1. Kitty

1

KITTY

“ Y ou can’t be serious!” My raised voice caught the attention of a few curious onlookers in the bread aisle, so I turned in on myself and cupped my free hand around my mouth and phone. “Dad, this is insanity!”

“You watch your mouth young lady,” Dad snapped sharply on the other end of the line. “I wasn’t calling to ask your opinion. I was calling as a courtesy to let you know that your mother and I will be returning late tonight because the meeting is taking longer than anticipated. I thought you would be excited?”

“Excited?” My stomach twisted itself into painful knots as my irritation grew. “Is the meeting taking longer because you’ve decided to cancel your plans to trash the entire town?”

“No, Kitty. And we are not trashing the town. I have explained this to you a thousand times already.”

“Because carving up the forest for a highway extension isn’t carving up the town,” I replied sarcastically, straightening up and away from the nearest shelf. “Whatever. Drive safe, I guess.”

“Kitty!”

I hung up because I couldn’t hear another word and slid my phone back into my pocket. The two eavesdropping onlookers in the aisle with me had moved on, giving me a moment’s peace to process yet another daunting phone call from my father.

Being the daughter of the mayor used to be something I was proud of. I thought my father walked on air and spent all day doing everything he could to make our little town the best it could be. Now, for the past year, all he cared about was how much money he was going to make from an extension to the highway. Construction would cut straight through the beloved forest that surrounds Silver Hills, and this idyllic town would become nothing more than a gas stopover.

And there was nothing at all I could do about it, despite my constant attempts to talk some sense into him.

I groaned softly and turned back to my half-filled shopping cart. This was my favorite store to browse, but all desire to wander the aisles and check out the influx of new Christmas merchandise dried up with my father’s call. All I wanted to do now was go home and curl up into bed.

“Kitty?” A sickly-sweet voice dragged me from my thoughts. I lifted my head and came face to face with Haley Walker.

“Haley?”

“Oh, it is you!” She squealed and teetered the last few steps toward me on her heels, then threw one arm around my shoulders. “It’s so good to see you!”

It is?

I remained polite and gave Haley a quick hug in return, but I didn’t match her bubbliness. We’d gone to the same private school together in the city, but we hadn’t been friends. I’d kept my head down and graduated with a sense of guilt at how privileged my upbringing had been. Haley, to my knowledge, had leaned into the rich bitch lifestyle with no regrets.

“How are you? Oh, my gosh, look at you!” Her voice pitched so high, I was sure dogs would come running. Her long, thin fingers sank suddenly into the braided hair draped down my shoulder, and she twirled some around her fingers. “I was always so jealous of your hair. You were the perfect Rapunzel in school.”

That was the first I heard of it. My intuition flared up, and an uncomfortable cramp further warmed my gut. Haley wanted something. People who came up to me like this always wanted something because of my father.

“I’m good, thanks,” I replied with a well-practiced fake smile. “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m fantastic!” She flashed her hand in front of my face, nearly blinding me with the giant rock on her finger. “I’m getting married !”

“That’s amazing. Congratulations!” We definitely weren’t close enough for this kind of news to be told to me in person. It was the kind of announcement I would read about in the paper and spare a single thought over how we went to school together. Then I would move on with my life.

“Right? Everyone doubted me when I said I would bag a footballer, and look at me now!” Haley dazzled me with her perfect row of perfectly white teeth. “Speaking of…”

Ahh, here it comes .

“A little birdie told me that your mother is in charge of the invites to the Yuletide Ball, is that right?”

“Considering she’s the host, yes,” I replied, keeping my polite smile in place with ease. “It’s a private function.”

“Mmm. Indeed. So, what does a gal have to do to score an invite?” Haley waggled her eyebrows up and down. “Surely, because we’re friends, an invitation would be a gift, right?”

So that was what this was about. Each year, my mother hosted a Yuletide Ball on Christmas Eve and it was the talk of the town. Usually, she was raising money for a charity, but ever since my father woke up with dollar signs in his eyes, the last few years have been more about entertaining other elites. Clearly, Haley saw herself in the same circle.

“If you want an invitation, speak to my mother,” I replied. “It has nothing to do with me.”

I placed both hands on my shopping cart and made it a few steps away before Haley’s hand landed on my arm and tightened.

“Kitty, wait!”

Before Haley could say another word, the single good thing in my life seemingly melted out of the shadows and cleared his throat.

Haley jumped at his sudden arrival and retracted her hand with a squeal.

“What the hell? Who are you?”

Rook Lewin.

My personal bodyguard and quite possibly the sexiest man I had ever seen in my life. He had become my shadow in the summer after several death threats reached my father over his new deal and he grew concerned about my safety. Suddenly, our regular security team wasn’t enough, so he reached out to an old Army friend and secured me a silent, sexy shadow to keep me safe under any circumstances.

