LIGHTER Read online

  I continued past him as if he weren’t standing there. He’d know who I was soon enough considering he’d be working for me.

  Taking the elevator down to the front lobby, I made my way outside. The Derosa & Lincoln sky-rise building was in Center City, Philadelphia, on one of the busiest damn streets in town. Everything was there: the best restaurants, the finest shops, and the richest damn people you’d ever meet. I didn’t fit in. I was a street rat from Camden, born and raised. It was nearly an hour subway ride back home, which was going to make this job a long commute, not to mention how far I’d be away from Chloe. I didn’t like it, not at all. I found the idea of being far away from her unsettling because I worried about her so much.

  Yes. Me.

  I’d become a worrier, and I couldn’t help it. When she batted her eyes, I melted into a big pile of goo. Call me soft or whatever, but I didn’t know a man who could say no to her.

  But with the new salary, things could be better for us. I had to set aside all those uneasy feelings and be the man. She was my life and my first priority. No more dicking around.

  Fishing in my coat pocket, I pulled out my cell phone to check the time. Chloe was with the sitter and had to be picked up by three o’clock. I only had a few hours left to house hunt, or apartment hunt, whatever you want to call it. I needed a place we could move to quickly, and with minimal money, someplace that Chloe would love.

  Two

  Lighter

  From somewhere down the hallway, I could hear the sound of my father’s voice. I was supposed to be up already and prepared to meet my new head of security. Unfortunately, I’d been up half the night fighting a terrible migraine. They were a curse. I’d been having one or more a week since I was thirteen and had yet to find a medicine that would relieve them. When it happened, I had to just bury myself in the bed and shut out the world.

  The sound of footsteps grew closer to my door.

  Surely he wouldn’t bring the new person in my room. Would he?

  Oh, who was I kidding. He did exactly what he wanted, when he wanted.

  “Lighter,” my father called out as he knocked on my door.

  “Yeah, Dad. Come in,” I answered, pulling the blanket farther up my body.

  The small amount of daylight coming from the hall was just enough for me to see my dad’s face. The room-darkening curtains he’d had installed in my bedroom kept it pitch-black, just the way I liked it. If you’ve ever suffered through the wrath of a migraine, you’d appreciate the darkness too.

  “Are you still in bed?”

  “I had a rough night,” I admitted.

  “Another migraine?” he asked with concern.

  “Yeah.” I sat up slowly in the bed, keeping the covers wrapped around me. He was alone, thank goodness.

  He moved closer to my bed. “Your new security detail is in my office waiting to meet you.”

  “Okay,” I sighed. “But do I have to get dressed up? Can I just slip on some pants?”

  “Sure, pumpkin. Come to my office when you’re dressed.”

  I nodded. I was a daddy’s girl and proud of it. I wasn’t the entitled, self-righteous brat that everyone accused me of being. Very few people knew the real me, and I liked to keep it that way. My mother was a famous actress, and my father was the top litigator in the state, not to mention the chain of hotels he owned from New York to Maine. I guess coming from a wealthy family guaranteed me the role of uptight socialite. But I hated the spotlight, and I despised the judgment that people passed on me as if they had a clue who I was. It was always worse in Philly. When I was at school in New York, the paparazzi didn’t bother me too much. I was just one tiny fish in a sea of celebrities. Aside from a couple of bad incidents that I never wanted to relive, it was mild there, at least compared to here.

  I stood up slowly, making sure I didn’t make any sudden movements. The day after a migraine felt like a hangover from hell. Everything hurt, even my hair. I hit the button on my remote to flick on my TV. I wasn’t about to turn on the overhead light. My poor eyes weren’t ready. From the cherry armoire, I pulled out a pair of joggers and slipped them on under my T-shirt. There was no reason for me to put on a bra. This meeting would be brief. Like the others before, I was sure that the new head of security would be an older man, around my dad’s age. They usually were. I didn’t bother searching for a brush or even looking in the mirror. I just wanted to get this over with and get my butt back to bed.

