ALEJANDRO SERRANO

A dark cloud had been hanging over his head all day, putting him in snappy mood. His patience had been wafer-thin and he had been curt with pretty much everyone after detective Hardy had stopped by to pick up that pathetic bank clerk.

Regardless of his irritable demeanour and short leash on patience throughout the entirety of the day, Layla Abraham had been the only positive constant by his side.

Layla had understood that he wasn't in the mood to talk and needed some space, so had just let him be. She continued with her work while he continued with his, only coming by to top up his coffee when he was running low. And when that no longer sufficed, he was proud to say that he was the first customer to her bar of the day, ordering himself a whiskey neat.

It was good quality stuff, he had to give her that.

Layla usually stuck around at Abraham's until the bar scene started, leaving it in the capable hands of her trusted bartender, Chris, who was a crowd favourite in the local area. With the very capable hands of her evening doorman, Louis, for added help, her bakery-turned-bar was very looked after. A few times she stuck around for a drink herself, but most nights she preferred to spend her free time somewhere other than her place of work.

So, when the bartender arrived and the first crowd of people came streaming through the door, she was happy to leave just in time for Alejandro's scheduled interview.

He had left her outside in the waiting room with his assistant, Roberto, while he conducted the interview in his office. His assistant was far more pleasant than he, and so she was glad to be left outside.

Alejandro wasn't sure if he was feeling especially irritable or if the applicant, a Mr Harrison Barnes, had appeared far more impressive in his job application and phone interview, but he didn't hold a candle to Neil who he had interviewed earlier that day. He was sure that Harrison would make a good bodyguard however, Alejandro wasn't prepared to settle for anything less than impeccable.

It was his name on the line, after all.

"Thank you for your time, Harrison." He forced a civil smile. "My assistant will be in touch with the final decision in a couple of days." He lied through his teeth, already having decided to get Roberto to make a rejection phone call first thing in the morning.

They both stood up and shook hands. "Thank you, Mr Serrano. I look forward to hearing from you soon." He threw who he hoped would be his future boss, a confident smile.

Alejandro watched as the interviewee left his office and he dropped back in his chair with a defeated sigh.

It had been a long day.

After wishing Roberto good night, and asking him to give Harrison Barnes a call in the morning, Layla and Alejandro headed out to grab some pasta from a local Italian restaurant. His treat.

Alejandro was certain that he was less than pleasant company to be sharing breadsticks with and enjoying some high-quality, authentic pasta, but Layla didn't seem to mind.

That intrigued him. Just like she did.

It was like she could read his mind. Know exactly what he was feeling even though they had only known each other for a couple of days. Almost as if they were on the same wave length.

Some may call it freaky, but he found it peaceful; serene even. She calmed him, and all with only a few glances over a glass of red wine and mouthfuls of pasta.

She had seemed almost content with eating her pasta in silence. To her, it was the perfect way to unwind after a long, hard day at work.

It was only when they were back in the car did she have something to say. "Can we go to a Mc Donalds drive thru?"

That had him raising his eyebrows in question. "We just had dinner." He pointed out, not that he was completely opposed to the idea. While she had ordered some tomato pasta for herself, he had indulged himself with the same but with the small addition of a Caesar salad and freshly baked focaccia which he was willing to share.

When she had pinched a slide of focaccia herself, she had mentioned she was able to make better.

He planned to hold her to that.

"I know that," she tossed him a teasing smile as she brushed her fingers through her hair having just pulled it out of the messy bun it had been confined in all day.

He couldn't help but glance at the strands of blonde hair that fell over her shoulders and stopped half-way down her back.

"I'm thirsty."

He was too, but not in the same way as her. He kept the thought to himself.

"I think a chocolate milkshake should hit the spot." She mused aloud, her eyes skimming through the menu on her phone even though it hadn't changed since the last time she had visited, or the time before that; always ordering the same thing.

Alejandro threw his head back and laughed. Luckily, they had stopped at a red light.

It wasn't exactly what she said, but rather the way she said it. She sounded like an addict, as if she had been thinking and craving a chocolate milkshake all day and now that she had the chance to get her hands on one, she was giddy with excitement and anticipating.

