Chapter 3

3

Murph

It has been an hour since Angelica’s phone call and I’m still fucking shaking, my hands ice cold on the wheel of my truck.

Danger.

I’m in danger.

Her terrified whimper replays in my head, over and over again, insanity threatening to take hold as I break the speed limit up the winding roads of the Hollywood Hills to get to her. It’s been a year. An entire damn year of misery since the last time I saw her, face to face. At least that she knows about. I’ve been to the concerts, watching her from the shadowed edges of so many arenas, I’ve lost count. Lost track of how many times I’ve stroked myself off inside the folds of a trench coat while she shakes her little ass on stage to the screams of thousands.

The rest of the time, I haven’t been far. At all.

God knows I’ve tried.

I’ve told myself to keep as far away from her as possible, accepting jobs all over the country. I always come back to Los Angeles, though. I always come back to where she is, our proximity soothing the suffering beast inside of me.

Somewhat.

Now that I’ve touched her, felt her beneath me, there is nothing that will fully soothe me but to be inside of her. That will never happen, however. Ever. So I’ve resigned myself to a lifetime of being deprived of her sweetness.

Protecting her is what I allow myself.

When I find out who is putting her in danger, I’m going to burn them alive.

No one puts Angelica Price in harm’s way. No one.

How the hell did this happen?

I breathe down the necks of every member of her security team. I’ve looked into their backgrounds and paid them to keep me informed. They aren’t as qualified as me, but no one is. I demand assurances about her safety several times throughout the day, every day. So I can only assume this danger is a new development. One thing is for goddamn sure, I’m not leaving her side until the issue is resolved and she’s safe again. And that includes from me.

I take the hairpin turn into her driveway, screeching to a halt outside of her security gate, punching in the code I’ve had memorized since she bought the place. The gates swing open and I whip my truck around the half-circle driveway, throw the vehicle into park and get out.

When I see the dummy and the words written over the door, my blood turns frigid. It thaws out just as fast, though, the temperature rising to volcanic levels. I’m up the steps and pounding on the front door before I’ve taken a breath, my hands braced on the jamb.

The manager, Taryn, answers the door. She’s new on the scene, only recently taking over from Angelica’s last manager. No criminal history—of course, I checked. Three times. She recoils slightly at my appearance. Normally I might feel a wave of shame over that reaction. Right now, though, I don’t give a shit about anything but getting to Angelica.

“Where is she?”

“I’m sorry.” The redhead draws herself up like she might actually stop me. “Who are you?”

“Murph?”

The angelic sound of Angelica’s voice coming from inside the house almost brings me to my knees. Fucking hell, how have I gone an entire year without hearing her say my name? “I’m here, kid.” I step around the woman attempting to block my entrance into the house.

And here comes the girl that haunts my mind twenty-four hours a day.

She runs around the corner into the foyer wearing a tiny, pink satin nightgown with nothing underneath. Barefoot. Golden hair loose and flowing around her shoulders. Nipples in spikes and tenting the shiny material. I make a hoarse sound before I can stop myself, my cock pitching a tent behind my fly, heart lodging itself in my throat.

“Murph,” she says again, moisture flooding her eyes. “You’re really here.”

My heart pounds out of control. “Of course I am.” That’s when I notice the bandage on her knee and fury rips through me like the slash of a sword. “What happened to your knee? You were hurt?”

Her bare feet slap on the ground as she barrels toward me, launching herself into my arms, distracting me for a second with her beauty. Christ, how did the most gorgeous girl on the planet manage to get even prettier? I have no earthly idea…but her smell is exactly the same. Vanilla sugar cookies. How many times have I gone into a bakery over the last year just trying to get her scent into my nose? “No. I just tripped,” she sighs into my neck. “It’s nothing.”

Momentarily reassured, but planning to ask more questions later, I can’t stop myself from sliding my scarred, beat up fingers into her hair. “So.” I swallow hard. “You went and got famous on me, huh?”

“Yeah. I guess.” There’s something guarded in her tone that I want to question her about, but I’m conscious of our audience. It’s not only the snooty manager now. Her security team has slowly joined us in the foyer, three out of four of them looking everywhere but at me—Miller, the newest hire, manages to look me in the eye, at least. Plus two fancy-looking young people with clipboards. “Can you stay?” Angelica mumbles into my neck, her legs lifting to hook around my hips. “I already feel better with you here.”

