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

by Lilian Monroe

  Gary slipped out of her bedroom and nodded. “Done.”

  “Good. Let’s go to the office.”

  We rode the whole way in silence. Inside me, a war was being waged. The more I told myself that the surveillance was the right thing to do, the more I felt like it wasn’t. It felt like I was lying to her.

  And I was—we all were. But why did I feel bad about it? Lying and manipulating were part of my job description. It’s what I did. It’s what we all did. It’s how we prevented threats from becoming problems. It’s how we kept this country safe.

  But this… this was different. I just couldn’t see any way that Cat was a Russian operative, which meant we’d just bugged the house of a US Senator for no reason.

  We pulled up outside the office building and I spotted Finch’s car parked on a side street. I glanced at Gary. “You should wait until tonight before doing her office.”

  “What about security? I only need five minutes. Can you get her out for that long?”

  I pulled out my phone and checked her calendar, which we’d gained access to as part of the court order. “Senate’s convening at 10am this morning. She should be out of her office for a couple hours.”

  Stripping off the maintenance company jacket, I smoothed my hair and threw on my suit jacket. I slid out of the van and glanced back at Gary who was still dressed as a maintenance worker. We walked into the building a few seconds apart from each other and I made sure not to look his way. He rode a different elevator up to the fifth floor.

  When I arrived at Cat’s office, the door was open and she was sitting at her computer. She twirled a strand of hair between her fingers with one hand while chewing the end of her pen with the other.

  The dim light from her windows was making her face glow with an almost ethereal light, and the guilt in my heart grew stronger.

  I quashed it, reminding myself of what happened last time I didn’t follow procedure. Cat Crawford could be a Russian operative. Just because I didn’t think she was meant nothing. I couldn’t trust my instincts on this one. I’d been burned before.

  As if she could sense my gaze, she glanced up from her papers. A soft gasp escaped her lips and she closed the folder she was looking at a little too quickly.

  “Agent Bennett,” she said, stammering. “I didn’t see you there.”

  “You weren’t supposed to.”

  Her cheeks flushed and a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “Even though it’s been a week, I’m still not used to you sneaking around me all the time.”

  The guilt in my chest burned hotter, and I ignored it. I shrugged. “It’s my job, Senator.”

  “Call me Cat,” she said, her eyes softening. “Please.”

  I cleared my throat. “Cat.”

  She glanced at her watch and took a deep breath. “I’d better get going, I have to be at the Capitol in half an hour. Do you have to escort me there, too?” She pushed herself up to stand, arching her eyebrow and cocking her hip.

  I grinned. “I do.”

  Her blush deepened and my cock throbbed. I hated how much my body reacted to her, but I couldn’t bring myself to walk away. Every time I thought I had this under control, she flicked her eyes my way, and my body was on fire again.

  It would be easy to get Finch to do this, but I didn’t want to. I wanted her beside me. I wanted to escort her and make sure she was safe.

  If last week was any indication, there was something going on that we didn’t know about. I didn’t know what side she was fighting for, but I had a deep, undeniable need to protect her. I didn’t even know if I could trust her, but I wanted her to be safe.

  It was confusing. I was conflicted. The whole thing was a royal head-fuck.

  Cat locked up a drawer in her desk and grabbed her bag. She flicked those eyes my way and smiled.

  “Let’s go, then, Mr. Protector.”

  She fell into step beside me and I felt my whole body relax. That was exactly where she should be. I glanced behind me just in time to see Gary slipping into her office.

  My heart hardened, and my whole body stiffened.

  This was a job. I needed to stay focused on what had to be done. Cat Crawford wasn’t my new love interest—she was the target of a complex undercover operation. Forgetting that would be disastrous.

  9

  Cat

  I fell into a new kind of routine. I doubted I’d ever truly get used to having the Secret Service following me around, but after a couple weeks, I started to relax.

