Dropping The Ball - A New Year’s Billionaire Romance - Weston Parker Page 0,39

holding it against my chest as my heart started hammering against my ribs. “Will I be painted?”

He smirked. “Not this time, no. They’ve incorporated enough green into the outfit that they don’t think it’s necessary for your skin to be green too. They want you to be immediately recognizable even to people who aren’t expecting it to be you.”

“So you mean they want me to be recognizable by hopefully everyone?”

“Some are expecting it to be you.” He sighed deeply, pursing his lips and shaking his head. “Nathan Biles is still asking questions and spreading his rumors. We’re working on shutting him down, but there’s only so much we can do.”

“It is his job, I guess.” I just didn’t understand why he was so obsessively focused on only me. “Let’s not think about him. Do you really need me to try this on and do the song right now?”

“They need to be sure of the measurements. It’s quite possibly the most important dress you’ll ever wear, barring your wedding dress one day. It needs to fit perfectly.”

“I don’t mind singing the song, but why? We have a formal rehearsal this afternoon, don’t we?” Since New Year’s was only a couple of weeks away, it was time to start putting on the finishing touches and wrapping things up for this performance.

“Because I said so. That’s why.” He tapped the tip of my nose with a fond smile on his lips. “I told them I had the power to veto any dress they want to put you in, but especially the one for New Years. I want to see for myself if it all works together. It has to be perfect.”

“This is why I love you so much.” I gave his forearm an affectionate squeeze before turning toward the closet. “Can we invite Carter in? I’d love to get his take on it as well.”

Jules paused, his eyes narrowing as his head cocked and he folded his arms over his chest. “You would, huh? Why has it been the most frustrating ten days of your life, young Rylee? Have you been doing naughty things that are contractually forbidden?”

I laughed, rolling my eyes at his protective demeanor. “I’ve been behaving myself perfectly well. For the most part anyway.”

“I thought you meant you were frustrated because you have a bodyguard, but I’m getting the feeling now that you’re frustrated by him and not because he’s a guard. Am I right?”

I chose my words carefully. Jules was one of my best friends and my most trusted adviser, but he also took my safety—and the rules made by those in charge of it—very seriously.

“Tani and I both think that I might need to replace Carter as my bodyguard.”

His brows jumped in surprise, his forehead crinkling. “Why? Has something untoward happened?”

I shook my head immediately. “Nothing untoward and certainly nothing I didn’t want. I’d just like the opportunity to start dating or at least humping the man. He’s perfect for me, Jules. The way I feel when I’m around him…”

“You’re falling in love,” he finished for me, his voice barely above a whisper. “Holy fuck.”

“Don’t say anything to the firm yet, okay? He’s been very good about everything and I don’t want to get him in trouble. There’s just something about him that draws me to him, and I can’t seem to shake it.”

He hesitated for a long minute, searching my gaze before his Adam’s apple moved on a gulp. “If anything happens that makes you question his professionalism and ability to guard you, you need to tell me. Am I clear?”

“Crystal.”

Since Carter had put a stop to things in my kitchen, I’d looked into why rules existed prohibiting bodyguards from dating their clients. He’d said it wasn’t only because of the rules, but we’d never gotten around to talking about what his other concerns were.

I didn’t believe that he could think I was so shallow that I really cared about his childhood or where he came from, or that any of it should stand in our way. Especially when I honestly didn’t give a damn about his background, except of course for wanting to know more about who he was. It definitely wasn’t something that factored into my feelings about him.

Whether he’d grown up as a billionaire or a pauper made zero difference to me. Money, or the lack thereof, didn’t define people. It was the person he was that had drawn me to him, and that was the guy I wanted to get to know better.