Hotel Hideaway: (Soldiering On #4)

by Aislinn Kearns

  “Did you quit? Because of…you know?” His voice was cautious, and she liked he took care when talking about such a sensitive subject. The only thing that confused her was why she confessed this to him. It wasn’t shameful—sexual assault and exploitation in the military should be talked about more openly. But telling him her own feelings about being in such a male dominated area of work? That way lay vulnerability, something Cameron could exploit if he chose.

  Sam shook her head in answer to his question. “No. I was given an honourable discharge when I got injured. A couple of bullets mangled my calf and a lung.” With this, she was on safer ground. Her injuries weren’t so personal.

  “That sounds like it would hurt,” Cameron commented dryly.

  Sam cracked a smile. “It did. I nearly died. But I’m mostly okay now. I couldn’t run a marathon, but who’d want to?”

  He chuckled lightly. “Good point.”

  Were they…bonding? Sam shook herself. She shouldn’t be bonding with a man that might well have ordered the deaths of a few hundred people. Though, looking at his handsome face, his eyes bright with his smile, it was hard to believe he’d be so callous. And, yet, Sam had to tread carefully. She knew looks could be deceiving.

  Cameron’s expression sobered. “I am sorry about the way Erica questioned you. I still do think it’s inappropriate. She had no reason to doubt your credibility.”

  Well, Erica should doubt Sam’s credibility. She was here on a false name, after all. She’d have to remember to alert Duncan that Erica would likely check her false ID and to bolster any weak part that might cause suspicion.

  “It’s fine, really. I won’t resent a woman for doing her job and being thorough.”

  “That’s very magnanimous of you,” Cameron commented lightly.

  Sam shrugged, stepping backwards towards the corner she’d claimed for herself. “Girl power and all that,” she said with a grin.

  She didn’t know whether she liked Erica or not, but she didn’t have to be friends with her to stand in solidarity with her. Worse, though, was Erica’s power. Something told Sam if she got on Erica’s bad side, she would have made herself a formidable enemy.

  Chapter 5

  Cameron checked his watch. 9pm. Late enough.

  “I need to have one last meeting, and then I’m done for the day,” he told Sam. She barely reacted, just gave a slight nod and stood with a stretch. Despite her lack of reaction, she had to be relieved. It’d been a long day.

  But late at night, after the office had emptied of his colleagues, was the only time he could do what he needed. Thankfully, if anyone else was still in the office, they wouldn’t think it strange he was still here. He often worked all hours. Sam was another matter. He had to ditch her without her knowing so he could get to work.

  He strode to his office door, his mind focused on the task ahead. He’d made a plan, between all his work. He hoped it would succeed.

  Sam stepped in front of him, opening the door and peering into the corridor. “All clear,” she told him.

  He eyed her as he stepped past, his feet sinking into the soft carpet of the corridor. “You have to do that every time?”

  She followed him down the corridor. “Yes,” she told him. “Didn’t your previous bodyguards?”

  He shook his head. “Nope.”

  She rolled her eyes. “They really were useless.”

  He laughed. “Yes, they really were.”

  They reached the end of the corridor, a solid wooden door blocking their way. “This is it,” he told her. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait here. It’s confidential.”

  She made a sound of displeasure. “I don’t think that would be wise.”

  “Wise or not, until we draw up a confidentiality agreement for you, I can’t let you overhear certain things.”

  She narrowed her eyes, suspicion flinting from her pupils. “What kind of things?”

  Cameron pursed his lips. “Confidential things.”

  Sam rolled her eyes again but didn’t push the topic further. Cameron breathed a sigh of relief. He reached for the door handle, but Sam got there first.

  “Must you?” he asked.

  She gave him a challenging look. “Yes.”

  Cameron swallowed. After a long moment, he stepped aside and allowed her into the room. She took two steps in and glanced around. Cameron looked at it through her eyes. Large windows graced one wall, flanked on either side by potted plants. A large conference table with a faux-wood coating on the top—built to seat twelve people—dominated the room. The chairs were all neatly pushed in, perfectly spaced around the edge.

