Have you ever played the quiet game? I have, and I always won. I was an expert. The key to winning is to get lost in your head while the others around you itch to talk. It's an introvert's game.

The quiet game normally ends when someone gets bored or when you grow out of it because no one wants to play anymore. Well apparently Aiden must have been a world champion because the game continued for the full car ride, and with LA traffic, that lasted for THREE. FULL. HOURS.

I finally gave in and lost the stupid game when we arrived back at my apartment. "Um... You don't have to walk me to my door," I said, when Aiden parked his car on the street. He ignored my comment, climbed out, and walked around to the passenger side. I bit back a groan as he opened the door without a word and waited for me to lead the way to my apartment.

Things took a turn from awkward to completely mortifying when I opened the door. "I'll see you in three hours right?" I said, turning to look at Aiden. He raised a brow, a look of slight irritation making a thin dimple form between his brows. His lips formed a thin line and I had to yank my eyes away from his face completely to keep from blushing again. This guy probably thinks I've never talked to a human being before.

"I have to do a sweep of your apartment," Aiden said, trying to move past me.

I placed my hands on either side of the door frame to block his entrance. My eyes went wide in panic. "What?!? No. It's fine. I'm sure no one is in there that shouldn't be."

Aiden's eyes narrowed. "Are you willing to stake your life on that claim?"

I swallowed and let out an uneasy sigh. The truth was, I had no idea if there was anyone inside. But my apartment was a disaster. That's what happened when you lived alone. You transformed into a dragon hoarder of all things, letting piles of items gather wherever you wanted without a care because no one would ever see it. But now an attractive man stood outside my door and I had to decide if it was worth dying just to keep him from seeing the mess.

"Can I just have a ten second head start?"

Aiden crossed his arms. "That kind of defeats the purpose."

After wrestling with the idea of death versus embarrassment, I finally moved aside and held my breath as Aiden walked into my apartment, praying that by some miracle, his sharp gaze would miss everything other than an intruder if there was one inside.

But as my luck had been nothing but a joke lately, he stopped three feet inside, eyes glued to five Pop-Tart wrappers on my kitchen counter, a pot crusted with old pasta sauce and the piece de resistance... an oatmeal-colored bra air drying on the back of the kitchen chair. It wasn't even one of my cute ones! It was the one I wore when all my other ones were being cleaned! And there it sat, ugly, and at the center of Aiden's attention.

And this is how I die... not with a stalker, but with embarrassment.

It felt like time slowed down. Embarrassment— no, mortification does that. It's like the universe enjoys playing your life in slow motion when you want to crawl into a hole and die. It's like it wants to make you stand there, and feel everything in a dramatic pause that never ends, while shoving your face into your embarrassment.

"I have a question," Aiden said, his back still to me, eyes still on my chaotic mess of a life. "And I need you to be honest when you answer..."

Oh gosh, why do I get the feeling I'm about to be lectured?

"Was your house ransacked?" Aiden turned to look at me, face completely serious. "I ask because it wasn't mentioned in your file." He paused for a brief moment, watching my expressions. "Or do you choose to live like this?"

I opened my mouth, determined to bold face lie through my teeth. To hide my shame and not admit that he had caught me on a moderately decent day. To do something to regain some of the control I had lost ever since Aiden had become my bodyguard that morning. But before I could answer, he turned away. "I can see that you aren't sure. When you have a good lie ready, you can try to convince me."

I all but deflated like a balloon. He took my breath away, but not in a sexy kind of way. Because that would be every girl's dream. And this was a freaking nightmare. No, he did it like when the wind gets knocked out of you because you just got sucker punched. Sure he was attractive, but he was a jerk. He was an attractive jerk sucker puncher.

An attractive jerk sucker puncher that swept through my apartment, taking in my unorganized mountain of books on my nightstand, the sticky notes of encouragement I left for myself on the fridge, my half-finished scarf I had promised myself I'd finish two years ago, my half-empty box of unicorn cereal (and the only food I had in the house) and my large collection of flannel shirts and used mugs that sat on nearly every potential surface. I really should have cleaned.

"No one's here," Aiden announced moving back to the door where I had been watching him silently. I nodded to have something productive to respond with.

"I'll be right outside your door," Aiden continued walking past me and stationing himself on the other side of my front door. "If anything happens, you call and I'll come."

I had a sudden urge to quote Kim Possible's "Call Me, Beep Me, if you Wanna Reach Me," song, but I didn't think he'd get the reference, or appreciate it, which was a shame. It was the perfect song for the moment.

"Did you decide if you remember whether your house was ransacked or not?" Aiden asked, a hint of humor in his tone as he shot me a glance over his shoulder.

I shrugged. "Would you believe a gang of raccoons broke in, made pasta, taught themselves how to read, ate all my food, and tried to knit a scarf?"

The edge of Aiden's lips quirked up slightly. But it was gone so fast that it didn't seem real. More like an illusion I had created to pat myself on the back for being clever. "No," he replied unamused as he adjusted his still perfectly pressed suit jacket and looked down at me with his sharp blue eyes.

"Shame. They put on quite the show." I grabbed the door handle and moved to close the door.

"We are leaving for your next event in three hours. I'll knock on your front door three times when it's time to go."

I rocked back on my heels, uncomfortable with the idea of having a guy standing right outside my door staring at each neighbor as they came and went. But there wasn't anything I could do about it at the moment. "I'd like to leave a little earlier so I can grab something to eat before the premier."

Unphased by the request, Aiden nodded. "Unicorn cereal not a balanced dinner?" He smiled. "See you in two and a half hours."

I blinked, surprised by the joke, and seaming determined to help end my torture, Aiden took the door handle from me and closed the door between us, leaving me staring at nothing, with a look of wide-eyed shock on my face.

I gave the door an irritated smile and like the classic dork that I was, and clearly having not embarrassed myself enough for one day, I shouted "Roger that!" through the door before I slumped onto my couch and threw a pillow over my face to hide from the world for a while.

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What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?