The Assassin’s Billionaire Bodyguard
Chapter 35

Isabella managed to get through her presentation with no errors and in the end, she and Calvin had managed to convince the Board, and more importantly Clara, while her pet project wasn't completely dead in the water, it simply wasn't viable from a risk As she and Calvin made their way back to the office, he grinned at her. "You did really good in there. You held your own against Clara's questioning like a rockstar."

standpoint in the current economy.

"I won't lie, being pissed off at her helped," she gave a shake of her head.

"Everything okay?" he asked kindly

"Family stuff and nothing we won't get past by lunchtime," she smiled, "and it's eleven thirty so..."

He chuckled, "you and Clara are remarkably similar. You're bound to b**t heads. Don't take it personally when she pisses you off."

"Easy for you to say, she's not your sister," Isabella put her laptop on her desk and stretched. "I'm hungry. I got up late, didn't have breakfast and the boardroom coffee is churning in my stomach. I'm going to go see if Lisa can take an early lunch. Want anything from

the deli?" At his immediate expression of concern, she pointed at him, "I'll bring one of the agents stationed downstairs and I guarantee Cam has someone outside the building watching to my coming and goings. I'm fine."

"Call Clara first and ask. She told me you were late this morning because she had you in a safe place because of Evgeni."

She lifted her receiver and dialed Clara's office impatiently and put her on speaker. "Can I go to lunch at the deli? Calvin says I need permission."

Clara's husky chuckle grated on her nerves. "Yes, but don't be alarmed when Ben's and Cam's teams are scrambling behind you like wild ponies." She paused, "grab me a pastrami on rye?"

"Didn't Elian send you with lunch?"

"He did but it's some kind of wrap with marinated tofu."

"I think I just threw up in my mouth," Isabella said with a shudder.

"It's in an insulated lunch bag and I can smell it, Isabella. I may have to take it to Innovation to have them detonate it."

"I'll bring you back a sandwich." She paused and sighed, "and thanks Clara."

"Anytime kiddo. See you soon."

She watched as Calvin nodded and walked in the direction of one of her office mates to retrieve Casper, calling over his shoulder he wanted a ham on sourdough.

She walked to HR and knocked on Lisa's door. "Hey, going to the deli. Coming?"

"Jesus yes, I could use some eye candy and gossip not involving who is getting paid more on the housekeeping team."

She giggled and hooked her arm through Lisa's as they made their way to the elevator. "Just FYI, some of the eye candy will be my personal bodyguards pretending their ginormous frames are invisible on the streets of Manhattan." "Why do you suddenly have bodyguards trying to blend in with background?" Lisa asked curiously.

"Because Evgeni Andropov threatened to kidnap me and make me love him. He even went to my mom's. Stupid i***t forgets who my family is and who I'm dating."

"Ooh, you're still dating Camden Torres. What's his brat think?" Lisa had been Isabella's work wife for a long time, and they shared many lunches commiserating.

"I feel bad for her," Isabella admitted. "She spends too much time with beefcake men and not enough time figuring out what she wants or needs. Too desperate for someone to love her she hooked onto Evgeni." "With all her dad's muscle around, she probably doesn't have to do anything for herself."

"And she's alone a lot of the time. She's pretty, with a British accent and impeccable sense of style but no common sense, a deep-seeded desire to be loved and she plays the dumb blonde card too well." "You think she's wasting herself away."

"I think she needs to figure out who she is before someone like Evgeni Andropov ruins her."

"You're gonna be a great stepmom," Lisa teased her

Isabella gave her a playful shove. As soon as they stepped outside, Isabella counted four men who hopped to attention. "Enjoy the gun show Lisa. Two guys across the street, one by the light and one by the coffee shop." She wondered if Cam was trying to do a mine- is-bigger-than-yours schtick as she took in the size of the goons across the street. Compared to the men immediately following her from the doors of Draxton Enterprises, they were ginormous.

"Is bigger always better?" Lisa questioned with a giggle.

