Disclaimer: I don't own it! There!
The Assassin Bodyguard
To the normal world, Mr. Rivers was a wealthy businessman with a beautiful daughter. His wife had died in a car accident and he held the slightly unpopular belief that mutants were people too and shouldn't be segregated because of their powers. What most of the world didn't know was that this kind faced man with his graying hair dealt in drugs and illegal weapons, his wife had been murdered by a rival, and he preferred to hire mutants as assassins and bodyguards.
"Mr. Creed my daughter is very precious to me, but she's also very headstrong. Your money is in the specified account and I'll match any offer you get to take her out. Above all else, I do not want my daughter knowing why she's being sent on this trip with you. Fuller is a ruthless man, and I want you to keep him away from my little girl."
"I've already been informed of all this." Victor Creed barely seemed to be paying attention, his eyes wandered around the office and settled on a particularly lumpy curtain. Ignoring the angry look Mr. Rivers gave him Creed walked over to stand in front of the drapery as though inspecting the cloth. "Nice curtains. Italian?"
"Yes, imported just last year. I hardly see what my choice in décor has to do with our business arrangement." His voice was polite, but impatient.
"Nothin' at all except…" with one rapid motion the mutant assassin reached behind the curtains and pulled out a young woman. "I never smelled fear and perfume from anyone's curtains before." His right arm wrapped around her slender body pinning her against him, and his left hand caressed her throat lightly claws tracing the delicate arteries just below her pale skin. "Would this be the lovely Melody Rivers?" There was a mocking note in his rough voice.
"Let go of me." Her voice was soft despite its angry tone. Creed could still smell her fear mixed with the perfume and now anger at being out done.
"Mr. Creed please put my daughter down. Melody what are you doing in here?" Melody had only had time to pull on a T-shirt and shorts before hiding in the office.
"I heard you were hiring someone to 'take care' of me. I wanted to know who." Before speaking, Mr. Rivers checked the watch on his wrist.
"I don't have time to explain everything to you right now." He looked at his baby girl and sighed. She wasn't a baby anymore.
"Why not?" There was a dangerous note to her sweet voice.
"Because you have a plane to catch to the Alps. You won't be able to do any skiing, but I had Maria pack your lap top and several books for you." He sighed again taking in her rough and tumble clothes. "There isn't even enough time for you to change out of those nasty clothes."
"Fine by me. I like this outfit." She turned her fierce blue-green eyes on Creed. "Well what are we waiting for if we've got a plane to catch?"
"I'm waiting to see if your dad changes his mind on anything." Both turned to look at Mr. Rivers, Melody's face just dared him to command she be kept in the dark and Creed was smiling toothily amused by the whole affair.
Mr. Rivers looked up at the ceiling feeling totally defeated. "You win Mel honey. Tell her whatever she wants to know." The smile that lit Melody's face was purely feminine.
"Thank you daddy." Before leaving Melody gave her father a kiss on the cheek. "Love you."
"I love you too princess." It would be the last time he ever saw his daughter.
On the elevator, Melody found herself alone with this strange new bodyguard. "Just so we're clear I feel pretty insulted my dad thinks I still need someone like you around." Irritably she pulled her hair out of its ponytail letting it fall in gentle coppery brown waves. "I have a dozen black belts in various martial arts. As far as I'm concerned, I'm more than capable of taking care of myself." It was a lie; she only had a yellow belt in Karate.
"Is that so?" His claws brushed her cheek before she could push the hand away. "Then explain why you're so scared." The move would have been textbook stomp down on his instep, bring her knee up into his groin, and finish it off by shoving him away. But, he saw it coming moved his foot and used his larger size to pin her against the wall of the elevator so she couldn't move. "Listen up 'princess', I ain't used to keepin' people alive, but your dad's paying me a very large amount of money to do just that. And frankly I'm a little tight for cash at the moment. If I have to, I will tie you up and gag you for however long it takes your pop to finish up his business with Fuller. Now," he stepped away as the elevator pinged to a stop and the doors slid open, "are you going to behave yourself or not?"
"I always behave." Melody stalked out of the elevator angry and for the first time in her life deeply afraid. Being stuck alone with him again in the back of the limo and next to him on the plane didn't help matters or her nerves. She slept as much as possible on the flights trying to forget who was next to her. Trying to forget more than anything else the way his claws had brushed her throat so lightly.
Twenty-six hours after saying good-bye the cabin where she would be spending an indefinite period of time came into sight. It was medium sized with a screened in porch and a few small windows. The closest town was four hours driving and the nearest descent-sized city was several days away.
Melody Rivers was stuck by herself with the mutant known as Sabertooth. Victor Creed just smiled at her and opened the front door. He looked forward to having some real fun times with the fairly innocent Miss Rivers.
Melody hurried up the stairs with her suitcase disliking the feeling of that man staring at her from behind. Up the stairs was a small hallway with two doors. She opened one and found it led to a large bathroom with an impressively sized tub easily large enough for three or four people to sit in. Closing the door, she went across and opened the other door confirming her worst fears. It was the only bedroom and had a king size bed in it with red sheets and red blankets. To a happy couple it would have seemed like red for love. To Melody, the red just made her think of her own blood.
She dumped the heavy suitcase and went back down stairs to find her bodyguard perusing the choice of DVD's that came with the cabin. "Who picked out this cabin?" Her voice was angry.
"Me. I made all the travel arrangements. Your dad just paid the bill."
"Just where exactly did you plan for us to sleep. In case you didn't know, there's only one bed up there!" He turned and smiled at her.
"I know that. The best way for me to keep you safe is if I'm with you at all times. Including bedtime princess." Melody's cheeks flushed dark pink. Most of her nightclothes were pretty light.
"If you think I'm sharing a bedroom, let alone a bed, with you, then you are severely mistaken."
"If I were you princess, I'd be thinking more about bath time than bed time." His grin widened with her eyes.
"You wouldn't dare."
"All just part of the job." The grin on his face spoke volumes.
As it turned out, he would dare and did. In the days that followed, he was everywhere. When she bathed, he stood leaning against the far wall watching her and licking his lips every so often. When she went to the bathroom, he watched her then too, occasionally covering up his nose. When she cooked, wrote, read, watched T.V., or anything, he was always there. It was worse when she went to sleep. No matter how far she moved away from him on the bed he was always right next to her in the morning. One arm draped over her and his muscular front snug against her back from top to bottom.
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