Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protection Crisis (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Rochelle Paige Page A

actress about half a year ago. He was also one of the guys I’d seen Chloe photographed with in the magazines and newspapers.
    “The studio was pushing hard for us to act like a couple in public to help promote the movie, but it made me uncomfortable.”
    “How so?”
    I felt her shoulders lift up and down in a shrug. “I don’t know. He was fine at first, when he was sad about the breakup and all he wanted to do was talk about his ex. But then he started going through the angry stage a couple months ago, glaring at the paparazzi when they snapped pictures of us when we were out and acting all moody. I hope for his sake that he’s finally come around to accepting his relationship is over.”
    “That’d be good,” I mumbled, making a mental note to send Tex a quick message to do some digging into the guy.

Chapter 14
Chloe
     
    Kael had seemed on edge ever since Drew’s call this morning. So much so, he was starting to make me a little jumpy. My knee was jiggling under my desk as I checked my email, and I hadn’t even had a full cup of coffee with my breakfast in bed. Not that I was complaining since I’d take an orgasm over coffee any day of the week, but it wasn’t like I could blame the caffeine for my uneasiness.
    Kael walked into my office as I was opening an email from Drew.
    “I’m headed out to swim.”
    “I’ll join you in a little bit,” I answered distractedly. “I want to read some of this script first.”
    It had become part of our daily routine, Kael swimming an insane number of laps in my pool while I lazed around on a chaise lounge under an umbrella with my Kindle until he was almost done. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with the hassle of sending the script to my Kindle, though. And I couldn’t bring my laptop out with me because I’d end up with a headache from the glare if I tried to read on it too long.
    Thirty minutes later, I was deeply engrossed in the script when a Facebook message notification popped up on my screen from Julian asking me to call him. I hadn’t logged into social media in what felt like forever, but apparently the messenger app was still running in the background on my laptop.
    Kael had left his phone on my desk when he’d gone outside, so I grabbed it and punched in his number.
    “Hey,” he greeted me. “Did Drew send the Swept Away by Love script to you too?”
    “He did,” I confirmed. “I’m just reading it now.”
    “I think it’ll be a big hit, and the studio has hinted at pairing us up again for it.”
    “I’m only about a quarter of the way through it, but what I’ve read so far seems pretty great.”
    “Any chance you’d want to run through a few lines together? I’m in the neighborhood and could be at your place in a few minutes.”
    I glanced at the clock. Kael would be in the pool for another half hour or so. “Sure.”
    “See you very soon.”
    I sent the file to my printer so I wouldn’t have to read from my laptop. Once I confirmed it was printing okay, I headed towards the French doors off my kitchen leading to the backyard. The front bell chimed as I caught sight of Kael’s dark head bobbing under the water on a flip turn at the other end of the pool. He wouldn’t be able to hear me, so I figured I’d wait to let him know Julian was here until after I let him in.
    Less than a minute later, the bell chimed again as I pulled the door open.
    “Someone’s certainly impatient,” I joked, the words dying on my lips when I caught sight of the gun in Julian’s hand.
    “Let me in,” he barked out.
    I stumbled backwards, and he slammed the door behind him before I really understood what was happening.
    “What in the world? Why do you have a gun?” A horrifying thought popped into my head. “Oh my gosh! Is it my stalker? Is he out there?”
    “Stalker?”
    “Yeah, Kael’s been trying to figure out who the guy is, but he hasn’t had any luck yet.” I paused in my explanation as confusion set in. “If the gun isn’t because