Chapter 5

Monday morning: Roxie came down to breakfast sporting a different look. She was wearing a navy-blue suit with a white silk shirt under the jacket.

Her hair was done up in a bun on top of her head. He thought she looked very classy and businesslike.

“Morning, Roxie. You look very professional.”

She sat down, picked up her coffee cup, and smiled back at him.

“Thank you, and so do you, but you really could dress more casually,” she said, checking out his dark suit and knowing he had a gun under his jacket. “People will know you’re a bodyguard.”

“I am one,” he said. Standing up, he put on his dark sunglasses. “I need to check out my car, so I’ll meet you outside.”

When she came out, he opened the door for her and went around to the driver’s side and got in. He turned to look at her, his eyes going to her hair. “I like you better with your hair down.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s the way I would expect a librarian to wear her hair. All you need is a pair of dark-rimmed glasses to complete the look.”

She chuckled and opened her purse. “You mean like this?” she asked, putting glasses on, the ones he described. She saw a smile cross his face as he drove out of the driveway.

He laughed out loud. “Yup. That’s the look all right.”

When they arrived at her father’s building and went inside, the man behind the information desk stood up to greet her. “Miss Greene. Good morning.”

She introduced Chester to Dexter, telling him that he had access to go anywhere in the building without interference from anyone.

They then got into the elevator, and she pushed the button to the fourth floor.

When they stepped out of the elevator, he looked around. There were tables and chairs and racks of dresses in the hallway.

“Who all works here, and who are those two men standing over there?” he asked, pointing to them.

“We have about sixty people working here. Some are designers and machinists, among others.

“Those two men over there are part of our advertising. They also help to organize some of our fashion shows. Come with me to my office.”

As they continued on, she was greeted warmly by the people working there. When they entered her office, there was a young man sitting behind the desk.

Dexter put his hand inside his jacket, touching his gun. But pulled it away when her hand touched his arm and she shook her head.

“It’s okay. He works for me.”

“Roxie. Good morning.”

“Morning, Carson. I want you to meet Dexter Sinclair. He’s the bodyguard my father hired, so you’ll be seeing him here every day, for the time being.”

Carson shook his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I hope you can find who is threatening her before they hurt her.”

He shook the man’s hand as he checked him out. He was of slim build, with reddish-brown hair, and was as tall as himself.

He noticed the man had a facial tic where his right eye would twitch every few seconds.

“It’s my job to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he answered, removing his glasses.

Carson nodded and turned to Roxie. “Oh, these just came for you,” he said. Going over to the side table, he picked up the vase of roses and handed them to her.

“Who are they from?” she asked, thinking maybe from her father.

“I don’t know. There wasn’t a card with it.”

Dexter went into bodyguard mode. “Did you see who dropped them off?” It was never a good sign when there wasn’t a card.

“They were left at the front desk, so I never got to see who brought them. I’m sure Chester will be of some help.”

Roxie handed Carson the flowers back.

“Take these and get rid of them. If they’re from that creep, I don’t want them,” she said, shaking her head and going over to her desk, picking up some drawings.

“But Roxie, they’re beautiful and must have cost a fortune.”

“Then give them to someone else, or you keep them.”

“I’ll put them in my office,” he said, walking out of her office.

When he was gone, Dexter went over to where she was looking over some designs on the table. “He seemed a bit upset over the flowers.”

She looked up at him. “Carson. Don’t worry about him. He’s overly sensitive and loves flowers. I’m sure he will enjoy having them on his desk.

“I really haven’t got time to chat. I’ve got to get these designs ready for the runway show next month.”

“All right. I want to go down to the front desk and talk to Chester and see if he can tell me who dropped off the roses. Stay here, and don’t go anywhere until I get back.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, waving him away.

He went over and grabbed her arm to get her attention. “Roxie, I mean it. This isn’t a joke, so do what I say.”

“Okay,” she answered, pulling her arm from his grip.

Getting into the elevator, he slammed his fist against the wall. She could be so frustrating at times. He walked over to Chester and asked him who sent the flowers.

“Sir, it was a delivery guy.”

“From what florist?”

“He didn’t say, just said he had a delivery for Miss Greene, so I had them sent up. But now that I think about it, I didn’t recognize him.

“We’ve had several come here to drop things off, and usually they’re the same ones, but this guy was new.”

Dexter ran his hand over his face. He knew it would be next to impossible to find out which florist they came from, since there were so many in the city.

“If anything else comes for Miss Greene, make sure to check out their ID.” He turned and left and got back in the elevator. But when he got to Roxie’s office, only Carson was there, no sign of her.

“Where’s Miss Greene?” he asked, barking at him.

Carson looked at him with wide eyes. “She had to go into the storage room to get some fabric for the design we’re working on.”

