Alpha Male Incorporated Under Your Protection (2 page)

Damn Zander
! He knew how much he hated being called a coward. Now, Jax was actually thinking about taking Frank up on his offer.

****

“I can’t believe you tried to hire me a bodyguard.” Sahara “Coco” Chantel complained as she closed the journal in which she wrote all of her song lyrics. Tossing the thick black book on the mattress, she got off the bed and stood in front of her godfather. She was upset as hell that Frank had gone behind her back and talked to another person about her stalker, especially a bodyguard. Why did he go and do that to her?

“The letters and emails are probably just from an overzealous fan, at the most just a lonely person who wants to get some attention and decided to pick me. I’m not taking any of the threats seriously and neither should you.”

. This wasn’t a crazy person who was going to be hiding in the bushes watching her every move. She was getting more fame with her new song, but she wasn’t anywhere near Alicia Keys fame yet.

“Don’t read more into it than there is, Uncle Frank.”

Frank was her godfather, but she felt more like his daughter than his goddaughter. She’d moved in with Frank when she was thirteen years old because her parents died in a car crash.

Sahara never thought that she would get over the searing pain of losing both of her parents at the same time, but she did with the help of her Uncle Frank. He was the one who introduced her to music and her love for it had grown.

Now, she was on her way to being on the Top 100 Billboard charts. She had already performed on a couple of local televisions. If everything worked out okay she was scheduled to be on Saturday Night Live at the end of the year. So, why couldn’t her Uncle Frank understand that she wasn’t concerned about the threats?

Yeah, she might have an overly attached fan at the moment, but that didn’t mean the person was really going to come after her. Most of the time letters like she had been receiving came from a person with too much time on their hands. Sahara believed that everything would die down in a couple of days and then she could get back to doing what she loved the most...writing and performing music.

“Can you please call and tell this Jax not to come?” Sahara complained. She wasn’t ready to deal with a strange man watching her every single move all of the time. “I really don’t need a babysitter. I’m almost twenty-six years old. I can handle anything that comes my way. Don’t you remember how you raised me to be independent?”

Frank eyed her as he rubbed his hand across his bald head. “Yes. I remember that conversation quite well. But, I didn’t think you would decide to take my advice and use it now. However, you don’t have to worry. Jax turned down my job offer.”

“Thank God!” Sahara mumbled under her breath as she sat back down on her bed and picked up the journal. “I’m glad he did because I might have turned up my bitch meter another notch and scared him off.”

Laughing, Frank shook his head at her as he turned to leave the room. “I don’t think you would have caused Jax to do anything that he didn’t want to do.”

“How can you be sure?” Sahara asked looking up from the newest song she was writing.

“I’ve known Jax a long time and nothing rattles his cage. Sometimes, I think he has ice water running through his veins. I swear I’ve never seen him blink an eye at any sign of danger. And he has special...abilities. That’s why I thought he would be the perfect man to watch over you while you were out on the road performing.”

“If you say so,” Sahara said as she looked away from her uncle and back down at the current lyrics she was having a huge issue with.

“I still think you need to get someone to watch over you, sweetheart. You’re getting more and more famous since doing those two late night talk shows and you know I’m right. This person could be very dangerous. Please let me help you,” Frank pleaded. He paused at the bedroom door. “It would kill me if something happened to you. You’re the only family I have and I want to keep you safe to the best of my ability.”

Sahara heard the fear in her Uncle Frank’s voice and she felt bad. He was only trying to help her and she was fighting him so hard. She should give this more thought because he wouldn’t be this worried about her safety if a real threat wasn’t involved.

“Okay, how about I think about it tonight and give you my answer in the morning?” Sahara suggested, hoping Frank would agree and let it go for the rest of the night.

Frank turned away from the door and looked at her like he didn’t quite believe her. “Are you telling me the truth? Will you really think about getting a bodyguard? If you are, I’ll call Jax and see about talking him into taking the job. I know I can get him to take the position despite the problems he gave me earlier.”

