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“No, Mulberry. I’ve been hired to keep you safe. It’d be crossing a line.”
“What if I want to cross it?” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He closed his eyes against her scent, her softness.
“I don’t… I can’t. Go to sleep.”
He waited until she laid back down, then tucked the blankets to her chin.
“Fine, be a stuck-up snobbish… whatever.”
Her words unexpectedly stung, but he turned off the light and returned to his machine.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN – MULBERRY
As they pulled into the Health Food Store parking lot, Mulberry glanced out the window, her stomach a twist of nerves.
Nothing unusual here, only a parking lot of a store, people walking out of their cars, grabbing a shopping cart, and going about their errands.
“Are you sure about this?” Her mom peered at her over her sunglasses.
“Yes. We have a security team on us, right?”
“I know. But honey, this might be taking it too far.”
Mulberry glanced out the window, tears prickling her eyes.
Last night, when Nick had rejected her, she’d tossed and turned.
And this morning, she’d woken up mad.
Nick was already in his secret room; for a moment, she felt like taking a hammer to the door.
She scoffed. She wasn’t a violent person.
But she was angry.
Angry that Nick didn’t touch her the way she wanted.
That he didn’t look at her as a potential lover.
Angry that she was out in the open with this vague threat of danger.
So knowing her mom was off today, she’d called her and asked if she wanted to go grocery shopping at the Health Food Store because Nick didn’t have much in his fridge besides frozen pizza and some over-ripe bananas.
“Mulberry, you called Lena?” Her mom’s tone was incredulous, but she couldn’t help but smile.
“It’s just a normal Sunday. Daughter and mom shopping.”
“Honey, I know it’s been hard, but I don’t know if feeding the media will help.”
“Nothing has really helped mom. And besides, what will they do, grab me in broad daylight? They’d have to grab both of us.”
A part of the anxiety knot loosened as she said the words because it seemed so ridiculous that anything terrible could happen to her in broad daylight in a suburban grocery store.
“Okay, let’s go. I wonder if they have apple chips.”
Mulberry grinned and stepped out of the car. Lena, her mom’s publicist and two bodyguards from Stone Security waited for them.
“Morning,” the tall bodyguard with dark wavy hair nodded at Mulberry.
