“Kelly…” I motioned with my head so I could speak to her privately. “I need to get a dress for the party. Do you think you can help me find something appropriate before you leave for California?” I thought about the one and only formal wear shop that I knew of, which was halfway between Seaport and Providence. That would be my hunting grounds.
“Why don’t we shop for a dress when you come out to L.A.? What better place to find a designer dress,” Kelly retorted.
“I don’t need a designer dress, I just want to look nice.”
“You’ll be photographed on the arm of Ryan Christensen. You need a designer dress,” she insisted. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you look absolutely gorgeous!”
I glanced over towards the bar and noticed a pack of guys around Ryan. They were all doing shots again.
“Ben, Kenneth… get over here!” Ryan yelled exuberantly.
“He is going to puke tonight if he keeps that up!” Marie laughed.
“He won’t be alone.” I raised my eyebrows, nodding my head in Ryan’s direction. “All of our men are over there doing shots. Good thing none of them are driving tonight.”
“Where did you get the cute bartender, Taryn?” Kat asked.
My eyes flashed back over to the bar. “That’s Cory. I hired him to work weekends, although it’s turning out to be almost a full time job for him now. Marie and I thought Ryan’s fans would appreciate looking at something other than us. And to tell you the truth, it’s comforting to have a man working here. The scary fan adoration hasn’t stopped.”
“Speaking of scary, where are the psycho twins?” Marie asked, noting that Suzanne and Francesca were absent.
“Don’t know, don’t really care!” I admitted.
“We should get everyone eating,” Tammy advised. I helped her uncover all of the hot chaffing dishes. Soon a long line formed for hot food.
Ryan butted in line behind me. He wrapped one arm across my chest and whispered in my ear, “Thank you for my party! You really got me good!” His free hand patted my rear.
Mike, Ryan’s personal guard walked up to us while we were in line.
“Guess you’re not driving us to dinner tonight, you lying S.O.B.!” Ryan teased.“Not tonight. I’m just a guest. But I do need to talk to you.” His tone became serious. “I just got a call from Suzanne’s driver; she and Francesc a are on their way. And just so you know, they spent some quality time in the hotel bar before requesting to be driven here.”
Ryan dropped his forehead onto my shoulder. I knew he was stuck in a no-win situation.
I tenderly patted his hand that rested on my chest. “That’s all right. They can come – after all they were invited. Things are different now.”
Ryan breathed out hard on my neck. I could smell the whiskey and beer mixed in with his anxiety.
While Ryan and I made our plates of food, thoughts of Mike’s dedicated service to Ryan filled my mind. “Ryan, who does Mike work for?”
Ryan piled some shrimp on his plate. “He works for a company called PSG. I think it stands for Protection Services Group or something like that. The studio hired them. Why do you ask?”
“Is this the first time he’s working for you?”
“Yeah. He was assigned to me when we got here. It’s the same company Kyle works for. I guess they are global or something.”
We sat down at the table to eat. He looked at me, waiting for me to continue.
“He is just really dedicated to you. And you seem to have a great relationship with him. I was just wondering how long he’s been protecting you.”
“It’s funny you mention that. I’ve already talked to Mike about working for me.” Ryan patted me on my thigh and shrugged. “Everywhere I go I get new people hovering around me. It’s hard to feel safe when you don’t know or trust the people who are supposed to protect you. I wish I didn’t need it.” He rubbed his forehead.
“Well, I like the way Mike takes care of you. It would make me feel better to know someone like that was guarding you full time.”
“Yeah, I agree.” Ryan stroked my hair. “I’ll see what I can do about it.”
Frank and the rest of the “Being Frank” band started their first set on the stage. I had the volume on the sound system turned down so the music
would still rock but we wouldn’t need to yell at each other to hold a conversation.
“You even hired a band?” Ryan asked in between taking bites of food. He kept shaking his head.