MARIUS PULLED UP IN FRONT of the club. “You sure you don’t want me to wait for you? Your father’s in for the night. I don’t have anywhere else I need to be.”

I scanned the long line of people waiting to get into the nightclub before I smiled nervously at my father’s driver. “No, thank you. I’m good, Marius. I’ll call a service when I’m ready to go home.”

Marius eyed all the people in line. “I don’t think your father would be comfortable with you waiting in that line with all those young people.”

Under normal circumstances, I probably would’ve smiled and teased Marius about being almost seventy. Instead, I was anxiously wondering what to expect tonight. A few weeks ago, I’d gotten a call from a Hollywood studio that needed a makeup artist immediately for a shoot in Miami Beach because their usual makeup artist had taken ill. Jumping at the chance, I’d said yes on the spot. A few hours later, I was giving Dreena MacKenzie, Hollywood’s hottest actress, a light dusting of blush over her perfect skin.

I’d had plenty of rich clients, and I’d done makeup for all sorts of events, but this had been my first job working on a feature film. And meeting Dreena MacKenzie had been a career changer. Not only had she been fun and sweet, but she’d spread my name around, and I’d been booked for jobs ever since.

We’d kept in contact over texts, and she’d invited me to her private party after the premiere of the film. So here I was, outside a club at midnight, with instructions to let her know when I arrived so one of her security team could escort me inside.

“I texted Dreena to let her know I was here.” I put the tinted window down and glanced at my cell as a text came in from Dreena, saying someone was on their way out. “I won’t be waiting in that line,” I explained to Marius as I looked up.

A man in all black strode out of the club, aiming right for our car.

My breath caught.

Tall, muscled, so many muscles, stern, imposing—he was everything you would think a bodyguard would be, but it was none of those things that made my heartbeat suddenly go wild.

It was his eyes.

They met mine as he walked straight toward the car, and it was as if the entire world stopped.

I swallowed past the sudden dryness in my throat and forced words out for Marius. “I think this may be one of Dreena’s bodyguards.”

Without any hesitation, the man opened my door, and his deep, clipped voice shook me to the very core of my being. “Miss MacKenzie and company are already inside. This way.” He held his hand out.

My head spun, my thoughts jumbled, and I forgot to breathe.

His hand, outstretched, palm up, was as huge as it was intimidating.

“Ma’am?” he rumbled.

Shaking my head, I sucked in a breath. The scent of masculine cologne mixed with smoke swirled around me. I glanced at my father’s driver. “Thank you, Marius.”

“Of course, dear. Have a good evening.”

The bodyguard’s gaze cut to Marius. “East side of the club is an alley. Park back there to wait.”

“Oh, no,” I protested. “I told Marius he could retire for the evening.”

The bodyguard’s sharp stare landed on me. “Then how did you plan on getting home?” he demanded.

A shiver went up my spine. None of my father’s bodyguards had ever been this imposing. All at once, I wanted to bend to this man’s alpha dominance and push back against it. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do either.

Marius cut in. “My sentiments exactly. I will wait for her.”

The bodyguard gave Marius a curt nod, then looked at me. “Ready?”

I’d been surrounded by drivers and some form of security my entire life. Being the daughter of a bank president wasn’t all that exciting in itself, but when your grandfather and uncle were the largest inside owners of a bank holding company and your father was on the board of said holding company, it made life more complicated.

So I wasn’t the girl who went clubbing.

I was the quiet, only child of a rich family who’d been sheltered at private schools her whole life and allowed to pursue my “hobby” of doing makeup. And until this very moment, it had never truly sunk in how very sheltered I’d been.

Stripped down to flesh and nerves and sudden insecurities, I reached for him. “I’m ready.”

His giant, rough hand enclosed mine, and awareness like I’d never felt shot up my arm and danced across my skin. Pulling me out of the car as if I were a mere feather, he made my stomach flutter and my nerves swirl into a symphony of excitement.

Unladylike, I sucked in an involuntary breath.

His eyes on mine, his stare more intense than any I had ever experienced, he didn’t step aside.

He didn’t even move.

He stared, and my heart rate catapulted.

His masculine scent, his intense presence, his sheer size, it all spun together in the perfect storm. All at once, I was both intimidated by him and desperate for more of him.

Shocked, by him, by my thoughts, I forced words out. “Thank you.”

With a quick frown, he let go of me, only to move his hand to the small of my back. “This way,” he practically growled.

I fought for a deep breath as the heat of his touch stirred something deep inside me I didn’t understand.

A mere minute ago, I’d been a makeup artist who’d lucked her way into a Hollywood blockbuster movie. Thirty seconds ago, I’d been the daughter of the president of Miami Bank and Trust who’d been dropped off by her father’s driver for a movie premiere after-party.

Now I was a woman who’d measure every single glance from any man up against this one by a dark-eyed bodyguard.