  Whoever he or maybe even she was, was going to see the pathetic me today. I slipped on a pair of sunglasses and followed the smell of cigars that led toward my dad’s office.

  Knocking once, I opened the door.

  I walked over to his large desk, keeping my head tucked low. There were two other men in the room, but I hadn’t gotten a good look at either one of them. My eyes were still filled with sleep and half-open from the soreness.

  “Lighter here isn’t feeling too well, I apologize,” my father said on my behalf. He was in a very good mood if he was apologizing to the help. That kind of thing didn’t happen often. “Honey, I’d like you to meet the two men who have joined your security team. This is Trim and Slick.”

  I mentally rolled my eyes. Why couldn’t they use their real names?

  “Hello,” I spoke lightly, and they each said hello back. The room went uncommonly silent, and I felt my dad nudge my arm. Slowly, I lowered my glasses, letting in the light from the room. It took a moment for everything to come into focus, but when it finally did… holy shit.

  A man stood in front of me with his hand stretched out, waiting for me to shake it. Yes, he was ruggedly good-looking, but my eyes seemed fixated on the other man, who appeared to be much younger. Maybe mid to late twenties at best—an unusual age to be hired by my father. His arms were covered in tattoos, and his chocolaty-brown eyes were dark and set deep inside his chiseled face. Everything about him was ruggedly beautiful, including his deliciously full lips.

  “I’m Trim,” said the guy whose hand I was still oddly shaking.

  Pulling away in haste, I said, “Nice to meet you.”

  “Trim will be your second,” my dad informed me. I knew what that meant. I’d had a security team in place for the past several years. Second-in-command meant that the other guy who stood next to him was the leader, the head of my security team. “This is Slick,” Dad said. “He is your first.”

  I stood there gaping at him on unsteady legs. He was huge. He had broad shoulders, and tattoos that poked out from under the collar of his shirt. He was easy on the eyes, and I found it hard to look at him for too long because he was frightening. Like in a “I’ll break your damn legs“ sort of way.

  “Lighter.” My name rolled off his tongue in a deep, daunting way as he reached out his hand to me.

  I swallowed hard and placed my small hand inside of his. I was expecting him to have a firm, bone-crushing squeeze, but he didn’t. Instead, it was light and lasted about two seconds before he quickly pulled away.

  He may have been good-looking, but he was a cold and timid man. For a second there I was wondering what my dad had been thinking when he’d hired this guy, but then I saw it. He was all business, and that’s exactly what my dad preferred. Let’s just hope that these guys lasted longer than the last team I had.

  Or at least hope they were better at the job.

  As Dad rambled off a list of orders and instructions, I just stood there and shifted uncomfortably. I was still in sleep shirt, with no bra, and I hadn’t even brushed my teeth. I must’ve looked terrible. But neither guy even glanced back in my direction.

  I asked to be excused as my dad continued to drill them on the ins and outs of the business. I knew the whole routine backward and forward. I’d been through twelve security changes in the past four years. One day they’d be there, and the next day gone. They were obviously disposable, and being disposed of in this world came easy.

  When I stepped out into the hallway and the cool air hit me, I remembered again that I wasn
’t wearing a bra.

  Good grief.

  I stood there in front of Mr. Hot and Broody like that. There was no telling what he thought of me.

  I blew a breath of air in the palm of my hand and sniffed.

  Yikes.

  I rushed back to my room and went straight to the en suite. I wasn’t coming back out of that bedroom until I looked less like a homeless person and smelled like a bed of fresh freaking flowers.

  My cell phone rang from my nightstand, so I ran in to grab it before it quit. I was hoping it was my mom. She was in LA filming, and I hadn’t talked to her for several days.

  Swiping at the screen, I hit the speakerphone button.

  “Hello,” I called out as I carried the phone with me to the bathroom.

  “Baby.”

