The Protector: The Complete C.I.A. Romance Series

by Lilian Monroe

  I scoffed. It was tempting, but I was itching to get out there and do something. Freddy was probably feeling the same way.

  I glanced at Freddy. “Whatever, Zoolander. You’re working the van with Gary. Once I’ve made contact, we can work out a roster. How do you feel about nights?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Fine. What did you do to get this boring-ass assignment? I heard Ollie is working on a massive operation with the Saudis. And you’re what, a glorified security guard?”

  “Yeah, and you’re the backup to the glorified security guard.” I fought back a smile. “Lucky us, remember?”

  As we rounded the corner toward the main road, a nondescript white van pulled up. Gary nodded at us from behind the wheel. I jumped in the passenger’s seat and nodded to the back. Freddy grumbled, and I chuckled.

  “Hey, Gary. Berk give you the details?”

  “Target is Senator Crawford,” he nodded. He pushed his wire-frame glasses up his nose and glanced back at Finch. “I have surveillance set up at her office and outside her house. Haven’t had access to bug the place yet, but I figured you and Freddy would like a midnight walk to stretch your legs.”

  “Fuck yeah,” Freddy grinned. “I love breaking and entering.”

  “Settle down, Finch. We have a court order for the bugs?”

  “Berk said it would come through by the end of the week.”

  “We don’t set anything up until all the paperwork is in order. I want to do this by the book. We’re dealing with a senator, here.”

  Freddy grumbled something about me being boring, but I ignored him. Gary dropped a thick file on my lap.

  “There’s everything I could find out about Crawford. She hasn’t been in the game for long. Started as a temp for Senator Whitehall about ten years ago. Did some campaigning for the Dems and ended up getting elected to the Maryland State Congress four years ago.”

  “She’s young,” I grunted. I stared at the picture clipped to the corner of the file. A woman in her early thirties stared back. She had pale blonde hair—almost white. Her eyes were light blue, and she had an impenetrable expression on her face. The photo looked almost like a mug shot.

  “How young are we talking?” Freddy asked, peering over my shoulder at the file.

  I shrugged him off. “Too young for you, pervert.”

  He laughed. “Okay, okay. I’m in the background. Invisible. I get it.”

  I scanned another page on the file. “Fisheries, Water and Wildlife Committee?”

  Gary made a noise. “Bit of a demotion from ol’ Blanchet, it seems.”

  “You can say that again. Is that why she got chummed?”

  “Must be.”

  I nodded up ahead. “Take a left up here. I want to grab something before we get there.”

  Gary did as I said without asking any questions—one of the many reasons I liked working with him. I led him down a few streets until we got to a hunting and fishing supply store. It was a long shot, but I wanted Catherine Crawford to warm up to me quickly. The first step was to build trust, and then I’d find out where her loyalties lay.

  I jumped out of the van and went to the store.

  Within a couple minutes, I found what I was looking for. I grinned, nodding to myself. When I got back to the van, Freddy glanced at the bottle in my hand and chuckled.

  “Good thinking.”

  “Let’s go.” I nodded to the main road. We drove back the way we came and my knee bounced up and down. The familiar excitement was starting to build in the pit of my stomach. I loved the part of the job. I loved having an assignment. I loved trying to figure out who people really were and what side they were on.

  Catherine Crawford was no exception. She looked like an Ice Queen in her photo, but I would melt that exterior and find out who she really served.

  The van rounded a corner onto Constitution Avenue and the Senate office buildings came into view. Gary stopped the van outside the Hart building, nodding to it.

  “She’s on the fifth floor, office 508. You’re posing as Secret Service, assigned to her security detail in light of the Blanchet ordeal. Your last name is Bennett, not Anders. Remember?”

  I grunted in response, and Gary handed me a pen and a tiny earpiece. I nodded, slipping the pen into my breast pocket. I’d been doing this long enough to know he’d have fitted it with a microphone. I put the earpiece in my ear and glanced at Gary. He nodded.

