The rest of the team chuckled, and Nigel, either disgusted or scared shitless by being surrounded by the entirety of Eden’s security team, hurried away, quickly finding something to do that made him “look” busy. He pulled his phone to his ear, but Swanny could swear there was no active call taking place.
“This is boring,” Joe mumbled. “I never thought I’d say that about my job, but right now I feel like a glorified babysitting service.”
Skylar nudged Joe’s ribs hard with her elbow, but Swanny caught her swift effort to make Joe shut it down. Swanny glared at Joe in clear reprimand.
“I don’t consider the safety of a woman completely vulnerable to some ass**le seeking revenge to be something as minor as a babysitting job,” he said in an icy tone.
“I don’t believe I said it wasn’t important,” Joe said mildly. “Just that it’s definitely a change of pace and well, boring. I’m more used to being able to blow up shit.”
Nathan chuckled.
Edge shrugged. “I’ve never been to Paris. Pretty cool to get to see the city, even as little as what we are seeing.”
“Isn’t Paris supposed to be the city of loooove?” Nathan asked innocently. “Because it appears to me that the bug has definitely bit one of us, and it ain’t me.”
Swanny shot Nathan a withering look.
“I think it would be amazing to fall in love in Paris,” Skylar said wistfully. “So romantic. Think of the stories you could tell your children and grandchildren about how you met.”
“Can someone explain to me why the f**k we’re talking about falling in love when we’re supposed to be focusing on a job here?” Swanny snapped.
“Chill man,” Nathan said. “It’s obvious there’s some serious chemistry between you and Eden. I’m happy for you. We’re just giving you shit. She’s a beautiful woman, not to mention being genuinely nice and not fake in the least.”
Swanny scowled. He didn’t want his relationship bandied in conversation with his teammates, especially when he himself hadn’t gotten to the heart of the matter with Eden. For all he knew there was nothing to talk about. They’d had sex. He was her first. Maybe that was all she wanted. His pessimism when it came to women reared its ugly head, and the insecurity that he loathed crowded into his chest.
“Okay, that’s a wrap!” the director called. “I’m granting a two-hour lunch break since we got so much done this morning. Well done, everyone. I’ll see you back here in two hours. Don’t be late.”
“That’s our cue,” Joe said. “Time to go shopping.”
The others snickered, and even Swanny couldn’t call back his groan. This was so not on his list of favorite things. But it got him two hours to spend with Eden, so he couldn’t complain.
Eden hurried over, her face alight with happiness directed at Swanny. His stomach did a quirky flip-flop number, because how could he not react to the warmth she spread no matter where she went?
“Ready to hit the stores with me?” she asked with a grin.
“Yep,” Skylar said with actual enthusiasm. “You know where we’re going?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. It’s not a long walk, but I don’t know how you all will feel about that. It might be rather conspicuous for us to take armored vehicles and try to find street parking outside the boutique,” Eden said with a chuckle.
The guys exchanged looks, questions in each of their eyes.
“I think as long as we flank Eden and make sure she’s covered and we have a very tight perimeter around her, walking would be okay,” Swanny said. “Just how far is this, Eden?”
“Three blocks,” she said cheerfully. “Not bad at all. And it’s such a lovely day. It would be great to get a breath of fresh air after being trapped in the studio and hotel for two days.”
Swanny lifted an eyebrow in Nathan’s and Joe’s direction. Joe just shook his head. “I don’t know why you’re looking to me now. It’s not like you’ve listened to a damn word from me on this job anyway. You clearly took the lead on this, so you make the decision and we’ll make sure she’s covered on all angles.”
Joe didn’t sound pissy that his authority had basically been subverted, and for that Swanny was grateful because he knew he wouldn’t back off even if he and Joe did get into a pissing match.
Swanny turned to Edge. “I think you and I should flank Eden. Since she’s tall she needs someone taller than her on either side. A sniper isn’t out of the question after what happened before. Nathan and Joe can position themselves in front of and behind Eden and Sky can place herself between Eden and whoever takes lead. That’s a lot of people to go through to get to her.”
Eden stood gawking at his team, her eyes wide as she took in everything they said. Maybe she wasn’t taking this seriously since in her mind the first incident had been random. He’d have a talk with her later about taking her safety very seriously, right before he delved into the discussion about their relationship or if they even had one.
“You ready, then?” Swanny asked Eden. “You’ll have to lead the way figuratively since Joe will be taking the lead, but you’ll have to direct us to where we’re going.”
Eden hoisted her designer purse over her shoulder and said, “When we leave the building, take a right. Go three blocks and it’s on the same side of the street as we’re currently on. I’ll tell you when we get there.”
“All right then, let’s saddle up and get the hell out of Dodge,” Nathan quipped.
CHAPTER 22
EDEN grinned as she sat on a sumptuous couch just inside the section where the dressing rooms were and watched the men grumble and tug at their necklines as they walked out to let her view them in their posh evening wear.
Skylar seemed to be enjoying herself every bit as much. She smirked over the men’s expressions, their groans when Eden would frown and shake her head and say, “No, not quite right.”
So, she was having a bit of fun at their expense. Eden herself rarely went shopping for dresses for important events because there was no shortage of designers literally begging her to wear their apparel, and three gowns had already been delivered to her hotel for her to choose from for the soiree. Although the party would be mostly the Aria staff, production team, directors and staff, there would still be key important people and plenty of paparazzi to photograph their arrival, which was what the designers counted on.