office.
Ian sat forward, grabbed a file off his desk, and handed it to Mendez. “You’ll be Jack Dane’s personal protection detail. As you know, Cal found his mate, and she wanted a wedding, so he left to get married. You’ll be taking Cal’s place. There’s other security around, but Jack refuses to have any at home, so stick to him, Mendez. We don’t need a nutjob getting their hands on him.”
Mendez read the file. Jack Dane. Country music legend. That wasn’t Mendez’s genre of music, but even he knew who Jack Dane was. At least Mendez had heard of him. He looked up at Ian. “Love letters?”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Ian said. “From the use of pronouns, we deducted that the crazed fan is male. The letters started out typical. Admiration for Mr. Dane’s music and so on. Then the anger of why Mr. Dane never wrote him back or acknowledged him. How he thought they were perfect for each other. Then threats because the fan refused to be ignored.”
Mendez snorted. “I know the type.”
Hell, he’d lived through that kind of situation at one time. Mendez had dated a guy about fifteen years ago, but as soon as Jacob started talking about wedding bells and adopting kids, Mendez was out of there. They’d only been dating two weeks and Jacob had their entire future planned out.
Even after Mendez broke it off, Jacob kept calling him, his emotions ranging from one end of the spectrum to the other. Sobbing, threatening him, begging him to come back, then cussing him out.
It had taken changing his phone number and moving to Chicago to get away from Jacob. That was why Mendez was very careful now about the men he dated. Well, he hadn’t dated anyone since Jacob. Now Mendez was just about the sex and moving on. One and done. Fuck a relationship. It was too hard to find someone halfway decent these days.
He flipped through the file and came across Jack Dane’s picture. Mendez might have heard about him, but he’d never seen an image of the guy, and fuck. Buttermilk-blond hair, gorgeous hazel eyes, and a killer smile with straight, white teeth. He looked like the boy next door. A pretty boy. Mendez could see why his fans went nuts over him.
“I need you to start right away,” Ian said, interrupting Mendez’s thoughts. “He’s in Italy right now on the last leg of his six-month world tour. I’ll fly you out there to meet up with him.” He slid a piece of paper across the desk. “That’s Mr. Dane’s schedule. I’m sure if it changes, his personal assistant will give you an updated copy.”
Jack might be gorgeous, but Mendez was praying he wasn’t an asshole. He hated those kinds of clients. The ones who wanted to be waited on hand and foot, who thought the world revolved around them. He guessed he was about to find out.
* * * *
Jack Dane stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window with a tumbler of whiskey in his hand, staring down at the Las Vegas strip. His image reflected back at him through the glass. It was pretty at night, the glamour, the pulse of life, but that wasn’t what was on his mind.
He’d just come off a world tour and wanted to get away. Especially after the day he’d had. After that single visit this morning that had changed his life.
Jack walked away from the window and set his glass down on the bar when a knock sounded on the door. With a sigh, Jack went to it, knowing who would be standing on the other side.
Mendez Grant. His new security detail, with him only two weeks. He couldn’t count how many times he’d told Mendez that he could walk right into Jack’s hotel suite, but the guy insisted on knocking.
He swung the door open, and Mendez frowned at him. “Did you even look to see who it was?”
“You have a very distinctive knock.” Jack averted his gaze. He didn’t want Mendez to know how attracted he was to him. Even a straight guy would think Mendez a hunk. His bodyguard had to be at least six-four of hard, lean muscles, narrow at the waist, with kissable lips and the most amazing dark gray eyes Jack had ever seen.
Eyes that were always serious, always observing. They were also fringed by long lashes and eyebrows that looked like thick slashes over his eyes. He had a firm jaw and a perpetual stony-faced scowl.
“My knock?” Mendez walked in, his gaze sweeping over Jack. God, just one look and now Jack was all hot and bothered. “You can’t answer a door based on how someone knocks.”
“Then stop knocking.” Jack walked away, taking a seat in one of the chairs. “I’ve told you countless times to just walk in. You have a keycard.”
Mendez set the bag on the counter. The food Jack had asked him to get. The food he no longer wanted. What he really wanted stood right there in front of him. Too bad Jack was buried so deep in the closet that he would need a ten-thousand-watt searchlight to find his way out.
“You still tired?” Mendez reached into the bag and started pulling out burgers and fries. “How much sleep have you gotten, Mr. Dane?”
Jack rolled his eyes as he got up and grabbed his tumbler, swallowing the rest of the contents before filling it back up. “You’re my bodyguard, not my nanny or my nagging manager.”
Huck Waterman had been trying to talk Jack into signing a contract that would make him a regular in Las Vegas. That wasn’t what Jack wanted. To be honest, he wasn’t sure what he wanted anymore. When he’d first started out in this industry, he’d been desperate, singing in bars and clubs, hoping to be discovered.
There were times when he’d slept on the street because he was that broke. Then Huck had walked into one of the dives, and Jack’s life had changed overnight. Now his life was nonstop. Concerts, interviews, so much traveling, and he’d even been featured on the cover of some magazine, voted the Sexiest Man Alive.
