Enough.
He slipped his finger under the desk and pressed his panic button. Then pressed it again in case Margie thought he wasn't panicking enough yet. He'd seen his assistant's air of amusement as she'd shown Nadia in. That woman needed to work on her sense of humor.
Nadia's lips puckered into a pout. Jake leaned back in his chair as far as he could go. And the door opened.
"Your really important meeting is here, sir," Margie said from the doorway.
Since when had Margie called him sir? She was definitely finding this funny. "Good." He exhaled loudly. Getting rid of Nadia was going to take drastic measures. He didn't like to use them, but he'd run out of all other options. Maybe he had led her on-though he didn't believe so.
A scowl flashed across her face, but she stepped away. "Never mind. I'll see you at your father's party tomorrow night. We can talk then."
She'd be at the party? That was news to him.
She turned and strolled from the room, swaying her skinny hips. He wasn't impressed.
Margie closed the door behind her. "Stalker trouble?" she asked with a grin.
"Do not let that woman in here again," he said. "And get hold of my mother."
A minute later, he picked up the phone. He didn't bother with any pleasantries, just got down to business. "Did you invite Nadia to Dad's birthday party?"
"Well, she sort of invited herself. But I know you've been seeing her. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that."
"I'm not seeing her."
"Oh. That's not what Nadia said. She made it sound as though you two were serious."
What a surprise. "And why would you want to talk to me about it anyway? It's a long time since you gave me girlfriend advice."
"I presumed you knew what you were doing. Until Nadia."
"Why until Nadia? She's your best friend's daughter-I thought you'd approve."
"Well, she is, but Sadie was hardly stable, and I'm afraid Nadia has inherited that."
"Thank you for telling me before now, Mother."
"After she invited herself-which I thought a little odd-I talked to Sadie. Apparently, Nadia has had a few issues with drugs. It's what ended her last relationship, and she's a little unpredictable right now."
Great. Just what he needed.
"Anyway, I wanted to tell you to be careful, and if it's over, then don't be too hard on her. Extricate yourself gently."
"Don't worry. I run a security company. I can handle Nadia."
"If you say so, darling. But I'm not sure she's entirely all there."
Jake stared out of the window as an idea formed in his mind. "Well, maybe I do need a little extra protection. And it so happens I know just where to get it."
Chapter Eleven
Keep her distance.
Pretend it never happened.
Hide from Jake …
It was this last one that caused her the most trouble. She hated hiding, but after careful consideration, she'd come to the conclusion that in this case, discretion was definitely the better part of valor.
She couldn't be trusted around him right now. Eventually the memory of her desire would fade, Jake would find someone else-that gave her a twinge she decided not to investigate too closely-and they could go back to being friends.
Giving up the idea of sex, especially sex with Jake, to return to their previous relationship would be worth it because she missed him. She missed seeing him, talking to him, just knowing he was there if she needed someone. Plus, it took all her ingenuity to avoid him. She'd signed up for every surveillance duty posted until Dave pointed out that she needed to be awake to be of any use.
She'd just popped into the office to pick up some paperwork. Now she was heading home to catch up on that sleep, and then she was assigned an early night shift.
The sound of footsteps made her duck behind the cubicle wall, and she held her breath. This was turning her into a nervous wreck. She peered around the corner and came face-to-face with Steve. He raised an eyebrow. "You hiding from me?"
She sniffed. "Of course not." Steve was dressed in a smart dark suit, white shirt, and dark-blue tie. "Are you on duty?" she asked.
"Yeah. I came to pick up my gun, and then I'm off."
"You on the job with the sheik?" Another detail she'd asked to be assigned to.
"Yeah."
"I'm so jealous. But one day … "
He grinned. "Never going to happen, babe."
"It will." Because she'd now worked out how to bypass the security code and get into Jake's safe. Then he would have to upgrade her.
"You really imagine the boss is going to put you in harm's way?"
