“No,” I said very firmly.
The doors slid opened. “Then so be it.”
Okay, that sounded ominous.
“Constantijin---”
He raised a brow. “It’s Mr. Kastein during office hours,” he said solemnly as he stepped to the side so I could go out first.
Ass,
I mouthed as I walked past him.
“Oh, and Ms. Yanna?”
I turned around, raising a brow.
He stepped out of the elevator. “You’re late, by the way.” And then he was walking away, not looking back even once.
It wasn't something to smile at, really, but I ended up smiling anyway.
The details on this week's snowflakes were thankfully not that difficult so I was able to take my lunch on time. George was off again with the 25/F guy so I went to the cafeteria alone.
Since I was finally eating my mid-day meal with the rest of the crowd, it took about ten minutes before I finally reached the end of the line and gave my orders. I stuck with sashimi, deciding it was time to pay stricter attention to my diet. With a man like Constantijin as my boyfriend, I knew it meant having as many haters as he had his admirers.
All the tables were occupied except for one two-seater, which had a vacant chair left. I headed towards it but stopped midway when I realized the other occupant was Drake. Right now – it was totally not a good idea to sit with him. Constantijin could get ideas. Feminists might argue about this but why rock the boat when you didn’t have to?
Fifteen more minutes passed before I spotted another vacant table, and I sped to it like a delayed bullet train. My stomach was already grumbling in protest by the time I reached the table.
“Ohh.” I closed my eyes in bliss even as I didn’t stop shoving raw salmon inside my mouth. God! This tasted super good, especially since I hadn’t had breakfast this morning.
When I opened my eyes, Drake stood in front of me, a polite expression on his face.
I choked on the last bite and quickly reached for my tea.
Oops
. Too hot. I started choking again.
People were beginning to look. I bet they thought it was because I was super flustered at the presence of Drake. If Constantijin heard about it – that was a very, very bad thing.
Clearing my throat, I said lamely, “Hi.”
“Can I take a seat? I just need to talk to you.”
“Uhh…” I ended with a weak smile since he had already taken the seat opposite of me.
Didn’t this look like we were dating? Dear God, I hoped Constantijin didn’t see us together. Constantijin acting jealous was terribly sweet and cute, but I knew he hurt, too, and that I didn’t want.
I looked at him expectantly. “So…”
“I was hired by Carole Everleigh to act as your bodyguard,
incognito
.”
“WHAT?”
All heads snapped to our direction. I cringed, whispering, “Sorry.”
Drake smiled sympathetically.
“Are you serious? Are you still working for my mom? Do you report everything you know to her?”
“Hold on,” he said with a grin. “One question at a time.” He rubbed his chin. “So, am I serious? Yes. I was your bodyguard the moment you left their house. They gave me all your details.” He sent me an apologetic glance. “I even know your underwear size.”
I smacked my forehead. Oh God, Mom. She was going to be the death of me one day.
“And for your second question---yes, I’m still working for her. But I will resign---”
“No,” I blurted out, surprising him.
He leaned forward, and I had to steel myself not to lean back as his face came inches away from mine. “Why not?”
“Because if it’s not you, it would be someone else, and I’d rather have someone I know and trust.”
Drake slowly nodded. “I can’t say I’m not glad you said that. I like having an excuse to check you out.”
“Errr…”
“I like being your Mr. Fix It.”
Oh, Lord. Alyx and her big mouth always got me into trouble. “I totally don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said airily but Drake’s answering laughter made me feel sheepish. “Well, okay, I did, umm, sort of call you that. Are you mad?”
He grinned. “Of course not. I actually like it. It’s nice that you think me as your go-to guy.”
Cue for awkward silence, which honestly was happening more and more frequently in my life.
“So…” Drake was the first to speak again. “You’re not going to freak out on me, say I betrayed you for not telling you who I was?”
I rolled my eyes. “You’ve watched too many secret bodyguard movies, my friend.” I picked my chopsticks up again, nabbing a piece of
sashimi
on my plate and popping it into my mouth. “It’s not like you’re the first one she hired to work undercover.”
“Won’t Kastein mind about me?”
“He’ll get over it,” I said, trying to sound like I believed what I was saying.
“I could talk to him---”
“No!” I shook my head vehemently. “That’s the worst idea, ever. He’s very…” I trailed off, trying to think of a way to explain Constantijin’s behavior towards me without using the words ‘jealous’ or ‘possessive’. It just didn’t feel right to use those words myself.
Drake leaned back against his chair, causing his black business jacket to fall to the sides and revealing his striped white shirt underneath. I could feel women around us staring because he honestly looked very yummy, posed like this on the chair.
The grimness on his face unnerved me a little. “What is it?”
