Billionaire Bodyguard Fling
Cover Copy
He will sacrifice anything to protect her.
As the daughter of a prominent New Zealand judge, Samantha Knight finds herself being stalked by the very man who has been acquitted of murder in one of her father’s cases. When she escapes to the Fijian Islands in the South Pacific for seclusion, her bodyguard makes chase after her when he learns her stalker is in pursuit.
Brigs Brigstone has never let any client down, or allowed the innocent he protects to be harmed, yet protecting Samantha will be a mission all unto itself. Letting his guard down around her isn’t easy, yet he’s known her his entire life and the spark which has always existed between them is about to burst into flame.
Can he locate her stalker, and all while keeping her out of the enemy’s claws?
Content Note: Short story of 18,000 words, with a sexy bodyguard and a hot heat level.
Also by Joanne Wadsworth
The Matheson Brothers Series
Highlander’s Desire, (Book 1)
Highlander’s Passion, (Book 2)
Highlander’s Seduction, (Book 3)
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Highlander’s Kiss, (Book 1)
Highlander’s Heart, (Book 2)
Highlander’s Sword, (Book 3)
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Highlander’s Bride, (Book 1)
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Highlander’s Touch, (Book 3)
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Highlander’s Claim, (Book 2)
Highlander’s Courage, (Book 3)
Highlander’s Craving, (Book 4)
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Billionaire Bodyguards Series
Billionaire Bodyguard Attraction, (Book 1)
Billionaire Bodyguard Boss, (Book 2)
Billionaire Bodyguard Fling, (Short Story Book 3)
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BILLIONAIRE BODYGUARD FLING
by Joanne Wadsworth
Billionaire Bodyguards, Book Three
Short story of 18,000 words.
Contents
Cover Copy
Also by Joanne Wadsworth
BILLIONAIRE BODYGUARD FLING
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Joanne Wadsworth
Newsletter Signup
Billionaire Bodyguards Series
The Matheson Brothers Series
Clan Matheson Series
The Fae Series
The Matheson Warriors Series
Highlander Heat Series
Princesses of Myth Series
Copyright: Billionaire Bodyguard Fling
Chapter 1
The journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step.
Samantha Knight sank her toes into Fiji’s wet white sand, in that sweet spot where the ocean gently lapped ashore and pulled back. Tropical sunshine and cool breezes surrounded her. Silence and peace prevailed. Mmm, this was the place where she would take that first step in her journey of a thousand miles. No more looking back over her shoulder. No more fidgeting. No more worrying about the man stalking her. She’d successfully gotten a restraining order against Gair Forster and he no longer posed any danger. Yep, she could enjoy this vacation without her usually ever-present bodyguard, Brigs, hovering over her too.
“Bula, Miss Samantha.” A boy with dimples and dark brown eyes grinned through the rustling palm fronds swaying high within the canopy of a coconut tree. “It’s bright out today, miss.”
“It sure is, Naviti.” She’d met the child yesterday when he’d aided his grandmother in bringing her wares to the beachfront near her bungalow. She’d had fun selecting some trinkets for her mother and younger sisters. Naviti’s grandmother had even delivered the gift she’d asked to have handcrafted by one of the local village carvers. Her father would love the wooden gavel with its unique Polynesian etchings along the solid handle. As a judge, her father adored his gavels, and the piece she’d gotten him was a beauty. Hand to her brow, she grinned at the mischievous boy. “What are you doing up there, watching the ocean?”
“No, I’m watching the man marching along the forest trail from the resort.” Barefoot, his toes curling inward and fingers firm on the bowed trunk, the ten-year-old bounced down. In his scraggly blue shorts and an oversized bright red shirt, his black springy curls bobbing on his shoulders, he sprang from the tree and dropped onto the sand beside her. “He’s big, real big, with a gun. He’s frowning too, looks real worried.”
“What?”
“He’s coming. Look, riiiight”—the boy pointed down the deserted beach of white sand and crystal clear water toward the tree line swaying thick and green near the forest trail she’d not long arrived along herself—“there.”
“Samantha!” An echoing shout from a man who stepped clear of the trail, his hands cupped around his mouth and his face half-hidden in shadow under his black cap. Ben Hammers. She’d never mistake him for another. He was a good friend and Brigs’s closest confidant, a fellow bodyguard who owned his own bodyguard firm. Brigs often worked alongside Ben, the two of them having known each other since their army days, before they’d given the army up to pursue their bodyguard careers.
“Here!” She waved and he lifted a hand as he spied her then jogged toward her in his chunky boots and black jeans, his camouflage muscle-tee flapping against his defined torso and his holstered gun tucked under one arm.
Surprise and shock flowed through her. How had he known to find her here? She’d taken such care in making her travel plans and keeping her final destination under wraps. She hadn’t told a soul which island out of these three-hundred Fijian islands she was ultimately headed to. “What are you doing here, Ben?”
