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Jaxson followed me to the kitchen and stood in the doorway. “We have a new client. A Hollywood studio hired us as a security detail while they film a movie production over the next couple of weeks.”
I lifted the glass of water to my lips and paused. “Paparazzi,” I muttered under my breath.
No wonder the studio needed security. It wasn’t from the townspeople of Breckenridge interfering with filming or harassing its stars.
“Yeah, probably,” Jaxson said. “Mostly, they want us to keep bystanders away and make sure the stars feel safe. There’s one other thing.”
I finished the glass of water and placed it in the sink. “Of course there is.” There was always something else.
“The studio requested that one member of our team take on a security detail off-hours for the main movie star. I think you should be the one to handle the starlet. She’s young, trouble, and you’ve already gotten to know her.”
“What?” My head spun.
“Harper Madison. The girl upstairs in your apartment, she’s the Hollywood starlet. The studio mentioned that she might not be on board with a bodyguard, but it’s a requirement for the film to get financed and the insurance company to greenlight the picture. Apparently, she has a knack for getting into trouble.”
Shit.
It was too early to hear this about Harper. “You don’t say.”
Jaxson stepped closer. “Listen, I wouldn’t even ask you to do this, but I saw the way she looked at you, opened up to you, and I assume she trusts you.”
“She’s not going to trust me when she finds out I’ve been hired as her personal bodyguard,” I said. She didn’t seem the type to appreciate that I’d been hired to look out for her.
Maybe I was wrong, and she’d be ecstatic, but we had to keep things professional between us.
I didn’t sleep with my colleagues or clients.
Jaxson exhaled a heavy breath, his jaw tight. “I suggest you don’t tell her. Invite her out to dinner for tonight, after the film shoot, and tour her around town. Show her a good time but not too good of a time.”
“We had a couple of drinks last night. That was it,” I said.
I didn’t go into detail about the men chasing her down with the cameras outside of her shitty motel room.
Did Jaxson need to hear about that? Maybe if he was her security detail, but he was putting me in charge.
“I know. I came upstairs and didn’t figure a girl sleeping on your couch was someone you slept with. It’s why I trust you with this security detail.”
Great.
As much as I wanted it to be me, I also wasn’t ready for the drama that would ensue. “You want me to be her bodyguard.”
She was going to kill me.
I just had to make sure that she never found out that I’d been hired to protect her.
“Yes.” Jaxson grew silent as we heard the upstairs door squeak and shut.
Harper was awake and on her way downstairs.
Jaxson stepped around the corner and into the kitchen and nodded for me to step out into the restaurant.
Her soft footsteps trampled over the wooden floorboards.
“Good morning,” I said, greeting her.
She had cleaned up pretty well for sleeping on a sofa all night and having one too many drinks.
“Morning. Do you mind driving me back to the motel? I need to get my car.”