Page 15 of Brazilian Surrender
She followed him to his office and fiddled with her plaid T-shirt. A ball of heat coiled low in her stomach.
He gestured for her to take a seat at the larger chair, then sat next to her, the same place he’d occupied the night before. She plopped with a sigh. As much as she loved to fantasize about his large hands on her, she had to stop. She’d never had sex with a guy who tied her up, and the idea clogged her throat with apprehension.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Time to deviate. “In four days, I’m expected to go to a wedding in the Hamptons. It’ll last about three days with the arrival day, rehearsal dinner, and the ceremony itself.”
“Just cancel it,” he said.
She turned to face him. “It’s not that simple. It’s my brother Emanuel’s wedding, and I’m one of the bridesmaids. I can’t say no, and if I do, my family will be suspicious. Prior to this whole mess, I had already put in the request to get those days off. What reason could I possibly have not to attend the wedding?”
His jaw clenched, and he looked away for a second. She could almost see the wheels in motion in his head. The contours of his face hardened for a moment, like he was conflicted about what he was about to say. “I’ll go with you.”
Moisture evaporated from her throat. “What?”
“You’ll need protection. I’d send Omar, but his wife is due any minute, so it wouldn’t be fair to haul him out of town when Linda needs him here in case her water breaks. And the other bodyguard who knows about your case is helping me with another one in town. So that leaves me.”
Of course in the business of protecting people and helping them with their problems, he probably traveled every so often. Such rationality did zero to normalize the crazy-fast beating of her heart. “O-of course,” she said, desperate to maintain composure.
She and Jaeger Bauer would be going to a wedding together and away from everything for three days.
I’ve got this.
She swallowed and hoped she was right.
“I’m so happy to see you,” Gesa said the next morning, when Camila entered her salon.
She’d known Gesa for months, and when she left a bigger parlor and opened her suite in a co-op place with other hairstylists, Camila had followed her. There was something about the warm, open way the sixty-year-old German lady treated her that made her feel at home. She also always enjoyed seeing what color would adorn Gesa’s wonderful beehive. Today the winner was egg-yolk yellow with a black bow to the side.
“Thank you.” Camila gave her a hug and tossed her tote bag on the empty chair. She didn’t need to look at the glass wall to know Omar waited for her outside, and the fact she needed someone watching her every step clenched her stomach. She’d come all the way from Brazil for freedom and now this. They’d spent hours the previous night studying the people going in and out of the post office in New Jersey, but she didn’t recognize a soul.
“What are we doing today?” Gesa asked.
“I want to chop some of it off and go for a sassier style. Maybe some highlights, too,” she said. She’d been thinking of changing her cut for the wedding. She’d maintained long hair for a while, and if her hairstyle was the only thing she could change, she’d take it.
Gesa grabbed an animal-print robe and handed it to her. “Say no more, sweetie.” She pointed at the chair in front of the large mirror and counter filled with hair products. “Have you called my nephew? I texted him a few days ago to tell him I sent you his way but haven’t had a chance to ask you.”
“Yes. Thank you. He’s been helping me,” she said, surprised at how Jaeger never mentioned it to his aunt, given she’d suggested his services. Of course, he wouldn’t…he took pride in having work ethics. If he shared her information with anyone, even his family, he would break that trust. “He’s great.”
Gesa slid on her gloves and grabbed a couple of bottles from the cupboard. “I agree. I always bug him when I have a problem and he comes running. Now if only he were as forthcoming when I ask about his love life.”
“Right.” Camila flashed her a smile, suddenly interested in his dating status herself. What if he had a girlfriend? Sure, he told her about not being the one for her to find love with, but what if that meant he’d been taken? Her pulse spiked. Shit. “Is he seeing anyone at the moment?”
Gesa started to mix the contents of two bottles into a plastic bowl. “I wish. Ever since he lost Ellen, he’s withdrawn. Poor guy.”
“Who’s Ellen?”
Gesa stopped what she was doing and sighed. “Oh dear…Ellen was his wife. She died five years ago, along with their three-year-old son, Trevor.”
Camila’s breath caught in her throat. JB had once been a husband and a father. Her fingers flew to her mouth. Jaeger had lost his family. “How did they die?” she asked, unable to shake off the uneasiness in her tone.
“He killed the son of a gang leader, so a couple of members of the gang went out for revenge. They killed them at their home while he was at work.”
“I…” She pressed her palm to her chest and inhaled a deep breath. “I have no words. That’s devastating.”
Gesa tapped her shoulder then resumed mixing the color. “I know. He was never the same after that. He left the NYPD and opened his own business though, and he’s maintained a successful one.”
Wow. Gesa kept talking, but the sound of Camila’s heart beating in her ears fuzzed her out. The loss of her mother, and then much later her father, had devastated her, but she couldn’t imagine how he could survive burying a spouse, and particularly a child. All she wanted to do was storm into his place and give him a hug.
Gesa nudged her shoulder, and she realized she hadn’t been paying attention.
She blinked. The back of her eyes burned, but she willed sadness away. Crying in front of Gesa would open a can of worms. “Yes?”
“I was wondering…have you been dating someone lately?”
Poor Gesa usually moonlighted as the soundboard to Camila’s horrible date stories. “No. I had my eye on someone, but I don’t think it’s going to happen,” she said. Especially after she’d discovered he’d been broken beyond repair. She didn’t believe he couldn’t be fixed, but he didn’t want to risk it—and that brought a lump to her throat.
Gesa waved her off. “You never know.”
Camila sighed. Sadly, she knew where they both stood and didn’t like it one bit.