  Cameron couldn’t tell if she’d noticed the door at the far end, half-hidden by an over-sized potted plant. He didn’t call attention to it by looking.

  Sam bent to check under the table, then straightened. “Alright. I’ll be outside. Yell if you need anything.”

  She backed out slowly, eyeing him as she went. His heart thudded in response. He wanted to believe she checked him out because she was attracted to him, but he had a feeling she was suspicious.

  He’d been pursuing this mission for years, and never managed to raise anyone’s suspicions. But one day with her seemed to have undone all the work he was so close to finishing. It was…baffling. And annoying.

  As soon as the door shut behind Sam he strode across the room and cracked open the door on the far side. Empty. He slipped into the corridor, and from there he crossed into the filing room.

  He had to work quickly, as he had no idea how long his ruse would fool Sam. His breath came faster now from nerves as he pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight app to light the dark room. Cabinets filled the large space, housing years’ worth of corporate files.

  The files hadn’t been placed in the cabinets in any semblance of order. Erica had once told him they’d brought the files with them when they’d moved offices and hadn’t put them back in the correct order. No one used them; they were almost exclusively kept for tax and insurance purposes. It made his life much more difficult.

  Cameron found the next drawer in his hunt and pulled the first file, using his phone to light it. He rifled through, slowly reading each page to make sure he didn’t miss anything. He kept half an ear on the door, listening for any sign he might be discovered.

  More client records. He sighed and carefully read through the information stored within. Another bodyguarding assignment. Not what he was looking for.

  He dug further into the drawer, pulling file after file, but none had the kind of information he searched for. He had to get back to Sam soon, but he wanted to finish the drawer so he’d remembered where he’d left off.

  Something slammed into him, knocking the breath from his lungs and rattling his shoulder where it struck a filing cabinet behind him.

  He took a deep breath, and another, trying to get his breath back and move past the shock. Only then did he realise Sam hovered over him, a fierce scowl on her face. Her chest heaved with anger and physical exertion.

  “What the fuck?” she asked succinctly. She planted her hands on his chest to keep him down, and Cameron was very aware only the thin barrier of his shirt kept her palms from his naked chest. Their position, their heaving breaths, put Cameron in mind of a very different, far more pleasurable, scenario.

  “What. The. Fuck?” she repeated. “Why did you lie to me?”

  Cameron huffed a breath. “Like I said before, that’s confidential.”

  Sam snorted. “That won’t fly with me this time. You purposefully escaped the person keeping you safe—the person you hired—to what? Do some filing? I smell bullshit. I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you, and I’ll need some answers.”

  Cameron gulped. She was fearsome in her fury, eyes blazing.

  “Don’t you think this is a bit of an overreaction?” he tried.

  “I have every reason not to trust you,” she told him.

  Cameron frowned in response. What was she talking about? “I don’t und
erstand.”

  She sighed, sounding more disappointed than anything else. “Tell me what you were doing in here.”

  Cameron slowly sat up. Sam’s hands fell away from him, and he regretted the move.

  “I wanted to look for a file.”

  “What kind of file?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I won’t know until I find it.”

  She gave him a disbelieving look. “If you tell me what you’re looking for, I can help.”

  The urge to tell her was a physical ache in his chest. He wanted to share this burden with someone, confide in them so he wasn’t doing this alone as he had been for so long. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t risk her turning him in—either intentionally or unintentionally. He knew nothing about her after all. She could even be a plant Erica had sent to watch him, but somehow, looking into Sam’s gaze, he doubted it.

  After a long moment, he shook his head. “No. This is something I have to on my own.” Besides, involving someone else in this mess would put them in danger. This morning had proven the relentlessness of whoever tried to have him killed. He couldn’t expose someone else to that.