My blood thickens, most of it heading south. Fuck me. Holding her like this is heaven and hell at the same time. Heaven because she fits me so perfectly, her little bare cunt molded to my fly. Hell because I’ve made a vow to myself to keep my hands off her and I’m not breaking it. She asked me for protection. Not for my cock. If she wanted what I’ve got between my legs, she would have called before a full year passed. “I’m not going anywhere until I know you’re safe.”

She slumps against me. “Thank you.”

I grunt, pulling her against me more securely.

The security team is well acquainted with me. But the rest of the people in the room look horrified over their goddess pop diva boss being cradled by a beast.

That’s one of the reasons my feelings for Angelica need to stay buried.

On the impossible chance she wanted to be with me, I won’t have folks looking at her like she’s insane everywhere she goes. And that’s exactly what would happen. Because my big, hulking, scary ass alongside this petite fairy princess isn’t just absurd, it’s a crime against decency.

Secondly, I can’t betray Joe.

I’ve barely been able to speak to her father on the phone, let alone look him in the eye, ever since what happened on the floor of his living room. Ever since I dry humped his precious daughter right under his nose and said truly despicable things to her that I can never take back.

In the interest of keeping our relationship professional, as badly as it pains me, I settle Angelica back onto her feet. Though my heart turns over when she refuses to leave me completely, nestling herself into my side. “Where is the surveillance footage?” I growl at her head of security.

Goddammit, I should have been the head of her team. If I trusted myself to be around her without putting my blood-stained hands on her, I would have been.

One of them steps forward and clears his throat. “The perpetrator scaled the fence on the east side of the house, but we only know that because some of the brush was disturbed. They used spray paint to black out the cameras.”

My stomach churns. This doesn’t sound like some bumbling super fan. It sounds like someone who knows what they’re doing. I do my best not to betray my alarm to Angelica. “Were there shoe prints? Tire tracks left behind?”

“Nothing, sir.”

“Sir?” The redhead snorts. “Why are you suddenly reporting to this man now? We don’t even know who he is.”

“He’s Murph,” Angelica says simply, curling her small hand into mine. “He was in the Navy with my father and I’ve known him forever. He’s also the badass who is going to keep me safe.”

Pride and determination swarm in my chest. Even after my inexcusable behavior on that night a year ago, she still has total faith in me. I don’t deserve it and I don’t deserve her. But hell if I’m going to let her down. “I’m going to need your contact at the surveillance company, a list of everyone who has been a guest at the house recently. I assume you’ve already called the police to dust for fingerprints?”

“I don’t want the police,” Angelica whispers. “I only want you.”

Again, the redhead blusters. “I’m her manager. I make important decisions and we don’t need outside help—”

“You make decisions about her career. I make them about her safety.” I give her a stony look until she turns and stomps out of the room. “Have you swept the rest of the house?”

“Yes, sir. It’s clear.”

I make a sound in my throat, knowing damn well I’ll be doing it again myself to be sure they didn’t miss anything. “Call in additional security immediately. Station them around the house for tonight and we’ll meet in the morning. I want those lists and contacts first thing in the morning.”

I rattle off my phone number, as if they don’t already have it programmed in their phones. “And if she gets hurt again on your watch, if she so much as chips a goddamn nail on your watch, you won’t like what I do about it.”

They nod in unison, fleeing the room.

Angelica looks up at me. “You put them under your command so easily.”

They’ve been under my command for a year. Not that I’m going to tell her that. It would lead to too many questions. Too many curiosities. If she knew how closely I follow her every move, obsessively checking in with her guards, she would stop thinking of me as her protector and start pitying the unsightly giant who pines day and night for America’s pop music sweetheart.

It’s only the two of us in the room now and Angelica turns, pressing the front of her sleek body to mine, wrapping her arms around my neck. And as natural as can be, she climbs right up onto me, those world-famous legs cinching around my hips. She has to feel the erection in my pants. There’s no mistaking how much it turns me on just to be in the same room as her. But she doesn’t comment or pull away, probably because she’s so desperate for comfort she’s willing to ignore my lust.

Hell, she’s a fucking bombshell. Every man with a pulse is turned on by her. It probably doesn’t even register as important anymore.

My arms close around Angelica and I take a deep inhale of her scent, getting it into my blood. “Which way to your room, kid? I’ll inspect there first and get you settled before I look through the rest of the house.”

“Up the stairs,” she sighs into my neck. “But…”

I walk us toward the staircase, savoring the feel of her against me. “What?”

“I’m just a little spooked.” She pulls back slightly to look me in the eye. “Will you stay in my room with me tonight?”

More pressure swells into my balls, pushing my hard dick more firmly against the juncture of her thighs. I can’t say no to her. I never could.

Meaning tonight is going to be pure heaven…and hell.