Chapter 6: Unwanted Emotions

Raphael:

I shouldn’t have brought up her family. Genevieve trembled with her pent-up agony; I saw it in the way she responded to the text message. The sharp movements were coupled with the quivering breath she released once it was sent. I assumed the woman, ‘Jennifer’, was a relative, as she had reacted when I asked her about it.

With issues of my own, I could see the anguish and heartache that was painted all over her as she looked up at me. Her eyes were wide, innocent, not aware of the thoughts that ran rampant through my mind. If she knew what I wanted to do to her…with her…she would run the opposite direction. We had barely just met and I already needed to take a step back. If I didn’t, I wasn’t sure what I would end up doing.

As we slid into park near the entrance, all I could think about was the way my name sounded as it left Genevieve’s lips. The way her teeth gently pressed against her luscious lower lip halfway through and how her tongue curled at the end, just barely visible through her open mouth. Fuck, I was a goner, wasn’t I?

“The building has a lot of ground to cover, so I’ll stick to Genevieve. Gunner, Vin, you’ll hang back and survey the crowd. Mingle with the bystanders and watch for anything suspicious. This f*cker doesn’t know we’re looking for him, so let’s use this to our advantage.” I locked up any indecent thoughts as I slid into business mode. I had to protect Genevieve at all costs.

“Yes, sir,” both men responded.

We exited the vehicle and I turned back to help Genevieve out. Her doe-like eyes were wide and on me as she shyly scooted across the seats. She inched along, every other second shifting the bottom hem of her dress down so that it covered more of her thighs. I wanted to growl my frustration and force her into a different outfit. This one was clearly too short for an event, but who was I to tell her that?

“Thank you.” Genevieve slid her hand into my own and held on as she stepped out.

I refused to move back, so that when she righted herself we were inches from one another. I lived for these moments. In the span of twenty-four hours I had become addicted to her touch, her smell, her very presence. Genevieve was unique. Unlike any woman that I had ever met before. She wrote books with descriptive, very descriptive, sex and she gave the world a persona of an experienced woman, but every time I got remotely close to her, she closed down. Her body reacted to mine, but she wasn’t acting on it. She shied away from me.

Even right now, she quickly released my hand, looked down as shades of pink dotted her plump cheeks, and worked on shifting her dress back into place. All I wanted was to delve my hand into her thick locks and pull her head back. To kiss every inch of her face and dominate her lips.

Fuck.

I was at work. I had to remind myself of that.

It was downright agony, though, especially as I watched her breasts jiggle with her little shimmy that she did to twist her dress around. She pulled up the material so that her cleavage wasn’t as noticeable. Good. I didn’t need to worry about that too.

“Let’s go.” I growled.

Genevieve hesitated as I moved to her side and placed my hand on the lower part of her back, but it was all I could do in order to make sure she was close. I was also keeping myself in check. If my hand was on her back, it couldn’t roam anywhere else.

“Fuck me,” Gunner muttered under his breath as we entered the venue.

It wasn’t a book signing today, luckily. If it were, everyone would be watching Genevieve.

No, today was a launch party for another well-known author, fuck if I remembered his name. It was a black-tie event, and I quickly moved Genevieve through the entrance where a throng of expensively dressed snobs were chatting.

“I have to make my rounds to everyone, but after a few hours we can leave.” Genevieve’s voice was low, but I could still catch the tight hint of anxiety. She didn’t want to be here either, but work was work. I knew that well.

“It’ll be fine,” Karoline smiled as she appeared at our side. “You just have to appease Renolds and be here for the big speech, and then we can go.”

Genevieve nodded to her, began to shift to look at me, but before her eyes could raise to my level, she cleared her throat and turned away. I tried not to dwell on the disappointment that sank in my chest.

I kept a keen eye on the crowd as Genevieve made her way through. Vin and Gunner moved seamlessly through the plethora of high-class individuals that were the top dogs in the publishing community. They laughed with random strangers, their eyes always dancing about as they moved from Genevieve to the party-goers. They were always dedicated to the job. I needed to focus as well.

The only problem? Genevieve’s f*cking dress.

Every other minute a new man, young, old, extremely decrepit, approached her. They tried several times to wrap their arm around her hip, and my rage would boil. Genevieve easily slid from each encounter smoothly, smiling the entire time. She would excuse herself, or turn away to grab another glass of champagne, or bubbly, or whatever the h*ll it was called.

She was a pro at avoiding these sleazebags. I was impressed to say the least.

I waved off every woman that tried to come onto me, my eyes on Genevieve as she circled the room. I couldn’t let her out of my sight.

“Karoline, I’m f*cking tired,” Genevieve grunted once she had completed the tour and had spoken to Jeff Renolds. I guess he was a big-name author, with millions of copies sold? Not my priority.

“The speech is about to start. Just a bit longer, okay?” Karoline smiled and escorted Genevieve to the bar where she slumped down and ordered a glass of red wine.

I tried not to watch her as she drank it. I tried very fucking hard, but I couldn’t seem to drag my eyes off her. Her beautiful lips hugged the rim of the glass perfectly and she slowly sipped the crimson liquid, her throat moving with each swallow. I wanted to be there next to her, kiss her neck that called out to me. I wanted to press our bodies together and bury my face in her hair as I inhaled her sweet, sweet scent.

Goddamn it, I was on the job. I had to remember that.

“Raphael?”

Genevieve was in front of me now. How hadn’t I seen her coming? I braced every inch of my body, curtailing any emotion that might cause me to reach out to her.

“Yes?”

“Do you want to sit with me for a drink while we wait?” Her innocent gaze, she doesn’t know what she was doing to me. Of course she didn’t. She wasn’t doing it on purpose.

“I don’t think that’d be a good idea.”

I closed my throat down and mentally punched myself in the dick as Genevieve’s gaze lowered and dejection filled her once hopeful expression. She thought I rejected her, didn't she? Fuck, this job was going to be the death of me.

“Right, I’m sorry. That was a stupid question.” She huffed before it turned into a soft laugh and her left brow twitched with a cringe.

“It’s not stupid, I promise you.” Why would anything she asked be stupid?

Genevieve didn’t respond but pivoted away instead. She went back to the bar and slid onto one of the stools. The emotions that were deep within began to surface, choking me. They wrapped around my heart and pulled, forcing me to take a step toward her. Then another.

Before I could reach her, though, Vin’s thick voice boomed in my ear through our coms. “Heads up, someone’s heading toward our girl.”

‘Our girl’. ‘Our girl’? What the fuck was that and why did it make my blood boil?

Fuck, no, I had to focus. Someone was making their way toward Genevieve. He had a baseball cap on and it was pulled low over his eyes as he beelined for her. There was an envelope in his hand as he powerwalked.

Gunner moved to the other side of the man and Vin was still to the back. We would have him cornered if the bastard tried anything. I stalked after him, calculating every move of his body until he was within three feet of Genevieve.

Then, he stopped.