  Sam leapt to her feet and paced away from him, putting distance between them. She ran a hand through her hair in a gesture of frustration.

  “Fine. You don’t have to tell me your secrets. But know I don’t trust you. If you want me to protect you—and I’m seriously considering walking away right now—then you need to let me do my job. I need to know where you are at all times, and be with you.”

  “Alright,” he conceded, levering to his feet. “But you need to keep this incident tonight between us.” He had to hope she wouldn’t rat him out to Erica. He needed Sam—or, at least, he needed an extremely competent bodyguard. The attempts on his life were ramping up. Since stopping his mission wasn’t an option, he’d just have to make sure he stayed alive long enough to complete it.

  She stared at him for a long moment. Cameron let her look.

  “Okay. As long as you don’t interfere with my job, I won’t interfere with yours. Deal?”

  He nodded, and held out his hand to shake on it. Sam hesitated for a moment, and then placed her hand in his. They shook, no longer than absolutely necessary. But even as she snatched her hand away, Cameron could feel the imprint of her hand on his like a brand.

  Carefully, he leaned down and gathered the papers that had scattered when Sam tackled him. He tucked them away in the filing cabinet, processing everything that had happened. His shoulder ached where it had hit the filing cabinet, but he couldn’t entirely blame Sam. He’d needed some sense knocked into him.

  “Why are you agreeing to stay?” he asked suddenly. “And don’t tell me it’s for the money.”

  She raised an eyebrow at him. “That,” she said, “is confidential.”

  Chapter 6

  Silence spun between them on the car ride to Cameron’s apartment. Sam had insisted they use her work car due to the bulletproof glass, meaning she could focus on driving and not feel a need to make conversation. Cameron, however, radiated a potent mix of emotions Sam didn’t even want to parse through.

  “Do you really have to escort me home and sweep my apartment?” he muttered.

  Sam slanted him a glance. “Again, yes. You hired me to do a job, so I’m going to do it properly.” She didn’t point out they were already more than halfway to his apartment, and it would be more difficult for both of them if they turned back to the office now.

  He huffed, his jaw tightening, and didn’t say anything else until they walked into the lobby of the building.

  “Mr. Lawrence!” The security guard called out. His name tag read ‘Drew’.

  Sam spun around on the balls of her feet, instantly ready for anything. But the man just indicated at Sam. “You have to sign her in.”

  “She’s my guest,” Cameron replied, clearly confused. Sam tried not to think about the implications of his confusion—it was clear he hadn’t brought someone home with him before.

  Drew shrugged apologetically. “It’s policy. For insurance. We need to know who’s been here in case anything goes wrong, or there’s a fire, or whatever.”

  Cameron frowned, but stepped towards the man. “No other building in this city does that,” Cameron told her.

  Drew waved a hand to dismiss that statement. “Guess the owner is a stickler.”

  Sam plucked the pen from Drew’s hand, her arm brushing Cameron’s coat as she did so. An unexpected shiver ran through her, but Sam ignored the strange sensation and scribbled her name—remembering in time to use the fake one. With that, she and Cameron made their way to his apartment. They settled in the elevator, some of the shifting tension between them having dissipated by the encounter with the security guard downstairs.

  “It’s good their policy is so thorough,” she told him. “It means you’ll be much safer here. It’s highly unlikely whoever is after you will try your home, but even if they did, this might deter them.”

  Cameron nodded, his shoulders relaxing.

  They arrived at Cameron’s apartment, and he slid his key into the lock and opened the door. Sam stopped him from entering with a hand on his arm. She glanced up, heart leaping when she saw they stood mere inches from each other.

  She swallowed thickly. “I go first.”

  He nodded and stepped back, slowly, and maybe a little reluctantly.

  She stepped inside the apartment and stopped, eyes darting around.

  “Sam?” he asked.

