Close Protection (4 page)

             
It was true that Lena had a little crush on her new bodyguard. But he was gorgeous and she had not gotten laid in a long time, so it seemed to her to be expected. But, as she was always quick to point out to Tia and herself, Ramon’s positive qualities (his eyes, his muscles) did not match up to his negative ones (his spinelessness, his coldness, his apparent neanderthal tendencies).

All of that being the case, Lena resolved to express her disinterest in Ramon by means of subjecting him to any torture that she could consider. Lena had never really had a knack for being mean directly. The force of her character came from her ability to be so delightful and charming that people tripped all over themselves to bend to her will. That was the basis of her plan to get under Ramon’s skin and to get him out of the house.

She started by casually mentioning to her father how much Ramon creeped her out. When Zeus did not take appropriate notice to her comment, she added in passing that he’d made a crude solicitation to her. One that she had rebuked as a matter of decency of course.

She then proceeded to let Ramon know personally just how disinterested she was in him, and that no matter how big his muscles or how brown his eyes, that he was just too much of a meathead croney to be of any interest to her.

That was the hard part out of the way. All that Lena had to do next was to be herself. Ramon would be naturally drawn to her infinite charm and good nature while being simultaneously repelled by the simple conditions of his employment and her wishes. The conflict, Lena hoped, would either tear him apart or force him to one extreme of behavior or another. Zeus would see this behavior, of course, and have no choice but to release Ramon from his service as Lena wished.

It was a good plan. Almost.

Lena made the fatal mistake of underestimating some combination Ramone’s strength of will and utter disinterest in her. It wasn’t a terrible surprise to her. He’d seemed totally unaffected by her stunt at the swimming pool. The same went for her evening run. She had opted for an outfit of compression shorts and a sports bra, one that nearly offended her own nearly nonexistent sense of modesty.

If her attempt had succeeded, there were no signs of it on Ramon’s face, or in his pants. It was about this time that Lena seriously began to question Ramon’s sexuality.

In the face of all of this, Ramon remained steadfast as an enforcer of his father’s rules, along with inventions of his own. “This is all to keep you safe,” he had said, but Lena was beginning to believe that he might be on to her ruse and that some of his ideas might have been exclusively designed to get back at her.

He had expected her, by the next night, to come up with three escape plans from both her bedroom and the living room. None of them were allowed to use the front door, and he was going to actually make her execute two of them at random, one of them in the dark. That wasn’t even the worst of it. She wasn’t allowed to swim until modifications had been made to the walls around the pool, and she had to eat in her room or in the kitchen. She wasn’t safe in the dining room, Ramon said.

All of that on the first day.

By nighttime, Lena was fed up with Ramon’s stupid rules and her utter failure to produce any noticeable result on his psyche, so she decided to resort to drastic measures.

             
Ramon went upstairs to relax for a little while. Lena had really put him through his paces and he was exhausted. Thankfully the little pixie demon had retired for the night, and he had a chance to think. He’d done good work for his first day. There was a long list of improvements that he’d been able to suggest, along with an update in protocol around the house. There was a non-stop procession of goons, thugs, and henchmen coming and going freely, and Ramon wanted to put a stop to that first thing, for his sanity as much as Lena’s safety.

              He didn’t do well around guys like that. He’d known more than a few in his time and they were universally bad news. Quick tempered and severe, they were the sort of people that you didn’t want to get on the bad side of. Trouble was, they didn’t have much of a good side. Most of them weren’t terrible industrious, and they wouldn’t be a problem. By the time that their temper could get out of hand, Ramon would have them eating dirt. It was the smart ones that worried Ramon. All Zeus had to do was piss one of them off, get one of them thinking. Then he had an enemy on the inside with the time and motivation to plan something.

              The dirty secret of bodyguards everywhere is this: no amount of security will prevent, dissuade, or otherwise stop a well planned attack. All you can hope to do is disrupt it. Make sure that the bad guys don’t plan on everything you have up your sleeve.

              That’s where people like Ramon came in. He understood how a bad guy might plan an attack on the house, on Lena, and he knew where the weak points in that plan were. Anybody who wanted to hurt his client was going to have a series of rude surprises every step of the way.

              But what kept him awake at night were the little details. Things he might have missed or overlooked. Assumptions that he’d made that might be invalid. Bad guys that were smarter or more sinister than he was.

              He was up late now, thinking about what his next move was.

              His phone rang, and he picked it up without looking at it. As far as he knew, the only people with the number were high enough priority that he’d take their calls no matter what. He didn’t expect that Lena would be on the other end of the line.

              “I’m working on my escape plans, and I had a few questions.”

              Ramon told her that she could ask whatever she needed, but she insisted on him coming down to her room to work with her in person.

              “It will be better if you can help me hands on,” she had said.

              Ramon hung up the phone and grimaced, wondering what kind of abuse he’d have to endure next.

              He got his things ready for bed and dropped them off in the little closet room across the hall from Lena’s bedroom, then knocked on her door.

              “Come in.”

              He opened the door and scanned the room. It was empty. The balcony door was open, a breeze blowing through and ruffling the sheer curtains. Lena had a notebook open on a small desk on the inside wall of her room where she had been working on her plans. Ramon thought about sitting down, but the chair at the desk was too small for him, it was a relic of Lena’s childhood. Hot pink and covered in glitter and sequins.

              Instead, he stood over the desk, studying Lena’s drawings. They were remarkably thorough and well noted. He was still reading through them when Lena came back inside from the balcony. She moved quietly, and when she locked her bedroom door with a click, she managed to do something few people could and surprised Ramon.

