The Assassin's Billionaire Bodyguard

2

Isabella knew she was turning heads as she exited the subway into the early morning foot congestion in Manhattan. She wasn’t vain, she simply knew she was a tall confident brunette impeccably dressed and the few whistles she’d heard during her short walk confirmed it.

She was almost five feet nine inches in height barefoot and the last almost seven years of working with Clara, training and fighting made her lean and lithe. Her body was toned and tight and her strong calves were encased in a pair of knee-high, high-heeled leather boots adding two inches to her already statuesque frame.

Her hair was a thick chestnut brown she had wound into a thick braid over her shoulder. She had big dark glasses perched on her straight nose and a tan newsboy cap, the same shade as her long trench coat, was nestled perfectly atop her head. Her coat was open because it had been hot on the subway and a thick scarf of burnt orange hung loosely around her neck and over her chest. Her plaid skirt went to her knee and not a hair longer. Professional yet still youthful and she had paired it with a black well-fitted turtleneck. Catcalls from ignorant men came more often than she liked.

She walked the three blocks from the subway station to Draxton, the company owned by her sister-in-law. She had interned for Clara while in college and she had liked it so much she had jumped at the opportunity when the CFO Calvin had asked her to stay on as his actuary.

She paid no attention to the limo outside of the offices. Draxton was an international technology and security company and there was no shortage of rich people who found their way to the offices. As she stepped through the glass doors into the lobby she saw Ben, Clara’s head of security shaking his head at her.

Before she could follow his gaze a tap on her shoulder made her jump. She spun around and found Evgeni standing behind her. Evgeni Andropov was a gorgeous specimen of a man and even though he had turned thirty this year, he was becoming more attractive. He had grown into his nose she had once thought might be too big and his wide lips were full and plush. His eyes were a deep blue, an indigo shade enhanced by the slicked back black hair still thick and luxurious. He was at least a half foot taller than she was and he was dressed in a dark suit perfectly tailored to his body.

“Evgeni,” she pushed back the instant physical reaction she had to him. “What are you doing here?”

“You ignored my messages last night.” He glared at her. “Why? I wanted to talk.” He looked her up and down. “Also, you look amazing.”

“Talk? So why send me a d**k pick?” She grimaced, “by the way, my sister had my phone when you sent your photo.”

He smirked, not embarrassed at all. “Did she like what she saw?”

She patted his chest and shook her head, “here’s a tip for you Evi, nobody, not a woman alive, likes receiving a d**k pick unsolicited. It’s not attractive. It’s like getting a picture of a blob fish.”

“What’s a blob fish?” his accent was pronounced as he grimaced at her.

“Google it,” she shook her head. “What do you want? I need to get to work.”

“Dinner, have dinner with me.” He reached for her fingers and played with them. “I miss you.”

“Nope,” she managed to tug one hand away from him and pulled her sunglasses off to meet his eyes angrily. “I told you before, I’m not interested in you and the last time was a mistake. I’m not repeating it. Where is Portia?”

“Who is Portia?” he pretended not to understand her question.

“Evi, I don’t have time for this. I need to get to my desk. I know you were with her two nights ago. I don’t know what happened between then and now and I really don’t care.”

“I saw your brother and sister-in-law and realized how much I miss you,” he shrugged like the answer was logical. “I ended things with Portia because I want to be with you. We should never have broken up.”

“You’re an i***t,” she considered smacking him to knock sense into him. “We,” she clarified, “didn’t break up. I left because I realized as much as I like you, we have vastly different moral compasses, and I am not interested in being with someone who thinks of himself before anyone else.”

“I have learned my lesson.” He argued tugging her fingers and pulling her towards him. “Have dinner with me.”

“No. I said no. I meant it. Call your girlfriend, get back together with her and take her somewhere warm and exotic.”

“Why warm and exotic?” he asked curiously.

“Because it would mean you are far, far away from me,” she turned away and called to the security guard who was watching her protectively. “Ben, can you escort Mr. Andropov off the premises please?”

“Dinner,” Evgeni called out as she walked away. “I will pick you up at six.”

