The Assassin’s Billionaire Bodyguard
Chapter 25

"My eyeballs hurt," Isabella groaned as she pressed her palms against them.

"My liver is holding my stomach hostage for the damage I've caused it." Sabine mumbled from where she lay on the floor of the private airport terminal, uncaring how many times Clara had commented it was filthy. She gripped her abdomen in pain. They had arrived on time only to be told the flight was delayed because of a mechanical issue. Since the airport terminal was small and privately owned, the mechanic and his team had to make sure they were safe to go but there was only one team. They'd been warned another party was waiting to board their plane and they too were delayed as the mechanical team worked on Clara's jet. Considering the various states of drunkenness, the women didn't care. They were all sulking and in agony except for one. "You're all lightweights," Naomi said from behind her sunglasses as she half-dozed in her seat.

"Screw you Naomi," Clara whispered from where she was curled in a ball in a chair, holding a backpack against her stomach. "You bailed on us."

"I told you I had to call my wife."

"I didn't know using our spouses as an excuse to leave was an option," Clara's voice shook as she threw her best friend a dirty look. "You cheated." She twisted uncomfortably, "I think I'm dying!"

"Not cheating, critical thinking. I assessed the situation, realized I would much rather talk to my wife than do body shots off a male bartender, I got to replace out how the kid was, and I had virtual s*x."

As all the women groaned in unison she chuckled, "the last part is a lie. I passed out two minutes after calling Bliss and she hung up. Quite sure I'm going home to the silent treatment."

"Good, we'll be sober by the time we get home and you'll be needing a drink." Clara mocked her. She looked to Isabella curiously. "Ruiz, what's the deal?"

"I think I'm hallucinating." She rubbed her painful eyes as she stared down the hall of the small terminal and looked at the group. As if aware they were being watched they all turned to look at the group of women. Isabella's eyes locked with a pair of familiar green eyes. "You guys see him too, right?"

"God damn, he is a huge man." Jesse sat up straight and then moaned in pain as her stomach protested. "He's hot Ruiz. Nice job snagging him."

Cam stood on the far side of the row of chairs opposite Isabella. "Isabella?" He was stunned by her appearance. Her hair was in a messy pile on top of her head, what Portia would call a bun, and her face was a pale grey color. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt and sweatpants and it was easily seventy-five degrees, but she looked like she was shivering. "What the hell are you doing in Brazil?"

"Impromptu girls weekend away," she croaked as she took in his expansive chest in the tight black t-shirt and the black cargo pants hugging his lithe frame. He had a couple days worth of stubble and he looked rugged and wild. The man was s*x on legs. "Are you insane?" He looked and noticed Clara for the first time, a tiny ball wrapped around a khaki bag. "Jesus Christ, Clara?"

"f**k off Torres," Clara whimpered as she buried her face in her knapsack. "Isabella, make your nosy boyfriend go away or I'm hiring a hit man. I know of three in the local vicinity."

"You promised me you would stay safe. Where's your security team? Andropov could have followed you."

Cat rolled off her chair stood up and eyed Cam seriously, "dude, she don't need no security team. Ruiz can take care of herself." Naomi pulled her back down and she landed on her a*s on the floor next Naomi. "Isabella, we got you girl. We won't let Evgeni Andropov and his tiny d**k anywhere near you." There was a resounding cackle at Cat's words.

"Cam, these are my girls. Ladies, Cam Torres in all his magnificent angry glory." She could see he was furious by the way his eyes glittered.

"Isabella, can I have a word?" Cam's voice was biting.

"Uh, I don't think I can - "

"Ruiz, take your s**t somewhere else and deal with it," Clara's annoyed voice cut into her protest.

As Isabella staggered towards the far wall, she heard Sabine call her name. She caught the water bottle her best friend threw at her. "Thanks girl." She tried to twist the cap off and grimaced and passed the bottle to Cam. "Help a girl out?"

"Are you drunk?" He undid the cap of the bottle and held it out to her and watched as she drank thirstily and then gagged. "Are you going to puke?"

"Nope. The tequila shot I had with my eggs an hour ago is allergic to water." She heard the girls snicker at her comment, and she grinned despite herself. "Why are you in Rio?"

"I told you I had an emergency for work come up. What the hell are you doing here? I don't see any of Ben's team here."

"Ben's too afraid of us," Corry called out. "Our d***s are bigger."

Clara called out, "Torres, I arranged security privately here. Isabella was safe from Andropov. I have eyes on him back in New York." She made a face at him as he deliberately turned his back to her and blocked Isabella from her friends. Isabella closed her eyes as Cam reached out and touched her cheek.

"You didn't tell me you were going away."

"I didn't know," she shrugged. "One minute I was taking Casper to the groomer and talking about having lunch at Pygmalion then the next minute Clara and I are boarding a flight with seven of our closest friends to party at her friend's resort on the beach. After the last few weeks, the opportunity to just cut loose was too good to be true."

"You're drunk on a Monday morning."

"My boss is right over there. Ask her if she's expecting me at work today."

"It's not safe." He muttered angrily. "Rio can be dangerous."

"I live in New York. I ride the subway every day."

"You what?"

She looked at him curiously. "You didn't know I ride the subway? It's how I met you for our first date. Took the subway."

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. She leaned forward and sniffed him.

"You smell good. Like the soap you use and the beach. Did you go for a run on the beach Torres?" She touched the ink on his arm. "I've never seen you in daylight without the suit on. Lookin' good, Torres." She failed at flirting and the girls were laughing their assess off at her. She leaned past them. "I'm really bad at this. Sabby, how do I seduce a man?"

