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She looked from Xander, who raised a cool eyebrow, to Nick.
She was sure she caught a flash of annoyance on his face.
“I stayed out of the spotlight for months. I came back to do the clothing line launch for charity, and I was only in and out,” Mulberry flushed, remembering Nick’s coolness, his sharp words to her, and how he stood away from her at all times. “You shut down your career. My kidnapping hasn’t been solved. And if they are going to try again, let them. I’m tired of always looking over my shoulder and being scared.”
She caught Nick glancing away and wondered if he thought she was being spoiled and selfish. Mulberry pulled her shoulders back and stared at him, silently daring him to say something.
“Mulberry, I know this is hard, but nothing matters other than you’re safe.” Grace took her hand in hers.
“I’m not safe if I constantly have to hide, Mom.”
She locked gazes with her mom, watched as Grace bit her lip and knew her mom would relent.
“I asked Nick in because he is familiar with your case, Mulberry, you’ve worked with him before, and he is very skilled at close protection detail. But Grace, as you pointed out, he is Henri Laurent’s son. The whole town is buzzing with the latest news from Laurent Industries. You were photographed this morning, Nick.”
“Yeah, coming out of the general meeting,” his face closed, and Mulberry wondered how the son of a tech giant ended up being a bodyguard. “My sister is the one who is usually out at the forefront, the public face. The press latching on to me is new.”
“A good cover can also be a loud one. And I hear there is a gala this weekend,” Xander looked slightly smug.
Mulberry noticed Nick’s left hand clenched. “Xander, what are you saying?”
“It’s up to both of you, but I propose you pretend to be romantically involved,” Xander said.
“Xander, that is …” Nick’s face grew slightly red, and his eyebrows shot up to his curly hair.
“Brilliant!” Her mom grabbed her arm. “You don’t have to hide. And I’d imagine there is some type of security where Nick goes, at least with Laurent Industries?”
Nick shrugged one shoulder. “Mostly.”
Xander almost smiled. “Mulberry, we can think of something else if you don’t want to do this, but I think it provides good coverage while the police finish their investigation.”
Mulberry swallowed over a lump in her throat.
She took one look at tall and dark and surly Nick Laurent.
God, this couldn’t be happening.
He was cold to her, not quite mean, but he wasn’t warm and fuzzy.
But being beside a well-built, well-trained guy, even if he was a snob, was better than being whisked away somewhere.
“The media will be a zoo on this, and they’ll bring up my kidnapping again. I don’t want to run away, but I don’t want to be harassed.”
“You have never commented on your kidnapping,” Xander said. “And the media can be told you aren’t going to address it if they want access to you and Nick. This can give us more control over how we craft the story.”
It was a wild suggestion, something so wild it couldn’t work. Fake date Nick Laurent? It was like she was in one of her mom’s movies.
“Where would I stay? Where would we date? For how long?” Mulberry asked.
“You’d stay with Nick,” Xander said.
Nick shifted on his feet. “I don’t know. If she was my girlfriend, she wouldn’t be at my side every hour of the day. She’d see Grace on set and do… whatever she does.”
“Of course. We’ll have a team from Stone Security also shadowing as backup.
But for it to be believable, you stay together and spend as much time together as possible,” Xander said.
“I think it’s great,” her mom said. “Mulberry, what do you think?”
