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She knew that Elizabeth was probably only doing this because she felt guilty about James, but Alex vowed never to make Elizabeth regret the choice. Now that she was working, she’d be able to afford therapy and maybe start to get this PTSD under control.
For the first time in a long time, she had some real hope for the future.
“Here we are. You should come in with me. I’m not leaving you alone for a moment.”
They had just come from the police station. Elizabeth was dismayed to hear that the promising suspect the police had in custody turned out to have an ironclad alibi. Alex wasn’t dismayed. She was angry. How could this happen? It was bad enough that James was shot and nearly killed. At the very least, the person who shot him should be behind bars.
Elizabeth followed Alex into her crappy little apartment. Alex felt her face heating and turned away from Elizabeth to hide her blush. She knew her place wasn’t much, but it was all she could afford, having been basically unemployed since she left the corp. When she turned again and caught sight of Elizabeth, still dressed in the scrubs from the hospital, her brunette curls and make up still immaculate despite the ordeal, Alex felt embarrassed again. But, Elizabeth’s face showed no judgement.
It didn’t take long to pack a bag. Alex didn’t need much. “Alright, I’m ready. Let’s go.”
She felt even more embarrassed about her apartment when they arrived at Elizabeth’s home. It was a huge house with an expansive garden in a fancy neighborhood.
Elizabeth showed Alex around, directing her to the guest room where she would be sleeping. Alex was pleased to find that it was just down the hall from Elizabeth’s room.
She was less pleased with the state of Elizabeth’s security.
“You have an alarm system? That’s it? No cameras, no electric fencing, no guards patrolling the perimeter?”
“I never thought I needed all that. I guess I was wrong.”
“We need to start making some changes immediately. I’ll need a budget from you. Once I have that, I’ll begin putting things in place. If anyone wants to get to you, we’re going to make it as hard as possible for them to do so in your home.”
Concern flashed over Elizabeth’s beautiful face. Alex noticed the fine lines around her green eyes. “That sounds great, Alex.”
“You’ll need to stay home until the police catch whoever is after you, of course.”
“Wait, what? I can’t just stay at home! I have to work.”
“You can work from home, can’t you?”
“No, I can’t. I mean, I could bring my staff here and set up a temporary office, but I still need to make public appearances and show up in person if I want to get my bills pushed through.”
“Your safety is more important. That stuff can wait.”
“No, it can’t,” Elizabeth insisted. “The work I’m doing is important.”
Alex frowned at her. “Your life is important. You can’t do your work if you’re dead.”
“Yeah, that’s why I hired you!”
“I can’t protect you if you don’t let me do my job! You have to work with me here, Elizabeth.”
Alex realized that they were standing almost toe to toe. Elizabeth’s green eyes were flashing angrily. She was only fractionally shorter than Alex. She looked strikingly beautiful. Alex was taken by the sudden mad urge to kiss Elizabeth. She battled that desire down. She wasn’t usually attracted to older women, and Elizabeth must be almost twenty years older than her, but honestly, she couldn’t see how anyone could not be attracted to Elizabeth, no matter what their sexuality was.
She was just so elegant and classy, with her hair all in that smart expensive looking bob, chocolate brown with caramel highlights, just greying at the temples. Alex wanted to see her come undone. She wanted to see Elizabeth crying out in pleasure, forgetting all thoughts of dignity and decorum.
Alex could swear that she saw Elizabeth’s eyes flick down to her lips for a moment. Could Elizabeth possibly be thinking the same thing as her? She realized that she’d never heard of Elizabeth dating anyone. Could she be gay, or maybe bi?
Alex reminded herself that it didn’t matter. Elizabeth was out of bounds. She was a client, and Alex was absolutely not going to mess up this contract by making unwanted advances on the woman she was supposed to be protecting.
“No, I do not have to work with you,” Elizabeth spat, glaring. “You workforme. I’m the client here, you’re the employee. And I’m telling you that I’m not giving in to intimidation. I’m going to keep doing my job, even if it’s dangerous.”
“Intimidation? Are you actually being serious right now?” Alex knew she shouldn’t get angry, but her brother was in the ICU, for fuck’s sake! And Elizabeth was treating this like it was some threatening letter. “Someone tried to kill you! James almost DIED! This was way more than intimidation. This is a serious threat to your life, and you need to take it as such.”
“Don’t you tell me what to do, Alex. I haven’t gotten this far in life by listening to people telling me what I can’t do.”
“I’m not saying you can’t do your job! I’m just saying that you need wait a bit, until this threat has been removed.”