              He was even more surprised to turn around and find that she was not wearing a single thread of clothing.

Making Ramon’s ‘stupid escape plans’ wasn’t as bad as Lena had thought it would be. Actually, it was quite a bit of fun. In school, Lena had always found herself getting really involved with projects. She liked the sort of critical thinking that comes in making a plan and dissecting it, analysing it until you have the purest and most potent result possible.

The best part was putting the final product on paper. She loved the presentation. Loved laying her idea out, finding the execution that made it come to life for her reader.

She’d intended just to half-ass Ramon’s assignment, but by the time she’d finished with her first three plans, she’d spent nearly four hours going over different possibilities, had made detailed lists of assumptions, alternative options, and contingency plans. There were still the last three plans to make for her bedroom, but she figured they could wait until the morning. Maybe once she’d had her way with Ramon, he’d see differently about giving her this useless busy work.She’d invited him down to her room with the express purpose of getting her claws into him. He’d been able to avoid her so far. That was the only way that he could have resisted her.

Well there would be no getting away now.

While he was mindlessly lost in her plans, she locked her bedroom door and palmed the key. If Ramon wanted to get out, he’d have to jump off the balcony.

“Galena,” he said, startled. Lena had to appreciate the man’s resolve. His eyes went straight to hers and did not waver once.

“Call me Lena,” she said with a smile and a step closer.

Ramon swallowed a lump in his throat and pressed his hands to his side. He did not back away, but Lena could see his body tense as though he were about to dive away from her. Instead, he scooped up the notebook and held it between them.

“Lena, these plans are very good. I’m impressed.”

“You want to talk about
this?
” she asked as she ran her finger along her collarbone, over her breast, and down the curve of her side. She took another step towards Ramon. She could smell him in his fear and his eagerness. It was obvious now. He was not disinterested. Not at all. Only pretending to be and doing a damn good job of it.

“You didn’t? I thought you called me down here to help you.”

Lena couldn’t actually tell if he was hopelessly stupid or just pretending to be. She took the last step towards him, pushing the notebook to the side and pulling herself against his body. His personality was so reserved and distant that she’d never really
felt
how big he was. Standing next to him, Lena realized that her eyes only came about halfway up his chest. His chest that now seemed so broad and strong. There was such serious solidity to him. It took her breath away for just a moment.

“Ramon, you know exactly what I called you down for.”

She could feel him through his pants, feel his heart pounding and his breath, fast and light. He took a deep breath and let it out in a slow sight.

“You’re right,” he said, submitting. “I do know.”

“And you’ve wanted it since you got here, haven’t you.” She stood up on her toes, grabbed Ramon by the back of his head and pulled him down as she kissed the exposed skin at his collar and along his neck until she was teasing his earlobe in her lips, letting him hear how heavy he made her breath.

“I did,” he said, whispering softly.

Lena lowered herself to the ground, running her hand over his cheek, just barely rough from a long day.

“Do you want to kiss me?” she asked, letting her other hand slid down his body towards his cock. She wanted to feel how hard he would get for her while she played her game.

“Yes.”

How had Ramon been so stupid? Lena had been playing with him all day, then she invites him to her room at 11:00 and he walked right into her trap. He thought fast and tried to deflect her advances with her notebook, but she pushed his defense away.

He knew that he wouldn’t be able to get out of this by trying to talk to her, but he tried anyway. It only bought him a few seconds, but it was enough. He stayed cool as Lena grabbed him by the shirt collar and began to whisper into his ear, pressing her lithe body against his and kissing him with those sweet lips. Her scent was intoxicating. He wanted her. He could not have her for fear of his job, and this fear kept him focused even as temptation called him.

Lena pulled him down to kiss him. He would have liked so much to kiss those lips. To taste her. To do so much more.

Ramon leaned down to meet Lena’s lips. At the last second, he jerked hastily forward, catching Lena’s delicate nose with his cheekbone. The collision was hard and drew blood in an instant, just as Ramon had hoped. Lena’s hands flew to her face, crimson running between her fingers and down her hands.

“Oh my God, Lena I’m so sorry,” he said, expertly feigning surprise embarrassment.

Lena let out a low moan, something like a scream, and ran to the bathroom. Exactly as Ramon had planned. He was at the balcony door in three steps. It was dark outside. The moon was hiding behind low clouds, but thankfully the Buldovas were vain enough to illuminate their house with dozens of floodlights. Shielding his eyes from the lights, he turned towards the building and looked for the series of handholds that he’d spotted earlier in the day. He didn’t trust the lattice to his right. If it was solid, he could have easily climbed down it to the wall. If it wasn’t solid, he’d fall two stories onto his back and best case scenario, have a lot of explaining to do.

So instead he took a riskier route. Heaving his left leg over the railing and then his right, he lowered himself down to a crouch and reached out for a mortar stone that jutted an inch and a half further from the wall than the one above it. Once he had a firm grip, he lowered his left foot down onto a lighting fixture, and felt around for a hold with his right. When he had it, he brought both hands to the bottom of Lena’s balcony and lowered his body until he was dangling, arms fully extended. It was only a six foot drop to the grass beneath him, although it looked like more. He could risk trying to find another set of handholds, but if he was unable to find one, he’d have to kick off of the wall which would make the shorter drop even more dangerous.

He released his grip and fell to the soft marsh soil. The gardener would have to deal with two deep divots in his lawn tomorrow, but Ramon would rather explain why his footprint was in the mud than why his cock was in Zeus’s stepdaughter.

After wiping his shoes at the door, he snuck back in the house, disabling the security system as he did. Nobody noticed him as he slinked back to his room and locked the door behind him.