  “Uh, hey.” My shoulders fell. It wasn’t my mother. It was Landon.

  Landon was my pretend boyfriend. I know having a pretend boyfriend sounds crazy, but it was meant only for convenience. Conveniently, I wish I’d never started it. We’d gone to prep school together in New York, and we used to be close friends. It was a long story. But for years he accompanied me to everything as my long-standing boyfriend. It had made my life a lot easier at the time. After graduation, we didn’t really part on the best of terms.

  “I was just calling to check in on you.”

  I released a deep breath. He could be a bit overwhelming sometimes. “I’m okay, I guess. I’m about to lie back down though. I’m not feeling too good,” I lied.

  “Another migraine?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh, well, okay. I just wanted to… I mean we—” He sighed heavily. “Can you just call me later?”

  “Sure,” I said. But it was another lie.

  “Okay, bye.”

  “Bye, Landon.”

  I pressed the red dot on the screen of my phone and glanced up at my reflection.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” I said, as if my reflection was a whole other person. Sometimes it felt that way. Like I was two different people trapped in one body, like I had an On/Off switch and could turn it on in front of the camera. It could be exhausting.

  After finishing up in the bathroom and slipping on something a little less comfortable, my belly started to rumble. I hadn’t eaten since seven the night before.

  When I walked out of my bedroom door, my father and the two brawny security guys were walking in my direction.

  “Lighter, sweetie, I was just about to show them where your bedroom is.” My Dad was almost a foot shorter than Slick, who stood at his side.

  “Okay,” I replied. I turned around and opened the door to my bedroom, stepping inside.

  It was tidy for the most part, besides my unmade bed and… Shit, I’d left my dirty clothes on the floor, and I could see my lacy white underwear on top of the pile. I cringed, hoping no one would notice. Usually I didn’t mind for my security detail to see my bedroom, but this time was different. There was a sexy man glaring at my personal things, not some old man.

  “I was just going to go and grab a bite to eat from the kitchen,” I said to anyone who was listening, my arms moving around like I was an incompetent idiot.

  Slick made me nervous. He was looking at me—I mean really looking at me. He was so stoic and mysterious that I couldn’t read his expression at all. Under the scrutiny of his gaze, I felt small and childlike. His eyes raked up my body, starting at my bare legs, and by the time they reached my eyes, I was shivering. His face was still hard and stern with no emotion whatsoever. Obviously, my body didn’t do anything for him.

  Without saying another word, I shoved past him, pretending not to notice that I was so easily looked over. I didn’t want to embarrass myself further. It wasn’t like me to ogle the help, or anyone for that matter. He was far too hot for his own good, and I didn’t like it.

  Not one single bit.

  Okay…

  So maybe I liked it a little. At least some of my bits did.

  I wanted to curse my lady parts one by one for so effortlessly allowing that hermit of a man to stir them up.

  It was pathetic.

  I shouldn’t have cared at all what he thought about me. I wasn’t an attention seeker.

  My age was often mistaken for weakness, and in that moment, it had never been truer. I felt like a beetle—easy to crush, and no backbone.

  Three

  Slick

  My first impression of Lighter Derosa could be summed up in three words:

  Inconsiderate

  Shallow

  Brat

  We’d waited twenty minutes for her to come to the office to meet us, and she’d shown up hungover with a rat’s nest on top of her head, looking like she’d worked the streets the night before. Not to mention, she wasn’t even wearing a bra for Christ’s sake. I could see her nipples through that thin cotton shirt she wore. She could barely speak, and she had fucking sunglasses on her face.

  Sunglasses.

  It’d pissed me off, but I kept my mouth shut. After all, it was my first day on the job. I didn’t really know what I was expecting after skimming through the binder of details her father gave me, but the moment she stepped into that office, all thoughts were gone. Instead, I was ready to send her tiny, inconsiderate ass back to her bedroom. She probably would’ve stomped her feet and had a tantrum all the way there.

