1. Damian

So many bright fucking lights. And people buzzing around like working bees. At four o’clock in the damn morning. Not Damian’s idea of a good time. He leaned against the wall of the large room at the Seattle Morning News set and sipped his coffee. Hairstylists and assistants buzzed around the woman that he was providing security. A young and upcoming actress, Sapphire Jones, had a new movie out and already seemed to have superstar status. In his opinion, she was a superstar bitch.

He didn’t mind working for celebrities. For the most part, they treated him well, especially knowing that he was protecting their lives. But occasionally he had to deal with celebrities like this current one who thought he was also one of her ass-kissing minions. The thought alone of touching that woman’s ass with his lips, literally or figuratively, made him want to hurl up the protein shake he’d had for breakfast.

When she’d told him to get her a cup of coffee that morning, he went right over to the coffee machine, got a cup for himself, and took a long appreciative drink of it. The look of shock on her face when she figured out that he wasn’t bringing any back for her was priceless, and when he grinned over at her, she practically vibrated with anger. He would walk off the job and cancel the contract before he let someone treat him or his employees like shit. He provided security and protection, and that was it.

His close friend and employee, Keith, was on the job with him, but he was outside the dressing room at the end of the hallway. Keith felt the same way about the demanding woman. As soon as she had arrived in Seattle the day before, she had eyed Keith like he was a prime piece of meat and had asked him if he wanted to stay in her hotel room with her. Damian had struggled to keep his composure when Keith turned her down, telling her that he wasn’t interested. She had gasped and looked like she had been slapped in the face.

The actress had two of her own personal security guards traveling with her, but they seemed used to her antics. It wasn’t uncommon for celebrities to hire additional security when they were traveling in different cities since their bodyguards didn’t know the area.

“The makeup artist is here,” Keith’s deep voice came over Damian’s earpiece.

Great. Another one of the diva’s minions.

“Got it,” he replied into the built-in microphone device.

Damian straightened and waited for the door to open. If the makeup artist was as dramatic as the hairstylists and assistants, he would go insane by the end of the morning. He thought it was interesting that the actress treated the stylists as though they were her best friends, but she snarled at her assistants and security team.

As soon as the door opened, Damian narrowed his eyes and tried to ignore his entire body’s reaction toward the woman who had just stepped into the room. A feeling of primal possessiveness washed over him, and he immediately had to adjust himself in his pants.

Mine.

He tilted his head when he realized that he had seen her before, yet he couldn’t put his finger on where.

Her enormous eyes studied him briefly before looking down at the ground and then up at him again. She was just a little thing with dark curly hair that bounced with every movement and a set of bright blue eyes that captured his attention. He would have expected a makeup artist to have the entire rainbow of colors on her face in thick layers, but not this woman. Her makeup looked natural, and as she moved in the light, he saw that her skin had a soft glow to it. Even as wild as her hair was, it seemed that every curl was in place and moved in rhythm with her.

When she carried her bags over to where Sapphire Jones was sitting, the curly-haired woman smiled at the actress, showing off her beautiful white smile, and Damian felt a stir of warmth inside of him. He wanted her more than he had wanted a woman in years, and he wasn’t used to wanting. He was used to being the one who was wanted.

Keep your dick under control, asshole. You’re on a job.

“Hi, Ms. Jones, I’m Carly, your makeup artist,” she said warmly.

The actress screeched so loud that Damian winced. Sapphire stood from the chair, sending the hairstylists into a frenzy to grab their tools and back away.

“Carly! I can’t believe it’s you! I’ve been dying for you to do my makeup. I wish you would move to Hollywood. I would hire you to be my permanent makeup artist.”

The actress awkwardly hugged the small woman he now knew to be Carly and gave her dramatic air kisses on each cheek. He rolled his eyes at the actress’s dramatics. She was as fake as her ass.

Carly smiled, “Thank you. I just can’t find it in me to ever leave Seattle. This is my home. But I’m happy to do your makeup whenever you’re here or fly out anytime to you for major events.”

“That would be amazing! Have you all met Carly? She’s the best damn makeup artist in the country. She could turn a hag into a hottie. She’s pure fucking magic! Magic, I tell you!” Sapphire said, not really directing her words to anyone in particular.

He saw Carly tense up briefly and frown at the “hag into a hottie” comment, and he wondered if she already disliked Sapphire as well. She was an easy person to dislike.

Damian watched Carly work her “magic” on the actress for the next hour and a half. He was surprised at how patient she was while working around Sapphire who was either talking on her phone, demanding that her assistants take photos for social media, or wanting to take a break so she could send out a tweet to her fans. It seemed as though Carly was used to the antics of young celebrities and just smiled gracefully through it all.

The entire time he watched her work, Damian racked his mind as to where he had seen her before. He thought that maybe he’d seen her at The Playground, a BDSM club that he was a member of, but he didn’t think that was it. He was usually so good at remembering people that it was irking him that he couldn’t place her. She wasn’t exactly someone you could look at and ever forget.

