Kyle: Starke Private Security, #1

By Kate Stone

Another year, another stalker.

 

What is it about Hollywood that brings the crazies to my doorstep? I don't think the threat is that serious, but when I meet my bodyguard, I know there's no one else I want near me.

 

Everyone knows she's beautiful, but standing before me in sweats and no makeup, vulnerable but trying to be brave - I need to make her mine. My military training will make it easy to neutralize the threat to my woman and then I can make her mine.

 

***

Kyle, the first book in Kate Stone's Starke Private Security series, is an instalove romantic suspense novella with an alpha male who will do anything to protect his woman...and make her his. Of course these two have a happy ending, with no cheating and no cliffhanger. Books in the Starke Private Security series can be read in any order.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kate Stone
• Release date: Feb 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201789503

Book preview

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

For Mr. Stone, who makes all my dreams come true.

Contents

CHAPTER ONE - Kyle 6

CHAPTER TWO – Suzanna 8

CHAPTER THREE - Kyle 11

CHAPTER FOUR - Suzanna 14

CHAPTER FIVE – Kyle 17

CHAPTER SIX - Suzanna 21

CHAPTER SEVEN – Kyle 23

CHAPTER EIGHT – Suzanna 26

CHAPTER NINE – Kyle 29

CHAPTER TEN - Suzanna 32

CHAPTER ELEVEN – Kyle 34

CHAPTER TWELVE - Suzanna 37

CHAPTER THIRTEEN - Kyle 40

CHAPTER FOURTEEN - Suzanna 43

CHAPTER FIFTEEN – Kyle 46

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Suzanna 47

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Kyle 49

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - Suzanna 50

CHAPTER NINETEEN – Kyle 51

CHAPTER TWENTY - Suzanna 52

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - Kyle 53

Excerpt from Jason 54

About the Author 60

CHAPTER ONE - Kyle

I stared at the amber liquid in the glass in front of me. 

I’d already had one drink and I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea for me to have a second. Then again, part of the reason I was in the bar in the first place was because I needed to get drunk, needed to forget everything for a little while.

Actually, I didn’t need to get drunk. I wanted to get drunk. That way, I might be able to stop thinking about Vicki.

Who the hell was I kidding? There was no way I was going to put her out of my mind. I’d been trying for the past week and it was an exercise in futility. She was in every thought I had, and it was getting harder and harder to push her away. She pulled no punches when she broke up with me and made damned sure I realized that I was not good enough for her. The way she said it, though, I knew she really thought I wasn’t good enough for anyone.

My phone vibrated and I took it out of my pocket. I didn’t recognize the number on my Caller ID, which meant the phone went back into my pocket. I didn’t want to talk to anyone I knew – let alone someone who was probably trying to sell me an extended warranty on something I didn’t even own.

I hated this – hated myself for acting this way. I’d never obsessed over a woman who had broken my heart before. Somehow, Vicki West had managed to get through every one of my defenses and I’d stupidly thought she and I might have a future together. Even when everyone warned me she wasn’t who I thought she was, I’d been certain they were wrong.

I thought I saw something in her no one else could.

I took a long swallow from the scotch, letting the liquid fire spread through me, taking some of the edge from my thoughts.

I thought I’d find you here. Why didn’t you pick up your phone? asked a familiar voice behind me.

I turned around and saw a tall, imposing figure, smiling broadly. Before I could even react, Gary Starke pulled me into a tight bearhug.

Kyle Montgomery, Starke said, pointing at my drink and nodding at the bored-looking bartender. He held up two fingers. I can’t believe it.

Starke and I went back to our college days. He’d been my roommate and we’d hit it off immediately, discovering a mutual love of martial arts movies, heavy metal music, and dark-haired women who weren’t good for us.

Gary, how the hell are you? I asked, surprised and pleased that he was there.

He chuckled as he sat down next to me. Probably better than I have a right to be, he admitted. Man, how long has it been?

Longer than I can remember.

He stared at me for a few seconds, then said, Don’t take this the wrong way, dude, but you look like hell.

I’ve been going through a rough patch.

Concern showed on his face. What’s going on?

Just...stuff, I muttered.

You know, this is crazy. I was thinking about you the other day. I’ve started my own company and I’m always on the lookout for good people to hire. I think you’d be perfect for the company. How’s your employment situation these days?

I shrugged. I’m a trainer at a local gym. It’s nothing spectacular but it pays the bills.

What ever happened to your plans to write?

I grimaced. Writing doesn't pay as many bills as you might think. I still write once in a while, but no one's buying my work.

You ever thought about getting into a line of work that pays well and doesn’t require a whole lot of effort?

I narrowed my eyes.

So help me, if you’re going to ask me to help you with some kind of heist, you need to get up and walk away.

He laughed, taking a card out of his wallet and handing it to me.

Listen, I’d stay and give you a really impressive spiel about why you should think about working for me, but I’ve got an important appointment across the street in ten minutes. Give me a call when you get a chance and we’ll talk.

***

The next morning, I was sitting at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee in front of me. I felt a little better after downing a couple of Tylenol and a glass of water.

I groaned in agony, then took a sip of coffee. I was a total idiot and I promised myself I wouldn’t drink so much again.

I took out my phone to see the time and as I did so, the card Starke gave me fell to the table. 

I picked it up and read the writing on the front. Starke Private Security. He said it was good money for not much work, what did I have to lose?

CHAPTER TWO – Suzanna

I was sitting in the kitchen, looking through the latest issue of Variety when the