If he took too long, he wondered if she would start drooling.

His laughed dulled into quiet chuckles. "I really needed that. Thank you."

"For what?" Her eyes remained glued to her phone, now pondering if a 7UP would hit the spot better.

"I know I haven't been the best company today. Thank you for putting up with that."

Layla shrugged, ignoring the way his words had caused her insides to flutter as if she had consumed a caterpillar which had now transitioned into a butterfly. "You follow me around everywhere. I don't have much of a choice."

Alejandro chuckled. "How about I get you that milkshake to make up for it?"

"You already paid for my dinner. That's payment enough. Whatever you want now, it's on me." She had a determined look in her eye, one which promised a fight if he were to disagree. So, he kept his mouth shut.

Just being around her was therapeutic.

He spared her a sideways glance. Layla Abraham was absolutely unaware of the effect she had on him.

A recent memory of what he had discussed with Neil Lowry, the man he interviewed this morning, popped into his mind.

Human attraction is normal, especially when two people spend as much time together as a bodyguard does with their client...if something does happen while on the job then you will be pulled from the case and replaced while an investigation takes place.

Alejandro always prided himself on not following the rules exactly, but rather following his own honour code, one which he had set for himself. If something felt right and as long as it didn't produce a negative outcome, there was nothing wrong with seeing it through. Now, he didn't actively go out of his way to break the rules, but as a teenager he had always struggled to follow them and so that's where his personal honour code came into effect.

As long as he wasn't hurting anyone or anything, it was fine.

He wasn't quite sure how Layla felt about him – understandably it had only been a few days and she had bigger fish to fry – but he refused to deny his attraction towards her. It was animalistic and raw; an urge to claim her and make her his.

An innate desire which had begun brewing dangerously under the surface the second he had glanced upon her photo in his office, her file in his hands. It now threatened to spill over the edges and burn everyone around him.

He needed to find a way to turn the heat down.

During his teenage years and early adulthood, woman had always been meaningless flings for him, often picking them up from clubs and bars for a quickie back at their place, never spending the night. He had never felt any sort of connection with a woman that lasted longer than an hour or so.

Now that he was older, 33 to be exact , he found himself craving someone to wake up to every morning and spend the rest of his life with. Picking up woman from bars just didn't hold the same appeal to him anymore.

Alejandro found himself wanting more; wanting better.

It had been a long time since he had wanted a woman romantically, and never since he had wanted to keep a woman around for more than just a pleasurable time between the sheets. But three days with Layla Abraham and he wondered what it would be like to be more than just her bodyguard.

He wanted to be hers, just as much as he wanted her to be his.

There was a primal need to protect her – which had nearly pushed him over the edge when he had thought Byron was going to hurt her – more so than his usual clientele. He had worked with female clients in the past, ones with more sexual prowess than Layla and not once had he felt the need to throw his honour code out the window.

Not before her.

The first he had seen her picture on the file, there had been this itch in him which he couldn't scratch, and it only grew in intensity when he met her in person and refused to let him into her apartment. Even more so now when they were spending all hours of the day together.

He was Alejandro Serrano of Serrano Bodyguards. It had been him who had enforced the rule of not sleeping with clients – sleeping with past clients was something else and definitely out of his control.

As long as Layla was his client, there was no way that he would be able to act on his desires, but he sure as hell wasn't going to compromise her safety by shacking her up with someone far less capable and experienced just at a chance of being with her.

For now, the best option seemed to lock away his heart and patiently wait for this case to be over.

The second the paper work was filed and he was no longer her bodyguard, he would be taking her out for a real date. But until then, he had no choice but to be on his best behaviour.

Be a good boy.

He rubbed a hand down his jaw. That was new to him.

Alejandro sighed. He was never good at being good.

"Thinking hard or hardly thinking?"

He ran a hand down his face, chuckling lightly at the direction of his thoughts. "I don't know anymore." He found himself answering honestly, surprising himself.

She held back her tongue, but smiled softly as they pulled up to the drive thru.

"What do you want?" She asked when they were two cars away from the speaker.

"Coke." He grunted and watched as she eyed the menu on the board.

