of these parties every few months. They always ask for me. Every party is always the same. The married men are on the prowl. They are worse than the single guys.”
“What do you mean?” I growled.
“They are relentless. They think they are god’s gift to women. They do not understand the word no or what marriage vows mean.”
“Assholes,” I murmured. “I’ll make sure they know it is not okay.”
She smiled up at me. “I think you being here is definitely going to change things. I’ve claimed I had a boyfriend at past parties and they don’t care.”
“They will now.”
“There’s one of the partners. I need to talk with him.”
“I’ll go with you,” I insisted.
Her pretty smile made me very happy I showed up. “Thank you. I think he is one of the worst of all.”
That didn’t make me happy. I stuck by her side as she crossed the room. I glared at a few of the men that were checking her out. “Mr. Calhoun,” Evie said. “How is everything?”
The man was looking at her tits. I wanted to throttle him. I cleared my throat to get his attention. He looked at me. I glared back at him. “Everything is fine,” he said, looking away from me.
“Great. This is my boyfriend, Xander. He’s here to help me tonight.”
“I thought you hired caterers,” he said, clearly not happy to have me there.
“I do,” she said. Her smile never slipped. “He’s here to help me put out any of those little fires that tend to pop up with events like these.”
The man’s face turned red. “I’m sorry about that incident. We’ve talked with our team, and I assure you, there will be no more drunken antics that not only embarrass the parties involved but the firm as a whole.”
“I appreciate that. Xander will make sure of it.”
He looked at me once again. I didn’t know what the incident was, but I didn’t like where my mind was going. I was going to ask her. She walked away, and like a good bodyguard, I stayed right beside her.
“What was that about?” I asked in a low voice when we were out of earshot of anyone else.
She shook her head. “It was no big deal.”
“What was no big deal?” I pressed. The more she held back, the angrier I got.
“One of the partners got a little drunk. No, very drunk. He seemed to be struggling with the concept of no.”
“Did he touch you?”
She was blushing. “Nothing terrible. He was pulled away.”
“Why do you keep doing their parties? Why not tell them to fuck off?”
She burst into laughter, quickly covering her mouth. “Because I like my job and I think I’m better able to handle it than anyone else at my company. It was a drunken moment and I don’t think it will happen again.”
“But you wanted me here to make sure it didn’t happen again?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Yes. You are kind of an intimidating man.”
“I certainly can be. If one of these yahoos touches you, I will put him down.”
She touched my arm. “I appreciate that, but don’t go too caveman. I do need to work.”
“I’ll do my best,” I told her.
The looks that were directed her way all night were exhausting. For every leer, I returned a glare. I made it clear she was mine. I couldn’t understand how she could put up with that kind of bullshit. I hoped after tonight, she didn’t have to. Then I realized she probably had to put up with this kind of thing all the time. She was a stunning woman and any man would want to get his hands on her.
“Things are wrapping up. If you want to go, you can. Thank you so much for doing this for me tonight. It really helped.”
“I’m good,” I told her. “I don’t mind sticking around a while longer.”
She smiled and reached up to touch my cheek. “If you don’t mind breaking curfew, we could go out for ice cream. A little token of my gratitude.”
I gently wrapped my fingers around her wrist, keeping her hand against my cheek. “I would love to break curfew.”
She grinned. “Then it’s a date. I need to talk with the caterers and then get with the cleaning staff. I should be ready to go in thirty minutes.”
“I’ll be right here,” I told her. “Trust me, with the amount of alcohol these assholes consumed, I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
She laughed as she walked away. I was serious. I didn’t want