Passenger Princess: A Grumpy Sunshine Bodyguard Pageant Queen Romance (Evergreen Park Book 1)

A moment later, the door to the meeting room opens, a gruff-looking older man walks in, and, for a moment, I think he’s who my security for this event will be. That I could deal with. A cute old man who won’t give me too much shit? Perfect.

But then a tall, broad man walks in behind him, scanning the room like he’s looking for a threat, and my entire body goes cold. I know that man, that build. And when his eyes finish scanning the room, stopping when they land on me, I realize I know the face, too.

The asshole bouncer from AfterDark.

“You,” I say, my lips tipping up into a small smile as he walks in, the pieces falling into place. What fun kismet this is.

The man stares at me, thoughts moving behind his shuttered eyes. “Princess,” he says, the words ricocheting in his mind nearly visibly.

“A pageant queen, technically,” I say, tipping my chin up with pride because it might not have been my life’s goal, but I worked hard to win my title. Plus, something tells me this man is not impressed by that title. If anything, he’s a little annoyed by it, and if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s pushing people’s buttons.

I stare at him as his boss sits, and the man—Jaime Wilde, a great name if I’ve ever heard one—sits as far from me as possible, eyes still locked on me, trying to read me, to understand the mess we’ve gotten into.

“Do you two know each other?” the older man at the table asks, salt-and-pepper eyebrows furrowing.

We both simultaneously shake our heads.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“No, not at all,” Jaime barks out with a fevered shake of his head. My lips tip up in an entertained smile. He says it as if I’m a serial killer, and he’s trying to deny any kind of connection to me for fear he’ll become a suspect next.

“No, not really,” I say, smiling my perfect pageant smile at the older man. “He was working at AfterDark when I was celebrating after my win. I tried to say hi to Atlas Oaks since I went to high school with Stella Greene, but he was kind of grumpy about it and didn’t really want to hear what I had to say. Honestly, he’s very good at his job.”

The older man looks at him with a semi-satisfied look. “Small world.”

“Yes, well, as I mentioned earlier,” Regina says, clearly over this exchange. “Jaime here is going to be following you on tour, keeping an eye on you, and chauffeuring you from place to place.”

“So he’s a school chaperone?” I say with a bit of a snort because it’s laughable. Is this real life?

Let’s backtrack:

One, somehow, I’m suddenly a nationwide pageant queen.

Two, the pageant I won hates me and wants me to resign so my newly founded archenemy can take the crown.

Three, I have a chaperone for the next three months because they want to watch my every move and force me to resign.

And four, my new buddy system friend is the grumpy bodyguard I drunkenly flirted with when he stopped me from entering a VIP section a few days ago.

I know God has to be a woman because no man has a sense of humor this good.

“Actually, chaperone is a good way to help you understand what he’s doing here,” Regina says with a more threatening than friendly smile. “He’s going to be keeping you safe but also, as I stated before, making sure you stay within the organization’s code of conduct.”

“Or else I get your crown,” Anne blurts like a small child who can’t contain herself, her smile dropping when Regina kicks her under the table, her entire body jolting with the move.

You know what would definitely not be within the code of conduct?

Punching Anne in the face.

But it might be worth it….

“On that note,” the lawyer says with a glare at Regina and Anne. “We’re going to let you two get to know each other and talk about any needs or preferences either of you might have since you’ll be together for so long. Please let us know if you need anything. Ava, when you’re ready, we have a few forms for you to sign, so just go to the front desk.”

I smile genuinely and nod. “Thanks so much, I will.” I watch everyone but Jaime file out and close the door before turning to my new bodyguard with a smile.

He’s standing, looking down as he packs a notebook into a backpack without even looking at me.

“Uhhh,” I say, trying to figure out how to start this conversation.

It’s clear this man isn’t a fan of mine, and our initial meeting wasn’t exactly ideal. Still, we’ll be forced together for the next three months, so I might as well attempt to get things back on the right foot.

“So about the next—” I start, but he stands straight, slinging the bag over his shoulder. His eyes, no longer covered by glasses or the dim lighting of a club, are, in fact, handsome as can be, a green hazel with thick, dark eyelashes I’d kill for.

“My rules,” he says briskly, cutting me off. No, hello, how are you? “You listen to what I say. You do what I say. You do not deviate. We put safety first, and we’ll get through the next three months without too much of a headache.”

