Authors Note: As usual thanks to my beta readers and to the people who actually read this story!! Special thanks to Jo who has given me inspiration for story I am writing at fiction press (Bus 615 if anyone's interested).

Max and Mr Cale had gone into another room and much to his objection Alec waited outside. Max had given him one of those looks, and even though he pretended otherwise, he knew not to mess with her unless he was ready for the consequences. And they were never pleasant. He watched warily in the bodyguard's direction, who Mr Cale had called David. He had exited the room a few minutes ago and was in the kitchen making a sandwich. He scanned the apartment and noticed Mr Cale had quite a collection of paintings and sculptures. He could get a ton for them on the black market, but Max would kill him if he took anything. Still it wouldn't hurt to take a look, he moved closer to the paintings.

"Mr Cale would prefer it if you left and not waste your time waiting for Mrs Stevenson. He'll be making arrangements concerning her safety," David's voice came from behind him.

"I'd prefer to be here if you don't mind," Alec wasn't sure what it was but this man rubbed him the wrong way.

"Look, I know you've been hired by Mrs Stevenson, but she needs more protection than you can give her. Mr Cale will make sure she's safe."

"Mr Cale can make his arrangements but I'm not going."

"I don't want any trouble. It must be obvious to you that you can't protect her."

"Really?"

"No offence, but you're not exactly the right type to be a bodyguard."

"Right type?" Alec was enjoying himself now. This guy had no idea what he could do.

"You're too small, plus how strong could you really be?"

*************

Max was sitting at a small table; across from her was Logan Cale. She had felt slightly uneasy when they had left Alec outside, and now she felt even more ill at ease as Mr Cale started talking about how tragic it was that her 'husband' had died. She played along and waited for him to come to the part where he asked for her help.

"Now I assure you if you help us, Eyes Only will make sure you are looked after. You'll go home with David and he'll stay with you. You won't be left by yourself at anytime."

"I already have a body guard, and he's staying with me. I'm not alone"

"I've told him to go, David's much more capable."

A wave of panic washed over Max, and then left as quickly as it had come. "Nick is quite capable."

"Really? He's," Logan was interrupted by a large crash coming from outside the door and a high-pitched wail.

Max refrained from laughing at Alec's timing, and followed Mr Cale outside to find David flat on his back holding his nose. Alec stood over him with a satisfied look on his face. Max felt she should have been angry with him for endangering the mission for the sake of his ego, but instead she found the scene amusing.

"The bastard broke my nose. He broke my bloody nose."

"I told him preferred to wait for Mrs Stevenson to finish before I left, but he kept insisting that I leave," Alec answered, wiping the smile off his face when he realised they had come into the room.

"Uh. well." Mr Cale stuttered.

"I told you he was more than capable. Can we please go on with our meeting?"

************

Logan watched Jade Stevenson as she walked back into the room and sat down. There was something about this woman that he couldn't quite put his finger on. She seemed upset about her husband's death and was eager to help, and yet she was so controlled, like she was just attending a business meeting. He of course also couldn't help but notice how attractive she was. Her long dark brown hair was loosely tied back and the clothes she wore were casual yet they showed off her perfect figure. He shook his head and told himself to continue.

"Right, so what Eyes Only wants to do is make public the killing of your husband and try to get these guys caught. Tomorrow we can go over exactly what happened and hopefully go from there. I just wanted to make sure you were safe, but it seems as your bodyguard will be able to protect you."

She gave him a tight smile and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I want to get this over and done with as quickly as possible."

"I understand, but this will take some time," he said hoping it would be longer than he had calculated.

"I want to thank you for all you've done."

"It's not a problem."

He watched her get up and he followed her to the door. Her bodyguard, Nick, was eating a sandwich and David was sitting near the kitchen with a scowl on his face. It still baffled Logan how her bodyguard had beaten David so easily. Logan had used David for a while now and he'd never been taken down so quickly. He was a large man, and at least twice the size of Nick. Yet he had escaped without a scratch.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Jade said to him with a hesitant smile.

"David will drive you back," He said smiling back. He watched as David looked at him annoyed and then stalked off outside. He waited for them to get into the lift before moving to the window to watch them drive off. There was just something about her.

**************

"Our friend was kinda quiet on the way back don't you think," Alec laughed as they biked over to Jam Pony. He had quite enjoyed taking the man down, even if it had been really easy.

"You could have stuffed the whole thing up," Max replied from behind him but by the tone of her voice he could tell she hadn't minded his little display.

"He was so asking for it, and anyway he started it."

"Really," Max said, and Alec could just feel her eyes glaring at his back.

"Yeah he insulted my size," he said with some anger. He wasn't exactly the biggest X5 at Manticore but he was by far the strongest.

"Your poor bruised ego."

"It was fine as soon as that guy started whining like a baby. I don't know what it is but that guy just rubs me up the wrong way. So did Logan Cale, I mean what was he thinking when he kept starting at your butt. You're a widow for god sakes."

"What!? Don't be ridiculous, he was not staring at my butt," she said, her voice going up a notch.

"I'm only telling you what I saw."

"Well I thought he was nice."

"You would," he said absent-mindedly.

"Excuse me?"

"Pretty rich guy. Totally your type," Alec grunted realising she had heard him.

"Like you would know what my type was. Anyway he was nice, he was..."

"Normal?" Alec offered.

"Yeah, normal." Max whispered so quietly that Alec barely heard her.

They rode on in silence and Alec played with the idea of breaking it with a comment that would annoy her. An angry Max was much better than a silent one. Nothing came to mind until they reached Jam Pony. "Hey Max?"

"Yeah?"

"You have a nice butt."