black and noticed two things immediately.
He had a finger on his ear—she’d already noted the earpiece—and his other hand was inside his suit jacket. Shit. She knew that pose. He was reaching for his gun.
Every salacious and rude swear word in her unspoken stockpile sprang to mind followed by one thought … Dylan.
Dammit , she mentally griped. Instead of pole dancing workshops, she should have been up at the Villa’s gym working on some self-defense moves.
A loud, harsh clamor at the back door had her swinging around to see what was up.
Voices. Belligerent voices. Stern. Powerful.
Wait. Was that Calder? It was! She immediately breathed a deep sigh of relief. Running to the kitchen door, she peered onto the back patio. Yep. Calder and another black suit were having a heated exchange. Stephanie appeared at the foot of the steps where she paused to take in the scene before dashing to Calder’s side.
Lacey immediately flung open the door.
“Ma’am,” her guard dog barked. She saw him hurrying toward her and knew he intended to prevent her from letting anyone in.
Pfft. She didn’t think so! These people were on her turf. This was Cameron property. Morphing into a blond ponytailed version of Wonder Woman, she held up her hand and yelled, “Stop!”
The guy stumbled to an awkward halt less than five feet from where Dylan sat taking everything in with watchful intensity.
“Back off, agent. Take another step toward my son and you won’t like how I react.”
He stood absolutely still, looking back and forth between her, Dylan, and the back door.
“That man out there has legal control of this property. He’s coming in whether you want him to or not.”
Swiftly yelling from the back door, she called out, “Calder. Stephanie. I need you.”
That was all she had to do. Returning to her baby, she resumed a protective posture and waited.
“W ITH ALL DUE respect, sir,” Cam bit out. “Ma’am,” he added with a terse nod at the woman currently worrying a path into the wood floor with her constant back and forth. “But I don’t think you’re hearing me. This isn’t a good time for me to be off-site. Now, if we’re talking a satellite connection from here …” He left off the rest, but they knew what he was getting at.
If his unexpected guests were anyone except who they were, he’d have been a lot less respectful. Or receptive. But being a rude ass dick to one of the top supervisory agents in the Secret Service and the chairman of a hush-hush secret intelligence committee just wasn’t done. He still had enough military inside him to recognize when to snap to attention and when to flip the bird.
“As you already know, Major Marquez is out of the country indefinitely.”
Alex’s name held a hefty amount of gravitas, so he made sure to toss it out as a reminder of where they were and who the hell they were dealing with.
“At the present time, my responsibilities remain here. In Arizona.”
Chairman Johnson eyed him dispassionately. The man was a notorious hard-ass. He’d have to be in order to do what he does , Cam thought. His serious expression reminded him that here was a guy who knew the dirty. The real deal. Not the sanitized, heavily edited pabulum the press served up.
Mix in the Secret Service with whatever Johnson had on his plate and some serious shit was underway.
Fuck my life. Cam said nothing, but the sense of impending surrender to forces mightier and much more powerful than Justice made its way into his consciousness.
“We aren’t asking, Mr. Cameron. This isn’t a request. No shitting around. Your country needs you. A serious situation affecting the delicate balance of bullshit versus the U.S. exists, and you have certain skills,” he said with a hypocritically patronizing sneer that made Cam want to throw a punch.
Yep. Here we go , he thought with brittle irritation. These guys would just never let him be.
Special Agent in big-time charge, Adrienne Giroux stopped
He had a finger on his ear—she’d already noted the earpiece—and his other hand was inside his suit jacket. Shit. She knew that pose. He was reaching for his gun.
Every salacious and rude swear word in her unspoken stockpile sprang to mind followed by one thought … Dylan.
Dammit , she mentally griped. Instead of pole dancing workshops, she should have been up at the Villa’s gym working on some self-defense moves.
A loud, harsh clamor at the back door had her swinging around to see what was up.
Voices. Belligerent voices. Stern. Powerful.
Wait. Was that Calder? It was! She immediately breathed a deep sigh of relief. Running to the kitchen door, she peered onto the back patio. Yep. Calder and another black suit were having a heated exchange. Stephanie appeared at the foot of the steps where she paused to take in the scene before dashing to Calder’s side.
Lacey immediately flung open the door.
“Ma’am,” her guard dog barked. She saw him hurrying toward her and knew he intended to prevent her from letting anyone in.
Pfft. She didn’t think so! These people were on her turf. This was Cameron property. Morphing into a blond ponytailed version of Wonder Woman, she held up her hand and yelled, “Stop!”
The guy stumbled to an awkward halt less than five feet from where Dylan sat taking everything in with watchful intensity.
“Back off, agent. Take another step toward my son and you won’t like how I react.”
He stood absolutely still, looking back and forth between her, Dylan, and the back door.
“That man out there has legal control of this property. He’s coming in whether you want him to or not.”
Swiftly yelling from the back door, she called out, “Calder. Stephanie. I need you.”
That was all she had to do. Returning to her baby, she resumed a protective posture and waited.
“W ITH ALL DUE respect, sir,” Cam bit out. “Ma’am,” he added with a terse nod at the woman currently worrying a path into the wood floor with her constant back and forth. “But I don’t think you’re hearing me. This isn’t a good time for me to be off-site. Now, if we’re talking a satellite connection from here …” He left off the rest, but they knew what he was getting at.
If his unexpected guests were anyone except who they were, he’d have been a lot less respectful. Or receptive. But being a rude ass dick to one of the top supervisory agents in the Secret Service and the chairman of a hush-hush secret intelligence committee just wasn’t done. He still had enough military inside him to recognize when to snap to attention and when to flip the bird.
“As you already know, Major Marquez is out of the country indefinitely.”
Alex’s name held a hefty amount of gravitas, so he made sure to toss it out as a reminder of where they were and who the hell they were dealing with.
“At the present time, my responsibilities remain here. In Arizona.”
Chairman Johnson eyed him dispassionately. The man was a notorious hard-ass. He’d have to be in order to do what he does , Cam thought. His serious expression reminded him that here was a guy who knew the dirty. The real deal. Not the sanitized, heavily edited pabulum the press served up.
Mix in the Secret Service with whatever Johnson had on his plate and some serious shit was underway.
Fuck my life. Cam said nothing, but the sense of impending surrender to forces mightier and much more powerful than Justice made its way into his consciousness.
“We aren’t asking, Mr. Cameron. This isn’t a request. No shitting around. Your country needs you. A serious situation affecting the delicate balance of bullshit versus the U.S. exists, and you have certain skills,” he said with a hypocritically patronizing sneer that made Cam want to throw a punch.
Yep. Here we go , he thought with brittle irritation. These guys would just never let him be.
Special Agent in big-time charge, Adrienne Giroux stopped
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