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all while shoving pizza into my mouth at eleven o’clock every night.
    “I guess you can stay locked in your room all day, then.” He shoots me a cunning grin.
    Fuck. Why me?
    “Let’s go, my dark princess,” he teases in a breathy voice.
    “Freeze, Iron Man.” I place my hand out to stop him. “I have a rule about name calling.”
    “Well then, Miss Carolina, shall we?” He juts his elbow out for me to loop my arm through. This guy is a real piece of work. I can’t imagine where Dad found this one. Although I can’t ignore the temptation that’s dangling in front of my face—this is the first bodyguard who looks like he was born in the same decade as me, and he’s apparently a charmer. But he’s still a bodyguard. Rules are rules, even if I made them myself.
    I shove his arm away and lift my bags over my shoulders. “I’m not going with you. How do I even know my dad really sent you?”
    “That’s fine. You’re welcome to sit here for . . . ah . . . forever and wait for a text message you won’t receive. Or, you can come with me. I’ll pretend to leave the option up to you. How about that?” He smirks, or winks, or maybe both. Whatever he did makes my stomach twist into an apprehensive knot.
    I really thought we were done with the bodyguards. I figured he would have learned after the last one. But as usual, Dad wants to keep me in a bubble.
    “What’s your story, Tango?” I ask before I slip inside of the revolving door, pausing the conversation briefly before the frigid Boston air slaps me in the face. When he steps out, I continue. “So? Wrestler, ex-cop, ex-con? Those are my dad’s favorites.”
    “None of the above.”
    I stop and look at him. “Then, what are you?”
    “Your friend. That’s it.”
    “You aren’t my friend. I don’t do friendships with bodyguards.” I turn back around and drop my bags to the ground so I can wrap my arms around myself. My clothing is suitable for California, not Boston. Another brilliant move today. Yesterday. Whatever day it is.
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
    CALI
    A WHISTLE BLOWS from behind me and a glistening silver sedan screeches to a halt in front of us. Tango jumps in front of me and opens the door. “Ladies first,” he gestures for me to slide in.
    I grab my bags and sweep past him, knocking into him on purpose as I drop my things into the opened trunk. I’m so irritated right now. I can take care of myself. I’m twenty-two and I don’t need a babysitter. He can call it whatever he wants, but that’s all this is—babysitting.
    I slide into the car and stop at the first seat, forcing Tango to go around the other side. If this is the way it’s going to be, I’m not going to make it easy. I’ll drive him away. I’ll make him go running for the hills, wishing he didn’t accept this offer. My previous attraction to him is gone or hiding from the guard who has taken his place.
    I fold my arms over my chest and pull my sunglasses back over my eyes. I don’t have to hide here, but I don’t want to face reality either.
    Tango drops his bags into the trunk and slips in through the opposite side, settling into the leather seat. He gives me a once over and smirks. I’m glad he finds my presence so amusing.
    “Aren’t you going to tell me to put my seatbelt on now?” I say in a childish voice. That’s what all of the past bodyguards have done—treated me like I was five.
    “I don’t give a shit if you put your seatbelt on. You’re the one who will go through the windshield if we’re hit. Your problem, not mine.”
    I throw my head back and close my eyes. The driver closes the trunk and hops into the driver’s seat, sealing this deal. The car guns away from the curb and takes each turn at least twenty-five miles per hour.
    We’ve been driving for more than fifteen minutes, which is quickly putting a kink in my quick escape plan. Normally, I don’t like to be this far away from the airport. And it looks like we’re heading to suburbia,