Nola POV

Guns gave her a thrill.

Her favorite place to be was the shooting range. She could take out any anger there. Let out her stress for the day. She wished she could go to the shooting range every day.

When she first started shooting she felt the small little gun Victor gave her was too heavy. A Smith and Wesson M&P EZ Slide 9mm. Soon she outgrew that gun and gave it back to Victor and asked for something meatier.

Then she got a Mossberg MC1sc. Another handgun was perfect for beginners and she liked the power of it but could not perfect her shot.

Victor coached her to be able to hit her target every time. She loved that gun. Then she bought her second gun herself, a Glock 19 and that's the one she carried with her most time.

She wanted a third one.

While at the range she was in the zone and nothing distracted her. All of her family knew where she was, they liked that she took an interest in protecting herself and choosing that as her career now. She shot for an hour straight till her arms were sore and she was fatigued with hunger.

Finally stopping to take a break, she noticed her phone buzzing as it sat on the table. She took off her earplugs and put the safety on her gun before she picked up her phone. She saw that it was Victor and answered right away.

"Yes?"

"Lil girl, I have been trying to call you all day!"

"You know where I am." She knew Victor had locator apps on all their phones. Couldn't do anything without him knowing.

"Answer your damn phone, it could be important."

She let out a quiet sigh and rolled her eyes, thankful Victor did not Facetime her so he could see the disrespect. "Is it?"

"Yes. Got a job for you. Get here, now."

He did not have to ask her twice. She packed up her guns, cleaned off, and headed straight to TEAM.

Victor sat at his desk turned away from her to watch his monitors. She tried to be stealthy and walked up behind him in an attempt to startle him but she did not succeed.

"You need to work on that being low-key, he said to her. Sit."

"Do I need to be for the job?" she asked, excited to get the chance to be a badass for the first time. "Do I get to be a bodyguard? Whoop some asses and chase bad guys?"

Victor tossed a large file in front of her on the desk.

"I have a guy, up in St. Louis having an issue with someone possibly stalking him. Right now it's nothing really, sliding into his DMs, left a few things for him at work, and now, they found out where he lives and are sending things there."

"Things? Like what?"

"Letters."

She chuckled. "Who's writing letters nowadays? That's easy to track."

"Typed up, not mailed, left at his door."

"Does he have security cameras?"

"No, he's getting that installed now."

"So why do you need me?"

"He's a high-profile client. And I just need you to tag along with him, case out the place, extra protection."

"So, a babysitter?" She scoffed at the idea of watching somebody.

"No, you're going in undercover, I need you real lowkey. You will be his new assistant."

"Assistant? What do I look like-"

"Now if you just listen and calm yo' ass. This is serious. It probably is nothing but better to be safe than sorry nowadays. You can leave tonight for St. Louis."

Nola picked up the file and opened it. There were several sheets of paper, all copies of the letters and notes, but sitting on top was a client markup sheet and a picture of the man. She knew exactly who he was.

Brendan Owens was a KMOV Channel 5 News sports reporter in St. Louis. She watched him plenty of times while she was in school at Washington University. He was young and attractive. Several girls on her floor would rush to the community TV to watch him on the large screen TV so it felt like he was live and in person.

Tall, brown-skinned man with, a short, tapered haircut, an ex-football player for sure. No wonder he had a stalker fan, the man was fine, fine, fine.

This was just the vacation she needed. Babysitting a pretty boy.

She went home, packed a few things, and did not bother to let her sisters know where she was going. This had to stay all undercover as Victor said, even they did not need to know. If they questioned, she could say she was visiting old friends in St. Louis.

Not that she had any. Not since she left in a blaze last year after catching her boyfriend of three years fucking her college roommate. In her bed. After she beat both their asses she was done with them. Left and never looked back. There was nothing for her in St. Louis.

That was the start of her finding herself and what she wanted to do with her life. She should be thanking the two assholes. They did her a favor.

It was not super late in the day and still lots of light as she drove the three hours to St. Louis. Victor wanted her as close as possible to Brendan, so she would be staying in his guest room.

Brendan lived on the outskirts of St. Louis County in Wildwood, Missouri. One of the whitest areas. And wealthiest. He was this rich from working on local TV? And with that face, he should be national, or at least in a bigger market. There was more to his story and she would have to find out.

She pulled up and parked in his driveway, but decided that she would have to move it and park elsewhere, maybe leave the car at a lot. She needed to be lowkey.

She surveilled the area around his house before she went to the door. She could see that Victor had installed cameras mounted at the top right and left corners of the house, one facing the street and the other aimed more for his driveway. There was another right on the door, like the Ring doorbell camera kind, but she knew Victor's system was more advanced.

Whoever was leaving things at his door now could not be so brave.

She rang the doorbell and waited.

When Brendan opened the door she felt her heart flutter. The man was fine...and sexy. She would give it all up for a moment with him.

She quickly cleared those thoughts from her head and got into professional mode. This was business, not pleasure.

"Hello, I'm Nola Baker, your new assistant."

Victor told Brendan she was coming and what she was hired to do, but she still was not giving her last name. Maybe he recognized her and knew anyway.

"Wow! You're so young?" He looked her over as he talked. "I don't know about this."

"You'd rather an old hag guard you or something? Make it more obvious you're a scared little man." She pushed past him and into the house with her suitcase. "You live alone?"

"Yes, but-"

"Where is my room so I can set up? Then we need to move my car and I need you to follow me and you can drive us back. I will be driving from now on. Oh, and you know how to use guns?"

"Guns? What? I don't think-"

"Look, you contacted TEAM because this is more than a lil groupie sliding in your DMs, right? You want them to keep harassing you or you want my protection."

He smiled at her and the man had dimples, her knees momentarily went weak. How was she supposed to do this?

"Okay, okay, I will do whatever you say, but don't interfere with my life."

A handsome guy like him could possibly have dozens of girls on standby, but one look up close at him she knew that was not the case.

"What does your girlfriend think?"

"What girlfriend?"

"Oh, my bad, your boyfriend?"

"There is no one or I am sure you would not be here."

She went to her room, which was a nice-sized room and minimally decorated. She could tell the room was never used. She set down her suitcase, pulled out her Glock, and strapped it on her. Brendan jumped when he saw it.

"What's that for?"

"A gun? What do you think it is for?"

"I don't like guns."

"It's not a toy, you don't have to like it. Come on, let's put my car out of sight."

Brendan drove a black BMW and he followed her to the Chesterfield airport where there was overnight parking. She would leave her car there until she needed it. She grabbed her Mossberg gun from the glove compartment and carried it with her as she went to his car.

"Another gun?"

"Yes, why?" She put that in his glove compartment as he drove off.

"I should ask you do you have a boyfriend and how does he feel about you doing all of this."

"There is no need to get into my personal life. I am here for a job, that's it, that's all."

But how was she going to protect this man when she wanted to be cuddled up kissing him? Sheesh!

A/N: Nola on the case, moonlighting as a bodyguard. I feel a Kevin Costner/Whitney Houston moment coming.

No way! Nola will stay a professional 😁