The Assassin’s Billionaire Bodyguard
Chapter 45

Cam watched through narrowed eyes as Gideon took Casper from Isabella and moved to sit at the bottom of the stairs.

During dinner she had agreed to go home with Cam, and they'd stopped to grab Casper along the way. The dog had been delighted to see Gideon and he had gone back between Isabella, Gideon, and Portia in the back of the limo excitedly.

Cam had made it clear he was ready to throttle Isabella for not making him more prepared for the events of the evening. Her mother had been relentless in her interrogation of him before, during and after dinner. Her family, thrilled at the notion someone other than them were being tortured, had frequently thrown him under the bus.

They circled each other on a sparring mat in the basement gym, which Isabella admitted, was not the direction she had thought the evening was going to take. "I don't know why you're angry." "You did not warn me."

"I told you my family was a bit much."

"Your twin sisters asked if you measured my d**k before we dated to make sure I wasn't another muscle-bound meat head with a small c**k," he glowered as he reached for her in a judo move but she evaded his grasp easily. "They implied anyone with my body size has a tiny p***s."

"Hey, I can't help it if my experience with men has been the bigger the body the smaller the appendage. I defended you."

"In front of my daughter!" he growled furiously.

"Well," she drew the word out in a long breath, "in my defense, she knows the size of my ex-boyfriend's p***s."

"She did not need to know mine is two hand lengths!" he hissed furiously as he reached at her again, this time grabbing her arm, but she spun her legs, ducking under his arm and standing behind him to kick him in the back of the knee gently forcing him to one knee.

Gideon's chortle of glee at the move made her smirk. "Someone's temper is putting him in bad form."

She noted Portia starting to come down the stairs to see what was happening. When Cam had said "Basement now" in an angry voice, Portia had almost ignored her the needs of her bodily functions, but the bathroom had called. She had Mickey and a few other guards in tow. She motioned for Gideon to scoot over, "I've never seen him so emotional," Portia cackled and then paused, "except the day I asked him to kill Isabella. Sorry Isabella, I was under the influence of an influencer."

She chuckled as she ducked Cam's grab again. "You're forgiven. You need to get off your phone so much though and stop dating muscle bound meatheads. They all have tiny peckers." She giggled as Cam lunged at her this time grabbing her by the middle and tackling her to the floor.

"Only if you date the wrong ones," Mickey called from where he sat two stairs behind Portia.

"I'm learning," Isabella grunted as she wrestled her way out from where Cam tried to pin her.

"Woman, you are wiry and wiggly," Cam grunted as he lay on his back staring up at where she stood over him.

"And you like it," she smirked nudging him in the ribs with her toe. "Had enough?" She yelped as he grabbed her foot and pulled her down hard on the mat onto her back and then rolled over her pinning her to the floor with a knee on each shoulder. He tapped her cheek gently, "you sacrificed me to your mother. You played me."

She batted innocent eyes at him, "who me? Never. You're a seasoned professional who tactically interrogates people all the time. I'm confident those were your exact words when I asked you tonight if you wanted to meet my family. I warned you they could be a bit much." She kicked her legs out twice trying to gain leverage and then finally on the third time she managed to get her legs up around his neck and pull him backwards off her. She rolled away out of his grasp and stood up. She looked to the group, "I'm extremely glad I wore pants to my family dinner tonight. This would be hard to do in a miniskirt."

"You didn't tell me your mother was an expert in Spanish Inquisition tactics."

"Uh, pretty sure I told you she was ruthless and determined and your comment to me was how bad can a little old lady be?"

"She's not little or old," Gideon stated, "she might only be about five four or five, but she has energy to take up the entire room." He pointed in Isabella's direction, "you get your confidence from her."

"I will take the compliment," Isabella grinned broadly.

"And what is the tell with the hair thing?" Cam motioned at her hair plaited to fall over her shoulder. "Amelia said you lied about s*x in public."

