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“Hello?”
“Oh—sorry, I might have the wrong number. Is Gray there?”
“Yes! This is her wife. I’ll go get her. Gray, there’s a call for you!”
A moment later, Gray’s familiar voice came across the line. “Hello?”
“Hi, Gray. It’s JK Sullivan.”
“JK! How are you doing? How’s retired life treating you?”
“Not that well,” JK admitted. “I’m honestly bored out of my mind. I need something to do. I was wondering… Well, if you have any vacancies and you think I might work well for them…”
“I always have room for someone with your skillset. I’ve got a whole folder and videos on how to transition military skills into guarding civilians. I can send it over, if you’d like, and you can let me know if it’s something you’d be interested in.”
“That would be great, thank you.”
“Excellent. Let me know if you’d like to go ahead and I’ll send you a case. Business is booming and we have no shortage of them, so you’d be able to start pretty soon, I’m sure of that.”
This was already sounding wonderful. JK thanked Gray again and hung up. She spent the next few hours reading through Gray’s extensive files and watching the videos. It was a lot to take in, but the actual content of what she had to do didn’t seem that difficult.
She had the hard skills she needed already. Most of it was an interpretation of what seemed like frequently irrational and infuriating civilian behavior.
JK could do this. She was sure there would be some frustrations involved, but it would be worth it. Anything would be better than sitting here at home, slowly losing her mind.
She emailed Gray saying that she’d love the job. A mere hour later, she got a response with a folder on a potential new client. JK felt her eyebrows rising as she read. Princess Tabitha of the British Royal Family? Gray must trust her more than she had realized if she was assigning royalty to her on her very first case. Why would a British Princess be looking for an American bodyguard? Surely the British Royals looked after their own Princesses?
It seemed that Gray did thorough research on all of her clients before handing them over to individual employees, because she had a detailed docket on Princess Tabitha.
JK read through it carefully several times, knowing that Tabitha’s life could very well depend on her thoroughness. It seemed that Tabitha was a simple, young naïve royal. Protecting her should be easy. She was young and just wanted to see some of the world. It wasn’t like anyone was after her. She simply wanted an American bodyguard to help her blend in better during her time here and she planned to be living undercover anyway.
She sent a response to Gray, saying she’d take the case. Tabitha was set to arrive two days from now. She would be staying in a mansion out in the countryside, and Gray would be staying there with her.
It sounded like a lot of fun—certainly more fun than sitting here alone at home.
JK spent the next two days doing some additional research on Tabitha. She was disappointed not to find much except press releases on her shopping trips. Many photos of Tabitha’s long blonde hair beautifully done and her big green eyes engaging audiences. Tabitha seemed to hate publicity and actively stayed away from the media bar official royal engagements. JK would have preferred to have more information on her client, but she supposed that could wait until she could talk to the princess in person.
So, two days later, she packed a small bag of essentials and took the long taxi ride to the mansion that would be her home for the next few weeks.
3
Tabitha
Tabitha was practically vibrating with excitement. She was finally in America, and she intended to do everything she couldn’t do in the U.K. Her hair had been cut into a trendy messy bob and dyed a rich chocolate brown. She had brown contact lenses to cover her own eye color. She had big sunglasses. She was dressing more casually than she ever had in public. She was confident she wasn’t recognisable and really hoped for it to stay that way. She practically bounced up the steps to the house where she and Alice would be staying, only to be brought up short by the sight before her.
An extremely attractive woman with close cropped brown hair and an air of general toughness and competence was standing at the top of the stairs. Tabitha could just see streaks of gray at her temples, which made her look distinguished as well as hot. How old was she? Maybe mid 40s Tabitha thought to herself.
“Hi, Tabitha. I’m JK Sullivan. Ex US Army Captain. I’ll be your bodyguard while you’re here.”
JK held out a hand for Tabitha to shake. Tabitha gulped.Thiswas her bodyguard? Did they really have to assign her someone so attractive? Tabitha wasn’t out at all, she was very very very much in the closet even though she had no doubt at all now at 28 years old that she was very much a lesbian.
Nobody in the British Royal Family had ever come out either privately or publicly that Tabitha knew of and she dreaded being the first. She had absolutely no intention of letting the world know she was gay until she was good and ready, if that day ever came. Why did this bodyguard have to be so hot andgaylooking? Tabitha wanted her instantly, but she knew if she made a move on her new bodyguard it was bound to get back to her mother.
She held out a shaky hand, which JK took in a firm grip. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve already reviewed the security around the house and it’s top-notch. You won’t be in any danger while you’re here. It’s when you’re out and about that we’ll need to be vigilant, but you just leave that to me.” JK gave her a kind smile, the corners of her eyes crinkling a little. “You just do what you came here to do—relax and have fun. I’ll do all the hard work.”
Tabitha liked JK already. “I’d like to go clubbing.”
JK winced. “Okay.”
