A/N: Hey guys! Back again with another update, it's a little different than my usual stuff but hope you like it!

"Are you kidding me?"

This is actually ridiculous. She slams her manicured hand on the mahogany desk of her father's self-proclaimed 'study.' It's too ornate, filled with too many books, to be meaningful to a man like him, but it's not her business to know his business.

Well, until now it seems, because this is really stepping a line.

"It's for your safety Annabeth." His voice is cool and calculated as ever and she knows that he's already made up his mind by the look on his face. A face that many would cower against but she's not his daughter for nothing so she's not backing down.

"I'm an adult. I can handle—"

"This is not up for debate."

She scowls at his relative calm. Of all the stupid thing her father has done, this takes the cake. "My personal freedom—"

The door opens, effectively cutting her off as Alex, her father's right-hand man of sorts, walks in. He doesn't say anything, just gives her father a slight nod, but even she knows that she's about to meet him.

As expected, Alex opens the door further to reveal another man. Her eyes graze over him with interest. What about this man is so special to get this job?

He's tall, well-built, but that's too be expected in his line of work. He is a bit on the leaner side though, but there's something in his stance that screams 'back off.' His hair is messy, or unprofessional as she'd like to call it, but it somehow compliments his face. A face that's too…pretty for someone in this business.

Finally, her eyes rest at his. The stark sea-green seems to be taking her in the same way she just was. She feels heat flare up in her face, but holds her position, unwilling to back down.

"Percy, nice to see you again. This is my daughter Annabeth." Her father speaks up making both of them turn to him.

Percy nods, Annabeth continues her glare from earlier and her father reacts to neither of them.

"As we discussed, you'll be in charge of her security when she leaves the house from now on. Your room will be with the other security personnel, but your main task is Annabeth."

"Yes sir."

His voice is deep and neutral. In fact, stoic could be his middle name if it weren't for the way his eyes had locked on to hers earlier.

Her father nods. "Good. You both may go."

She crosses her arms, not sparing a single glance at anyone in the room as she walks out. This is stupid and infringing on her personal freedom and she refuses to acknowledge her father anymore.

Her peripherals catch him following her, which is to be expected, but as soon as the study door closes, she turns to him.

"You don't need to follow me inside," she says curtly. It's rude and snarky but she might as well make her position known loud and clear.

"I just happen to be walking in the same direction as you," he answers. There's no smile but she can imagine the smirk behind the words.

As if she didn't hate this guy enough already.

"Then change your direction." She doesn't wait for a response, just stalks on ahead to her room.

She's going to make this hell for him.

-.-

"He can't be that bad," Piper says on the phone.

"He's cocky, I can just feel it."

"Why do you need security now all of a sudden?"

Now that's getting to the meat of the matter. There must be some reason for the change, and Annabeth has a sneaking suspicion that one of her father's shady deals might have been a bit shadier than usual.

"He wouldn't say," she replies.

"Well, I want to meet him. We still meeting up for shopping later?"

A smile rises to her face as she pictures his headass in a mall surrounded by women's clothing that she's sure he has no affinity towards.

"Oh yeah."

She hangs up the phone and walks out of her room, towards the garages. Maybe there's a chance she can just sneak away by herself.

Keys clutched in hand; she makes her way to her car. She doesn't need a driver and often goes without one so it's not like she's doing anything out of the ordinary. There's no one around and maybe she can actually get away with this.

Smiling to herself once she's seated behind the wheel of her Mercedes, she's pretty sure she's safe. That is until a tap on her window startles her.

How in the hell did he find her?

At that point she has no choice but to let him in, and he slides into the passenger seat without a word. She wants to ask how he found her but refuses to give him the satisfaction of knowing he one-upped her.

So instead, she just starts the car and blasts Taylor Swift as loud as possible.

-.-

He only speaks once she pulls into the parking lot.

"What are we doing here?"

"Shopping."