  “Can’t see it.”

  “Good.”

  I slipped out of the van and glanced up and down the street. The thrill of the unknown curled down my spine. I’d missed this feeling. I missed the danger, the adrenaline, the excitement. I missed the feeling of standing on the edge of a cliff, knowing that death was only a strong gust of wind away.

  Well, Senator Crawford… game on.

  It was typically up to the Senators to decide whether or not they wanted personal security. As far as the CIA was aware, Catherine Crawford hadn’t arranged any. I walked through a set of revolving doors into the building and scanned the lobby. Past a set of metal detectors, there was a security desk to the left and a set of elevators along the right wall. A long corridor led to what looked like a large interior courtyard.

  I went through the metal detectors and walked over to the security desk, nodding to the man sitting behind it. He looked up lazily as I flashed my fake Secret Service badge.

  “Here for Senator Crawford.”

  He waved me onwards without a word and I made my way to the elevators. My stomach knotted into a bundle of nerves, and my muscles tensed as I waited.

  It felt good to be in the field again. I wasn’t made for office work. At six-foot-five, regular desks and chairs were mostly just cramped and uncomfortable. I’d spent the past four weeks praying for Berkeley to call me into his office and give me something to do.

  Maybe it was the anticipation of starting something new or the knowledge of everything that went down with Nathan Blanchet. Whatever it was, I liked it. A smile tugged at my lips as I rode the elevator up to the fifth floor, touching my earpiece and microphone to make sure they were still in place.

  “When you get to her office, try not to be too intimidating, Anders,” Gary buzzed in my ear. “You’re trying to win her trust, remember?”

  I grinned, glancing at the bottle tucked under my arm. How could she not love me? I had a secret weapon.

  The elevator doors dinged open and I scanned the hallway. Following the signs on the wall, I found office 508 without too much difficulty. The door was closed and the blinds were drawn, so I rapped on the door and waited.

  “Come in,” came the reply from behind the door. I took a deep breath and walked in.

  3

  Cat

  Whoever I thought would walk through my door, it wasn’t him. A behemoth filled my doorway, his muscular shoulders brushing either side of it as he took a step forward. I leaned back in my chair, my heart skipping a beat as he took another step toward me.

  His deep, brown eyes met mine and he shifted an item under his arm.

  “Senator Crawford?” His voice was gruff, but not unpleasant. It rumbled through my chest as my cheeks flushed. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

  “Yes?”

  His eyes swept over me, taking in my wet hair, fresh from the scalding shower I’d just taken—over my face and down to my waist and back up again. I squeezed my thighs together in my chair as a tendril of heat followed his gaze. He took another step forward and the room suddenly felt claustrophobic.

  I shifted in my seat. “Can I help you?”

  “I’m Special Agent Chris Bennett. I’m with the Secret Service.” He flashed a badge as he walked toward my desk. “I’ve been assigned to your security detail—to protect you in light of recent incidents with your predecessor.”

  “My security detail? I didn’t ask for a security detail.”

  “You didn’t have to, Ma’am. My team and I were assigned to you.” He walked toward my desk and his nose wrinkled. He gl
anced around the room as if he were looking for the source of the smell.

  “That’s me.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “What you’re smelling… it’s me.”

  His eyebrows drew together, and he swung those eyes toward me. They took my breath away. I could lose myself in his gaze, so I glanced away and shifted in my seat again.

  “I had an unfortunate run-in with a fisheries activist this morning. I was on the receiving end of a bucketful of fish guts.” A wave of nausea rose inside me at the memory. I swallowed, closing my eyes to regain control over myself. I’d already thrown up twice as I stripped off my clothes and washed off the fish blood. I wasn’t interested in throwing up again.

  He made a noise, took an item out from under his arm, and placed it on the desk. My eyebrows arched in surprise when I read the label.

  De-Fishing Soap.

  I snorted. “News travels fast, I see.”

