“No, of course I haven’t.” She lowers her voice, but she’s pissed. In fact, it feels like the sudden calm tone is a warning, like the way a snake stills right before it strikes. “I’m not stupid. My father tells me there’s a threat against me, and I need to take a sabbatical from work as being seen on television might be too dangerous; I have the sense not to post on social media where I am at any given time. I’m not some airhead model or idiotic singer, you know? I don’t know what sort of people you normally guard, but I am an educated, successful woman in a highly competitive field, and I’d damn well like to be informed of things like that in future.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Understood?”

My jaw clenches. Jesus Christ, she has an attitude. That’s not why my jaw is clenching, though. It’s because like this, her eyes blazing, her cheeks flushed, and her face alive with anger, she’s magnificent.

That understood. So damned superior, but so hot. No one, and I mean no one, talks to me like that. Most especially not women.

I give a soft laugh and her eyes only spit more fire at me. “Your friend told me you were a woman who knows her own mind.”

“What? When? Jade? What are you talking about?”

I laugh again. Then I lean in close and lower my voice as I don’t want Simon hearing this. “She told me you were a handful and that you knew your own mind, and then she said ... what was it? Oh yeah, she said that if I had to, I had her permission to take control, if it meant keeping you safe.”

She stares at me, and her mouth parts as her lower jaw goes slack. “When she was flirting with you?”

“She wasn’t flirting with me.”

“It sure looked like it from where I was sitting.”

“Yeah, she said she didn’t want you to know how worried she was. Asked me about the threat, and I told her I couldn’t give any details. She then told me to do what I had to in order to ensure your safety, even if you didn’t like it and that if you got too headstrong, to…erm… Well, it doesn’t matter.” I smirk at her.

“What. The. Fuck. Did. She. Say?” Carolina narrows her eyes at me.

“She said I had her permission to take you in hand.”

My dick jerks at the thought of the exact words her friend used. Words I don’t repeat now because I believe if I do Carolina will launch herself at me, and not in the way I’ve decided I want her to. When she comes at me, I want it to be in heated lust, not raging anger.

“I’m going to fucking kill her.”