The Assassin’s Billionaire Bodyguard – Chapter 20
Isabella stretched as she completed her run after landing on her front step Thursday night and rested her hands upon her knees, panting hard. It was just coming on seven and she had been running for an hour.
“Are you out of your mind?”
She looked up in surprise at Cam standing in front of her, dressed in a three-piece suit, looking fresh as a daisy. “You weren’t supposed to be here until nine. It’s only seven.”
protection?” his tone was furi
me, not kill me.”
re if he can’t have you nobody can.”
he’s been served.”
khail, it’s you he’s angry at and not me. He thinks you’ve poisoned my mind against him.”
o where his car was pulled to the curb. “Where is yours?”
and pulled her key to unlock the door to her house. She wrapped her hand around the doorknob and then stepped into the house, ignoring him as he followed close on her heels.
myself.”
bit of karate your sister-in-law has taught you isn’t protecting yourself.” His voice rais
kitchen, opened her freezer, and pulled a frozen dinner from it and threw it in the microwave.
take you out for dinner,” he said as he w
vgeni’s plan.”
you being so antago
told you I was com
ited.”
’t have. I’m busy.”
angry at me?”
st for me. You’ve known me just over a week. You have spent a handful of hours with me, and you think you know me better than my own family? Do you think Clara or Elian know me less than you? My family,” she held his gaze furiously, “my family knows me better than you and they trust I am safe. Why do you think after ten days, you get to dictate what they wouldn’t?”
risk.”
alyze risk every single day of my life. I can tell you what the risk is of me slipping in my bathtub, tripping over my shoelaces, falling in front of a bus, or getting killed by a homicidal ex-boyfriend!” She rounded the counter and shoved his chest angrily. “I am not afraid of getting hurt Torres. I’m afraid of not living. I’m afraid of living in a bubble. I do not need protec
ella,” he reached for her, but she steppe
one. I’m going to eat my dinner, take a shower, do some work and cuddle with my dog.”
o be careful.”
ctive father figure, go find your kid. I’m not her.”
a face and pushed his fingers through his hair. “Every time
this guy. Better to end things now before she was a simpering basket case.
efore, I don’t need protecting. You are not my bodyguard! My family respects me enough to know I can take care of myself. Why can’t you?”
t Isabella.” He was becoming frustrated.
now!” She glared at him, “do you know where he is?”
is head.
d they are having a family dinner. Clara gave me the okay to go for my run, once Ben’s team personally verified,
stepped towards her,
ella.”
it. I’m done with this Cam. I have enough overprotective people in my life, and I don’t need another.” She twisted her ponytail around her hand absentmindedly. “I have a good life Cam. I don’t have a need for a man in my life to make it complete. I complete my own life. I spend my days analyzing risk and estimating reward and I will tell you the rewards in my life far outweigh the risk of it. Having you in my life could abs
anger.”
calm. You need to leave.”
ter if you don’t.”
er house without another word, and she bent down and scooped up Casper into he
sighed. “Why is he such an overbearing a*s?”
dinner.”
with excitement.
mission.
amily if she didn’t go with him. Isabella had felt a kinship with the young woman considering her current situation. The man, in his twenties, had decided the teenage girl, only seventeen, was not allowed to break up with him. When Isabella and her team had caught up with them, they had just checked into a motel on the side of the r
and then getting the girl to safety. Bellona had completed a debrief on the team and then they were dispatched back home.
e’d gotten home and the more she had thought of Cam coming to visit her this evening the more excited she had been.
and so she had gone for a run when her exercise regime had not done much to quell her disquiet.
am Torres treating her like a child or one of his assignments.
brother.
Isabella, what’
advice.”
Clara.”
he was crying.
” Concern echoed over the phone.
for a run without having an armed guard.” She sighed, “I threw him out.”
Don’t blame you,” he said mockingly, “
e enough people worrying and fretting over me already.”
r.
“Yes.”
m to separate his personal life from all the crap he sees every day.”
me as a helpless victim or someone he needs to protect? Clara doesn’t treat you like a moron. How did you convince her you didn’t need to run every single action past her?”
ill run everything by her, and I have security accompany me to and from work every day. Even when I ride my bike, most times, one of Ben’s teams follows in the distance.” He was quiet, “if I had half the skills, you have Clara wouldn’t even balk if I walked through the worst borough in all New York State wearing a “come mug me” sign. You’re tough Isabella and strong.”
me off.”
how to take care of yourself.”
sabella, what are you really calling me for?”
know Clara was the one?”
ted me. I never wanted her to go, and I would have done anything to be with her.”
an and he’s never dated anyone for more than a months here or there. He’s commitment phobic, probably because of the work he does. Elian, I’m so far out of my league.”
.”
rt was wanting but she knew she could never have. As she ended her call with her brother, she knew he was right. It