Rescued by my Bodyguard

Chapter Three

Alex Hayes is a god. He has just stepped from the shower. A towel is barely hanging in his right wrist by his side. Cut muscles of chisled perfection cover every inch of him. My eyes start their trail with lust driven hunger at his beyond defined peck muscles, abdomen, and the two angular slits that lower to dear lord, I can’t breathe at the shocking size of that thing between his legs. 

“Miss De Lourie, sorry Beth,” He paused correcting the title that I preferred to be called by, “Did you need something?” Mr. Hayes asked me as my eyes were shot wide open to his incredible bare body displayed before me. 

I lifted my hand to my eyes and turned, which I should have done the second I saw him. But I hadn’t. That was too good of a view to be missed. 

“I am so sorry. I should have knocked.” I scrambled breathless and I am sure that I must be bright red blushing right now. 

“That is alright.” I do think that he was smiling as I heard him rustle with the towel.

How arrogant was he? But hell, I think that arrogance was earned with what I just saw. That kind of body must take hours of daily exercise to maintain. It was almost unnaturally perfect. Not overly muscular, just defined impeccably. 

“Was there a reason you are here?” He asked me blankly. 

How was he not embarrassed I just saw him completed naked right now? I sure as hell would be. Instead, I am the one feeling embarrassed. 

“Are you covered now?” I asked and thought the question was ridiculous the second I said it. 

“Yes.” He offered. 

I turned back in his direction. The towel was now wrapped around his midsection, thankfully. But that still allowed his chest to be visible and I was trying to regain my composure with difficulty. I studied the wall behind him in order to not look at him directly because I knew if I did my gaze would linger over the towel hoping it would fall so that I could see everything just one more time. 

“I came to fire you.” I said decisively pushing all other emotions aside. “I was unaware of my uncle’s plans to hire a private bodyguard and upon further consideration I do not feel like I require one. I am sorry for any inconvenience, and I will ensure that any costs incurred for you to travel here will be sufficiently covered.” 

“I understand.” He said now walking in my direction which is not at all something that I expected or was prepared for.

I stepped back into the frame of the doorway. He walked past me and pushed the door to the room fully open again. He looked through it with a nod like he was telling me to leave. I think he was actually telling me to get the hell out but didn’t say the words. He had the right to. I didn’t even knock when I stormed in here with the agenda of firing him. But I still feel off set. This is my manor and my home, not his. 

“Unfortunately, your uncle has already arranged a contract for me to remain with you until the assailant that is harassing you is found and stopped. That contract has been signed, and my fee paid.” 

“What?” I asked unbelieving. 

“So, the matter is already settled Miss De Lourie. Sorry, I mean Beth.” He corrected the title for me once more. 

Calling me Beth and not Miss De Lourie was difficult for him. He must be so formal with his previous clients to have that force of habit. Or perhaps, it is just his nature to be that uptight.

I stepped fully out of the room. Alex Hayes was smiling down at me in a taunting way like he just won a boxing match as a trickle of water fell from his black hair down the line of his neck and I feel fire run down my thighs at the sight of its fall.

“You will hardly notice that I am here. My job is to protect you, that is all. When the harassment stops, I will happily leave.”

I could only stand there in his doorway, vacantly considering his intelligent argument with his chest still completely bare and heaving his breaths in a captivating way. Happily, leave? So, he doesn’t want to be here. I am a contracted client, nothing more to him. 

“If there is nothing else, I will say good evening then.” He said with a nod and shut the door in my face. 

What the hell just happened?

I went back to my room with slow steps trying not to think about what my new bodyguard Mr. Hayes looked like naked. If he had shut the door behind me and pulled me into his room, I would have landed on him and his bed with absolute pleasure. The hell if he works for me or not. I have never seen a man that seductive before in my life. 

And how he had spoken up to me firing him. I felt heated and out of control. No one spoke to me like that, ever. Mainly because they were afraid, I would fire them. He outmaneuvered me from that with such collected ease. The contract was made, signed and paid for. And all because of my uncle. Now I was stuck with this handsome bodyguard. Uncle Xavier, I could kill you right now.

Alex said that I would hardly notice that he was here. He was not off to a good start, I thought thinking again about the size of his, well, member that was just before me moments ago. 

I walked down the stairs to the bottom floor kitchen, one of three in the mansion and the only one that I ever used. Marie was tossing a Caesar salad with chicken on a white granite benchtop. She knew what my favorite meal was and always brought it out when I was stressed over something. She was aware of the reason we had left New York, and why she was one of the three I had brought with me here. 

My favorite kitchen is homely enough but it could also cater for a president or king. It is furnished with dark washed wood covered in white-grey granite with polished bronze fixtures. A butcher block with a set of Japanese knives my father had brought from Tokyo cost a small fortune. And an iron cast oven that could fit six turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner was now turned on baking a fresh loaf of bread. Every detail alluded to the cost invested in De Lourie Manor. 

