The Bodyguard Affair

Three years before the main events, Andi Zeigler, a recently hired personal assistant to the Canadian prime minister's wife, secretly writes a romance novel at an Ottawa bar. A stranger accidentally walks into her unisex bathroom stall, and they both scream in horror. Minutes later, Andi's best friend, Laine Hall, and ex-boyfriend, Hunter Williams, reveal they are now dating. Blindsided, Andi approaches the stranger, a soldier named Nolan Crosby, and invites him home.

At her apartment, their hookup attempt fails: Their teeth collide, Andi busts Nolan's lip, and she smashes her head on the dresser. They spend hours talking instead. Andi confesses she is writing a romance novel titled The Prime Minister & Me. Nolan encourages her to publish under a pen name and promises to buy a copy. He reveals his mother has early-onset Alzheimer's disease and that he leaves the next day on a six-month military deployment, but Andi falls asleep before hearing this. Nolan leaves without waking her, assembles her half-built desk, and leaves a sticky note but no phone number.

Three years later, Andi has become indispensable to Gretchen Nichols, the prime minister's wife, though her original goal was political communications. She took the role out of financial necessity, and her writing has stalled. When Prime Minister Eric Nichols introduces her to his new close protection officer (CPO), a security professional assigned to guard the prime minister, she recognizes Nolan instantly. He took the Ottawa posting reluctantly through his security firm, solely to care for his mother until a spot opens at an assisted living facility.

The scandal breaks fast. Leaked photographs from an anniversary dinner make it appear that Andi and Eric were on an intimate date. Worse, her book The Prime Minister & Me, published under the pen name A. A. Zed, is publicly linked to her. Gretchen and Bethany, the director of media relations, confront Andi, who denies authorship out of fear.

Andi suspects Nolan leaked the story, since he was the only other person at the dinner and the only one who knows about her writing. She confronts him in a storage closet; he denies it firmly. She breaks down and admits she wrote the book. He hugs her, tells her he is proud of her, and promises to keep her secret. When Gretchen catches them emerging disheveled from the closet, she assumes they are a couple. Andi fails to correct her. Gretchen seizes on the misunderstanding, reasoning that if people see Andi dating Nolan, they will be less likely to believe the affair rumors.

Nolan agrees to the fake relationship on a trip to Squamish, British Columbia. Gretchen puts them in a shared hotel room; Nolan sleeps on the floor. They spend nights exchanging basic facts about their lives. When Andi pins him during a self-defense lesson, a charged moment passes before he breaks it off. On their last morning, Gretchen instructs them to kiss for a photo. The first attempt is clumsy, but Nolan steadies Andi, and the kiss deepens into something real.

Back in Ottawa, Andi's book climbs into Amazon's top 10. Through the summer, their fake relationship and genuine friendship blur as the book reaches number one. Over shared lunches, they trade deeper histories: Andi's family experienced homelessness when she was eight, and her mother later remarried a wealthy man and distanced herself from the past; Nolan was shuffled between relatives whenever his mother left to pursue a music career. They visit a rescue dog farm, where Nolan bonds with Cody, a scrawny Airedale terrier with severe skin allergies. At a football game, Hunter dismisses his year-long relationship with Andi as trivial, and Nolan suggests they attend Laine and Hunter's wedding in Mexico.

At a staff barbecue, Nolan and Andi swim together after everyone else leaves, and their restraint breaks. They kiss in the water until Nolan's phone buzzes: His neighbor is calling about his mother, Lorna, wandering the neighborhood. On the drive home, Nolan tells Andi about Lorna's Alzheimer's for the first time. That night, Andi texts that they should not repeat what happened. He agrees.

Their agreement does not hold. Nolan brings Andi to Lorna's birthday dinner, then drives her to the yellow house, a butter-yellow bungalow he loved as a child. In a wooded ravine behind it, he opens up about his guilt and anger toward his mother. Andi suggests he does not resent Lorna so much as fear losing her again. Days later, Nolan confesses his feelings. Andi admits she feels the same, and they agree to enjoy the summer without discussing the future.

When Lorna accidentally scalds herself in the bathtub, Nolan must travel to Montreal with Eric while his sister, Emma, is away. Andi volunteers to stay with Lorna overnight. While apart, a late-night phone call about Andi's writing shifts into phone sex.

In Mexico for the wedding, Andi receives offers from three literary agents, including prominent agent Cher Reynolds. She and Nolan have sex for the first time; he insists she tell him what she wants at every step, refusing to let her default to people-pleasing. She signs with Cher, who immediately begins submitting to publishers.

At the airport, Nolan realizes he is in love with Andi. Seconds later, his boss calls: A prestigious two-year royal protection posting in Denmark has opened. Andi urges him to think carefully, calling their relationship a product of emotional upheaval. Nolan insists his feelings are real, but Andi asks him to take time.

In the days apart, Nolan processes several shifts. Cody is adopted by another family. He and Emma pack up Lorna's house. In a pivotal conversation, Lorna acknowledges that abandoning her children is her biggest regret and tells Nolan he has spent his life running from love. While packing, he spots the yellow house on a real estate listing, visits it, and makes an offer on the spot.

Meanwhile, Andi accidentally signs her real first name on a publisher deal announcement, confirming she is A. A. Zed. At Gretchen's breast cancer gala, Nolan pulls Andi onto the balcony and tells her he loves her, has bought the yellow house, and is staying in Ottawa. She tells him she loves him, too. Before they can celebrate, Gretchen storms out, furious at discovering Andi lied about the book.

Nolan finds Andi at home and tells her she has spent her life hiding from judgment because her mother's criticism taught her that visibility invites pain. He urges her not to cancel the book deal. In the days that follow, Andi makes peace with Laine, accepting their friendship has run its course. She meets with Gretchen, who reveals she and Eric are separating, partly inspired by Andi's book. Gretchen offers Andi her job back, but Andi declines, choosing to write full-time.

In the epilogue, set three years later, Andi is a successful romance author launching her sixth book. Nolan adopted Cody after the first family returned him. They live together in the yellow house, and Nolan works as CPO for the governor general on a schedule allowing regular visits to Lorna at her memory care facility. Andi is pregnant. She reflects that their love is not the flawless romance of fiction but something messy, real, and enduring.