  It was nice to feel safe and protected everywhere I went. It was nice to be driven to and from work every day and know that I didn’t have to worry about break-ins or muggers.

  I hadn’t realized how much I lived my life on guard until I had a team of buff men looking out for me. Even though they were always around, in a way, I felt freer. I could go for a walk at night without looking over my shoulder. I didn’t have to cross the road if an aggressive man was yelling at nothing on the sidewalk.

  Agent Bennett seemed to keep his distance a bit more than the first day we met. He kept me updated on their search for the car that followed us and gave me a report on the fisheries activist, but he had someone else watch the house at night.

  I tried to remind myself he was just doing his job, but I couldn’t help but think of the way he’d touched my shoulder or how he’d put his hand on my thigh to calm me down. I missed his touch more and more as the days went by.

  There didn’t seem to be anything too dangerous about the activist. I chucked the file in my bottom drawer, along with the photo that Tony Kowalski had given me.

  I considered telling Bennett about the photo, but I needed to know more. I needed to speak to my grandfather about the past, about Kowalski, and about what the heck was going on in that photograph.

  But once I closed the drawer on the file and the photo, it slipped to the back of my mind. I had committee meetings, senate sessions, and a whole lot of work to do. I had long nights in the office and early mornings working at home. I worked through the weekends and made sure that I was doing the best possible job I could do. I only had three months to get re-elected, so there was a mountain of work ahead of me.

  In the blink of an eye, two weeks had gone by. Levi Whitehall came into my office on Friday evening with a bottle of Scotch. He lifted two glasses up.

  “Congratulations on surviving your first two weeks!”

  “The first two days were the toughest,” I laughed.

  “Any news on the activist?”

  “Nothing so far. I’m meeting with Agent Bennett tonight to go over some new information he’s found, so hopefully that’ll shed some light on it.

  “Good.” He touched his glass to mine and we shared a drink. We talked about work, and his kids, and about work again. I hadn’t had a drink—or stopped working—in two full weeks. It was nice.

  But once our glasses were empty, the moment was over. Levi shook my hand and winked at me. “You’re doing good, kid.”

  “That’s Senator to you, Whitehall.”

  He guffawed and took his scotch back to his office. I took a deep breath and started packing up my bag. A knock on the door made me glance up.

  Bennett, in all his gargantuan, muscled glory, was waiting in the doorway.

  “May I?” He asked, motioning to the chairs across my desk.

  “Please.”

  He squeezed his body into one of my chairs and presented me with a blue manila folder. I flicked it open, scanning the page.

  “Our activist is from St. Michaels, Maryland. He comes from a family of fishermen and has worked on his father’s boat since he was a teenager. He is active on social media about water pollution and has recently been part of a few protests in the area.”

  I took a deep breath. “So what you’re telling me is that he is for real? As in, he really was upset about the fish? Not something more sinister?”

  “It appears so.”

  “What about the guy that followed us? Was he related?”
<
br />   Bennett took a deep breath. “We’re not sure.”

  “Could this all be because I’m on the Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife Committee? I didn’t think it was going to be such a high-stakes position.”

  Bennett chuckled. “No one did.”

  “Thanks.” I kicked off my heels with a sigh.

  Bennett arched an eyebrow.

  “Those things are modern torture devices, as far as I’m concerned. The fact that I have to wear heels is the worst part of the job.”

  “I’ll be honest, ninety-nine percent of the time I see you, you’re wearing Nikes.”

  “Listen, buddy, if I had my way, it would be a hundred percent of the time.” I grinned, pulling open the bottom drawer of my desk and pulling out a fresh white pair.

  Bennett chuckled. “You’re not like any other senator I’ve met.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.” I slipped the shoes on and stood up. “Now take me home, driver.”

  I watched Bennett bite back a retort as I walked around my desk toward him. My heart fluttered as he stood up beside me, his body just inches from mine.