I looked around the kitchen with an impressed smile in Marie’s direction. Upon our arrival, everything had been stocked up and supplied to a tee as if this place was permanently housed. I have not been to the manor in nearly three weeks. I visit whenever I can escape New York but am never here for very long. 

Now, still water with cuts of lemon are cooling in a glass pitcher. The fresh bread from the oven can be smelt and its delicious heat has my stomach growling. The crunch of the salad as she tosses it to be perfectly prepared has me sitting at the table ready for one of her incredible meals. I am so glad that Marie decided not to be a chef, because she would have made a great one and I would have missed out in life. 

“Thanks Marie.” I said as she joined me at the table to have some of the salad herself. 

My parents hired Marie as a young nanny from France when I was a seven years old to home school me. She had stayed with me my entire life. At being twelve years older than myself at thirty-seven, as I matured, we became closer friends. She was pretty and was aging gracefully. I knew that her relationship with her husband back in New York meant she would not stay with me much longer. She wanted to start a family with Doctor Luther Bligh, a well-respected heart surgeon and her new husband, and I was never going to interfere with that. She was thirty-seven now and thought herself almost too old to have children. It was not the case. She deserved all the happiness in the world. I expected her to resign any day. 

At heart, I knew that Marie was not going to leave me until my stalker was arrested and I was safe. Everyone close to me thought this man was a threat to my safety. I thought they were all over exaggerating. They were just photographs and phone calls, that yes, made me uncomfortable but I was a strong woman who could dismiss them as nothing more than attempts to get my attention and taunt me. 

“Mr. Hayes is attractive.” Marie said with a demure smile in my direction. “I saw him get out of the limo with Xavier.”

“Hard to avoid noticing that.” I said up to her hazel eyes. 

Hazel eyes like hers were so rare. Light on the cusp of being green and yet speckled with gold. They belonged to an opal gem as much as a person. 

Dr. Bligh was a lucky man. Marie was a captivating French seductress with a matching intelligence to accomplish anything she wanted to in life. Dark straight black hair like ebony colored silk was usually left out to her lower back. Her sultry eyes were naturally framed by dark lashes and light peach-colored lips that did not need makeup. I always wore makeup like armor to face my highly public life. I was jealous that Marie could be such a natural beauty in her own right and never have to use such trying applications. 

“You have not had a relationship since your brother Ash died and you broke up with Richard.” Marie added as I looked away from her beauty and took a bite of chicken. 

“Richard was there when my brother died Marie. You were too. We were all on the boat that night. After Ash died, every time I looked at him, I remembered that trip. And I am not about to start a relationship based on attraction to my private bodyguard. He is as stiff as hell. Wait until you meet him.”

“I am just saying, maybe it is time to move on.”

“Yeah. I know.” I agreed with a reluctant sigh knowing that Marie’s referral to moving on was not just to start another relationship but to leave the death of my brother behind as well. “But not right now Marie. Right now, there is a psycho out there watching me. I don’t really want to think about getting involved in a relationship with someone.”

“I understand. I just don’t want you to be alone.” 

I gave a slight nod to Marie’s kind words. She knew that I had isolated myself with a coldness from the rest of the world over the last year. I broke up with my last partner, Richard Taylor the Third after the death of my brother. What was weeks of mourning for Ash, and turned into months. I had become noticeably reclusive. I used to be around an entourage of friends that I met with for shopping, social events, meetings with my father’s board of directors, and philanthropy which had all but ceased completely. No one was ever really a close friend that I trusted enough to confide in. If anything, I was meant to be seen in the same circles of wealth that my family name dictated. It was more like a snake pit where I was able to avoid being bitten by one of them. The only friend out there that I really had was Danny Louis, my best friend. 

We finished our meal over a shared bottle of the same white Chardonnay I had earlier with pleasant conversation. Marie was always happy to be at the manor. She was much more of a country princess then a city girl and I shared that with her. If I was not the face of my family’s company, I would make this place my permanent residence.

I went to sleep that night feeling slightly less angry at my uncle for hiring a bodyguard. Alex Hayes is just a man. Gorgeous, yes but perfectly capable of being avoided by me. I will content myself to treat this like a vacation and ignore him completely. I was resolute to avoiding him, but I found it very difficult to fall asleep because every time I closed my eyes, I saw him naked again just casually holding that towel to his side, and that image had me smiling. 

The next day I dressed ready for my favorite thing in the whole wide world: a nice long run to clear my thoughts. Thankfully, my limbs were not as sore as I thought they would be from yesterday’s job. I chose a pair of black loose shorts, matching jog bra and threw on a sweat t-shirt to wear as it was cold this morning. 

I made my way through the corridor of the manor in my sneakers. I walked out to the courtyard at the back and there was Alex Hayes, by the pool. He was dressed in a black suit jacket with a dark grey tie, a white shirt beneath, and black slack pants. He looked like a business man far more dressed up then the casual turtleneck and jeans I saw the day before. I guess he considered this the first day of work. He was having a cup of coffee and looking at paperwork. With my arms again lifted around my chest I decided to know what he was studying.