"Not if steroids were involved. Big muscles, tiny dicks." She said loud enough for the Draxton guards to hear and heard one of them chuckle. They knew she was referring to the men with no necks crossing the street in their direction. At the lights she and Lisa crossed the street causing the two men to regroup.

Her phone rang and she gave Lisa a look, "and this will be Cam demanding to know why I dared to leave the safety of my office."

"They must really think Evgeni is crazy," her tone was incredulous.

"He is, he went to my mother's house last night and threatened her." At Lisa's surprised glance she answered the phone. "Torres, why are you calling me?"

"Where are you going?"

"Deli. I'm going to watch a gorgeous butcher shred his meat."

"Sounds painful."

She tried not to smile. "Your dogs are hardly inconspicuous. It's like being followed around by human Great Danes."

"Does Clara know you're out gallivanting all over Manhattan?"

"She asked me to bring her back pastrami on rye," she shrugged. "I told you before Torres, I can take care of myself. Now I have four guards with me as well. I have enough muscle someone's going to think I'm important and rich and try to mug me." "You are important," he said dryly. "Go to the deli and then straight back to the office."

"No," she negated his request grinning broadly at Lisa. "I'm having a luncheon date in the deli, and we are going to watch the blue-eyed deli God shred meat and make sandwiches and then when my daydreams have all been realized, I'll let your team follow my team back to the office." As he started to sputter, she hung up on him and turned her phone off, knowing he'd be calling her frequently while she was at lunch.

"You deliberately antagonised him."

"I did," she admitted. "He interrogated me for an hour this morning about things I can't control. I'm annoyed." "Are we safe?"

She heard the concern in her friend's voice and nodded, "Lisa, if there was even the slightest chance either of us were in danger, Clara would have told me to stay put and I would have listened. Evgeni is under his father's watch. I doubt right now they let him bathe alone after what he did last night to my mom." She was still furious with the man and found herself increasingly at odds with the events. She was glad he was off the street but angry she hadn't been part of the team who extracted him from his friend's house or that he still had his head attached to his shoulders. "We also have four men watching us overtly and if Cam Torres is worth his salt as a security protection expert, there are others we haven't noticed yet."

When they stepped into the deli, she immediately recognized Mickey and another man. "Told you so," she nudged Lisa. "Stealing my favorite table too. Assholes." She waved at them, and they chuckled as they heard her comment.

She gave the man behind the counter her brightest smile. His blue eyes were gorgeous. "Hi."

"Hi," he smiled back. "You're back. Going to blow more kisses my way today?"

She heard a grunt from Mickey's table, and she laughed, "depends on how good my sandwich is."

"I'll give you extra meat," he deliberately made the double entendre.

"Isabella, Mr. Torres wants to know if you're going to work late tonight or if he should just be there right at five." Mickey called out the question, "he says if you're late, he'll tell Myriam to hold dinner until you guys are both home."

She felt her blood boil as she turned and gave him a dirty look. "Mickey, tell Mr. Torres I'm not going home with him tonight or any night. He can kiss my secretive and cagey a*s." She deliberately used the words Cam had used to describe her in the car earlier. She looked back at the man behind the counter and ordered her sandwiches and then looked at Lisa, "get whatever you want. Cam Torres is footing the bill." She looked at Mickey, "right Mickey? Cam's buying our lunch today?" "Sure, he is," Mickey said without missing a beat, grinning as he texted his boss. "Also, Mr. Torres said he will gladly kiss your cagey a*s. No, wait," he paused and looked up from his phone, "he said caged a*s. I think he wants your a*s in a cage."

She glared at him aware the words were for the man slicing meat and not for her. She didn't like being claimed, "remind your boss what happened the last time he tried to stake a claim where there wasn't one."

Lisa ordered a sandwich and looked to Isabella curiously, "what happened the last time he tried to stake a claim where there wasn't one?"

"He got left alone in a five-star restaurant while I slipped out the back and took an Uber home." She still had no remorse and Lisa chuckled. The man behind the counter gave her a surprised glance and a thumbs up. Mickey called out across the deli, "he says he's already going to be eating alone so he's not afraid of you."