I hated the idea at first, but over the past few months, I had come to appreciate having Rook watching over me. Mainly because he was drop-dead gorgeous. He was a lot older than me, a lot gruffer too, but there was something about him that had me hooked within a few days. He was the kind of dirty sexy that made me want to strip off all my clothes and writhe against him until we were both sweaty and spent.

It was a hidden desire since Rook only ever looked at me with one thing in mind—protection. And a paycheck, I supposed.

“Is everything alright here?” Rook asked in his deep, rumbly voice. My gut clenched just at the sound, and the smile I flashed him was genuine.

“Of course it is,” Haley snapped. “This has nothing to do with you, so carry on, little man.”

Little man ?

I smirked up at Rook. He was anything but little, standing a full head taller than the both of us and with enough packed muscle hidden underneath that blue shirt that I was sure he could get hit by a truck and he would leave a dent.

“Haley.” I pulled her attention back to me. “This is Rook. My bodyguard.”

“Bodyguard?” She sneered slightly and then glanced back at Rook. It was then she apparently realized just how attractive Rook was because she straightened her posture and cocked out one hip to rest her hand on. “Like, a personal bodyguard?”

“Yes,” I replied.

Rook, upon realizing there was no threat here with Haley, moved off down the aisle and stopped near the end.

“Does he do private work?” Haley asked, turning back to me and biting her lip.

“Didn’t you just tell me you were getting engaged? He’s not going to privately work anything for you.”

“I’m engaged, sure.” Haley sighed wistfully, staring after Rook. “But it’s not a done deal until we sign on that line.”

The longer she stared after Rook, the more irritated I grew. Rook wasn’t mine in any regard, but seeing her lust after him ignited hot jealousy in my chest and it simmered just beneath my ribs.

“He’s not available for hire because he’s working for my father,” I said stiffly.

“Lucky.” Haley sighed dramatically, then she turned back to me and smiled. “Anyway, have your mother call me!”

With that, Haley flounced off down the aisle toward where Rook had stationed himself. From here, I couldn’t make out what she was saying when she stopped next to him, but it was amusing to watch her act. She tilted her hip, flipped her hair, and shoved her tits in his face, but Rook was a perfect professional. He only glanced at her and remained a stoic statue for the duration of her flirting.

Eventually, Haley moved on and I watched Rook’s shoulders relax a fraction. In her absence, the jealousy in my chest eased. It had taken some getting used to, being followed around by a single man rather than a security team that would wait outside, but I was grateful. Especially now.

I resumed my slow walk down the aisle, and as I turned up into the next one, Rook joined me.

“She was a friend of yours?” he asked carefully. Rook always spoke as if he were giving great thought to his words and making sure they were worth saying before he voiced them.

“Apparently,” I murmured, dragging my attention over the fresh new rows of Christmas baubles. “We went to school together. Why, do you want to see her again?”

“She wasn’t on the list your father provided,” Rook continued. “Is she someone I should be wary of?”

“Sure, if by wary you mean she’s just a leech looking for her next rung on the ladder to disgustingly rich.” Perhaps her sudden arrival had irritated me more than I realized. I sighed deeply, pausing in front of a row of mini Santa lights. “She just wanted an invite to the Yuletide Ball. My parents have successfully turned a charity event into an elite party, and she wants in, that’s all. I don’t expect we’ll see her again.”

“Noted.” Rook continued to walk beside me for a few more minutes. “Are you okay?”

The shopping cart squeaked to a halt. “Are you asking me that as a friend or as my bodyguard?”

Rook’s face was unreadable as I squinted at him. When he didn’t clarify, I sighed deeply and shoved the cart onward. He followed, but at a distance this time.

Maybe that was petty of me to ask, but out of everyone in my life, Rook seemed to be the only normal one. Sure, he was ex-military, and I was the daughter of his rich friend for whom he was doing a favor, but he didn’t come from money. He seemed like the salt of the earth, and I liked that.

Or it’s because he’s hot .

I rolled my eyes and wheeled into the next aisle where an array of delicious festive scents hit me like a wall of heat. Christmas was just over a month away, and it used to be my favorite time of the year, but even the snow hadn’t fallen yet. It was like the entire town was on pause, holding its breath in the hope that my father would cancel his deal.

I knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“Miss Morgan?”

“Hmm?” I picked up a caramel and peppermint candle, pressing it to my nose as a man approached the other end of my cart. “Yes, that’s me.”

“I thought so,” the man muttered, keeping his voice low. “You have the same ruthless aura as your bastard father.”

“Excuse me?”