"The tell only works in front of my mother. And do you really want the story in front of your daughter? Okay," she kept speaking before he could stop her, "there was this guy I met at a bar when Evgeni and I broke up. He was skinny, tall and not my usual type but damned if when we danced, I couldn't feel his," her breath was knocked out of her as she hit the mat hard, and his hand went over her mouth. Her eyes were laughing as he glowered at her.

"I don't think he really wanted the details," Portia called out laughing. "You'll need to tell me the name of the club later though."

Cam looked over his shoulder at his daughter, "I told you already, grounded for two lifetimes."

His distraction was enough to make Isabella toss him off her. "You can't ground her forever. Raoul and I will take her to Amsterdam next time we go."

"What the hell do you do in Amsterdam?" Mickey asked curiously.

"Window shop," she grinned at Cam's intake of breath.

"Voyeur," Gideon called out.

"What does that mean?" Portia asked seriously. "I don't understand." Mickey leaned forward and whispered in her ear, and she gasped, "You go there with your brother?"

"He's more my sister than my brother and his husband is actually from there." She paused suddenly and looked at Portia, "you would probably like Pietr's cousin Lars. He's a year younger than me and gorgeous. He," she shrieked as Cam picked her up and put her over his shoulder and smacked her on the bottom, "hey, save it for the bedroom Torres. You wanted to spar not spank." She grinned as he choked at her words and set her on her feet. She swept her foot out and took his feet out from under him putting him on the "We're off track," Cam stood up beside her again and wiggled his fingers at her. "Let's go."

mat.

"What's your problem Torres? Is it because my sisters commented on p***s size? My mother drilled you about whether you're making sure her baby girl isn't going to give her a bastard grandchild? Is it because my father refused to join you in your special box next game? By the way, I already told you, Clara tried to get us up there before because she wanted us safer. I can protect my dad. We can still be close to the action, among our friends and be safe."

"All of the above? It could have also been when your nephew asked me if I took steroids to get so bulky or when your sister-in-law mocked how easy it was to hack into my computer systems and offered me her business card to discuss enhancing my cyber security with one of her programs. Your family is insane."

"I know," she agreed with him. "You'll get used to them. You just need to be around them more. Though it hasn't worked for any of us so maybe not." She remembered something, "I will say Raoul upped the ante tonight outing his plan to mom for a third kid before a family dinner so nobody could use it on him. There may be some value. I may need to store that little tidbit of skill away. Tattle on myself when I'm alone with her so she isn't focused on me in the group."

"What kind of info would you share?"

"Well, not that I rescue damsels in distress," she downplayed her side gig, "but maybe I'll admit to her we're having s*x out of wedlock. I'll tell her you're the devil and I'm just incapable of resisting your charms." The group on the stairs laughed as Cam stopped moving to glare at her furiously. "Not funny Isabella."

"She won't come after me, but she'll be all over you. You have just become my sacrificial lamb. I could kill someone in front of her but then just tell her we had unmarried s*x because you seduce me with your wicked satanic ways. She'll be flinging holy water and flogging you with her rosary."

"There's a way to avoid it," he said with a half shrug.

"Ha, good luck," she clapped her hands as he reached for her again, spinning past him and digging an elbow into his gut as she got past him. He grabbed her by the braid in a dirty tactic and then wrapped his hand around the back of her neck to pull her, so she was standing toe to toe with him. In this position she was very aware of how masculine and strong he was, and her tongue darted along her lower lip in awareness. She fought her attraction and tried to stay focused.

"Can't have unmarried s*x if we're married," he said seriously, his green eyes shining far too brightly as he took in the slow rise of color on Isabella's cheeks. "I could tell her I proposed but you declined." "She would know you're lying," she whispered.

"Would she?" he reached a hand in Gideon's direction and a small box was tossed at him and he caught it without even looking at the man, proving how coordinated he was with his best friend and business partner. "Would she if I had witnesses and everything?" He pushed the box between them, "went to see my grandfather in the retirement home yesterday and he told me I had better marry you before you get killed. I tell him everything because he forgets in minutes and even if he did talk, nobody believes the rantings of a senile old man. He gave me my grandmother's ring." His grin was cocksure, and his eyes were daring, "you have two choices Isabella Ruiz. Marry me or have to explain to your mother why you choose to have unmarried s*x with the devil." "Coercion?" she spoke through tears clogging her throat.

