Free The Innocent by Kailin Gow Page B

gentleman?”
    Serena seamlessly brought out her silly and ditsy girly routine.  “Really. Vince.  It’s not what it looks like.  This is my professor, Sebastian Sorensen.  It’s all really simple.  You see, I’ve had a crush on him since, like forever.  I mean really, since my very first class with him. Thing is, he’s refused my advances since day one.  Can you imagine the nerve?  I was so upset and insulted that I lured him here to seduce him.  Look at me.  Aren’t I attractive enough?”
    Vince barely met her gaze. “You sure are, Miss Singleton.”
    “Well, then can you believe he still refused to touch me.”
    “Yeah, right.”
    “I just don’t want you to think he had anything to do with all this.  I’m so embarrassed by the whole thing, you know, getting rejected and all, but, you know how I am.  I’m insatiable and I just let the flirt in me take over.  Please don’t take it out on him.”
    Vince shot her a disbelieving glance then looked at Sebastian.  “I can certainly understand your attraction.  He is a looker.”
    Surprised by his comment, she went on, “so you understand why I have such a crush, right?”
    Standing several inches taller than Sebastian, Vince looked down at him and winked.  “I certainly didn’t have teachers like this when I was in school.”  He leaned closer to Sebastian.  “So you're not into the ladies, either.”
    Serena cocked her head to the side and held back a giggle. 
    “Okay, enough chatter.”  Vince tugged on Serena’s arm.  “Let’s go.”
    Convinced she’d done all she could to protect Sebastian, Serena walked out of the motel room.
    Vince shot a final glance at Sebastian.  “Hey, give me a call sometimes.  I’ll show you what a crush really feels like.”
    Serena had never suspected Vince was gay and found the revelation amusing, though a little disturbing.  Was Price so paranoid and possessive that he deliberately hired a gay bodyguard to follow her around?  It was hard to imagine he could be that insecure about her, but as she glanced up at the big man who led her to the waiting limousine, she realized Price never really trusted her at all.
     

 
    Chapter 11
     
     
    “Where’s Mr. Su?” Serena said when she got to the car.
    “Mr. Turnsby is having a little chat with him.”
    Serena’s heart quickly lodged in her throat as she thought of the lie she’d told him. She’d never forgive herself if anything happened to the older man who’d only sought to please her.  “Do you know what they’re chatting about?”
    Vince opened the door and looked pointedly at Serena.  “You were supposed to go straight home.”
    Clenching her jaw, she nodded.
    “Price is a smart man.”
    Again she nodded.
    “Didn’t take him too long to put two and two together. This is the professor’s first day at the University of South California.”  He held up the index finger of one hand. “And this is the first time you're not home where you're supposed to be.”  He held up the index finger of his other hand and brought it to the side of the first finger.  “Nice story you told about having a crush on the Professor back there in the room. Even I figured out what was going on.”
    Serena got in the car and Vince closed the door behind her.  She’d expected to see him walk around the long nose of the car to the driver’s seat, but he headed back to the motel room instead.
    Panicked, she tried to open the car door only to find it was locked.  She pounded her palm against the window.  “Vince!” she shouted through the thick glass.  “Vince.”
    He turned to her with a mischievous grin on his face.
    “Where are you going?  What are you going to do?”
    “Don’t worry about this, Miss Singleton.  I’ll take care of everything.”
    “No,” she shouted as he took forceful steps back to the room she’d shared with Sebastian.  While her heart pounded at a frightening rate, she tried to find another way out of the car.