Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 55510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
“Did Parvati send you? Is this like one of those strip-o-grams?” I asked with a crooked grin. It was a bold way to cheer me up, but at least I was smiling again.
The youngest one lowered his head and tried to stifle a laugh, making the leader shoot him a glare. Another man with black hair shaved at the sides and tattoos on his arms and hands shook his head as he stood beside the leader. There was also another dark-haired man who looked to be Asian American standing on the other side of the leader, but he remained quiet and peaceful-looking.
“No, ma’am. My name is Andrew Osgood,” the leader of the group introduced himself as he held his hand out to me.
I stared down at his hand before shaking it, noticing how it swallowed my smaller one. I pulled away and crossed my arms over my chest, unsure of how to feel now. If they weren’t strippers, then why were they here?
“Who are you?” I asked.
“We specialize in bodyguard services. This is Benjamin, Rhett, and Akio. Your father hired us to take care of you while he’s… busy,” Andrew explained with a friendly look on his face.
“You mean in jail,” I replied as I eyed them. Of course, my father would somehow find a way to keep his nose in my business even when he was locked away. I refused to have four versions of him lingering around me at all times.
“Yes, ma’am,” Andrew said, maintaining his politeness. He met my gaze, and I noticed that his eyes were a pale green color. Between his perfect face and muscular body, he was a package deal. If only he wasn’t assigned to babysit me.
“Well, that’s nice of you to stop by, but I’m not interested in your services,” I told them as I waved my hand at them. “I’m sure there’s some other damsel in distress that needs your help.”
The one named Benjamin smirked to himself and subtly shook his head.
“What a princess,” he muttered beneath his breath.
“Excuse me. What was that?” I asked him, catching him off guard. I knew they were bodyguards and could probably launch me through the window without breaking a sweat, but I didn’t want them here. I didn’t care what my father said.
“Nothing. He said nothing,” Akio spoke up as he offered me a kind smile. “Your father insisted that we just keep an eye on you. You won’t even know we’re around.”
I liked his attitude a lot better than Benjamin’s, but his words still didn’t sway me. If I somehow didn’t notice four large men lingering around me, I was an idiot and deserved to be kidnapped. That wasn’t the case, though. I believed I could stand on my own two feet out here and figure things out. This was my chance to prove myself.
“My father has always had the notion that the world will destroy me if I step foot out into it. So far, I’m fine,” I replied with a shrug. “So, thank you for the offer, but no, thank you.”
None of them were able to get another word out before I slammed the door shut and locked it. I considered taking one of the bar stools and jamming it under the doorknob like I saw in movies, but I was pretty sure that they would find a way in if they really wanted. They wouldn’t hurt me, but they would annoy me to no end by not leaving me alone.
I wasn’t ready to give up my newfound freedom just yet. Now that I got a taste of it, I realized just how much I had been missing out on. Excitement. Adventure. Fun. All of those were within my grasp now, and I wasn’t going back to how things used to be.
When they knocked on the door another time, I ignored them and jumped on my bed, grabbing the remote for the television and turning it up loud to drown out the sound of the knocks. The only reason I wasn’t furious was because I knew my father was just worried about me, and the fact that they were all incredibly hot.
I couldn’t ever remember a time when I saw a group of so many good-looking guys before, but it wasn’t like I ever had many opportunities to come across that. I hadn’t been allowed to go to parties or clubs, so a group of guys like that was a rare phenomenon out in the wild. It was too bad that was the last time we would ever see each other.
As I watched some cheesy crime show play on the television, I couldn’t help but slightly smile to myself, feeling a tingling sensation buzz across my skin as I thought about how they all peered at me and studied me. Guys hardly ever got a chance to look my way because I was stuck in the house so much. I supposed things weren’t all that different since I was hiding out from everyone in the apartment. That didn’t mean I couldn’t plan for the future and how I wanted to put my freedom to good use.