Sahara wasn’t ready to give Frank her answer, but if she didn’t tell him something right now he wasn’t going to leave and she needed time alone to work on her music. He was becoming too much of a distraction to her thought process.

“Okay, call Jax and see if he can come by here tomorrow. After I talk to him, I’ll make a decision but I need to finish working on this new song.” Sahara tapped her pen against the journal hoping her uncle would finally get the hint and leave.

“Alright, good. Have fun working on your song and don’t worry so much over it. I know it will be wonderful just like the rest of them.” Uncle Frank walked out the door shutting it with a click behind him.

Sahara laid her pen down on the bed next to her leg. She wasn’t going to be able to think about a song now, not with her mind on this Jax person her Uncle Frank wanted to hire. She could only imagine what he would look like. He probably looked like he would belong with the secret service—dark suit, military haircut, and shades. Maybe the addition of a bodyguard would piss off her ‘fan’ even more than the person already was. Truly, before now; she wasn’t taking all of the letters, cards and emails seriously, but after hearing the alarm in Frank’s voice she might have to rethink her decision.

Chapter Two

Walking around Frank’s designer decorated den, Jax’s eyes wandered over the numerous honors on the wall his friend had received over the years because of his dedication to his former neighborhood as a community activist.

Jax would never forget the first time he saw Frank Chantel. He’d been on television campaigning for a city commissioner seat. His speech had been so inspiring and uplifting, it sent Jax down to Frank’s campaign headquarters and he instantly volunteered his help.

They’d hit it off instantly as friends and their bond had only grown over the years. Frank was one of the few people that he trusted with his secret. He knew Frank wouldn’t betray him and he was right.

His deep friendship with Frank was the only reason that he was even considering taking the job as his goddaughter’s bodyguard. .

If he was honest with himself, at first he had missed being out with clients and protecting them, but now he liked running his business instead of being out in the ‘
heat of the action’
anymore.

Are you sure it wasn’t Zander calling you a coward that made you come here today to see Frank and his goddaughter
, his mind taunted. Jax shoved the unexpected thought from his head when his keen hearing picked up on footsteps coming towards the den. Spinning around, he was expecting to see Frank but his heart caught in the middle of his chest when he spotted the most stunning woman in the world standing behind him.

She was a little bit below average height, maybe around five feet five inches. Short black hair framed an oval face covered at the moment by an oversized pair of sunglasses. Her lips, however, were full and lush and her skin was the perfect shade of mocha brown that made him want to reach out and touch it. Her sleeveless white t-shirt was tucked into a pair of black jeans that molded her hips and thighs like a second skin. The look was finished off by a pair of black leather thigh high boots.

Jax hated that he couldn’t see his mystery woman’s eyes because of the dark sunglasses perched on her cute nose. He wanted to walk over there and take them off her face, but he couldn’t so he just pushed the sudden and surprising impulse back down. Frank might not like hearing that he touched some woman in his house that he didn’t know. This woman could be Frank’s girlfriend for all that he knew because his buddy was known to date younger women.

“Are you Jax?” she asked in a soft smoky voice that gave him an instant hard on.

Who in the hell was the woman and why was her presence having such a strange effect on him
?

“Yes, I am. Who are you?” Jax answered as he came across the room and extended his hand for a handshake. God, he was dying to touch her. He needed to touch her for some odd reason and this was the only way he could think of doing it without completely freaking her out.

Taking off her sunglasses, his mystery woman met him halfway and shook his hand. The moment their hands touched his got an electric shot that raced through his body making his cock swell and grow another inch in his jeans. Jax had gotten so utterly lost in the sensation along with her captivating rich chocolate eyes that he almost missed hearing her name.

“Hi, I’m Sahara Chantel, but my professional name is Coco. I’m Frank’s goddaughter. I believe he wants to hire you as my bodyguard.”