She turns to him with her sweetest smile as the last lyrics of I Knew You Were Trouble fade out.

She sees the way his jaw sets, and it finally seems like he's getting as annoyed she is. It brings a smile to her face.

He mutters under his breath as he gets out of the car, but she catches the words anyway. "I didn't get hired to take you shopping."

Her sweet smile morphs into a smirk as she takes a step closer to him. His cologne smells a little like the ocean and she's distracted at the scent for a second before she gathers her previous thoughts.

"Oh yes you did."

The way he frowns tells her that he hadn't meant for her to hear that. Oh well. Tossing another smile at him, she walks forward, feeling her eyes on her.

The mall is cool and helps the flush that's somehow settled on her face dissipate. He's walking a few paces behind her and would look normal in his black t-shirt and jeans if it weren't for his stance.

They're going to get weird looks, she knows it.

Sighing, she turns back towards him. "Can you not look that obvious?"

He shoots her a look, the stoic-ness finally breaking. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You look like a creep following me around, people are gonna stare."

She doesn't notice the way his arms flex as he crosses them. "What do you want me to do about it."

"Don't…" she doesn't really know. "Just don't look like that."

With a sigh, he shoves his hands into his pockets, looking a little bit more like a normal person. (It also makes him look like he's about to do a photoshoot for a magazine but whatever.)

"Annabeth!"

Piper is rushing towards her, but her wide eyes are locked on Percy.

"Hey!" She responds, leaning in to give her friend a hug.

"You did not tell me he was hot!" Piper whispers right before she pulls away.

Was he? She hadn't noticed.

Piper's look pokes holes into her unsaid words.

"Let's go," she says instead. "I need some new dresses."

They start walking towards their favorite store chatting idly, both aware of Percy trailing behind and in hearing range of their conversation.

"I'm thinking yellow," Piper says, as they enter the dresses section. "It'll look nice on you, plus it's summer-y."

Which is the whole point of this shopping trip anyway. They step forward to look at the racks and Percy seems mildly unsure of where to stand so he sticks to the outskirts of the section.

"Annabeth why is a model your bodyguard!" Piper whispers as she leans closer to pull a dress off the rack.

"Is that what you focus on? We can't even talk freely with him here!"

Piper shrugs. "We'll find way around that, but oh my god."

Rolling her eyes at her friend's words, she finds herself looking back to find him. He's already looking at her, as if he knows she was just talking about him.

She looks away.

There's a dress in front of her that's a pretty pale yellow that may work and Piper piles at least three more before they decide to try them on.

Percy takes a single step forward towards the dressing rooms before she stops him by putting a hand to his chest. "Oh no, you don't get to follow us in."

He rolls his eyes. "Don't worry, I was just going to take a seat." He nods towards the little area.

Refusing to feel stupid, she doesn't back down. "Good. Just wanted to make sure you didn't think you had a free pass."

His lips tug just slightly upward at that. "Don't worry, I wouldn't dare." His eyes slide downward just a tad before meeting hers again. Her heart rate annoying spikes up for a second.

Morphing her face into another glare, she stalks to the chaining rooms, hoping she doesn't walk too fast.

"What the fuck was that?" Piper asks, having witnessed the whole exchange.

"I was putting him in his place."

"Seems like you were doing a whole lot more than that," Piper mumbles. At Annabeth's glare, she holds up her hands in defense.

"Hey! Don't get mad at me, now come on, try the yellow one."

-.-

After another unsuccessful attempt at sneaking out, she's resigned herself to just telling Percy when she's leaving to avoid him appearing out of nowhere and startling her.

She's not going to say she's used to it by any means, she's just…taking on the challenge of seeing how far she can push him.

Shopping with Piper which leads to him just standing around for hours, blasting Taylor Swift, making him sit through documentaries playing in small theaters, basically anything she can think off that might make him crack.

He hasn't, which is kind of suspicious in itself. And to further prove her point, she has no idea who this guy is beyond the fact that her dad pays him to be here. Does he even care? Is he loyal?

