Page 26 of The Handyman

“Right.” Rolling my eyes at the assurance, I waved Vanessa off as I straightened with a weary sigh. “Update me on Riley’s situation. There’s been no response yet?”

“Nope, but when I get one, you’ll be the first to know, Reece.”

Leaving the office in a worse mood than I arrived, I shut the door behind me to blow out a huge breath. Walking down the short hall to the waiting area, my frown thinned.

Riley set down her magazine to pop up from the chair. “How’d it go?” The sour look on my face must’ve said it all, and she smiled as she reached to touch my arm. “Bad?”

“I take back what I said earlier. This is worse than working at McDonalds.” Grumbling as I wrapped my arm around her, I squeezed my eyes shut briefly and inhaled sharply. “If I knew this Russian shit would drag on, I wouldn’t have taken the job. Babysitting jobs rarely do anything but lead toworsebabysitting jobs.”

“Really bad, then…” She bit at her lip.

I grunted in answer, but the deal was done, and there would be no point in complaining about it. Besides, how bad could it be? All I had to do was keep one bitch from being killed and she wasn’t even in danger or anything. June was three and a half months away and this was a precautionary measure.

I hope this Darren dude doesn’t expect me to treat his girl like a princess. That’s not my job.

19

Reece

Tapping the wheel as apprehension thrummed in my veins, I sat on the curb with Riley in the passenger seat. I wasn’t in any particular hurry to move.

She glanced over at me. “How does this work, anyway? Private security, I mean.”

“Normally, I’d follow the person around like a dog until they decided they were safe. Since there’s no active danger to this chick, and the guy’s just being paranoid, I’m just making Delilah stay on the couch. If she wants to go out, she can, but from what Vanessa told me, she’s super chill and not very needy.” I didn’t bother to hide my frown as I fished my phone out of the cup holder to swipe open my e-mail. “It’s not actually her that’s in danger, but it’ll still be a huge pain in the ass. From the information I got, this dude, Darren— has been fucking her for a few years, but she always turns him down. I don’t know why, but you’d think they’d either get together or split up already.”

“Maybe, she’s just holding out for him to come to America?”

I grunted in acknowledgment as I copy-pasted Delilah’s number to make a text telling her to hurry the fuck up. According to Vanessa, Malda’s English class ended twenty minutes ago.

“You really hate anyone even remotely associated with that job, don’t you?” Riley asked.

“Yeah, well… I know it’s wrong to judge a whole people on one encounter, butboydid Aleksander make a strong impression. He was such a dick toeveryone, even the people in his own entourage. If it were me, I would’ve just sent him back before he even set foot on the Tarmac. I guess, in that way, I don’t hate Malda as much. At least, she said ‘hi’ to me. That asshole just breezed past like I was a bug waiting in line to be squished under his Italian leather shoe. That fucker—” My voice deepened with agitation just remembering when Aleksander Makovich landed, and I trained my gaze on the wheel as I gripped it tightly. “That set the tone for the whole thing. I wasn’t surprised at all that no progress was made.”

Riley looked thoughtful as she tilted her head. “So, it’s not really surprising that you’re gonna be guarding this girl so the guy can flee Russia?”

Nodding, I tapped the ‘Send’ button with a little more force than necessary, and “Not to mention the paperwork…”

Riley was frowning under furrowed brows when I looked up. “Definitelydon’tmention the paperwork. It’s my archnemesis.” She smiled small, tinging red at the ears.

I shook my head a little. “It doesn’t matter. As long as this chick’s not a pain in my ass, I can deal. Besides, it’s entirely likely that she wouldn’t even be on this side of the country if my boss didn’t want her here. She lives and works in California, so if I can just stick it out fourteen weeks, I’ll probably never see her again.”

“She’s not prettier than me, right?”

This question surprised me.

Riley reached to palm my crotch as she leaned over the center console. Puffing out her lips, she made her eyes big and pouted, and her brows crinkled suggestively. “Tell me the truth.”

“Even if she’s physically prettier than you, you’re better than her.”

Riley’s eyes widened as she pulled back.

I had to actively stop myself from frowning. “You said to tell you the truth…”

“You don’t think I’m the prettiest girl in the world?” She actually sounded a little amused.

I cocked my head as confusion clouded my gaze. Faint anxiety slithered in my veins, but—the fuck was I supposed to say? Riley wanted the truth, so she got the truth. Unless she was lying and expected me to say she was hot as fuck, and maybe I’d get some road head?But that’s dangerous and should be discouraged.“I don’t know what Delilah looks like, so I don’t know if you’re prettier than her.”

She looked so puzzled at my answer.