“No,” she shook her head and repeated herself as she flashed her pass card over the elevator and pushed the button to call it back to the lobby. “Go away.”

She heard Ben telling him to leave or he’d pick him up and toss him out the door.

“Isabella, dinner, please? Just dinner. We can talk.”

She turned and faced him, “leave now or I’m going to send the picture you sent me last night to your mother.”

She saw Clara entering the building behind him and saw her eyebrows lift in surprise at her words. Clara barely came up to his chest, but she whispered something to him to make the taller man grow pale and then turn on his heel and leave abruptly.

She came to stand beside Isabella just as the elevator doors opened. “What was that all about?”

They stepped into the elevator. “He saw you and Elian the other night and realized how much he misses me, so he broke up with Portia.” She laughed lowly, “which really means, she got mad his ex-girlfriend’s family is very friendly with his family, and she told him off and he’s throwing a temper tantrum.”

“Dare I ask what photo you’re threatening to send his mother?”

“Sent me an unsolicited picture of his p***s,” she grimaced. “Amelia had my phone in her hand so she’s the one to see it. I had her delete it.” She laughed at the memory.

“Why do guys think we need to see a close up?”

“Or better question, what makes them think it will make us run screaming towards it. It’s damn ugly.” She looked at her sister-in-law, “what did you say to him to make him run?”

“I told him if he didn’t leave peacefully, I’d hack his browser history and send it to his mother, which is likely far more embarrassing than whatever picture he sent you.”

Clara was getting off the floor where the Innovation lab was. “Coming? Irwin messaged me this morning to say he got the last kink out of the car.”

“Seriously?” Isabella gasped excitedly and followed her out. “This would be impressive technology to put on the chopper.”

“Imagine,” Clara grinned, her excitement echoing Isabella’s. It had been almost ten years since Irwin had been working on her invisible car. Every time they thought they got it perfect, something else popped up. “I’ve been waiting so long.”

“How were the kids this morning?”

“We decided Amelia is right and it’s time for them to socialize with kids their own ages they aren’t related to.” She rubbed her chest self-consciously. “I swear I feel like I’m throwing them to the wolves but they’re turning into spoiled brats and between my grandfather and Elian, I’m at my wits end.”

“They’ll be fine.” Isabella reassured her. “Edward must be pissed.”

“There’s my other problem. He’s been so distracted with them he’s been out of my hair here at the office. The minute I put them in school, he’ll be here bugging the hell out of me.” She grinned, “I’ll need the invisible car to hide from him.”

For the next hour and a half, Isabella and Clara explored some of the new technological advances and Isabella admitted, some of the technology was way over her head. She was great with numbers, but science wasn’t her thing. She could run numbers and stats all day every day and she appreciated the technology which helped make it easier but the science behind programming, the biology, physics, and chemistry this lap utilized often had her awestruck.

As she made her way back to her desk, she was still shaking her head at some of the things Clara and Irwin had shown her this morning.

“How was Innovation?” Calvin asked as she hung up her coat.

“Every time I step in the lab I’m blown away. Geniuses,” she sat at her desk and turned her computer on.

“Yes, but it also freaks me out,” Calvin leaned against her desk as he stared down at her. “I’m getting old and some of those things boggle the mind.”

She gave a laugh at his words, “Did you find the report I left you yesterday?”

“Yes, and it was perfect. I’ve already sent it up.” They went over some of the other assignments needed for the week and then she got to work.

At noon she looked up when one of the girls from HR, Lisa, poked her head into the room. “Lunch?”

“Yes, please.” Isabella stood up and grabbed her coat. “Cafeteria or deli?”

“Definitely the deli,” Lisa said with a grin. “They hired the new guy and I like how he works the meat slicer.”

Isabella chuckled and Isabella pulled her cell phone out and looked at it for the first time since she’d arrived to work. Thirteen text messages from Evgeni, two from a number she didn’t recognize and one missed phone call from another unknown number.

“Emergency?” Lisa asked curiously.

