Rock Your Body: A BWWM Romance (11 page)

CHAPTER 8

Tamra put down her spoon, thankful for the culinary trip down memory lane. She missed her mother in that moment. “Anything?”

“Yes, anything. I have no secrets.”

Tamra’s mind went to something dirty. A true testament to her need for her vibrator. She hadn’t brought it. Damn. She didn’t usually think sexy thoughts. She had no use for romance and she hadn’t found a way to have a friend with benefits.

So her vibrator was her best friend. She let out a breath.

“How much are you worth?”

Colin laughed. “From anyone else I’d find that insulting, but from you, not at all. You have no interest in me yet, so you aren’t fishing for details.”

“Will you answer the question?”

“Yes. I’m worth thirty million dollars.”

Tamra was glad that she wasn’t sipping her wine. She might have spit it out all over him. She hadn’t made that much money in her whole lifetime.

“Is that more or less than you thought?” he asked.

“I really had no idea.”

“Between royalties and other ventures, that’s a ballpark figure. I don’t assess the number, but once a year.”

“You do it yourself?”

“Yes. I have an accountant, but I like to keep an eye on what’s going on.”

“Don’t trust your accountant?”

“Actually I do. Most of the people who work for me are childhood friends. Those are the people I can trust. I just like to have an idea where I am.”

“For your ego?”

“No, to see if I can trim places, and just to have a feel for what’s going on. Too many stories of rich stars blowing all of their money on stupid things.”

“So, you’re rich. Don’t drink or do drugs. Do you love your mother?”

He smiled as if thinking of her. “I love my Ma and my Da. I wish I could see them more, but they moved back to Ireland.”

“You bought them a house.”

“I did. They live well over there. I get to see them a few times a year.”

“So, rich, handsome, loves his mother. What’s the catch? You can have anyone in the world. Some supermodel or movie star. Why me?”

“Ah, I see your line of questioning now.” He shrugged. “There’s something so real about you that models and movie stars don’t have. Besides, I think it might be tough to have two big egos together. It’s never worked for me before.”

“You want to be the center of attention.”

“In essence, yes and no. I put a lot of effort into my career and supporting someone else in an insane business like mine might be too much for a relationship.”

“So you’re interested because I’m not a star. I’m some nobody.”

“You’re not a nobody. You’re good at what you do. Professional. Serious. What you do is no more or less important than what I do. You just take it very seriously. I like that quality. I’m serious about what I do, too.”

She cocked her head, mulling that over. She wasn’t satisfied with the answer. “I still don’t get it. Why me?”

“There’s some element of this that is unexplainable and you’ll just have to believe that I don’t have an ulterior motive.”

***

The man from the restaurant left with a large tip from Colin. The food had been amazing. The company even better.

He and Tamra sat on the couch overlooking Manhattan. She swirled her wine in her glass. “I’m very full.”

“Good.”

She was slumped on his couch, the wine glass almost resting on her stomach. He had no designs on her tonight other than kissing her. If he went any farther without a green light, he’d get his ass kicked.

He was sure.

Though at the moment, she only looked like a threat to his libido. She wasn’t drunk. Just sated, he assumed. Probably more relaxed than he had ever seen her.

“I can see why you like this place.”

“Oh?”

“The view is great. I’m not a city person. I love trees and grass, but this isn’t bad either. Up here it is as if we aren’t in the city. We’re on some island in the sky.”

“How whimsical.”

She laughed. “Must be the wine.”

“You didn’t drink more than a glass.”

“I know, but it’s sort of how I get. Better than maudlin.”

“So if I need to break down your barriers, I give you wine?”

“If you want an unfair advantage,” she said.

“No, I want your surrender to be because you’ve chosen it.”

“Surrender, huh?”

She laughed.

“I want you to choose it. I would never insult you by demanding it. I want you to want to be there as much as I want you to be there.”

“Do you have any filters?”

“No. I didn’t get this far in my career because I waited for things. I went and got them. Can’t do that with a woman. On the other hand, I can make my intentions clear.” He leaned closer to her ear. “And I always get what I want.”

She shivered. “Uh. That’s kind of hot.”

He laughed. “Now, who has no filter?”

“Right. And I’m going to regret all this in the morning so I’m going to do something else not like me, but something that I won’t mind thinking about tomorrow.”