She decides to go to the not as nice part of town. Technically, there's a thrift store she wants to visit, practically, she's running a test.

He visibly sits up as they drive into the strip mall, apparently aware that this isn't a nice well-kept indoor mall.

"What are we doing here?"

The same words from the last time she took him shopping but they're different. His voice is sharp as his eyes are dart around the environment, taking it in.

"Shopping."

She shoots him a smile before getting out of the car and within a second, he's by her side, walking closer than he ever has. She can smell that cologne again.

"Oh," she says, stopping so suddenly he almost runs into her. His chest brushing her back as he preemptively holds up his hands to stabilize her.

She turns around. "I left my purse in the car, can you go get it?" It comes out sweeter than she had intended, he narrows his eyes a little at her tone.

"Let's both go."

She frowns. "These heels are annoying and we're only a few feet away, can you just get it?"

Pressing the keys into his hand, she ushers him towards the car. He looks far from happy about the situation which makes her smile. And without waiting for him, she continues her walk towards the thrift store.

She scans the area herself as she does so, noticing three men standing off to the side by the dry cleaners.

Of course, as soon as she notices them, she hears a whistle. "Damn girl!" One of them calls out, taking a step forward.

"How about a smile sweetheart!" Another one calls. She ignores them and takes a few more steps towards the thrift shop.

"Come on baby!"

She enters the thrift store just to avoid dealing with them.

The store is quiet, small and so homely it makes her smile. She's so busy taking everything in she doesn't even notice the door opening and Percy appearing behind her.

"You were supposed to wait for me." His voice is right by her ear as he presses her bag into her hand.

Ignoring the shiver down her spine at the words, she shrugs. "You were taking too long."

"Yes," he says, still right by her ear. "Want to explain how your purse ended up completely underneath your seat?"

She turns around to look at him and wow. They are so close; she can see the flecks in his sea-green eyes. "Oops."

They turn a shade darker at that.

Taking a deep breath, she turns back towards the clothes, eyes just skimming over everything without really paying attention.

She needs to get herself together. Walking a few steps to the right, she finds a vintage jean jacket that would probably pair well with the sundress.

After about fifteen minutes, she walks out with said jacket in her hands. The men from earlier are further down this time, but they're looking at her. She turns to Percy abruptly, once again causing him to almost collide with her.

"What is it this time?" he asks, clearly exasperated. She tries hide her smile at his tone and instead nods towards the men. One of them is starting to walk over now.

"They were harassing me earlier."

"What?" His voice is hard now.

"I said, they were harassing me," she repeats, taking in the change of his stance.

He looks over to the group. "Them?" He confirms.

"Yep."

He doesn't take his eyes off of them. "Done." He starts to walk in their direction, hands closed as tight fists by his side. The man walking towards them takes a step back.

There is no doubt in her mind that he has every intention of fucking them up.

She reaches out before he can get far and grabs his jaw, forcing him to look at her. "Good."

Her thumb is dangerously close to his lips and somehow, once again, they're dangerously close to each other.

There is surprise coloring the previous hardness of his eyes, and she follows the way his Adam's apple bobs as he swallows.

"But they're not worth it," she finishes, letting go off him to take a step back. Her heart's beating a little too fast. Whether it's from closeness or the fact that he passed her test, she doesn't know.

He stays frozen for a second longer before following her.

"Hey baby! You back for more!" One of the guys in the group yells loud enough for it to travel to them.

She sees the way Percy's eyes flash as he spins towards them. She takes a moment to be thankful that he's on her side. He's actually going to decimate them.

"No, Percy." She pulls on his arm. "They're not worth it, let's go."

When he turns to her, she can almost see the anger radiating from him. "They. Don't. Get. To. Talk. To. You. Like. That."

Words stop in her throat, and all she can do is tighten her grip on his arm. Percy is not loyal.

He is fiercely loyal.

