Protecting Lulu (Global Protection Agency) (12 page)

She
bent over, her lips close to his. “Mr. Callahan, I think you like me a lot more
than you let on.”

“More
than I want to.”

“I’m
going to kiss you again.”

“Yeah,
I’m going to let you.”

She
closed her eyes and felt his lips on hers. A shiver started at the base of her
neck and worked its way down her spine.

He
broke off. “You are a lot of trouble, Lucinda Bennington. You make me want to
be a bad boy.”

“Not
a bad boy. They get in trouble. Naughty boys have fun.”

He
kissed her again, one hand sliding up her back, the other twining in her hair. He
held the back of her head. Her breasts started to ache and she felt a deep heat
spreading through her.

The
door to the kitchen opened and Dante sauntered in. “Excuse me, didn’t mean to
interrupt,” he said. “We’ll talk later.”

Lulu
sighed impatiently and stood up.

“Now
is fine,” Noah said pushing to his feet.

“I
just thought you’d like to know, I found nothing on Hassad, he’s exactly what
he says he is, a student at the Sorbonne.”

“Thanks,”
Noah replied.

Lulu
grabbed her shoes and brushed past Dante. “You boys have a nice night. I’ll see
you in the morning.”

As
she walked up the back stairs to her bedroom, she thought about Noah. He was so
unlike anyone she’d ever known. He sent her libido into overdrive and no other
man she’d dated had done that. She liked him in a way that surprised her. He
not only made her feel safe, but he also made her feel cared for and cherished.

She
had liked Jake O’Malley. He had a sweetness to him and her relationship with
him had never been complicated. There was nothing sweet about Noah. Noah wasn’t
a yes-man. He refused to give in to her demands because she was Lulu
Bennington. He stood his ground. The only other men who stood up to her were
Aiden and Wilder.

She
reached her bedroom, shoes in hand. When she opened her closet to put them away
she realized Noah had a point about her shoes. She resolved to go to Bergdorf’s
in the morning and buy a pair of flat shoes.

Lulu
Bennington, you are in trouble
, she told herself as she slipped out of her
jumpsuit and reached for a nightgown.
Big, big trouble
.

Noah
found the behind the scenes elements of Lulu’s talk show fascinating. He and
Ian prowled the backstage as Lulu sat in a black, overstuffed chair in front of
the cameras with her current guest. Her purple dress was in sharp contrast to
the black material. God, she looked beautiful. Her shiny black hair curled
around her shoulder and her skin glowed in the harsh light. He’d never really
thought about women’s clothes except to take them off, but she looked like a living
piece of art. Even if her gray shoes were too high to do anything but sit in
them, they made her legs look a mile long. He would love to see her in nothing
but those shoes.

Lulu
was so relaxed in her element, Noah couldn’t stop watching her. She knew
exactly what she was doing every moment of the show from the way she tilted her
head coquettishly at the camera or coaxed her guest into answering a question
he or she didn’t want to answer.

The
theme for the show today was “How the economy is affecting women.” Noah was
completely caught up in the topic and comparing it to his mother who would have
preferred to stay home to take care of him. Mary Rose Murphy could have been
the guest speaker. She’d known how to scrimp and save her precious pennies
doing odd jobs in the neighborhood. She’d cleaned, worked as a typist, and even
a salesperson at a local dress shop. Every dollar she could hide from her
abusive husband had gone into the bank with the idea that someday she and Noah
would escape. She had cut out all luxuries for herself, taken on babysitting
jobs, and he had collected cans, checking every dumpster daily on his way home
from school. Their escape plan had been in place for several years and in the
end, Noah’s father, Paddy Murphy had been arrested and convicted for
manslaughter. It gave his mother the chance to divorce him and get away.

Paddy
had been a mid-level enforcer with ties to the Irish mob in Boston. Beating up
dockworkers didn’t keep his stress level down, so he came home he knock around his
wife and kid. Noah had been ten when his father had gone to prison. His mother
had been twenty-six, but looked forty.