“Damn it. I told her to stay right here. Where is this storage room?”

“Just turn to your right, and it’s the last room at the end of the hallway.”

Storming out of the office, he headed in the direction Carson told him. When he got to the door with the sign saying Storage, he pushed it open, getting ready to give her proper hell.

But when he saw her on a ladder that was tipping over, he got to her and caught her in his arms just in time as she fell off.

She let out a scream just as the ladder started tipping over, and then found herself in Dexter’s arms. Her arm went around his neck, and they stared into each other’s eyes.

There was an awkward moment of silence between them before she spoke.

“Thank you for saving me, but I think you can put me down now.”

He was so close to giving her proper hell, but with her in his arms, and with the way she stared into his eyes, he forgot about how angry he was with her.

That was until he put her down. Then he let her have it. “When are you going to listen to me? I told you not to leave your fucking office until I got back.”

He moved closer, causing her to back up until her back was against the wall.

She placed her hand on his chest and pushed him away.

“I was only a couple of doors away. It’s not like I went to another floor or left the building. If you ever swear like that to me again, I’ll slap your face.”

Once his breathing slowed down, he asked her what she was trying to get from the top shelf.

“The white box. It has samples of the material I need for the dresses I sketched.”

She watched as he reached up and grabbed them. Taking the box from his hand, she walked past him and back to her office. She was still fuming over the way he talked to her.

He followed behind her, and once back at the office, he sat in a chair and watched as she and Carson worked. Every now and then he saw her glancing over at him, giving him a dirty look.

He thought she looked sexy when she was mad, and he did feel bad about swearing at her. When Carson left the room, he got up and went over to her.

“I’m sorry for the way I talked to you. Let me take you to lunch to make up for it.”

“I usually just eat lunch here, but I suppose I could go out for once. Just give me a few minutes to match up the material to this one dress, and then we can go.”

Just then Carson peeked his head in the door. “Hey Roxie, I’m going to order lunch now. Do you want your usual salad?”

She smiled at him. “Not today. Dexter is taking me out to lunch.”

“But we always have lunch together here,” he said, pouting.

“We will tomorrow, okay?”

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” he said and left, closing the door behind him.

Dexter stroked his chin with his finger. “Your boy looked a little upset about you going out for lunch. I hope I’m not getting in between whatever you two might have going on.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just that for the last two years we’ve had lunch together here in my office while we worked. Besides, he is just a good friend, and that’s all.”

When she was ready, they went down the street a block and walked into the restaurant and took a seat by the window.

He ordered them both a glass of wine, and after ordering their meal, they started talking.

“Can I ask you something without you snapping my head off?” she asked, taking a sip of her wine.

“Go ahead.”

“Why are you always so serious? Sometimes you act like you have a stick up your ass. You don’t always have to be so serious.”

“I’m a bodyguard, and in order to do my job I need to be serious. If I were to let my guard down, it could cost someone their life.

“What happened earlier shouldn’t have, and I need you to follow my orders. If you feel you can’t do that, then I will quit and your father can find someone else.”

She gave him a wicked smile. “Relax. It won’t happen again. Do you want to know what I think you need?”

“Why don’t you tell me?”

“I think you need to get laid. It might ease some of that pent-up tension you’re carrying around. It could make you less grumpy.”

He picked up his wine glass and took a drink, looking back at her. “Are you offering?”

She almost choked on her drink. “What? No, that’s not what I was saying. God, you are so arrogant. Besides, you’re not my type.”

“What is your type?”

“Let’s talk about you instead of me. Have you ever been in love or even had a girlfriend? Wait, you’re not gay are you?”

He laughed, shaking his head.

“No, I’m not gay, and I did have a girlfriend, who I was going to ask to marry me, but when I got out of the SEALs and went home, I found out she had married my best friend.”

He had never told anyone else about this, and he was angry that he told her, though for the life of him he didn’t know why he’d done it.

“Are you happy now?”

She stared at him when he told her. She could see the anger mixed with hurt in his eyes. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.

“But you shouldn’t let what one woman did to you change your outlook on love. I’m sure there’s someone out there who will not betray you and will love you with all of her heart.”

“Roxie, I never want to discuss this ever again.”

“Okay,” she answered, finishing her lunch.

After he paid the bill, they walked back to the office.

The rest of the day they didn’t speak to each other. He just sat there, keeping his eyes on her and the people that came and went from her office.

He was glad when it was time to go home behind the safety of the mansion, so that he could change into something more comfortable and relax.

She sat back once they got into his car. “I think I’ll go for a swim when we get home, seeing it’s such a warm day out.” She looked at him. “You should join me. It will help to relax you.”

“Too cold for me,” he said, looking straight ahead as he drove.

“It’s a heated pool,” she answered, but didn’t receive a reply from him.