Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
He was a short accountant, for fuck’s sake.
Numbers made sense to him. Order made sense to him.
And so did honesty and integrity, so if one of the companies that hired him was cheating people, he would do everything in his power to make sure they got what was coming to them. But he needed access to his files. He couldn’t do anything in this small hotel room.
His stomach growled and he rubbed it as if that would help. Normally, he would have already had his bagel with cream cheese by now. His cup of Earl Grey.
Having a schedule kept him calm.
Being around his own things kept him calm.
Too long out in the world and he began seeing things that just couldn’t be real. Things that terrified him. It had started when he was very young, seeing people who seemed to be…other. Visions or maybe even hallucinations out of the corner of his eyes that made the hair on his body stand on end. He’d blamed it on a highly active imagination but because those things he saw came with a deep feeling of fear, he went out of his way to avoid the outside world.
When he’d been awakened in the middle of the night, the absolute certainty his intruder was one of those things had sent him running.
A knock sounded at his door, and everything in him froze with terror before he realized a hitman wouldn’t be knocking. It was probably the bodyguard he’d hired. He’d picked Protective Solutions because they’d not only been open more than ten years, but they promised discretion. And all the reviews had quotes about how that discretion had impressed their clients. Until he had a handle on which company was after him, he needed that secrecy because he planned to compile everything he could and take it all to the FBI.
The knock sounded again.
“Yes?” he called out through the door.
“My name is Bain Ophion. I’m with Protective Solutions.”
Clive walked closer to the door. “How do I know you are who you say you are?”
“You spoke to Xavier and hired a bodyguard this morning. He said you’d have some coffee for me.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Clive muttered as he quickly unlocked the door, his mouth dropping open in shock when he saw who stood on the other side. He’d been expecting someone like a man in black. A suited, muscular man wearing dark glasses.
Well, he did have the glasses. Darkly tinted, instead of black, but they still obscured his eyes.
Other than that, the man standing there was absolutely nothing like that. He was wearing leather pants, for fuck’s sake. And a flashy, colorful shirt. His long, silvery hair was pulled back into a tight tail, but a few strands had come loose to frame the most attractive face Clive had ever seen on a man. Bladed cheekbones, a long Roman nose, and full, sensual lips that had instant and highly inappropriate fantasies shooting into his head. The bodyguard stood well over six feet, which made him tower over Clive’s own five-foot-six height. And though it was completely out of his character, Clive instantly imagined what that long, lean body would feel like against his own.
“You’re a bodyguard?” shot out of his mouth.
“Surprising, isn’t it?” The man gave him a wicked smile that didn’t help curb those fantasies at all. He held out his hand. “Clive Manning?”
Bemused, Clive shook his hand, noting the streak of heat from the simple touch. And that heat lingered, making something in his stomach tighten. Bain was nothing like his usual lovers—or lover, he should say. The man he had an agreement with was more like himself. Taller, but a businessman. Boring as fuck, but an outlet, and that was all Clive occasionally needed. Well, that’s what he’d told himself when that lover refused to go out in public with him on those days when Clive could actually talk himself into going out.
This bodyguard looked like a rock star.
One who never lacked for groupies of all sexes.
“Are you ready to go home, Clive?” Bain asked with a voice that had Clive holding back a shudder. It was deep. Velvety. The kind that would sound amazing in the dark.
Clive had to swallow back the sudden lump in his throat. “Do you think it’s safe?”
“It is with me there.” Bain braced one hand on the doorjamb, which surprised Clive because it almost felt like a familiar gesture. Like the man was flirting a little, which would never in a million years happen with him.
Clive wished he could see the man’s eyes instead of his own shocked expression reflected back at him in the glasses. He couldn’t help but look over the man’s body again, though he did it quickly. And hopefully surreptitiously. Bain was lean but his well-toned physique was obvious in the tight clothes. And he had an aura about him that spoke of strength.