Jax’s eyes narrowed at the beautiful young woman standing before him as her name started to register in his head. He’d just heard one of her songs on the radio on his way over here. With a voice like hers, Sahara was a very talented singer with a promising career in her future. It was a shame that she already had a stalker before she even got her feet wet in the deep end of the pool.

“What do you think about that?” he asked as he brushed his thumb over her pulse trying to test to see if she was attracted him. He got the answer that he was waiting for when her pulse skipped a beat.

The corner of Jax’s mouth lifted up into a smile as he continued to stare into her eyes. Good, the attraction was mutual. He usually didn’t take a job when he was sexually attracted to a female client, because it was hard to maintain a professional distance when he was drawn to the person he was hired to protect and he could make mistakes. But he might have to make an exception for Sahara. There was something about her presence that was pulling him to her and he couldn’t let it go. He had to find out the reason and the only way to do that was to spend time with her.

Now, he wasn’t too sure what Frank would think about his interest in his goddaughter, but it wasn’t like he was going to toss Sahara down on the nearest bed anytime soon...unless she wanted him to.

Jax couldn’t believe the little girl Frank took in and then adopted all those years ago had grown up into such a beautiful woman. He’d only taken a quick glimpse of Sahara once when he had come over to tell Frank he was leaving town for a while. She’d been inside the living room sitting on the couch reading a book. Sure, she’d been a cute kid back then but nothing close to the breathtaking woman standing in front of him.

“Honestly, I don’t think I need a bodyguard,” Sahara said as she removed her hand from his.

He missed her warmth instantly. What was going on with him? Why was his body reacting this way to her? He was never this attracted to a woman after a first meeting and in his three hundred plus year he had met a lot of females

Jax thought about grabbing Sahara’s hand again, but he didn’t do it. No...he wouldn’t move too fast. He didn’t even know if Sahara had boyfriend or not, but it didn’t matter because he wanted her and he would get her.

After meeting and talking to Sahara, the idea of being a bodyguard again after so many years made him realize he didn’t want to be doing anything else with his time.

“Uncle Frank is worrying about nothing,” Sahara complained. “I really don’t think I’m in any real danger, but he won’t listen to me. I was surprised when he told me that he’d spoken to you. I’m sure that after the two of you talk again in a few minutes you’ll both see how right I am about not needing any kind of protection.”

Sahara didn’t understand the real and serious jeopardy her life might actually be in from this stalker. There was an aura about Sahara that made his need to protect her greater than it should have been since she was virtually a stranger to him.

”Why don’t you tell me about the threats and then I can decide if you should be scared or not?” Jax suggested.

Moving away from him, Sahara sat down on a seat by a bay window and placed her sunglasses next to her. “The first letter I got in the mail over two weeks ago stated a voice like mine should be kept close and not shared with anyone else.”

“That does sound like a threat to me,” Jax said.

Sahara glanced at him from the corner of her eye and then shrugged her shoulder. “I got another email a couple of days ago. He promised me that he wouldn’t let anyone get too close to me, because he was protecting me from the bad guys. It didn’t matter that I didn’t see him because he saw me.”

The hair on the back of Jax’s neck stood up at the last comment. The threat meant that Sahara’s stalker knew her routine and most likely had known it for a while.

“I have to agree with Frank again about this. You do need protection from whoever is sending those emails and letters to you. Honestly, you should have hired a bodyguard a long time ago.”

Sahara shook her head. “I don’t agree at all. I think you and my Uncle Frank are both wrong. I think I’m pretty safe. I haven’t had anyone approach me yet when I’m out with friends. I’m not famous enough to warrant a stalker.” She looked at him like she was trying to make him understand her logic despite the fact it truly didn’t make one bit of sense.

“Sahara...”

“Coco, I would rather you call me Coco,” she corrected.

No, he wasn’t going to call her by her stage name. Coco was an illusion and he liked the way Sahara’s real name felt coming off his tongue.

“Sahara,” Jax continued and gave her a sharp look not to correct him again, “those letters and emails are the beginning stages of a stalker and you do need to have a
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