NEXT TO ME (A Love Happens Novel Book 1) Read Free

surprise inheritance from an elderly aunt who recently passed away and a cardboard legal file full of papers that were supposed to ensure her safety and secure her future, she had noticed an advertisement on the back of a bus stop bench. It showed a beaming Donna Gleeson Decker at about two hundred percent zoom. Her slogan read, Looking for the perfect life? Start with the perfect home! Ali bought the sales pitch hook, line and sinker.
    She had just spent the last several days traveling through nine states on four different Greyhound buses, each carrying a more undesirable element of people than the last, to get to the sunny southern California city and she was running on diet Mountain Dew, cherry licorice twists and zero sleep. Sadly, it had not been the hardest week of her life. Or the scariest. But she was in search of the perfect life and according to a smiling brunette with a blunt cut bob and stylish glasses, it started with the perfect home. Plus, she had always been fascinated by women who hyphenated their name. It felt glamorous and powerful at the same time.
    After quickly writing down the phone number, painted in a bold black font on the bench, Ali had checked into a hotel. A really nice one, where the guest room doors were on the inside of the building, not the outside. And if you wanted to visit anyone staying there, you had to check in at the front desk of a tacky Tuscan themed lobby. It was manned at all times.
    Ali had made sure of it.
    Luckily, the hotel also had an internet lounge and she spent her first two days in town researching her options, knowing she needed to take every precaution necessary. If you couldn’t protect yourself, surely you could pay someone to do it for you, right? And the company that continually popped up on her screen was called Scorpio. Their website, which appeared intentionally vague, touted their skills honed from years of military service. They handled all things security related, from installing state of the art, impenetrable systems to guarding Hollywood starlets and professional athletes. They also provided domestic and foreign defense training, strategy consultations, and wide reaching support of all kinds, including the ability to provide special operations trained teams from all branches of the US Military for worldwide action. Equipped to handle any task from small scale local assignments to major offshore deployments requiring air and ground support, Scorpio Securities could facilitate the stability operations necessary to secure a person, people or region.
    Now that just sounded bad ass.
    And after having spent days thinking her situation forward and back, she decided to give it a try, calling to inquire about a possible bodyguard. It seemed like a cliche, not to mention a long shot that it would even work, but desperate times and all. A young sounding, charismatic man with a subtle midwestern accent and serious lady charm had answered the phone.
    “Scorpio. This is Grady, at your service.”
    Ali, taken aback by his unusual and somehow flirty greeting, and not knowing exactly how to say it, just put it on the table. “Hi. Umm, I’m looking for... Well, I guess some type of bodyguard service. Do you offer that?”
    “Yes, ma’am, we sure do. What type do you need?”
    What type did she need? Somebody mean and on steroids, preferably. And with a really big gun. The kind that used bullets hanging from a chain. “I’m not sure. What kind do you have?”
    He laughed softly at her response, making her think she’d probably said all of that out loud. “Are you attending an event and need private security to escort you?”
    “No, not that.”
    “Okay. Do you need a security detail to assess a possible threat level, provide regular spot checks and prepare an escape plan should a harassing situation arise?”
    “Yes. Maybe. Sort of.” Ali pretty well knew the threat level.
    “Ooh-kay, now we’re cooking. Maybe. Sort of.” There was a smile in his voice. “Do you