"Start by not drinking a bottle of wine, a pitcher of rum punch and twenty-three shots of tequila in a ten-hour period. Sleep also helps." Sabine rolled over onto her back and used her knapsack as a pillow. "Also, you should bathe Ruiz, you smell terrible." Isabella sniffed her armpits and made a face. "Sorry Torres. I haven't had a boyfriend in a while. Not used to this. Call me when you're back in New York and I promise not to be drunk and dirty."

"My last boyfriend preferred me that way Ruiz." Jesse called out earning her some sniggers of laughter. "Maybe though it's why you get billionaires and I date hot dog vendors."

Cam was getting increasingly irritated by the rowdy group of women. "Isabella, you are not safe. Anyone could grab you off the street. If not, someone associated with Evgeni, then someone trying to get at me or at Clara. I'm sure Clara has hundreds of threats every day."

"You're killing my buzz." She eyed him critically. "I've had a really great weekend and a lot of fun with the girls." She patted his chest and then squeezed his pec. "You are really buff."

He couldn't help the way his lips curled upward as she slurred. "You need to sober up."

She held up the water bottle. "I'm trying. There is some anti-nausea medication in my bag and I'm going to take it as soon as I'm on-board Clara's fancy-a's private jet and sleep all the way home."

"When you get to New York, you go straight home and stay there please."

"Yes sir," she saluted him and then hiccupped.

The flight attendant for Clara's plane came into their space. "Ms. Draxton, the plane is ready to board you now."

"Straight home," Cam said seriously. "You should have had security here with you and not being on your own. God only knows what danger is out there."

"Cam, she could calculate the risk of being accosted before you pull your weapon." Clara intoned with annoyance.

"I am the weapon," he cast an annoyed glance over his shoulder at Clara who glowered at him as she rose and hiked her backpack to her shoulder. "Why don't you fly home with us? My plane is being prepped and I'd feel safer with you being with me than with a bunch of women and no security on the flight."

"No, I'm going home the way I came."

He put his hands possessively on her shoulders, "Please, reconsider. It's not safe."

"Ruiz, move it to the plane."

Isabella leaned past Cam and noted her team was already in line and ready to head out. "I have to go. Call me when you get home?" She leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

He gripped her chin and kissed her mouth hard. "I mean it, straight home," he whispered against her lips.

"Ruiz! Move!" Clara bellowed.

"Gotta go." She stepped past him and swung her bag and headed to the middle of the pack and then they filed toward the plane.

She was aware of the hot gaze of the man staring at her through the windowpanes. She didn't dare look back considering the ribbing she was already taking from the girls surrounding her.

She flung herself into her seat and pulled her anti-nausea medication from the bag and then shoved it under her seat.

"Go straight home, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars," Jesse teased as she took the seat opposite Isabella. "Your man is hot but he's bossy as hell. I'd kick him in the balls."

"He didn't like Clara talking back to him," Cat commented as she stepped past them.

"Ruiz, move!" Isabella mocked her sister-in-law. "He got your panties in a twist boss?" She closed her eyes.

"No, I was more concerned you would take him up on his offer and I'd have to explain to your mother and my husband why you're not on my plane when we disembark."

"Had no intention of getting my a*s handed to me in front of a bunch of strangers I've never met by a man who is pissed off at me because I didn't stay home in my kitchen baking cookies while he was away." "Thank f*****g God, I thought you were buying into his machismo bullshit," Corry groaned.

"No. Time and place Corry. I'm too drunk, veering towards a bad hangover to deal with his insanity. Also, I'd pit this crew of women against his team any day but it's not like I can tell him about Bellona." "Wonder what his job in Brazil was?" Sabine wondered.

"Nothing good," Clara replied as she slung into her seat and groaned. "Definitely something mercenary."

"He's a merc?" Arwen leaned over Clara's chair and looked at Isabella. "Your boyfriend is a merc?"

"Alleged," Clara said slapping at Arwen to get off her seat. "I wouldn't dig so deep into his business to replace out s**t I didn't want to know. He's an ex-navy seal running a security company providing security services for the stupidly rich and illegal. I know he sent a guy with Mikhail's accountant a few weeks ago to the Middle East and someone tried to take out the accountant. According to Mikhail, the agent working for Cam killed three guys getting the accountant out. If his underlings are killing three men on their own, well, let's just say Cam's the kind of boss to lead by example. His hands are dirty."

"How do you learn this stuff?" Sabine queried her boss.

"My kid sister," she pointed at Isabella, "is dating a billionaire security guard. I sure as hell want to know he isn't putting her in danger."

"From the woman who just led her through the Bolivian jungle to take on a cartel." Naomi pointed out the obvious.

"Enough," Isabella called out. "My head is pounding. Can everyone just shut up so I can sleep?"

"I just have one more question," Corry kicked her foot.

"What?" Isabella opened one eye and looked at her friend curiously and took in the shit-eating grin.

"He has tattoos on his arms. Are they everywhere? I know you're a sucker for jacked up muscly men with lots of tattoos. I saw his arms. Are they everywhere?"

"Define everywhere."

"Chest?"

"Yup."

"Back?"

"Yup."

"Shoulders?"

"Uh-huh."

"Legs?

"Yeah," she made a face. "Are you done?"

"d**k?"

"Jesus Beta!" Clara cussed out. "Enough. We don't need a full description of Cam Torres naked. If Isabella proposes to him, I'll have to be looking at him during holiday dinners. Thinking of his d**k being tattooed should not be on my brain when he asks me to pass the meat."

Everyone roared as Isabella cursed her sister-in-law. "Oh my god, I'm not going to propose."

"He's a Ranger's fan." Sabine reminded everyone.

Isabella pulled her sweatshirt up over her face muttering about boundaries and shitty friends while they all laughed. As her medication kicked in, she allowed herself to think of how he'd kissed her in the terminal, his eyes hot and determined. There was something to be said for being the focus of such a single-minded man.