"Maybe," he knew no shame, "originally I was going to propose in front of your family but they're insane. They foiled my plans tonight. My family," he waved to the group on the stairs who were all watching intently, "are not nearly as nuts." "True," she let out a shaky breath as he opened the tiny ring box to reveal a marquise cut diamond ring on a platinum band. "Oh, wow." She lifted her watering brown eyes to meet his, "you were going to propose? We've only known each other a short time." "Long enough for me to know wherever you are is home to me. Mostly I just want you in my bed every night so I can sleep," she slapped his chest at his comment, and he reached up and trapped her hand against his chest. "I'm kidding, partly, but mostly, I love you. I love how strong and fierce you are. I love how you dropped everything without even a second thought to go help someone even though she was making your life a living hell," he flicked a glance in the direction of Portia who was openly crying. "I love how you tell me to go to f**k myself in one breath and still answer my call in the next. I love how you're tough and strong outside but inside you're soft, kind and loving. I don't want to wake up someday and realize I let the best thing in my life slip away."

"I have a lot of baggage," she whispered.

"Casper can help me navigate your baggage."

"I kill people," she whispered wiping a tear off her cheek, "and I enjoy it."

"Me too," he whispered back. "Only the bad guys though, right?"

"Right," she swallowed the lump in her throat.

"So," he pulled the ring from the box and let the box fall to the floor. "What do you say? Marry me, Isabella?"

"You know I can't say no," she sniffed, "my mother would murder me." She felt his forehead touching hers as he slid the ring on the finger against his chest, "also I love you too."

"Yay!" Portia exclaimed from where she had been perched excitedly on the edge of the stairs.

"Weirdest proposal ever," Gideon stood up from the stairs, setting Casper on the floor and shook his head. "On point for Cam but still weird." He walked over and enveloped them both in a big hug as Portia ducked under his arms to get in on the group hug. "I'm happy for you both."

Isabella was giggling as Cam obviously did not like being in an embrace with his best friend who wasn't letting either of them go.

"We can't tell Mama," Isabella said suddenly as three sets of eyes stared at her curiously.

"Why?"

"Cam, this is our get out of jail free card. The minute one of the pack throws us under the bus, I just need to pull out my hand."

"How are you going to hide your hand from your mother?"

"Leather gloves. I have some I wear to ride my bike."

Portia spoke up, "I want to learn how to ride a bike."

"No," Cam and Gideon shouted at her.

"I stand corrected," Isabella giggled surrounded in the warm glow of the love of the group, "you are all just as weird as my family." "What until she meets Abuela or Aunt Maribel." Portia said as she and Gideon stepped away and made their way to the stairs.

"Yeah, she thinks her mother is bad," Gideon said with a grin whistling for Casper to follow him out of the gym.

"She can't be as bad as Mama," Isabella whispered her eyes wide as she looked at Cam

"You'll replace out tomorrow. She's coming for dinner." Cam's arms wound around her hips and pulled her closer to him.

"I have a mission," she made it up on the spot.

"Nope, Elian told me when you do a big one, they give you a month off and apparently you weren't really at a resort in Rio for the purpose of relaxation. You're all mine for the next twenty-four days."

She looped her hands around his neck, pushing her fingertips into his hair, "I like the sound of being yours for twenty-four days."

"Forever actually," he corrected as he brought his lips to hers

Isabella squealed as he kicked her legs out bringing them both crashing down to the floor. Forever sounded damn good in her ears. Someone at the top of the stairs hit the lights plunging them into darkness as he covered her with his body on the mat. "I love you, Isabella."

"I love you too, Torres," she giggled as he grunted his disproval over the use of his name before kissing her into submission.