Carly was dressed in all black, which he knew was pretty standard for stylists. This wasn’t his first celebrity rodeo. It was done on purpose, so the stylists faded into the background and didn’t take any spotlight away from the celebrity. Even then, he was pretty sure Carly could wear a potato bag and still get more attention than the actress.

Her skin-tight jeans hugged her legs and hips, accentuating her curvy figure, and the top that she wore was a simple black distressed t-shirt. She had come wearing a black leather moto jacket that she had discarded onto a chair when she started working, and she wore a pair of black lace-up combat boots. She was going for the badass biker chick look, and she pulled it off beautifully - except that nothing about her screamed “badass”. More like sweet as sugar. Her nails were painted hot pink, and her lipstick matched her nails which made him smile. She was the most adorable woman he had ever laid eyes on.

Her laugh was infectious, and even if he never saw the woman again, he didn’t think he would ever be able to forget the sweet, bubbly sound that came from her lips.

Keith stepped into the room and came to stand by Damian. After watching a crowd of people fuss over one woman, Keith gave Damian an “are you kidding me” look and then rolled his eyes. His friend didn’t have nearly the amount of patience for spoiled celebrities that Damian did, but he was excellent at his job of protecting whoever was in his care.

“Does that woman look familiar to you?” Damian asked, lifting his chin toward Carly.

Keith studied her and shook his head.

“Nope. Should she?”

Damian shrugged, “I’ve seen her before, but I don’t know where. I thought maybe it was at The Playground, but I don’t think that’s it.”

“I think we would remember if we had seen her at The Playground. She’s a cutie,” Keith said.

Damian had to resist the urge to growl at his friend for his cutie comment, and Keith seemed to catch the look on his face because he whistled quietly and raised his eyebrows before he smiled at Damian with a shit-eating grin.

Asshole.

The rest of the morning went without a hitch. Sapphire Jones did her TV appearance and then, much to Damian’s delight, went straight to the airport to catch a flight out to the next city she was doing an appearance in.

Good riddance.

After he and Keith saw her onto the private plane with her team, Damian returned to his office and sat at his desk with his mind reeling. He couldn’t stop thinking about the cute little makeup artist with the big blue eyes that he could get completely lost in. And that laugh. He could still hear it in his mind. He wished he had talked to her and tried to say something that would have made her laugh so he could hear it up close. He wanted to be the one who made that beautiful sound come out of her mouth.

Yeah, right, you’re not even that funny.

Opening his laptop, Damian tried to focus on work. He had contracts that he needed to confirm and get guys assigned to. He couldn’t spend all day thinking about a woman he would never see again. At least not in real life. He would definitely be seeing her in his mind later that night. And probably for many nights to come.

Damian was working through a contract when his office door flew open, and one of his employees, Nash, stomped in, plopping down into one of the chairs across from him.

“Well, hello to you too. Welcome back. Come on in and have a seat. Don’t worry about knocking or anything,” Damian said sarcastically as he leaned back in his chair.

Nash grunted, “Fucking celebrities, man. Some of these female celebs just think we are man meat for them to drool all over. If I wanted women drooling all over me, I’d go be a male stripper over at Stallions.”

Nash had been on a job in New York for two weeks providing security to an older but well-known actress with a reputation for enjoying the company of younger men.

Damian tried to hide his amusement at Nash’s little rant, but he found it humorous. Nash seemed to get the most attention out of all his bodyguards from not only the female clientele but from some of the male clientele as well.

He had a pretty face and ripped body, the kind of guy you would see shirtless on the cover of Men’s Health magazine, so no matter where he was, women were practically at his feet begging for his attention. He was also the most lethal man on Damian’s team and wouldn’t hesitate to break necks if it meant protecting whoever was in his charge. Nash had a dark side that he let very few people see, but Damian happened to be one of those people. Even Damian would never want to get on Nash’s bad side, that was for sure.

“So, the trip didn’t go well, then?”

Nash scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Let’s just say the first thing I did when I got home was get into the shower and turn it on hot enough to burn the first few layers of skin off to rid myself of the dirty feeling that woman gave me. She wouldn’t keep her hands off of me! I can’t get the feeling of her wrinkly fingers on my skin out of my head. I’m going to have to go see a therapist.”

Damian burst out laughing and continued to laugh until he was practically in tears. Nash was nuts.

“I’m sorry, man. Maybe complain to your mama for giving you such a pretty mug, maybe she can slap you ugly, but until then, I have another job for you,” Damian said.

“Wonderful. I can’t wait. What perverted old woman are you going to assign me to next?”

Nash was pleased when Damian told him the next job didn’t have any celebrities.

“You’re going to Montana,” Damian told him. “There have been some recent threats to the governor and his family because of some new farming regulations that he put into effect. He wants extra security for his daughter. She’s in college and needs to be escorted to and from school each day. I’m sending Carter with you. You’ll stay at the governor’s home in the guest house. I’ve met him before, and he’s a nice guy from what I could tell. I’m sure his daughter will be delightful.”

Nash rolled his eyes and stood up from the chair.

“You always say that, and somehow, they are never fucking delightful,” Nash said before he walked out.

Damian laughed. Yeah, the daughter was anything but delightful if he remembered right. But he wouldn’t tell Nash that.