Amy Vastine - Falling For Her Bodyguard

“My mom thought so,” he replied.

For some reason the elevator was taking forever and silence made Kelly nervous. “Anyone ever call you Don? Donnie? Dono?”

“No. And please don’t try to be the first.”

The elevator signaled they had arrived at their floor and the doors opened. No nicknames for the detective. At least he had a first name. Calling him Donovan made things feel less threatening. Hopefully, the only person she’d have to introduce him to was Nancy. Caroline liked to stay in her office anyway. It was unlikely they’d bump into her during the quick tour.

“Kelly, you’re back already?” Caroline, in her red power suit and killer heels, stood next to the reception desk because of course she wasn’t in her office like she usually always was. Kelly’s luck lately kind of stank.

“We’re baaaack.” Kelly regretted saying it that way the moment it came out of her mouth.

Caroline’s sense of humor was nonexistent. She appeared more annoyed than amused. “I need to talk to you. Who is this?” she asked, staring at Donovan, who had a box full of K104 promotional material in his hands.

Kelly hoped her broad smile didn’t come across as fake as it was. “This is my friend Donovan. He was kind enough to help us carry things up from the van.”

Juliette, the receptionist, frowned. Her eyebrows pinched together behind her glasses. “Aren’t you the police officer investigating what happened in the parking garage?”

Donovan looked to Kelly for help. Of course, he must have introduced himself to Juliette when he was here earlier, and Juliette never forgot a face.

“He is,” Kelly answered. “He’s a friend, who also happens to work for the police department. It’s nice to have friends on the force, right?”

“Nice indeed. Well, I hope you figure out what happened,” Caroline said to Donovan before turning to Kelly. “You remembered to lock your car, right?”

“My car wasn’t broken into. It was vandalized.”

“Oh, well, it’s still important to lock up. When you don’t, you invite trouble. That’s all I was trying to say.”

Kelly reminded herself not to take offense. Caroline didn’t get where she was by thinking bad things just happened. She was a strong believer in being in control of one’s destiny. In Caroline’s mind, if Kelly wanted something, she simply had to work hard for it and she’d get it.

Kelly wanted a new contract.

“You wanted to talk to me?”

Caroline fiddled with her earring. “I did. Come on back to my office.”

“Lyle, can you show Donovan around before he has to go?” Kelly asked, wanting to get the detective out of there as quickly as possible.

“Yeah, sure,” Lyle replied even though it looked as if he’d rather do anything other than that.

“Thank you,” she mouthed as she followed Caroline back to her big, corner office.

Caroline’s office was immaculate. Everything was in its place. The only thing on her desk was her mammoth computer monitor and keyboard. Her tidiness was as intimidating as she was.

“I know you’re anxious about your contract coming to an end soon. I want to reassure you that there is a place for you here at K104.”

Kelly nearly leaped out of her seat. “That’s great. Thank you. I love it here and I definitely don’t want to be anywhere else.”

“That’s good. But I do need to put some serious thought into where you fit in the lineup. There’s been some discussion about moving you to the morning spot. I need to know you’re willing to do what it takes to help this station maintain its top spot in the ratings.”

The coveted morning spot? The most listened-to time of the day? Kelly wanted to do cartwheels across Caroline’s spacious office. “I am willing to do whatever you want me to do. I have some great ideas that I wanted to run by you, as well.”

Caroline held up a hand. “Hold on. I’m not looking to brainstorm with you. I want to challenge you.”

Kelly swallowed hard. She was up for any challenge, but the way Caroline said it made it seem a bit scary.

“Whatever you want.”

Caroline opened a file drawer to her left. She pulled out a folder and set it on the desk. She handed Kelly a flyer for the farmers market near Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park.

“I’ve heard you’ve been asking to do some more promo for us. Stan keeps trying to convince me that you’re the next big thing here and I should let him find more ways to use your popularity,” Caroline said, making it clear she didn’t agree with him yet. “I’d like to see what kind of draw you really are. I’ve agreed to let you make more public appearances. We’ll start with sending you out to this farmers market every Friday after your show for the rest of the summer. There are also a few smaller concerts we’re sponsoring that I’d like you to attend before we have you onstage at the Grace Note fund-raiser.”

“I’m happy to do all of that.” This was what she had been begging Stan to let her do. Finally, Caroline was on board.

“Great. Once we see how things go, we can meet to discuss your new contract and a possible move to mornings.”

“Thank you so much, Caroline. You won’t be sorry you gave me this chance.”

Kelly practically floated back to her office, where Lyle and Donovan were chatting with Nancy.

“Someone looks happy,” Nancy said when Kelly walked in.

“Maybe that’s because Stan has finally convinced Caroline to give me a chance to prove my worth around here.”

Lyle and Nancy applauded. “That’s awesome!” Lyle said. “Did she offer you a new contract?”

“Not yet.” Kelly stepped over the pile of promo material on the floor and sat down on the corner of her desk that surprisingly didn’t have anything on it. “But she’s going to. She wants me to get out and do more promotion at some of the concerts we’re sponsoring and at the farmers market every week.”

“But you told her about your stalker and how it would be safer if you were here in the studio instead of out there in the public for the time being,” Donovan chimed in. It felt like he took a pin and popped her balloon.

“No, I didn’t tell her that because that would have made her very unhappy, and a very unhappy boss means bad things for my impending contract negotiations.”

Donovan rubbed his forehead as if she had given him a headache. “The detectives working on your case aren’t going to crack it in one day, Kelly. Having you out in the public is going to make it a lot harder to keep you safe.”

“Maybe there’s nothing to worry about. Maybe he’s done with me. He messed up my car and thinks I have a boyfriend. It could all be over.”

Donovan shook his head. “It’s not over.”

* * *

DONOVAN DIDN’T KNOW why he was so sure that Kelly’s stalker wasn’t through with her yet, but he had such a strong feeling about it, he couldn’t ignore it. Hearing that her job was going to take her out of the studio and out in the spotlight again (and on the regular) made him uneasy.

His phone alerted him to a text. The officers investigating the vandalism had some luck getting some surveillance camera footage from outside the parking garage and were going to follow up on a couple leads. Perhaps they would wrap this up faster than he thought.

“What’s your cell number?”

Kelly rattled off the number. Donovan put it in his phone and sent her a text message so she could contact him.

“That’s me,” he said when her phone chimed. “Let me know when you’re ready to leave and I’ll be waiting in the station’s lobby for you.” He wanted to do a little investigating on his own while he had some time.

“I just need to plan for tomorrow’s show and I’ll be ready to go.”