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She finally settled down in my line of sight and… wow. She was gorgeous—big dark eyes, soft features, plush lips. Her olive-toned skin looked soft, as did the thick waves of dark brown hair cascading down to her small waist. Her dress was vibrant and well-tailored, which only brought attention to her long legs and curvy hips.
I swallowed. I had never felt this kind of pull to a woman before, much less a client. I pushed it down as much as I could. Wanting to fuck someone I was protecting was a terrible idea, especially since I formed feelings fast.
How long had it been since I’d even been on a date? A long time, but that was by design. My routine with women was falling too hard, too fast, and getting my heart broken. Finally, my older brother DJ sat me down and told me that I needed to take a damn break from women for a while. His advice was always sound, and being single had worked out well so far.
Until now. Now I was going to have to focus twice as hard on my job.
“Hi, I’m Taylor,” the woman said. “Nice to meet all of you.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Harrison Davis,” I said. “And these are my partners, Ethan Cooper and Cody Reed.”
She shook my hand first, then the others. Her hand was soft and small, but her handshake was firm. As soon as I pulled myself back together, I noticed the man in a suit who came in behind her. I hadn’t even noticed him. Who was he? A boyfriend? Why did I hate that idea right away? I was doing a shitty job at pretending I wasn’t attracted to her.
“Hi there, I’m Troy. Taylor’s cousin,” the man said with a smile, extending his hand to me. I shook it, relief melting the tension out of me. “I’m the one who touched base with the agency who connected us to you.”
Ethan and Cody shook Troy’s hand as well. Taylor took a seat at the head of the table, the big leather seat swallowing her up.
“In these initial meetings, we usually go over the security needs you outlined in the survey we sent you in more detail.” I gestured to my tablet, which was sitting on the table in front of me. Ethan and Cody also had theirs.
“Okay, sounds good.” Taylor folded her hands in her lap.
I woke up my tablet and went to the survey, which she or Troy had filled out in detail.
“Let’s start with who you are and what you do,” I said, scanning the page. “First of all, I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you,” Taylor said, looking down at the table.
My heart ached for her. I couldn’t imagine what it was like to lose a parent, especially at her age. I talked to my family a few times a week and went back home to Atlanta whenever I got the chance.
“You’ve recently inherited a significant amount of money,” Ethan said before I could continue. He was always the first one to brush past the niceties. “Have you faced threats from people wanting to harm you in the past because of it?”
“Nothing serious, I don’t think.” Taylor glanced at Troy, who seemed to agree. “I’m more concerned about my social media presence. I get a lot of messages, and some people try to find out where I am. I’ve had a lot of creeps recently, too. This has increased exponentially since my father’s death.”
“You have…” Cody paused, scrolling. “Seven million followers across all your platforms. Not surprising that you’re concerned. That’s a lot of attention.”
Ethan grunted quietly, frowning at his tablet. Taylor’s eyes slid to him, and she fidgeted with her jewelry. It wouldn’t have been the first time that Ethan made a client nervous. Most of the time, it worked for our clients—if he was that intimidating, then he was doing his job keeping away people who wanted to hurt them. But Taylor seemed like a nice person. She needed a softer touch.
“But we’ve handled public figures quite a lot,” I said, giving her a reassuring smile. “You don’t have to worry. Can you tell us what your average day is like?”
“It really depends.” She slid her fingers through her hair, playing with the ends. “But I pretty much always get up and get a coffee at the shop two blocks away. Sometimes I work there, and other times, I take photos for my social media. I also go to a lot of parties and events.”
I jotted down a few notes, as did Ethan and Cody. Securing parties and events was a hassle sometimes, but not impossible. Besides that, her life sounded manageable.
Cody’s brows furrowed for a second. “We’ll need your full schedule going out a few months. Also, please forward us the threatening messages. We will want to investigate those further.”
Taylor’s curious eyes scanned him, too, her cheeks flushing. I wished I could see into her head. It would have made my life so much easier. Was she going to be difficult? No, she didn’t seem like that type. But something was going through her head right now, and it wasn’t just that she was happy to have someone to protect her.
“Okay, I can have my assistant send everything over,” she finally said.
“And give us the names and numbers of everyone you come into regular contact with,” Ethan added. “So we can determine that they’re safe.”
Taylor went a bit pale. “Obviously, the people closest to me are safe.”
Ethan tapped on his tablet with dull thumps. “We don’t do our job well by assuming everything will be okay, Miss Bailey.”
Ethan wasn’t soft by any stretch of the imagination, but did he have to be this intimidating? He was probably just in a shitty mood—as he often was when his schedule deviated due to someone else’s lateness—but we needed to make Taylor feel safe.
“Do you have any questions?” I asked, keeping my voice gentle to compensate for Ethan.