She tugs him back to the car. "Come on."

Somehow, she manages to get him in, but she can tell the way his hands remain in fists that he's still pissed off. They drive in silence, no Taylor Swift to break up the building tension.

Finally, having calmed down her heart a little, she reaches over at the next stoplight. Prying his fingers open, she threads hers through his and squeezes his hand.

"Thank you."

If he was ready to go after a bunch of lame catcallers, he would definitely defend her in an actual situation.

He doesn't say anything, but his shoulders deflate a little and she thinks that maybe she's helped a little.

-.-

Things change after that. She can't really bring herself to hate someone who is willing to protect her like that.

"What made you get into this field?" she asks, as they drive to fulfill her milkshake craving.

"I like being able to protect people." It's a simple answer but somehow it feels like the truth.

"Who else did you work for before me?" She wonders how her father found him of all people.

"I was working for an agency that provided security for events for…affluent people."

She thinks that calling her dad affluent is too polite given how ruthless she knows he can be. Smiling at his word choice she turns to look at him.

"Is that where you met my dad?"

He nods. "Yeah, I was on detail for him that day."

"So why'd you take on this job? It's probably more boring than your other one."

Percy shrugs as they round the McDonalds drive through. "He pays well. As for boring…"

His eyes take her in, sliding down her body, before turning towards the menu. There's a hint of a smirk on his face. "It's not bad. Can you get me chocolate shake?"

That one look had been enough to bring a blush to her face that she immediately works on pushing down. She turns towards the menu to avoid looking at him.

"Chocolate?"

"The best flavor."

"I disagree."

"It was my mom's favorite, so therefore it is the best flavor." She can hear the smile in his voice, and wonders what happened to his mom.

"One vanilla shake," she says to the drive through speaker.

"Anything else?"

She glances at him again, he's not smiling per say but there's something in his eyes egging her on.

"And one chocolate shake."

-.-

"You're finally addressing the obvious sexual tension between you two," Piper says brightly over the phone, as if it's a common and casual thing to say.

"What!"

"Oh come on, you have to have felt it."

She…

"Okay, alright," Piper says after her continued silence. "Let me prove it to you. I'll lend you my boyfriend, but please make sure he returns in one piece."

What the fuck?

-.-

"Percy!" she says brightly, trying not let her nervousness show. Now that she is nervous, it's just that Piper's plan is really stupid and she's not really a fan of the part she's about to play. They'd just stepped out of the car when Jason had run up to meet her.

"Meet my boyfriend!"

By nature of his job, he usually looks pretty stoic, but it's clearly slipping in the presence of Jason. He doesn't say anything.

"Hey man." Jason looks unsure and a little scared at the cold reception. She doesn't blame him, Percy does not look like a welcoming person right now.

She maintains her smile as she intertwines her fingers with Jason's and leans against his arm.

Percy visibly tenses at the action.

Wait…is Piper actually…

"Hey babe?" she asks, leaning back and letting go of Jason. Percy's jaw clenches at her words. Seems like she's found a…tick.

Ignoring him she turns her full attention towards Jason. "Can you get my Starbucks?" It's their code for him to leave and she hadn't expected to use it so soon. But Percy looks a little murderous and she values Jason's safety.

"Sure thing!" Jason all but rushes away and she glances towards the car where Piper is hiding, hoping that she can calm Jason down.

She turns towards Percy, who still looks unhappy, though slightly less tense than before.

"You don't seem to like him very much," she comments lightly.

Percy turns his glare towards her. "You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend."

His tone is harsh, mixed with accusatory and holy shit, Piper is right.

"I didn't think you'd care."

He crosses his arms. "I don't care."

Oh…but he does.

She takes a step closer to him. "No," she says quietly, watching his shoulders tense up again at her closeness. "I think you care a lot…"

"I don't," he breathes, cold eyes melting a little.

"Given that's how you reacted to my fake boyfriend, I don't know what you'd do if I got a real one."