  I’d seen Chloe do it several times when I told her to do something she didn’t want to do. She’d cross her arms over her chest and pout or stomp off in a fit.

  Girls.

  As I stood there in her bedroom, the most private of all places, I was making mental notes. This wasn’t my usual security job, so I wanted to be sure I was thorough. Bed in the center, two nightstands, a cabinet, and a desk I could easily maneuver around in the event of an emergency. But truth be told, I couldn’t see the need for round-the-clock security. They weren’t fucking royalty.

  My eyes scanned back and forth until they landed on her legs. Derosa was still spouting off at the mouth as I stood there gawking. I kept my face tight as I let my eyes roam up her body. She was a tiny little thing, barely five foot. She had smooth, tanned legs and curvy hips. She shifted her weight back and forth from one leg to the next as I stared. I took pleasure in her uncomfortable stance.

  Damn, she was young.

  I kept my face hard as stone when we made eye contact, and it took her about two seconds to storm off. I swear I heard Tony snicker next to me.

  When Lighter stepped past me to leave her bedroom, all I could do was roll my eyes. She was eighteen, and I was thirty-five years old. If she thought for one second that I was going to get my rocks off on her bare legs, then she was sorely mistaken. They were fine fucking legs, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t some teenage boy who got an uncontrollable hard-on from seeing some bare legs. Besides, that was one fucking fire I wasn’t going to get burned on. This was my job, and she was a spoiled brat.

  “You’ll be expected to attend all functions with her, no matter what she says,” Mr. Derosa continued. “There will be luncheons, parties, formal events, and of course, she starts college in the fall. There may also be out-of-town trips. I know you said you have a daughter, Slick. Is this going to be problem?”

  “No, sir.” I shook my head, but in reality I knew it wouldn’t be easy to juggle this type of job with Chloe. I was going to have to find a new babysitter closer to work once we moved, one who’d be willing to work around such a demanding schedule. Plus, Chloe would have to be enrolled in a new school before summer break was over. It was going to be a headache trying to get everything sorted out, but this job paid so much more. I’d be making more in one day than I’d made in a week at my old job.

  “The schedule will be a tough one, but the two of you came highly recommended. You won’t have to be around much if she’s home at night, unless my wife and I are both out of town. In which case, you may be asked to stay in the guest quarters overnight. You will both get two days off a week, but it may not alw
ays fall on the weekend. Once the rest of my security staff gets here, we will hammer down a schedule.”

  Tony and I exchanged glances. I was relieved to have him with me. He was someone I’d trust with my life, and I owed him for getting me this job. He was a bit older than me, and not quite as strong physically, but the man could use a gun like nobody’s business. Fifteen years in the military made him sharp as an axe. I was surprised when he told me that he wanted me to take the lead position, but he thought I’d be better at the job. It was funny how people thought more of me than I thought of myself, or maybe they just expected more. Either way, they ought to have known that I was the king of letting people down. Other than Chloe, I’d pretty much burned every bridge I’d ever crossed.

  After another hour of firm lecture from Mr. Derosa, we were officially in the know about all things Lighter. I felt like I knew more about the girl than I did myself. He also introduced us to the rest of the staff, including the drivers. The rules and regulations were going to take some getting used to. There was a freaking protocol for everything.

  “I suppose that’s it. You got a problem, you come to me, got it?” Derosa’s eyes narrowed in my direction.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You know what’s it like to have a daughter. So I expect you to treat mine like she were your own. Yes, she’s eighteen. But thanks to the life we live, she requires full-time security. I expect the best.” I could feel the loaded threat in his words. But if that weren’t clear enough, he also added, “I won’t think twice of getting rid of you.”

  I nodded, fully understanding the meaning behind his cold hard words.

  He took a seat behind his desk in his big leather chair.

  “Get with Lighter before you leave and make note of her weekly schedule. You also have her cell phone number now in case you need to get in touch with her for any reason. Give her yours as well. Just in case. That’ll be all.”