The Unlikely Bodyguard

“Yeah?”

“What are you doing there at this hour?” Daniel O’Hara demanded.

“My job.” Gabe stared down at her keys in his hand, then clutched them in his fist. “Did you find anything else?”

“No. Does she know who you are?”

Guilt stabbed through Gabe as he glanced at the bathroom door. He dismissed it, remembering the disgusted look in her eyes when he’d talked nasty to her. “You paid for discretion.”

“Your voice says otherwise, Gabe.”

Gabe hated the fatherly warning in Daniel’s tone. “Let’s just say she won’t be trusting me or anyone else for a while.”

“It’s a sweet failing of hers.” A sigh came through the phone and Daniel’s worry with it Whether it was for himself and his company or Calli, Gabe couldn’t be sure. “She has the memo.”

Gabe groaned, plowing his fingers through his dark hair. “Great.” How was he supposed to get it? His gaze scanned the room, stopping on her purse, then a leather satchel lying on a luggage rack. “I’ll see what I can find.”

“That cat burglar experience comes in handy in your line of work, huh?”

“Shut up, Danny.”

Daniel cleared his throat.

“I’ll call if I have something to say.”

Daniel scoffed. “I’ll be old by then.”

Gabe made to hang up when Daniel’s voice caught him.

“Hey, Gabe?”

He put the phone to his ear again, noticing that the shower had stopped. “Make it quick.”

“Don’t hurt her. She’s like a daughter to me.”

Gabe closed his eyes Wonderful. Daniel might be just the owner of some dessert company, but he was one mean man when crossed. And Gabe owed him big already.

“What are you doing here, talking on my phone?” Calli demanded, tightening the sash of her robe.

His expression blank, Gabe held out the receiver. “Someone named Daniel?”

Calli’s features reddened and she grabbed the phone, turning her back on him. She could feel Angel’s gaze move over her terry-cloth robe and she pushed it higher around her neck. While in the bathroom, she’d heard muffled voices and could have sworn Angel was talking to Daniel long before she entered the room. But what would he have to say to her boss? Daniel was likely giving him the third degree, she decided, highly annoyed with both of them.

“How did you find me?” she snapped, her plan to hide out in New Mexico obviously ruined.

His laugh was soft. “Well, hello to you, too.” Calli made an apologetic sound. “It wasn’t hard. What happened to Acapulco?”

“Nothing. It’s still there, I think.” She heard him chuckle. “I just changed my mind and decided to drive.” She already knew how he’d found her. For emergency’s sake she’d left this number with her landlord and Daniel was the one who’d told her about the quaint small town. “Is there something wrong? Why did you track me down?”

There was a hesitation and then, “I was worried when you didn’t show at the company suite in Mexico. Your team asked about you.”

Daniel was lying and she couldn’t for the life of her understand why. “What’s the matter?” she asked with soft concern, plowing her wet hair back off her face.

“Nothing, kid. Nothing. Who’s the guy?”

Calli glanced back over her shoulder, her eyes narrowing dangerously. Angel was sprawled on her bed, folded arms pillowing his head, ankles crossed. The arrogant creep, she thought. She picked up an ashtray and threw it at him. He batted it away, then resumed his position. She gestured for him to get out.

He simply stared back.

“He’s the waiter.” His gaze went fiat. “A real pest,” she said meaningfully. “And I have to get rid of him.”

“Be careful, Calli.”

Another man playing knight-errant, she thought, and her first impulse was to vent her anger and hurt on Daniel, but he didn’t deserve it. He was the best thing to happen to her career since her graduation from the Culinary Institute and she didn’t want to dump on him.

“I will,” she said finally. “And tell the seven wizards that just because I’m on vacation doesn’t mean they are, too.”

“I will,” Daniel laughed “’Bye, Calli.”

“Later, boss.” She hung up, her fingers flexing on the receiver before she shoved them into her robe pockets. She faced Angel. “Get out.”

He said nothing, his cool gaze assessing her as if he’d palmed every inch of her naked body.

“You have to know you’re the absolute last person I want to see. Or are you just a sadist?” He kept quiet and she wanted to kick him. “Why are you here?”

Leaning up on his elbow, he dangled her keys.

Her forehead wrinkled. She’d had them last night. She was sure of it. “You stole them?”

Angel swung his long legs off the bed and straightened. Calli stepped back, and he arched a brow at the sudden move, studying her.

She was afraid. Good. Lesson achieved.

“You could have left them at the front desk.”

Gabe shrugged. Sure, he could have, but he’d needed to see her, needed to see for himself that he hadn’t smashed that untouchable energy of hers.

Calli held out her hand and he dropped the keys into her palm. They were warm from handling She turned away, staring at the keys, then him. He had to have taken them from her purse. She hated to think he’d taken anything else.

As casually as she could, she poured herself a cup of coffee, realizing he’d gotten inside by way of the waiter. She would have to speak to the hotel management about that.

“So, are you a thief, as well as a...molester?”

He stiffened. “The car’s outside,” he said. The sound of his raspy voice shivered through Calli.

She gulped hot coffee and met his gaze in the mirror. “Leave, Angel.”

He moved up behind her. She clutched the cup defensively. “How’s your head?”