“I’m here for you.” He halted in front of her, so beefy and tall.
“I don’t need a bodyguard. I’m on vacation and Brigs has always been my bodyguard when needed.” Except she hadn’t requested Brigs’s bodyguard services for this trip either, not when she no longer needed them.
“Brigs is still your number one bodyguard and currently scoping out your bungalow and ensuring all remains secure there. I came to fetch you back for him. Your restraining order against Gair Forster remains in effect while you’re on home soil, although he flew out of New Zealand along with his cousin for these islands the day after you did and now his whereabouts is no longer known. Brigs and your father are both worried, as are Danny and I. That’s why we’ve come.”
“Even if Gair followed me to the main island of Fiji itself, he shouldn’t be able to track me from there to this location. I could have gone in three-hundred different directions.” Yet somehow Ben and Brigs had managed to pinpoint the right island she’d chosen off the mainland, so somewhere along the line she’d made a fatal mistake, although hopefully not an irreparable one.
“I’m aware, which made things a little more difficult for us to locate you, but Danny mentioned ho
w you’d spoken once of this island in particular, that you adored its remoteness and intended on vacationing here one day.”
She’d told Danny, her best friend and Brig’s brother, years ago, about her desire to vacation on this island. She hadn’t expected Danny to remember that though.
“We started with that hunch,” Ben continued, “and managed to call through to the reservation desk from the main island and confirm your booking with the resort staff right here.” A seagull squawked as it flew overhead then glided down and landed on the sand beside them. “You should have given them a false name.”
“I did give them a false name, although they also asked to see my passport when I checked in for confirmation of my true identity. I told them to use only my false name for all registration details, and they promised me they would. I’m even using a secure Visa card for all the transactions I make here.” She’d dotted every i and crossed every t, or so she’d thought. The breeze rose and whipped her dark hair about her face and she shoved the strands back, frustration bubbling deep inside her.
“I’m sorry, but the staff here went against your wishes and loaded your true name into their database.” He gripped her shoulder and scanned their surroundings as another seagull zoomed in and landed beside the first. “Which means since we found you, so could Gair now he’s within this same group of islands as well.”
Gair Forster had been infatuated with her ever since he’d been acquitted in the murder case her father had presided over six months ago, and now, with his disappearance from New Zealand to these islands, it certainly appeared he was stalking her again. She should have requested her restraining order be extended to include other countries, only she’d feared changing it at the last minute might alert him to her intention to travel outside of New Zealand, so she’d let it pass and flown out regardless. “I need to ask the staff to change my reservation then, to reinstate my false name and remove any links to my true identity. If I can do that fast enough, maybe Gair won’t find me here like you did.”
“Brigs has already seen to that name change and we hope in time so you can remain here, but if not, then we’ll need to ship you out to another secure location, which is why we’re here. We have to take every precaution since Gair isn’t alone.” Ben dug in one pocket, pulled out a snack bar, broke it in two and tossed one half to each of the seagulls. The birds pounced on their treats, snatched them up and squawked as they flew away with their prizes.
“Three single days,” she muttered. “That’s all I’ve had to reach this deserted island in the middle of the South Pacific and now I have two bodyguards.”
“Three. Danny came along for the ride too.”
“What?” Danny might be her best friend and a bodyguard, but he’d known how desperately she’d needed this time away for herself. He’d ratted on her instead of calling through from the main island to give her a heads-up on what had happened. More frustration thrummed through her. “Where. Is. He?”
“Right here, sprite.” A wave from Danny as he swung out from behind the very coconut tree Naviti had climbed, the local boy having skipped off into the trees earlier when it had become clear she’d known Ben. Danny leaned lazily against the smooth, curved trunk, looking all innocent. The stinking traitor.
She planted her hands on her hips and sent him a deathly glare.
“Hey, don’t go looking at me like that. I’m not the idiot stalking you, just the squealer.” Danny lifted one brow with a reckless grin. “Sorry.”
“You’re totally not sorry. I had options and you took them away.”
“Except there’s one rule we bodyguards never go against—the client’s safety always comes first, yours more than anyone else’s since you’re my bestie, so once we discovered your location from the main island, we hopped straight over here. It was the only choice.” He strode across, ducked his head and kissed her cheek. “So, how’s the holiday been going so far? Did I miss anything interesting?”
“Grrr.” Her growl fairly whistled through the tight line of her pinched lips.
“We’ll find Gair and his cousin.” He gave her another reckless grin. “Don’t you worry about a thing.”
“Don’t worry?” Two highly-strung words.
“Danny-boy.” Ben chuckled as he eyed Danny. “I’d duck if I were you.”
“Don’t you move an inch, you traitor.” She swung one fisted hand at Danny but missed since he dived to the side and spit up sand as he rolled clear. Gah, he’d always been so fast on his feet, the big brute. “Stay still. I need to hit someone, and that someone needs to be you.”
