Be on the Lookout by Tyler Anne Snell

pushed it outward, but something kept it from swinging all the way open. He moved around the door and looked down to see what was blocking it. The scene he was met with was just as confusing as the text had been.
    â€œKate!”
    She was lying on her side, slumped over on the ground, the door hitting her right shoulder. Her hand was out but empty, the card for the door discarded next to it. Like she had been trying to get to him but couldn’t. Not only was she unconscious, she was also naked.
    Jonathan didn’t immediately check her. He had his fists up, ready to attack the man or woman who was behind her current state of distress. There was no one in the main room or bathroom. All he found was a bathroom filled with steam and a wet, naked woman against the carpet.
    Then what had happened? Had her head injury caused this? But what was this?
    â€œKate,” he said, urgency clear in his voice. Its tone or volume didn’t stir the woman. Jonathan dropped to his knee and inspected her closer.
    She had a pulse. It beat to a rhythm that wasn’t strong but also wasn’t weak. It thumped against his fingers on her neck with a steady beat that inspired an outpouring of relief on his end. He moved his attention to her chest, mindful not to focus on the more intimate parts, to find her breath pushing her body up and down with no apparent difficulty. Jonathan’s eyes traveled the rest of her body, once again not with a focus that crossed the line between bodyguard and client, and couldn’t find any identifying marks that suggested she’d been physically attacked.
    â€œKate?” he asked again. Moving her hair across her cheek and away from her face, Jonathan saw a woman who looked almost peaceful.
    Jonathan started to grab his phone—clearly Kate wasn’t waking up—when he remembered the text.
    Call jake not 922!!!
    He had no doubt in his mind that she’d meant to say, “Nine-one-one,” which meant she’d known something was about to happen to her. But why not call the one service you were supposed to call in a situation like this?
    He cast a quick glance at the still brunette. He also had no doubt that the woman was smart, brilliant even. So it was no stretch of the imagination that Kathryn Spears knew more than he did about her current condition.
    Jonathan just hoped this Jake person did, too.
    Kate’s phone was on the bathroom sink, still on the screen with the text she’d sent. Under different circumstances, he would have either been annoyed or amused to find his contact listed under the name Mr. Bodyguard . Instead he didn’t have time to dawdle. He scrolled through her contacts to the one and only Jake. He hit Call without hesitating.
    It rang twice.
    â€œKate?” a man answered, sounding surprised. “Can I call you back in two seconds?” A flurry of voices sounded on his end.
    â€œThis isn’t Kate, and we need to talk now .”
    Jonathan might not have known anything about the man, but he could tell what had been surprise at getting Kate’s call had tripled. With added aggression.
    â€œWho is this? Where is Kate?” the man asked, audibly moving away from the voices in the background.
    â€œMy name is Jonathan Carmichael, I’m—”
    â€œThe bodyguard?”
    That gave Jonathan pause.
    â€œYes,” he admitted.
    â€œWhat’s wrong with Kate?” While Jake had been ready to go on the offensive with Jonathan, his tone had changed to one of acute concern. A whiplash effect that spoke volumes about him. Whoever the man was, he cared about Kate.
    â€œHonestly, I don’t know,” Jonathan answered. “She sent me a text that said to call you and not nine-one-one. Less than a minute later I found her passed out on her hotel room floor.” Jonathan didn’t know why, but he left out the part about her being naked. Whether it was a weird jealousy he felt or a wild notion that he was somehow