  The desire that had consumed me the first day we met was still there. I kept trying to ignore it, but whenever he was near, it flickered to life again. Bennett nodded to me, his hand drifting to the small of my back as we made our way out of my office. Butterflies exploded in my stomach, and I tried my best to swallow them down.

  If something as simple as Nikes weren’t senatorial, well, sleeping with your bodyguard was definitely on the list of ‘do not under any circumstances do this.’

  I just had to make my body understand that.

  My attraction to Chris Bennett simmered in the background for another couple of weeks. Some days, I felt like it was reciprocated. Other days, he all but ignored me.

  I tried my best to forget that I was attracted to him… mostly unsuccessfully. I always ended up thinking about him when I was in—ahem—intimate situations. Then, when I saw him in person afterwards, I could never keep the blush off my cheeks.

  His eyebrow arched, and I wondered if he knew that I pleasured myself to the thought of his hands on my body, and his mouth on—

  I was getting carried away again.

  US Senator. Professional. Upcoming Election.

  These were the things I had to focus on—not my sexy-as-sin bodyguard.

  When a month finally passed and I had a weekend to myself, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was going to see my grandfather and my brother, and I’d have a break from this little flirtationship that Bennett and I had developed. Saturday morning rolled around, and I packed an overnight bag and grabbed my car keys. But when I opened the front door, Bennett was there.

  “Senator,” he nodded.

  “Oh, hi,” I said. “I thought you guys took the weekend off. I’m going to Baltimore, remember?”

  “That wouldn’t make much sense. What’s the point of protecting someone five days a week and only in one place? We have a team ready to come with you.”

  “I just figured… I don’t know. That you only needed to watch over me when I was in D.C.”

  “It’s my job to watch over you everywhere, Senator.”

  “Didn’t I tell you to call me Cat?”

  His eyes darkened as his tongue slid out to lick his lips, and he didn’t answer.

  I sighed. “Well, as I said, I’m going to Baltimore this weekend. You can come if you want, but I don’t want an army of suited-up Secret Service agents following me around when I’m visiting my grandfather.”

  “Cat, I don’t think—”

  I put up my hand, and Bennett stopped talking. “Look, Agent Bennett, I agreed to have you guys following me around. I agreed to you driving me to and from the office. I actually kind of appreciate it. But I draw the line at visiting my family. Either you come, or no one comes. I will not have a whole team of agents coming to my grandfather’s home. He’s unstable enough as it is.”

  Bennett stared at me for a few moments and finally nodded. “Fine.”

  “Do you need to grab some things before we go?”

  He shook his head. “Got stuff in the car.”

  He nodded to the black sedan parked behind my little VW Bug. I sighed. “I’m guessing we’re taking your car?”

  “You drew the line at me. I draw the line at the car.”

  A grin quirked his lips and I relented. “Fine.” Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I made my way to the vehicle without another word. He popped the trunk and I tossed my bag in and then walked over to the passenger’s side. Bennett’s eyes were scanning the street as he opened the door for me.

  His gaze flicked to mine for a moment, and a jolt of lightning went down my spine. I cleared my throat and slid into the car, following Bennett’s movements as he went around to the driver’s side.

  We didn’t say anything to each other for a long time. For the first half of the drive, I was just trying to get my body under control.

  How did I think that a weekend alone with Agent Bennett was a good idea? I didn’t want a bunch of Secret Service agents following me around, but I clearly hadn’t thought this through. My heartbeat felt erratic and my palms were sweating. My mind kept jumping from the mass of manly muscle sitting just a few inches beside me, to what I would be facing when we got to my grandfather’s assisted living facility.

  Worry knotted my stomach. My grandfather had been distraught every time I spoke to him this month. I hated being away from him. It wasn’t anything new, but it always worried me. I knew that Nurse Maribel was more than capable, but it broke my heart to see him deteriorating.

  After watching my mother do the same thing, I knew what was in store for him. It was a slippery slope, and he was nearing the bottom.