“It finally happened,” he said finally. “You’re with him now, aren’t you?”
It shouldn’t have mattered what my answer was. There had been nothing between us. In fact, there was even less than what I thought was there since he hadn’t been at the right time and place because he liked being my knight in shining armor. He had always been there because he had been paid to do so.
Even so, all those words simply felt like excuses in my mind. I nodded, unable to make myself speak. I only looked up when he sighed.
“If I were petty, I’d be calling your mother right now---” He smiled wryly when he saw my horrified expression. “I was just kidding.”
“Good. Because that would be really bad.” I fed myself three consecutive pieces of raw salmon, using its fresh and delicious taste to calm myself. “You know her, you’ve talked to her. She’s crazy paranoid about me.” I made a face. “You see how I didn’t even have trouble believing she hired you.”
“Touché,” Drake said, his lips breaking into a wry smile. “Her offer came at the right moment, you know. After my last mission in Iraq---”
My jaw dropped. “No way.” I shook my head. “You look more like a pacifist to me. Like, a peace-loving vegan.”
Drake’s smile turned angelic, and his voice was matter of fact when he said, “It’s why I make a good sniper. Nobody sees me coming.”
I gulped, deciding then and there I totally didn’t want to be on this man’s bad side.
“I was having trouble adjusting to having a normal life back and your mom’s assignment gave me a place to start. Plus, it came with a job here at Kastein. I always wanted to see how it was like to work for someone else who didn’t carry a gun, but I also wanted to make sure the company I was working for was clean as a whistle.”
His last words made me frown. “Clean, like, you want something with, umm, an environmentally friendly program?”
He shook his head. “Clean like they don’t do any shady deals. And Kastein Inc. was one of the few that made it to my list.”
“Oh.” I looked at him admiringly. “That’s, like, wow. You’re such a nice guy.”
“Not at all. I just didn’t want to be put in a position that I’d have to kill my boss.”
“I see.” But I didn’t really and I had a feeling I wasn’t the right person to know him that well. All I knew was that there was more to Drake Morrison than what met the eye.
“Are you scared of me now?”
Drake’s face was expressionless, but I had a feeling it took a lot for him to ask that. On impulse, I reached out to pat his arm – just twice, though, because doing so felt incredibly awkward. “No. I know you’re a good man, Drake, so…
thanks.
Thank you for looking after me.”
“It was the best job I had---have.”
His eyes gleamed in a way that had me say warningly, “Drake.”
He laughed. “All right, I won’t put you in an awkward position with him – for now. But I need to be honest, I’ll probably – deliberately – yank his chain once in a while.”
I groaned. “
Drake
.”
He sobered. “It’s a way to make sure he doesn’t take you for granted.”
Okay, this time I had to sigh his name out since I was honestly touched. “
Drake.
”
“Am I interrupting something?”
Shit.
This was the one instance I sort of hoped I wasn’t hearing that Dutch-accented voice. Swallowing, I looked up, almost shivering at how Constantijin’s eyes had turned into silvery ice.
Drake answered easily, “No, sir. In fact, I was just leaving.” He stood up. “It was nice talking to you, Yanna.”
“Uh, same.” My eyes darted between the two of them. I totally didn’t know who I should be looking at. Should it be Drake because it was the polite thing to do or at Constantijin because he was my boyfriend and he might think I was flirting behind his back?
Drake winked at me before drawling out, “I just have to say you look very sexy today, Yanna. 33As, right?”
God, I hated that man now – it was official. It didn’t matter if he was the army’s best sniper. I was so sniping him the moment I survived my confrontation with Constantijin – who was glaring down at me, a muscle ticking in his jaw.
“Office. Now.”
Glenda’s gaze was curious as Constantijin dragged me past her table without a word. “Hi,” I whispered just before Constantijin pulled me inside his office and slammed the door shut.
He exploded immediately, “Why the fuck does he know the size of your breasts?”
If I wasn’t too worried about what he was thinking, I would have felt insulted at how he didn’t even have second thoughts believing my breasts were that small. “It’s not what you think---”
“Why do you spend so much fucking time with that boy, Yanna?”
“It didn’t start out that way---”
“I swear to God, Yanna, do you want to kill me with jealousy every time?”
I blinked, unable to believe he was being so open with his feelings.
He raked a hand through his hair. “I know he’s a fucking angel if you compare him to me! I know he probably has a fucking nice-boy background compared to mine. He’s not a bastard, with an unknown scumbag for a father and a mother who didn’t have a choice but to sell---”
Eyes tearing, I threw myself in his arms, taking him by surprise. I hugged Constantijin as tightly as I could. “You don’t and will
never
have a reason to be jealous of me, no matter what situation you find me in. You’re the best man for me.”