She gave a casual shrug of her shoulder. "I don't see why not."
Steve shook his head as if she were particularly dim-witted. "So how is the love life?"
"I don't have a love life." Not anymore and probably never again.
"So the boss hasn't declared eternal love and gotten down on one knee yet?"
"No, and he's not going to. Jake's not like that."
"Yeah, right, of course he's not. The guys have got a pool going-how long before he gets a ring on your finger."
She glared at him, lips pursed. "I hope you've bet on never. Because otherwise, you're going to lose your money."
"Are you saying there's nothing between the two of you?"
She squirmed. "Not 'nothing' exactly. But neither of us is interested in long term."
"You totally believe that, don't you? The boss branded you as his property from the moment you walked through the front doors."
"I don't belong to Jake."
"Why not? I say grab him while you can."
She gritted her teeth. "I-"
Her phone rang, and she picked it up.
"Kim? He wants to see you." It was Margie, Jake's assistant, so Kim knew exactly who "he" was.
"I can't, I'm on my way out."
"He told me to say that if you don't get up here now, you won't have a job tomorrow."
"He wouldn't."
Margie chuckled. "He said he would."
She put the phone down to find Steve leaning against the wall, arms folded, a smirk on his face.
She glared. "He probably wants to assign me a really dangerous job."
"Of course he does."
…
"You want me to what?"
Kim tried to look anywhere but at that big steel desk, but it was hard to avoid, especially with Jake sitting behind it. As usual, he appeared totally relaxed. No seething hormones bothering him, then. It didn't seem fair.
He steepled his fingers and studied her out of inscrutable eyes. "I want you to act as my bodyguard at my father's party tomorrow night and then afterward as long as it takes."
As long as what takes?
"You do?" Her first bodyguarding job. Something occurred to her, and a tightness squeezed her chest. "Are you in danger? Is someone after you?"
"Only Nadia."
A mixture of relief and irritation mingled inside her. Relief that Jake wasn't in real trouble. Irritation that he was wasting her time and raising her hopes. For a moment there, she'd really believed she was going to be able to say "I told you so" to Steve.
"Would you prefer me to be in danger?" Jake asked.
"Of course not. Not really. But it would have been nice to save you from someone truly threatening. Then you might have been appreciative of my superb bodyguarding skills."
"Do this, get Nadia off my back, and I'll be appreciative."
She sat in the chair opposite him and thought for a few seconds. This didn't make a lot of sense, but she couldn't see any reason why he would make it up. "You want me to guard you against Nadia?" He nodded. "Am I allowed to shoot her if she gets too close?"
"That won't be necessary."
"Knock her out? I've been practicing pressure points."
"If she looks like she's a danger to me-feel free."
"So what's the problem?"
"She doesn't appear willing to accept that the relationship is over."
"Well, what can you expect when you're so good that she feels the need to tell everyone about it?"
His raised a brow, and she cursed herself. She was supposed to avoid the subject of sex, so why had she said that? Probably because she was more than a little miffed that he avoided it as well. He'd been behaving as though they were back to their old relationship. Which was good. Wasn't it?
"Under other circumstances, I'd just cut her off, but she's a family friend, and my mother informed me that Nadia has had … emotional issues in the past."
"Well, what a surprise-I told you she was unstable. You have only yourself-"
"Shut up, Kim."
She clamped her lips closed and made a zipper sign with her fingers.
"So, I have to tread gently, but I want to make it clear in no uncertain terms that it's over between us."
"And if she still doesn't accept it, then I knock her out."
"Not quite." A smile tugged at his lips. "You're going undercover."
"Undercover as what?"
"My girlfriend, of course. Or maybe even my fiancée. Anyway, the love of my life." She remained silent-she could think of absolutely nothing to say-and waited for him to continue. "Nadia already suspects there's something between us, so we're going to play along with that."
"You want me to play the love of your life?"
"Yes."
"At your father's party."