“No, ex-boyfriend” She rolled her eyes and then read the two text messages from the number she didn’t recognize, “and his crazy girlfriend. How the hell did she get my number?” She sighed deeply and closed her eyes against the frustration she was feeling.

“Your ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend is texting you?”

“Mm hm, telling me to stay away from her man,” she wanted to scream and punch the wall. “I swear he better get his b***h under control, or she and I will have words and he won’t like it.”

Lisa hooked her arm through Isabella’s, “forget about them. Let’s go have a nice lunch and you can tell me all about why you think the Ranger’s losing last night in pre-season is not foreshadowing for the season.”

She huffed, “it was only a pre-season game. They have a great team this year.”

They walked into the sunshine and Isabella instantly regretted wearing her jacket. “New York autumn. Dress for winter in the morning and summer at lunch,” she complained as she pulled her jacket off as they walked, noting Lisa did the same.

They chatted, walking arm in arm, towards their favorite deli and much to their delight the young man newly hired was working and they each ordered their sandwiches and a drink and found a corner table in the crowded restaurant. The two women giggled as they cast glances around the room and realized there was an uptick of female patrons, probably because of the blonde-haired blue-eyed man cutting pastrami behind the counter.

One of the girls sitting at the table behind them loudly whispered “work that slicer baby” and it caused half the restaurant to erupt into giggles.

Isabella was pulling pastrami out of her sandwich and lifting it into the air to drop it into her mouth when her eyes locked with a man in line waiting his turn to order. She wasn’t a bashful woman and when he stared at her she stared back brazenly. She spent her life surrounded by strong independent women and not even a man dressed too elegantly for a deli was going to make her blush.

She looked him up and down as he stared back, and she grinned unabashedly when the person behind him tapped him to tell him it was his turn. He turned away to give his order.

“He’s hot,” Lisa whispered at her. “Those green eyes and sandy blonde hair. Delicious.”

“More money than brains,” she whispered black. “Look at his shoes.”

“Look at the suit and the way it fits his ass.”

“Yeah, but he’s as old as my brothers. I don’t have daddy issues.” Isabella turned her attention back to her sandwich, but then looked again at the view on both sides of the counter. It was her lucky day for sure.

“Doesn’t hurt to look,” Lisa quipped, “and I can pretend to have daddy issues for an afternoon.”

“Maybe two afternoons,” Isabella cast another furtive glance in the man’s direction. “Or three.” They both giggled.

“Oo, oo, someone ordered ham,” a girl choked out behind them, and they all turned their heads again to watch the younger man lift the huge chunk of ham and throw it on the slicer. A collective moan rose in the deli as he started manually slicing the meat. His tight t-shirt revealing the flexion of his biceps with each pass of the blade.

Isabella leaned back in her seat and sipped her soda directly from the can as Lisa finished her sandwich. The green-eyed man at the counter was staring at her again and she winked, and he shook his head at her brazenness, but he didn’t look away. She felt her phone buzz again and she looked at it and her lips pulled tight.

“i***t ex-boyfriend again?” Lisa asked curiously seeing Isabella’s face.

“No, I need to get back to the office. Clara is looking for me.” She frowned with a pout, her full bottom lip covering her top lip. “She has a special project she wants me to start right away.” She stood up, “don’t get me wrong, I like special projects, but I was enjoying my lunch and a show.” She blew a kiss at the man slicing the deli meat and then waited for Lisa to wrap the half of her sandwich.

As she headed to the door, she was walking towards the exit at the same time as Mr. Green-Eyes, as she had aptly named him. He motioned for her to walk ahead of her and held the door as she stepped past him into the sunshine.

“Thanks,” she groaned when her phone rang again. She paused and looked at the number. She dropped an f-bomb making Lisa laugh outright. She hit decline and looked at the man who still staring at her, obviously surprised by the curse. She was over him being nosy. “Dude what the hell is your problem?”

He shrugged, turned away and walked in the opposite direction she needed to go.

She stared at his departing back, aware he had two security agents flanking him as he walked away. “Rich men are weird,” she commented to Lisa as they turned to walk back to the office.