"How unfortunate for him," she met the eyes of the man on the other side of the counter. "Tell him I'm surrounded by very attractive well-built men and I'm going to seriously enjoy the view while I am dining out." Mickey chuckled, "yeah, I'm not telling him. I like my job and my life."

"Catch-twenty-two for you Mickey," she shrugged, "you tell him, and he gets antsy, you don't tell him and then I tell him later he's going to wonder why you didn't tell him."

"Or you could answer your phone and stop being so cranky," a hot voice whispered in her ear laughing as she jumped and swore.

"Jesus Torres, don't you have an empire to run or something?"

"I do but my girlfriend is being deliberately antagonistic today and I'm debating whether to throw her over my shoulder, take her home and improve her mood or provoke the beast and see whether I get the answers I want." He leaned past her and extended his hand to Lisa, "Cam Torres nice to meet you."

"Lisa, this is Cam, Cam this is Lisa." She grimaced as the deli guy stopped looking in her direction. "Torres, this is the best deli in town. Please don't make it so I can't come here anymore."

"You can come here all you want." He folded his arms defiantly. "Why can't you come here? Do you feel guilty coming in here?" he gave a pointed look at the man who now had his back to them completely, letting the owner of the deli step up to the counter. "Because you're intruding in my favorite space and twice now you've been here when I'm here. I have nothing to be guilty of. You don't own me. Stop coming to my favorite deli."

"Lady, I've been coming here since I was your age, and it was my favorite deli long before you started working where you work."

"He's really old," she mock-whispered to Lisa. "When he was my age, dinosaurs still roamed. My mom told me to replace one old with one foot in the grave with lots of money. He fits the bill."

"Your mom told you to replace one you could feed a fire with," he corrected reminding her of the conversation she had with his daughter. "And we've already discussed with age comes experience."

"I like him," Lisa whispered at her as she took her sandwich from the man behind the counter, "he's feisty."

"Go away Torres." Isabella took her sandwiches and moved to a two-seater corner table away from everyone else and sat down with Lisa. She ignored Cam as he placed his order and engaged in friendly chat with the owner of the deli, an older man related in some way to the man slicing meat beside him. She stared out the window and noted Gideon leaning against the car outside. She gave a wave and he winked back.

"Who is he?" Lisa squealed looking at Gideon.

"Gideon," she shrugged, "Cam's buddy and personal muscle. He's a good guy."

"Does he do private security detail?" she wriggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Isabella laughed, "I don't know but he's great. I like him. He's smart and strong and," she paused as she realized she was speaking the truth, "I respect him. He also really likes my dog."

"Who doesn't?" Lisa grinned as she tore a bite of her sandwich growling. "He can play with my dog."

"You mean your kitty?" Isabella corrected wickedly and they both erupted into fits of giggles.

"Do I even want to know what you're talking about?" Cam approached holding his sandwich in his hand. "Gideon," Isabella nodded, "he's hot."

"I'll tell him you think so. He's already told me more than once if I blow it with you, he's taking you out."

She giggled. "Awesome. He can show me more of how he swings his stick."

He tilted her chin, his eyes laughing, "you better be talking bamboo Isabella Ruiz, or Gideon and I are going to have words." He dropped a quick kiss on her mouth, "you can go home tonight. Mickey is going to be your detail after work, and he'll do a sweep of your house. You'll have a crew stationed outside the house. You're not to leave once you are home." He stood upright. "And before you argue, I already discussed this with Clara, and she agreed."

"Why the change? You were adamant this morning I was not going home." She looked at him in surprise

"I have to fly out in an hour. Don't give your guards a hard time while I'm gone. I'll be back by morning."

It was then she noticed the lines around his eyes. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, or it will be once I get where I need to be and oversee a situation. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I have the game with dad tomorrow."

"I will see you tomorrow," he promised and touched her cheek. "Behave."

"Yes sir," she felt strangely bereft at the knowledge he was leaving.