A beat passes, and I blink a few times. He crosses his arms on his chest and continues to glare at me.

“Excuse me?” I ask, mouth open.

“I don’t have the time or patience to deal with some spoiled brat for the next three months. My job is to keep you safe. I am not a babysitter. Don’t act like a fucking idiot, and I’m not planning to report your every move to her.”

Well, that’s a relief, but…

“I appreciate that,” I say. “But I’d also like to be friends. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, and⁠—”

“No,” he says, brusque again, and now it’s starting to annoy me.

“What?”

“No. I don’t want to be friends. I don’t want to play get-to-know-you niceties. I know your type, and I’m not interested.”

“My type?”

“Self-absorbed, only cares about appearances. The type that smiles and flips her hair and thinks that can get her anything in life, while the rest of us have to follow the rules.”

“You think you know me so well, you think you have me so pegged, but you don’t know a thing about me, Jaime.”

He sighs like he’s tired of this back and forth. “Look. I’m here to do a job, and even though I’m not exactly fired up to have to follow you around for three months, this is just that—a job for me.”

“Okay… and it’s one for me.”

“No, it’s a fun little getaway. It’s you playing princess and waving at your royal subjects.”

I blink at him a few times, utterly shocked, before I speak. “Excuse me?”

“You listen to what I tell you to do, and we’ll be fine.”

“What is wrong with you?” I ask, getting annoyed now. I didn’t think we would be besties, but we’re going to spend a lot of time together, especially if he’s driving me from stop to stop.

“I find this assignment irritating and a waste of my skills. Having to follow some self-centered princess around sounds like misery, but we all have jobs to do, and I’m going to do mine.”

“I don’t get it,” I say as he moves towards the door, trying to decode him.

“Get what?” he asks, turning back towards me, that same look of irritation on his face.

“Why you hate me. I did absolutely nothing to deserve this.”

He lets out a small sigh, a tiny crack in his mask. “I don’t hate you, particularly. I just have no interest in following a beauty queen around. This assignment is essentially me being a glorified babysitter for a grown woman, and it’s a waste of my time. I’m annoyed that I’ve been ambushed by walking into this with you because, if we’re putting it all on the table, I find you kind of irritating, and, from what little I saw the other night and what I’ve heard so far, you seem like a disaster waiting to happen. I’m not looking forward to pulling you out of trouble every five minutes because you can’t listen to directions, so I’m trying to be the adult in this room and set guidelines ahead of time. I’m so sorry you don’t like them, but that’s life, Princess.”

He finally stops speaking, and I stare at him before inspecting my nails.

“Are you done?” I ask with a slight smile on my lips.

“What?”

“With your little tirade about how annoying it will be to be my bodyguard. It sounded like you had some really big feelings about it, and I want to make sure you let them all out before I interrupt. So, are you done?”

His jaw goes tight, and in that moment, I realize this will be so much fun.

“Yes, I’m done,” he says through gritted teeth.

“Perfect, great. So, here’s the deal: I don’t really like rules. In fact, the more rules people give me, the more I want to break them. I’m going to do my absolute best to make your job an easy one, but I’m going to be me, regardless. I won’t do anything crazy dangerous or stupid, but I’m not going to be some little subservient thing doing exactly what you say at any given moment.” He looks at me, then lets out a soul-deep sigh. “This is going to be a disaster,” he says under his breath.

I walk around the table towards the exit, stopping in front of him and smiling up at him. He’s too handsome for his own good, that much I know.

And much, much too serious. I’ll have fun forcing him to relax a bit.

“One thing,” I say.

“What’s that?”

“Don’t fall in love with me, big guy, okay?” I ask, reaching up and patting his cheek. His jaw goes tight.

“I promise that won’t be a problem.”

“Is that a challenge?”

For the first time, he smiles back. From here, I see one dent in his cheek. A dimple.

“Do your worst, Princess.”

“God, you don’t even know what you just did, do you?” I ask, my smile spreading as I shake my head in disbelief, moving my purse over my shoulder. “If there’s one thing I love, it’s a challenge. Literally won an entire pageant just to see if I could. But you? You might become my favorite challenge yet.”

I almost don’t hear him mumble under his breath as I walk out “And you might just be mine.”