  “Some news does.”

  I glanced up at him just as he wiped a grin off his lips. I took the bottle, inspecting it. I flipped the cap open and took a sniff, wrinkling my nose.

  “No good?” His voice was low, gruff, and it made the pit of my stomach vibrate. My cheeks flushed again, and I shrugged.

  “It’s better than rotting fish. Thank you. You’re good.” I was impressed. Were all Secret Service agents like this?

  “It’s my job.”

  “I thought your job was to protect me. You’re about two hours too late for that,” I said, holding up the bottle of de-fishing soap.

  A grin tugged at his lips, but he covered it up. He nodded. “I am, and I apologize.”

  I frowned then, nodding my chin at him. “Let me see that badge. I never asked for a security detail—who hired you?”

  “I’m with the Secret Service, Ma’am. After everything that happened with former Senator Blanchet, we want to make sure there’s no retaliation against you.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “No retaliation or no repeat of his mistakes?”

  The agent said nothing. He handed me his badge and I studied it as if I knew what I was looking for. I had no idea what a Secret Service badge looked like. Truth be told, I hadn’t even known that the Secret Service carried badges.

  I gave it back to him, dragging my eyes up his muscular body to his irresistible eyes. He stood with his arms clasped behind his back which made his shoulders bulge forward. I glanced at his muscular frame and took a deep breath. “I don’t have a choice in this, do I?”

  “No, Ma’am.”

  “All right. We need some ground rules.” I pushed my chair back and stood up, putting my hands on my hips. His eyes glimmered. “First, don’t call me Ma’am.”

  He nodded. “No problem, Senator Crawford.”

  “Second, you give me some space. I don’t want you sneaking around corners and hiding in my shadow, okay? I need to be able to do my job.” Plus, I didn’t want him stuck to me. I was used to being on my own, and I didn’t like what he was doing to my body temperature. The last thing I needed was a distraction. I walked around my desk toward him and he glanced at my feet.

  If he thought it was weird that I was wearing old Nikes with my suit, he didn’t show it.

  “It’s my job to protect you, Senator. I need to be able to do my job as well. Staying far away from you will impede that.”

  “All I’m asking is that you give me a little room to breathe. You don’t need to come to the bathroom with me, for example.”

  “I’ll give you as much space as I can while still taking buckets full of fish guts for you.”

  I stared at him for a beat as his eyes glimmered. He was equal parts infuriating and attractive, and it looked like he knew it.

  He nodded. “Anything else?”

  I shook my head. “That’s all I’ve got, for now.” I gestured to the bottle of soap. “Thanks.”

  A curt nod was all the acknowledgement he gave. “I’ll be waiting downstairs. Let me know when you’re ready to leave for the day, and we’ll escort you home.”

  “I don’t need—”

  “Please, Senator. It’s my job to keep you safe. I swore an oath. If I had my way, I would be sitting in this office all day with you.” His eyes flashed as his gaze flicked over my body, and heat ignited in my core. “But this building is secure, so I’ll wait for you outside.”

  I stared at the huge man before me and nodded silently. I cleared my throat. “Okay.”

  He placed a business card with his name and number on my desk. Then, moving surprisingly quietly for a man his size, he disappeared out the door and around the corner. I got off my chair and walked to the door, peeking around to watch him leave. He commanded the hallway as he walked toward the elevators. Senators and staffers moved out of his way. He kept striding forward as if he hadn’t even noticed them.

  One woman glanced back at him, her eyes wide. When Special Agent Bennett got to the elevators, he glanced back toward me. His eyes met mine from down the hall, and delicious shivers trembled in the pit of my stomach. Then, the elevator doors opened and he disappeared.

  I let out a sigh, leaning against the doorway and closing my eyes.

  First the fish activist, and now the Secret Service?

  My first day on the job was more eventful than I’d anticipated. I glanced out the door again, but Bennett was gone.