Laughing, Danny launched back to his feet and dodged around her as she kept punching nothing but air. “Catch me if you can, sprite.”
“I’m not a sprite.” Well, she was compared to him. They’d been the same size when they were five and starting school, but only a year later at the age of six, Danny had gained more than an extra head of height on her and had never slowed down on his growth since. He even matched Brigs and Ben in height, no matter the other two men had another ten years on him.
“Stop riling her, Danny.” Ben bounded in front of her and blocked Danny from her next punch. Holding her arms, Ben continued, “Brigs, Danny, and I have every right to be concerned about you. You’re more than a client. You’re a friend, a good friend.”
“Do I really have to have three bodyguards though?” She mock-moved to the left then jumped to the right and swung around Ben. She nabbed Danny’s sleeve, but that’s all she got as he darted out of her way yet again.
“While away from home soil, yes.” Ben back in front of her, his short blond hair glinting from underneath the sides of his cap. “Gair Forster didn’t fly out alone from New Zealand on his private jet. As I mentioned, he’s got his cousin with him and Hugh Forster is as bad as Gair and well known for his big fists and dominating ways. That’s why there are three of us here.”
“Then I’ll get a restraining order against Gair and Hugh, one which takes worldwide effect, then I’ll skip this island for another and resume my vacation in peace.”
“It could take weeks to organize such a restraining order, which is weeks you don’t have right now.”
Drat it all. He was right.
“Ben makes a ton of sense, right?” Danny slipped in beside her, dropped an arm around her shoulders. “C’mon, let’s get you back to Brigs. My brother demanded we find you pronto and return as quick as we could. We’ll be in trouble if we don’t get back soon.”
“I still want to hit you.” She gritted her teeth and pushed that urge aside as he steered her back along the deserted beach toward the forest trail leading to the resort. She huffed and stomped along, Ben keeping pace one step behind them. Through the lush forest abundant in ferns and leafy tropical plants, she strode while high above, birds twittered in their nests and the crashing of the surf breezed through from not far away. This island was small and almost perfectly round, a mile at most from one side to the other. “I’ve not seen any sign of Gair Forster among any of the new arrivals to this island. He’s not here, and I can guarantee that.”
Yep, she definitely would’ve noticed him or his cousin if either of them had turned up here. Gair was impossible to miss, the multi-millionaire so icky-slick and polished in his appearance. He’d come to court each day during his case—where she worked as a fulltime court aid—decked out in designer suits and riding in flashy sports cars. At his side, his stocky cousin, Hugh, had worn dark leathers and a multitude of tattoos etched into his arms and across his neck and chest.
Goodness, how had she managed to make such a fatal mistake on day one of her vacation? She should have double and triple checked her booking hadn’t been changed and not just to have expected the staff to abide by her wishes. She slapped the sides of her denim cutoffs, the hem of her lacy white swing top swaying as she reached the paved resort pathway. Through the manicured gardens, she wove then passed the empty bungalow next to hers, the long fronds of the palm trees rustling in the fresh ocean bre
eze.
On the wraparound porch of her bungalow, Brigs perched in black pants on the round wooden rail, one foot idly swinging back and forth, his sunglasses hiding his eyes, although even so, it was clear to see he’d narrowed his gaze in on her behind the dark lenses.
She clomped up the front steps and halted in front of him, crossed her arms and tried to give him her sternest expression. “I didn’t make the mistake on purpose. I gave them a false name.”
“I know, and I’ve had your false name reinstated.” He pushed off the rail and stood, his towering height dwarfing hers then slowly, ever-so-slowly, he removed his sunglasses and hooked them in the deep V of his tight black cotton t-shirt. His intense brown gaze swept over her, from her head to her toes and everywhere in between. “Have you had any problems since your arrival? Has anyone approached you for any unusual reason, tried to steer you away from others so you’d be alone? Gair flew into the main island of Nadi with Hugh, which means we can’t discount Gair using his cousin in his endeavor to get to you.”
“No. I’ve not experienced any problems at all.” She tapped one foot. “Other than discovering I’m being stalked again.”
“We’ll deal with the stalker.” He stuck one hand in his pocket, withdrew two key cards and tossed one to Ben then the other to Danny. “I’ve paid for the bungalows either side of this one, both thankfully empty. You two can take one each and keep an eye on this bungalow while I stay here with Samantha. There’s a ferry arriving at the wharf within the hour with new resort patrons on board. We need to make sure Gair Forster isn’t on it.”
“Of course.” Ben pocketed his card, just as Danny pocketed his. They both nodded at her then strode off with a breezy salute to Brigs.
Grrreat. Time for her isolation to begin. She stalked toward her front door, still incredibly peeved that her vacation now included three bodyguards. “If you’re staying here with me,” she snapped at Brigs. “Then there will be rules.”