She stood, her hands out, as if testing her legs.

“What’s that?”

“I’m going to take a long hot bath in that amazing tub in my bathroom.”

His mouth went dry. Now he’d have the vision of her wet and soapy. He watched her walk out, wishing he could join her.

***

Tamra didn’t feel tipsy, but she didn’t feel right. Not bad, but she would so regret her conversation with Colin. She had to admit she was attracted to him, but she was still willing to take one for the company and stay as his bodyguard.

Even though she wanted to guard his body up close. Naked preferably.

“
Where are these thoughts coming from?”

She ran the water into the giant bathtub and then poured some bubble bath into it. She took off her clothes, folding them on top of her suitcase. She’d already pulled out the t-shirt she was sleeping in.

Not too short. Not too long. She’d never thought of herself as sexy. In her neighborhood that had no cache. It was all about what you could do for someone or how many babies you could pop up.

Not interested in having children, but very interested in going to college, she was an outcast.

Her friends had been so few that when she reached college and made friends she was heady from it all. Not that she’d stayed in touch with any of them besides Kelly. That woman knew her darkest secrets.

The tub filled. Tamra slid gently into it, her muscles sighing. This felt great.

That’s when she remembered she had to call Kelly about what she’d seen on the video. How had she forgotten that?

She’d brought her phone into the bathroom so she didn’t have to leave the warm soapy water.

Kelly picked up right away. “Hey Tam.”

“Hey. I’m in New York, but I told you that.”

“Was there something else?”

“Yeah. I saw something strange on the video of Colin’s house. This was earlier when we found the front door open.”

“Okay. What was it?”

“The person was covered up as if they knew we were filming. The cameras are not obvious and the person didn’t seem to look for them on the video.”

“So, how did they know they were there?”

“Right. I feel this is an inside job, but only a few people knew about the camera setup.”

“Okay. Any ideas?”

“Actually, one huge one. I think that this is a publicity stunt.”

“You think Colin is making this up?”

“Not Colin.” Hopefully she didn’t say that too fast. She really didn’t think he was part of this, but someone on his staff was. “He genuinely didn’t feel there was a threat until this door incident.”

“No way to I.D. the person?”

“No. Nondescript clothing. Hood over his head. I know it’s a guy, but that’s all I know.”

“Why don’t you send the tape to the lab? Maybe they can sort it out.”

“Yeah. I’ll do that when I got out.”

“Out of what?”

Tamra giggled. She felt silly. “I’m in the huge tub in Colin’s penthouse.”

“Must be nice. You are getting some serious fringe benefits.”

If it were up to Colin, she’d be getting regular sex. She chose not to mention that to Kelly.

“It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.”

***

Sean, Colin’s driver, took them to the door of the building that housed Perfumer Solutions. Tamra got out and looked around. No one noticed them, except for a woman, really a young girl, standing at the doorway. There was no doorman to deflect her.

She made eye contact with the girl, then whispered to Colin. “Stay put.”

The girl ran over to where Tamra stood. Tamra immediately went onto the balls of her feet.

“Is that Colin Brennan,” the girl said.

She squealed in a high enough octave that Tamra thought the glass doors on the building would break. She grabbed the girls arm. “Be quiet.”

“Oh, shhh. Right. Is it?”

Tamra was surprised by the girl’s compliance. “It is. If you be quiet, and go into that building’s lobby, you can meet him.”

The girl glanced over her shoulder then nodded. Tamra let her go and the girl went in the front door.

“You can get out. You have a fan waiting for you.”

“Okay.”

Colin followed her into the lobby. He greeted the girl. “Hey Carie.”

“Hi, Colin. It’s been awhile.”

“You know her?” Tamra said, as she looked around the lobby.

No one paid them any attention. She blessed the cynicism of New Yorkers at the moment. They were not easily impressed.

“This is Carie, President of my fan club. We skype once in a while.”

“I wanted to ask a few questions,” Carie said.

She didn’t seem like a threat to Colin, so Tamra let them chat for a few minutes. “Your appointment is in five minutes.”

“Right. Thanks. Carie, did you get enough info?”

“I did, thanks, Colin.”

“How did you know I was going to be here?”

“I didn’t. I just happened to be walking by.”

Tamra didn’t believe her, but she’d do some research on Carie while Colin was in his meeting.