Once they received their order of a chocolate milkshake for her and a large coke for him as well as a cheeky Mc Flurry for a midnight snack later, they continued their drive back to her place.

"Are you going to tell me why you've been in a crappy mood all day?" Her lips wrapped around the straw before she sucked. "Want some?"

He gulped and shook his head, forcing himself to look away. "You noticed?"

She snorted. "I think even Louis noticed, and he only saw you on the way out."

"Louis?"

"The doorman."

Ah, the doorman. Louis was taller, taller than him, and there was a rough edge to the man which made him perfect for the job of a doorman. If he hadn't smiled pleasantly at Layla and asked about her day, then the man would have made his way onto Alejandro's radar. "How does the whole bakery bar thing work?"

She gave him the stink eye. "We're not speaking about me right now. I've let you be moody all day but unfortunately, this is the part where I start asking questions."

"Let me be moody?" He chuckled softly, the sound of it heavy and dark. Not what she was used to from him.

"Are you going to tell me?"

"Are you going to let this go?"

She shook her head and he sighed. Just as he thought.

"Byron royally pissed me off. He acted completely reckless and put both of your lives at risk today."

Layla nodded. She knew he was annoyed about Byron's behaviour today but she hadn't thought he would hold onto this anger for so long.

"Detective Hardy will set him straight."

"I'm sure he will." He nodded. "But that doesn't change what's already happened."

He sighed and spared her a sideways glance, aware that she was confused.

"I started my detective business when I was 23. This was back before I had Roberto working for me. My first employee was a man named Luke Hamilton. He gave a good interview and had years of experience working as a bodyguard with other companies. I thought I had lucked out when he expressed interest in working for me." He chuckled at the irony of it.

"My first client was a woman, Hannah, who needed protection from an angry ex-boyfriend. It was a pretty easy job and was only supposed to last until her ex had moved on or was dealt with. Luke had thought it was easy too and was probably why he hadn't taken it seriously."

"He didn't protect her." She stated. It wasn't a question.

Alejandro shook his head. "He left her one evening to meet up with his girlfriend. What he hadn't realised was that the ex-boyfriend had been watching him and when Luke left, he took the opportunity and broke into her house. If I hadn't dropped by to check on them then Hannah would have been raped, killed and then probably found in a ditch somewhere. I called the police and he got put away for attempted murder."

"What happened to Hannah?"

A slow smile crept onto his face. "She's married now. Got 2 kids."

"You saved her life." She looked at him with a newfound awe.

He shook his head. "She shouldn't have needed saving in the first place."

"And Luke?"

Alejandro scowled. "I fired the man and put a word out to some of my associates. He won't be working as a bodyguard again."

It was harsh, but necessary.

"I seriously contemplated closing down the business and going back to the police academy to finish my training. When my application was still pending, I got approached by a desperate kid, late teens probably, begging me to help him. He barely had any money but needed protecting because he got mixed up with the wrong crowd. When he messed up, they threatened to make him watch them rape his sister and kill them both."

"What did you do?"

"I got him what he needed. I filed the necessary documents and helped them move out of town. Both him and his sister."

"And the people that wanted to kill him?"

"I was able to gather some evidence and with the connections I had with the police department, I was able to put the ones that threatened his life behind bars. They'd committed worse crimes than just threatening to kill some kid and with the addition of the evidence that I had managed to gather, all of them got sentenced for more than 10 years. The one in charge, they were able to match his prints from a cold case a few years before that. He's got life in prison now."

His stories were difficult to swallow and hard to hear, but she knew it was even harder for him to confide in her; to make himself so vulnerable in front of her.

Layla reached across the console and placed her hand on his thigh, giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "You're a good man."

He gazed at her, his eyes clouded. "I try to be. It doesn't always work out that way though."

"Life never goes in the direction we want it to."

He pulled up into the parking lot in front of her apartment building and looked at her. Really looked at her.

Her blonde hair glistened in the moonlight and her green orbs called out to him like a siren. Her naturally arched, slightly pouted lips called out to him, to lean across the console and seal them with his.

Instead, he sipped at his coke.

-

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Layla Knight

14.05.2020