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. On the one hand, he’d had an immediate, calming presence when he walked through the door. It was impossible not to feel safe when he was around. Whenever he looked at me, my stomach tightened and my heart thumped.

  But on the other hand… did I really want a security detail? Did I really want the Secret Service creeping around everywhere I went? At least he was waiting for me downstairs. I must not have been that much of a target if he was giving me a bit of space.

  …Did I have a choice?

  It didn’t sound like it.

  I sighed and slipped back behind my desk. I looked at the files in front of me and the dozens of unread emails, resigning myself to a long evening at the office.

  After a few hours of work, when the sun had gone down and my back ached from sitting for too long, I took the bottle of de-fishing soap in my hands. I turned it around as my lips tugged upwards.

  I didn’t know what it was about Chris Bennett, but something told me he was different from other Secret Service agents. The light dancing in his eyes betrayed something else—something deeper.

  I sighed, putting the soap to the side and turning back to my computer when my phone rang. Glancing at the screen, I sighed.

  “Hi, Gramps.”

  “The nurses are trying to kill me,” my grandfather whispered. “Kitty Cat, you have to come get me out of here. They’re going to smother me in my sleep.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose as cracks spidered over my heart. I took a deep breath. “Gramps, the nurses aren’t trying to kill you. Where’s Nurse Maribel?”

  “They killed her, too.” His voice was strained and I could imagine his jerky, panicked movements. He was probably scanning the hallway for ‘threats’ as he whispered into the phone.

  “Gramps, everything is fine. Don’t worry.”

  “You have to come!”

  “I’m in D.C., Gramps, remember? I’m a Senator now.”

  “Cat—” he inhaled sharply, and I heard a female voice on the other end of the line. Nurse Maribel grabbed the phone.

  “Sorry about that, Miss Crawford—or should I say Senator Crawford? Congratulations! Your grandfather was proud as a peach this morning.” And now he’s forgotten all about it.

  “I thought they killed you!” Gramps breathed in the background.

  “How is he?” I asked, my nerves stretching to their breaking point.

  “We’re still tweaking his anti-psychotics,” Maribel replied. “It’s a long process, but he’s fine. Aren’t you, Arthur?” My grandfather mumbled in the background.

  “I can’t leave D.C. until next month,” I said, pinching the
bridge of my nose. “Are you sure he’s okay? I can make a quick trip this weekend if—”

  “Cat,” Maribel interrupted gently. “He’s fine. You’ve been here every single weekend for the past six years. He understands that you need to be away more often now.”

  “Doesn’t sound like it.”

  “When he’s with us, he knows.”

  The cracks on my heart deepened, and I took a deep breath. “Okay.”

  “Don’t worry, Cat. He’ll be fine. You just do your job and fix this country of ours.”

  My heart squeezed again. I hated hearing Gramps like this. His delusions had gotten worse in the past six months, and the doctors were fighting to find a cocktail of medication that worked. I knew that he was slipping away from me, day by day—just like Mom did.

  I glanced out the window at the enclosed courtyard and my heart rate increased. I felt trapped. I couldn’t even see the sky from my office window. I shouldn’t have taken this position. I should have stayed close to Gramps—he and my brother Mickey were all I had left. Mom was dead and Dad had left as soon as her delusions started getting bad. Gramps was the only one who had been there.

  “All right, Arthur. Let’s get you back to your room,” Maribel said with a sigh. I’d forgotten I was still holding the phone to my ear. “We’ll see you next month, Senator.”

  “Call me Cat, please.”

  Maribel chuckled. “All right, Cat. Bye-bye now.”

  The receiver clicked and I let all the air out of my lungs. I stared at my phone for a few moments, took a deep breath, and locked that part of my heart away.

  My grandfather—the one man who really cared about my brother and me—was going to leave us soon, and there was nothing I could do about it.

  On top of that, I had to deal with militant fishery activists and the Secret Service, all while navigating a new political landscape.

  But hey—at least I had de-fishing soap now.

  4

  Chris