Page 13 of Guarding the Rock Star
Fuck, I’d forgotten about that. My face heated with embarrassment. Obviously, I was attracted to her, and she knew it. So why didn’t she act on it? She seemed like a take charge kind of person, but maybe I intimidated her or something. No, that couldn’t be right. She had the advantage of knowing I was attracted to her and would likely be down for her acting on it. Unless she wasn’t attracted to me? I had the feeling she was, but Wanda was hard to read. Maybe I was getting it all wrong.
As if she’d read my mind, Wanda said, “You’re a talented and beautiful woman, Tasha, but I have a job to do here. Your safety has to be my top priority, above any attraction you might have for me.”
She paused, and met my eyes before adding, “Or any attraction I have for you.”
I felt relieved that I wasn’t imagining this strong connection between us. Wanda and I stared at each other for a long, pregnant moment before I dragged my eyes away. The room suddenly felt uncomfortably warm. I shrugged off my hoodie and moved back to my side of the couch. Maybe it was my imagination, but I could swear that Wanda breathed a sigh of relief as I put some distance between us.
She wanted to keep things between us professional, and I knew intellectually she was right. Time for a distraction.
“Okay, let me show you who Lila is.” I leaned forward to grab the remote and queued up another video. “If you like Melissa Etheridge, I bet you’re going to like her music too.”
The next few days passed quickly. When I got up in the morning Wanda would be working at the dining room table, already dressed and showered. She was an early riser, apparently able to fall asleep early as well, while I lay in the room next door to her staring at the ceiling and obsessing about my bodyguard. Wanda was a light sleeper though, something I’d learned when I got up in the middle of the night to get a bottle of water and she’d practically sprung out of the door of her bedroom to see what I was doing.
I’d ignored the sight of her lithe body in sleep shorts and a tank top, just like we were both ignoring the increasing attraction between us. But it was there all the time. With every accidental touch or stolen look, the air would almost vibrate between us. I’d never been so horny in my entire life.
We fell into a routine of working out together in my home gym, sharing breakfast, then I worked on my business while she worked on hers. We shared every meal together, staying mostly at home, but when we went out, we pretended to be cousins despite the growing bond between us.
Wanda and I were also opening up to each other. I shared some stories about my messed up childhood, and she shared a little about growing up a vampire in a community of mostly humans, and how great it had been when she joined the military and was assigned to a unit full of supernaturals like herself.
After five days together, things were feeling almost domestic between us, like we were a couple or something. It was easy to forget that she was my bodyguard, at least until the package arrived.
One of the guys from the front desk called up around eleven a.m. to let me know that a courier service had dropped off a package for me. Assuming it was some contracts I was waiting for from my business manager, I asked them to send it up. Wanda stood next to me as we waited for the elevator, her body angled slightly in front of mine. As was their practice, the desk staff had placed the package in the elevator along with some other mail and sent it up unoccupied.
When the doors opened, Wanda sprang forward, immediately alert. “Wait.”
She pulled out the little wand that she used to check for explosive devices, then circled the box slowly.
“This must be from your stalker. There’s something dead in here,” she told me, giving me a regretful look.
“How do you know?” I asked.
She pressed a finger to the side of her nose. “Vampires have a good sense of smell, remember? Especially with vertebrates.” She sniffed, then added. “Smells like a rat.”
I recoiled, as if the dead rat was going to reanimate and attack me.
“Oh my God!” I squealed. “Get it out of here!”
Wanda grabbed the box and walked quickly to the door leading to the fire escape. I probably should have gone with her, but I couldn’t stand the idea. Instead, I sat in a chair in the hallway, staring at the elevator. Rats were my number one fear and I’d had recurring nightmares about them ever since I was a child. A dead rat was literally the worst thing someone could send me. Well, second worst. A live rat would have sent me into a catatonic state.
I wondered if my stalker knew about my rat phobia, or if it was just a lucky coincidence for him.
Wanda came back a few minutes later, looking grim. She was holding a piece of paper in between her fingers.
“Are you okay?”
I shook my head. “I’m terrified of those things.”
“Those things?” she asked in confusion.
“Rats.”
“Oh. Well, I got rid of it,” she reassured me. Wanda seemed completely unbothered by the idea of being around a rat.
“Was there a note with this one?” I asked.
“Yeah, the note mostly says the same stuff as the others,” she stopped, and I had the sense there was more.
“What?”