  I brushed an angry tear away from my eye and stared out the car window. I felt Agent Bennett shift to look at me, but he didn’t ask what was wrong.

  Thank goodness for that.

  Instead, he cleared his throat. “How’s your shoulder feeling?”

  “It’s good, thanks. It was pretty sore for about two weeks, but it’s fine now. Bruise is just yellow.”

  “I wish we knew who that was, in the car. He had Maryland plates, but we ran it—it was stolen.”

  Fear gripped my heart and I turned toward him. “Maryland plates?”

  “It was in the report I gave you.”

  “I must not have read it that carefully.” I chewed my lip. “You still have no idea who it was?”

  Bennett grunted. I took a deep breath. My thoughts flicked to the man in my office—Tony Kowalski. Over the past couple weeks, I’d been lulled into a sense of security with the Secret Service around me, but Kowalski had gotten into my office undetected with the sole aim of scaring me. I needed to find out his identity, and what he had to do with my grandfather.

  My heart started thudding as a bead of sweat trickled between my shoulder blades. I took a gulp of air.

  Bennett noticed. “What?”

  “Nothing,” I said, turning away from him and staring out the window again. “Just worried about my grandfather.”

  He made a sympathetic noise, and for once I appreciated that he wasn’t a man of many words. I stole a glance toward him, watching him grip the steering wheel. His hands flexed, and his forearms tensed at the movement. His whole body was sinewy, rippling with raw power.

  I turned away, clamping my thighs together.

  “What’s wrong with your grandfather?”

  I glanced over to see him looking at the road ahead. He looked casual, but a vein in his jaw ticked. I appreciated him not putting pressure on me to answer.

  “He’s… he’s not entirely there, mentally. It runs in the family.”

  “Oh.”

  “Probably won’t be too long until…” I took a deep breath. I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. I clenched my fists and took a deep breath.

  Bennett’s hand reached over and covered mine. He slipped his fingers over my palm, forcing me to relax my fist
. He intertwined his fingers with mine and held my hand until my whole body relaxed. I closed my eyes, drawing strength from his touch as we neared the Baltimore city limits.

  When he pulled his hand away, I missed it immediately. My cheeks flushed and I looked out the window, steeling myself for what was to come.

  I directed him through the winding streets toward Gramps’ assisted living facility. Agent Bennett said nothing, sensing my need for silence. We parked outside the old concrete building, and I took a deep breath.

  “Do you mind waiting here? It’s just that he gets a bit anxious around strangers. And you’re…”

  “I’m what?”

  “Well, you’re huge. You’re like seven feet tall and as wide as a barn. You don’t exactly inspire calm friendliness.”

  “I make you calm.”

  “That’s different.”

  His eyebrow arched as the corner of his lips tugged upward. I blushed.

  “Just stay here,” I huffed, shutting the door before he could answer. Taking a deep breath, I made my way toward the building. I reached into my purse and felt for the picture that I’d stowed in an inside pocket. The chances of me getting any kinds of answers were slim, and with Gramps’ condition, they were getting worse by the day.

  But I had to try. It was my only shot at figuring out who this Kowalski guy was, and what he wanted from me.

  10

  Chris

  As soon as Cat was inside, I pulled out my phone.

  “Gary, check out Crawford’s grandparents. One of them is at the Green Meadow Assisted Living Facility. I don’t remember seeing anything about it in her file.”

  “Got it. You there now?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ll send you whatever I find out.”

  “Thanks.”

  I hung up the phone and slipped out of the car. Walking around the building, I glanced at the grounds and facilities attached to it. It looked like an older facility, but it was in good shape. It probably cost a small fortune to keep her grandfather in here.

  I walked farther around the fence, scanning the area for anything that seemed odd. Nothing stood out. A few residents played croquet on one side of the lawn, their old hands surprisingly accurate as they hit a ball through the hoops. Another resident sat by herself on a bench, feeding bread to some ducks. When I was almost halfway around, I spotted Cat with her grandfather.