Clarity rushes into his eyes as he pieces together what just happened.

"You—" he surges forward, backing her against the car a little.

A smirk plays at her lips at the action, heart racing so fast she's sure even he can feel it.

"What are you gonna do about it?"

She's never seen his eyes that dark before. He closes the distance between them with one more step forward so she's pully pressed up against the car now.

It's overwhelming in the best possible way to be surrounded by him, his body, his cologne and his eyes…his eyes that dart to her lips and finally she thinks he's got the right idea.

"Annabeth—" his voice breaks and god he's never sounded like this before. The put togetherness he always has is finally falling apart and it's better than what she could have hoped for.

"Yes baby?"

It's the last straw for him apparently because he surges forward, meeting her lips in a kiss that makes her feel like she's flying and melting at the same time.

He's unforgiving, pulling her closer, taking all she has, the desperation evident. And she knows she's not much better.

They pull apart, panting as he rests his forehead against hers. "Fuck…"

How he's managing to speak she has no idea, she's not that far along yet. "Annabeth, you…" he clears his throat. "You can't just say shit like that."

She smiles. "I just did."

His hands, that were resting on his hips, start to move up and down her side. "You're killing me…"

"You like the dress?"

It's very clear he likes the sundress. Evidently, Piper was right about that too.

Percy closes his eyes and groans, her teasing really getting the best of him.

She tangles her fingers through his hair. "If you want me to stop talking, then put those li—"

Before she can even finish her sentence, he's kissing her again. Sweeter this time, more gentle, and it makes her heart race even faster.

"I know you said," he starts once they pull apart again. "That I'm not supposed to follow you inside. But do you mind if—"

"You better follow me everywhere," she orders, cutting him off.

A smile plays at his lips and she wants to chase it down with another kiss, but she holds back as he speaks. "Even your bedroom?"

"Especially my bedroom."

-.-

They're once again standing in her father's study, the scent of a cigar still lingering in the room making her crinkle her nose in disgust.

"What do you want?" she asks her father impatiently, having been interrupted from her shopping trip.

Percy stays respectfully silent by her side.

"Well," her father begins. "Technically, we don't really need Percy's servi—"

"No," she interrupts him.

The surprise on her father's face is evident and she smiles internally at getting the upper hand. His forehead creases in confusion as he starts again. "But you—"

"I'm keeping him," she asserts, keeping her focus on her dad but feeling Percy take a step closer to her.

"But he—"

"This is not up for debate."

And with that, she turns around, grabs Percy's hand and tugs him out the door without sparing her father a second glance.

Percy doesn't say anything as the study door closes but she can the smile on his face in her peripherals.

What a dork. As if she'd ever get rid of him like that. After all, what if her father decided to make an even shadier deal next time?

They don't talk about what just happened as they get in her car, they don't really need to when his smile says everything.

As it turns out, of all the things she had done to annoy Percy, blasting Taylor Swift had not been one of them because he just sings along to King Of My Heart as they drive to the mall.

She beelines for the dress section that her boyfriend seems to love so much and picks out something in pink this time.

He takes a step forward as she heads towards the dressing rooms and, once again, she puts a hand on his chest to stop him.

His eyes are dancing at the motion, no doubt remembering the first time she had done so. She tries to keep the smile off her face as she speaks but she thinks she's failing at that. "You don't need to follow me inside."

He just nods and starts to walk towards the seat.

"But," she says, stopping him in his tracks. "You should."

A/N: And there you have it! What did you think? This one is pretty straight forward, and has more sexual tension than I what I usually write but it was just fun to try it out! Once again, shoutout to tik tok for the bodyguard idea, and I hope you guys liked this one!

This is the second to last one shot that is going to be cross-posted on here and my new story How We Could Have Met 3. Only two more chapters in general till the end of this series before I'll be exclusively posting on HWCHM3.

Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

And as always, thanks for reading!

See ya! :)