  “Sorry. This just…isn’t what I expected.” It wasn’t the cold, modern apartment she would have associated with him if she’d bothered to think about it. This was homey—comfortable couches, photographs on every wall, a few stray items strewn about the room to give it a lived in feel. It was easy to picture him here, leaning back on the couch with sports or a movie playing on the big TV dominating the wall opposite the comfortable-looking couch, a bowl of popcorn or other snack perched in his lap. Normal.

  His home was the kind of place she could see herself relaxing in. Though, she doubted she could ever relax in Cameron’s presence.

  She shook away the thoughts and swept the rooms for any intruders. It didn’t take long, as the open plan lounge and kitchen didn’t leave many places to hide, and the same in the bedroom and master bathroom. She forbade herself from getting distracted by the space and what it said about the man who lived there.

  “What did you expect?” he asked curiously as she came back into the room. It took her a second to remember what he referred to.

  “I guess the sterile apartment of a workaholic. Something that didn’t feel lived in.”

  He chuckled lightly. “Ah, well, my home is my sanctuary. The one place I can be myself.” He turned sharply away at that, as if he hadn’t meant to reveal something so personal.

  “I feel the same about my apartment. I like the space, I like being completely invisible to the outside world, doing exactly what I want and when.”

  He glanced at her over his shoulder, a slight smile on his face. “That’s it exactly.”

  She nodded, and looked away from the slight heat in his eyes. She recognised it, had been on the receiving end of it enough—he was attracted to her. An impossible dream for him, since she wouldn’t trust him to get close.

  Still, some part of her was reluctant to leave. She told herself she only wanted the opportunity to pump him for more information, but she couldn’t make herself believe it.

  Her gaze caught on a photograph of a young man in his dress uniform, standing proudly in front of the flag. The resemblance to Cameron was uncanny, though the man was about a decade younger than Cameron now.

  “Is this you?” she asked.

  She glanced at him in time to see him shake his head. “No. My little brother.” His stare was intense as watched her carefully.

  “I hadn’t known he’d served.”

  Cameron swallowed. “Yeah.” He hesitated. “He was killed five years ago.” An aching sadness
in his voice told her the wound was still raw.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. And she was. She’d seen that pain before, and she’d experienced it when losing friends. It never fully disappeared. A tenuous connection tightened between them, shared experience and loss twining together, bringing them closer, however unwillingly.

  “It’s okay,” he murmured. “It was a long time ago.” A shutter came over his features. He wouldn’t discuss it anymore with her. Perhaps he, too, was frightened about what a connection between them might mean.

  “If you need to talk…” Sam said, leaving the offer open.

  “Thanks,” came the reply.

  Sam was loath to let this rare moment of vulnerability from Cameron pass. Who knew what kind of information he might spill?

  “You’re not what I expected,” she murmured. She had to open up to get him to reveal himself in turn, she knew. Perhaps this small admission would be enough.

  Cameron took a few slow, easy steps towards her, his eyes intent and focused. Sam gulped. She suspected she knew what he wanted. Her.

  “And what did you expect?” he asked, an amused quirk to his mouth.

  “Not someone quite so…relatable,” she told him with a shrug.

  He was closer, now. Still sliding towards her in that unhurried way. Her heart kicked up a notch, her mouth going dry.

  “Well, I am a man. A fairly normal one at that. The cold-hearted businessman is a useful role to play when I need to.”

  “It’s an act?” she asked, clarifying. She found it difficult to concentrate on her words. Why was her body reacting like this? To him moving towards her with intent in his eyes?

  It hit her at once. Lust. It had been so long since she’d felt it, she’d almost forgotten what it was like. But surely it was impossible. She’d only ever been attracted to men she trusted deeply. It was part of her sexual makeup. Right now, she liked Cameron, yes—against her better judgement—but she didn’t trust him…did she? Maybe her instincts were telling her something she wasn’t willing to admit. Maybe a big part of her believed he couldn’t possibly have ordered the pre-Christmas hostage situation.