They
ended up in a crappy neighborhood in Los Angeles, but they’d been safe. His
mother even had the courage to form a relationship with Max Callahan who’d
loved her. He’d come home every night and Noah had finally seen that a woman
didn’t have to be a punching bag. Noah adored his step-father and his little
half-sisters, Jasmine and Daisy. One day he came home from school to find his
mother and step-father dying in pools of their own blood and his father sitting
at the kitchen table drinking a beer waiting for Noah.

His
father had expected Noah to be glad to see him. Instead, Noah overpowered him,
and called the police. By the time the ambulances had arrived, his parents had
bled out and he and his half-sisters were orphaned.

He
pulled his thoughts away from his family and back to Lulu. Chaos seemed to rule
the backstage area. He’d had no idea how many people it took to pull off a TV
show.

The
guest had finally left and the audience responded with a lot of clapping. Lulu
stood up, said good-bye to the camera. The camera was sliding back leaving Lulu
room to approach the audience for her after show.

He
was surprised at how genuine she came across. The women in the audience truly
responded to Lulu. She had a way about her that emotionally drew them out.

As
he watched, carts rolled out from the backstage area filled with the audience
gifts. He’d peered inside one of the gift and found a number of gift cards to
various stores, a subscription to her magazine.

 “You
know what tomorrow is.” She clapped her hands “It’s the Valentine’s Day show. And
you know what that’s about. Romance, sex, relationships, sex, passion, sex,
free stuff, sex, fashion and sex. Michael Buble will be here.” She did a little
dance.

The
audience cheered as she moved down the row, Noah studied her.

The
ushers had opened the doors to the foyer and as each guest received their shopping
bag full of free gifts, then went up the stairs and through the double doors. Ian
stood at the doors smiling at each guest as he had done when they’d all
entered. Noah had beefed up security when the audience had first started to
gather, asking for IDs and having each person quickly investigated.

Lulu’s
purple dress shimmered under the lights. The hem landed just above her knees. What
he wouldn’t give to run his hand up the inside of her thigh. The material
caressed her soft curves like a lover. He liked how she flaunted her body. Classy
and sexy. Gold bracelets slipped up and down her arm and when she leaned over a
matching gold chain with a large heart swung over her cleavage. He tore his
eyes away. Just watching her made him hard. She was totally, completely
intoxicating and he wanted her. He wanted her so badly he vibrated with his
need.

“What
next on your agenda?’ Noah asked as Aiden stopped next to him with E.J. in tow.
E.J. looked good in a black pantsuit with a dark sweater that fitted her so
perfectly he could barely see the bulge of her gun. Noah glanced at her feet
worried that Lulu’s love of stilettos had rubbed off on her, but E.J. wore
sensible low heeled shoes and relief flood him.

“We
have a working lunch with the editors of her magazine. She needs to look over
the show’s guest list for next week. We have a meeting with the caterers for
her charity event and then we have an unscheduled stop to make at Bergdorf’s to
buy peasant shoes.”

E.J.
put her hand on Aiden’s arm. “Simmer down, Girlfriend.”

“Yeah,”
Noah said, “She’ll look good in casket if she keeps wearing those stilts.”

“Whatever,”
Aiden replied in a huff, disdain showing clearly on his face.

Noah
glanced over at Lulu. She was smiling and talking with the last couple of women
from the audience. A crack sounded from overhead. Lulu glanced up, fear crossing
her face.

Noah
raced toward her, grabbed her and carried her back. He tried to get the other
woman, but she moved. A second later a large rod of lights crashed to the
floor. Screams erupted. Glass shattered and flew everywhere. The woman clutched
her arm, cried out in pain and blood immediately started seeping through her
fingers. Noah looked down at Lulu and saw blood trickling down her cheek. He
sat her down to assess her injuries.

Lulu
had a dazed expression on her face. E.J. went to the woman with blood on her arm
and drew her away while asking if anyone else was hurt. Ian ran down the stairs
flipping his phone open. The film crew clustered around Lulu and Noah. Ian
pushed the crew away ordering them all to stand back.

Aiden
ran to Lulu. “Oh my God. Oh my God, Lulu,” Aiden cried as he knelt next to her.
He fumbled with his cell phone and punched a key. “Dr. Burns, can you get down
here right now? We have a woman hurt and Lulu is bleeding. Hurry, hurry, hurry.”
He held Lulu’s hand. “Dr. Burns will be here in a minute,” he told Lulu as
pocketed his phone.

Lulu
started to push herself up. “Stay still. Let me look first.” Noah ran his hands
over her to make sure he hadn’t broken any bones from his tackle. Aiden pulled
a handkerchief out of his pocket and pressed it over the cut on her cheek. Noah
couldn’t tell if the cut was deep or not due to all the blood welling out of
it. The cut was long going from the corner of her nose almost to her eye. He
felt a moment’s panic.

Noah
helped Lulu to her feet. She was deathly pale as she held the handkerchief to
her face. She down on a chair and closed her eyes.

A
few seconds later, a slender man and a woman, entered the room. He held a large
bag and the woman had a second bag looped over her shoulder. Ian stopped him asking
for I.D.

The
woman with the bloody arm moaned.

Aiden
stood up. “That’s Dr. Burns and his nurse. Let them through.”

“Check
her first,” Lulu told Dr. Burns when he approached her.

Dr.
Burns went over to the woman, and when she took her hand away to show the
doctor her wound, Noah saw a shard of glass sticking out of her arm. Blood
dripped onto the floor and the woman grew paler by the second.

“Let
me take a look, ma’am,” the doctor said politely as he opened his bag. He
dabbed gently at her arm. “Nothing we can’t handle here. Do you think you can
walk? My office is just down the hall. Ms. Dunne will help you.”

The
woman nodded and the nurse helped her to her feet and started guiding her up
the stairs

Dr.
Burns knelt down next to Lulu. “How are you doing?”

“It’s
just a cut,” Lulu responded.

“That’s
a lot of blood for a little cut,” Noah said.

The
doctor ignored Noah as he gently pulled the handkerchief away from her face. “It
doesn’t look too serious.”

“I’m
going to call a plastic surgeon,” Aiden said, pulling his cell phone out.

“Aiden,”
Lulu said, “let Dr. Burns do his job. I doubt I’ll need a plastic surgeon.”

“But
Lulu, your face--”

“Aiden,”
Lulu said gently, “stop hovering. Call Maris and reschedule the editorial meeting
for Friday. Have her take care of the caterers, she knows what I want.” Lulu
leaned against Noah and he grasped her tightly, trying to hold in his fear.

Ian
was on his cell phone. E.J. had corralled the film crew to the middle of the
stage and was talking to the director. She held a notebook in one hand and a
pen in the other. Noah knew she was taking names and would be interviewing
everyone once they’d all calmed down.

“It’s
not deep, Lulu.” Dr. Burns cleaned the cut on her face. He turned to Noah, “Bring
her along. We’ll clean it up, slap a couple of butterfly Band-Aids on it and
tomorrow all she’ll have is a small scab that should be easily covered with
makeup.” He stood and headed to the doors.

“I’m
still calling a plastic surgeon,” Aiden insisted.

“Aiden,
Dr. Burns graduated at the top of his class. He knows what’s he’s doing.” Lulu pressed
the bloody handkerchief to her face. Spots of blood showed on her dress.

Noah
slipped an arm around her and led her up the stairs to the door.

“My
livelihood depends on your face,” Aiden said, so visibly upset he wrung his
hands with a panicked look on his face.

“Do
I need to have Dr. Burns give you something to calm you down?”

He
shook his head. “Lulu, you could have been killed.”

“Mr.
Callahan saved me.”

“But—”

Noah
gripped her tighter.

Aiden
threw himself at Lulu. “I love you. I could have lost you today.”

“I
love you, too,” Lulu said patting him gently. “More than I love my shoes. I
want you to get something from Dr. Burns and then you go on up to my office to
wait for me. Just relax. Call Starbucks and have John send up some Cranberry Bliss
Bars.”