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

by Lilian Monroe

  Mickey gave her another hug, nodded to me, and walked out the way he came. When the door closed, Cat exhaled.

  “So, that’s my brother,” she said. “He hasn’t changed since we were kids.”

  “Works at the docks?”

  “At a shipyard, yeah. He’s a mechanic—specializes in propellers and large engines. He’s done pretty well for himself.” She smiled. Her eyes shone with pride.

  She took a deep breath and glanced at our forgotten mugs. “Coffee’s probably cold by now. You want any more?”

  I shook my head. She tilted her head as a smile twitched over her lips.

  “What?”

  “I was just thinking about how you jumped up when Mickey walked in,” she said. “All protective-like.”

  I took a step toward her. “And?”

  “And it was cute,” she laughed.

  “Most people don’t describe me as cute.” I took another step, watching her chest rise and fall with every breath. Her eyes stayed glued on mine and she didn’t move. We were a foot away from each other.

  “Well, I’m not ‘most people’, am I?”

  Step. “No.”

  My chest brushed against hers as my hand drifted to her hip. I squeezed it, the thin fabric of her shirt bunching under my fingers. She leaned in toward me, catching herself on my chest with her hands. Her eyes were gleaming, and all I could think about was how badly I wanted to kiss her.

  Her hands crawled up to my neck and she pressed herself against me. She smelled so goddamn good, it shouldn’t be allowed. I leaned into her, wrapping my other arm around her waist. My hand found the small of her back and I pulled her center toward mine.

  A gasp escaped her lips when she felt me against her stomach. Her pupils dilated, and her arms hooked around my neck.

  We were moving slowly and deliberately. At any moment, the storm would break and it would be unstoppable between us. The air crackled with energy as our bodies moved slowly, tentatively toward each other.

  My breath was ragged. My heartbeat was erratic. Every fiber of my being wanted her, her, her. Dipping my chin down, I brought my lips closer to hers. She angled her face up to me.

  And then my phone rang.

  Cat’s shoulders dropped as she exhaled, leaning her forehead on my chest. I groaned and tilted her chin up.

  “Ignore it.” I brought my lips to hers, but she backed away.

  “What if it’s important?”

  Her eyes widened and I relented. She was probably right. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I glanced at the name on the screen and sighed.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  I slipped out the back door for some privacy and answered the call. “Gary.” My voice was gruffer than usual. I adjusted my pants around my hardness, shifting it more comfortably up into my waistband.

  “Anders, I found her grandfather. You’re not going to believe this.”

  I glanced back at Cat through the sliding glass door, clearing our mugs from the coffee table. “What’s up?”

  “Catherine Crawford’s grandfather is none other than Arthur ‘Shorty’ Nowak.” He was breathless, and I frowned.

  “Am I supposed to recognize that name?”

  “Chris!”

  “What?”

  “Shorty Nowak was a heavy hitter in the Polish Mob in Philly in the fifties! How do you not know this? I thought you were CIA.”

  My stomach dropped. “I don’t know every single player in every single mafia in the past century,” I said, and then glanced back at Cat. She was looking at me, her face questioning. “Any ties to Russia?”

  “Not as far as I can tell. Apparently, Shorty Nowak left the game when he met his wife in the late fifties. He changed his name to Arthur Jones and moved to Baltimore and fell off the map for decades. Lived completely clean. Had a daughter—Senator Crawford’s mom, who died. He took Catherine and her brother in, then got sick and was moved into the assisted living facility.”

  I took a deep breath. “I’m going to have to go, but can you check out another name for me? Kowalski or Kowalczyk… something like that.”

  “Yeah, what’s the connection?”

  “I’m not sure yet. Might have something to do with the grandfather. Her brother mentioned him—something about a photo of the two of them.”

  “You met her brother.”

  “Long story. I gotta go.”

  I hung up, clutching my phone in my hand. I swept my eyes over the backyard and took a deep breath. Thoughts were swirling around my head and I tried to stop myself from jumping to conclusions.

  How had we missed this? How had Cat’s background check missed it?! She probably wouldn’t even have had a political career if people knew this.

  I glanced back at her and saw her thumbing through her phone, chewing on her lip. Did she know? What connection did her grandfather have to her appointment to the Senate?

  According to Gary, he’d been out of the game long before she was born.

  Doubt swirled in my stomach and I exhaled. I didn’t want her to be crooked. I didn’t want her to be shady. I wanted her to be Cat, and I wanted her to be mine.

  13

  Cat

  Something in Agent Bennett was different when he came back inside. He closed the door behind him and glanced at me. His eyes were dark and unreadable.

  “I ordered a pizza. Hope you like pepperoni.” I smiled tentatively. Bennett just made a noise in response.

  Whatever moment we had was gone. I could see it when he turned away from me, and how the air between us went from electric to ice cold.

  Maybe he reconsidered while he was outside. It would be wildly inappropriate for us to get involved. Not only did he work for me, but I was in the public eye. A relationship with a Secret Service agent would be fodder for the tabloids, and right now, that was the last thing I needed.

  Plus, I wasn’t fit for relationships.

  I glanced at him one more time and then slipped out to go to the bathroom. What was I talking about, relationships? Who said anything about relationships? The guy touched my face and we sort-of-almost-maybe kissed, and I was basically choosing baby names?

  What is wrong with me?

  I closed the bathroom door and leaned against the vanity, taking deep, gulping breaths. This wasn’t me. I had always been independent, and I had never chased after a man in my life. Why should Bennett be any different?

  Running the water in the sink, I splashed it on my face to try to cool myself down. This was all happening too fast. I met the guy a month ago, and now I felt like I couldn’t control myself around him.

  I could feel the walls around my heart starting to build up again. Whatever defenses Bennett had taken down were slowly starting to reinforce themselves.

  I knew myself and I knew my family history. Getting involved with a man wasn’t worth it. I wasn’t going to put someone else through the horror of watching me slowly lose my mind. Nor was I going to put myself in the position that my mother was in—abandoned, alone, and isolated.

  No, this was the hand I’d been dealt. I knew what was in store for me at the end of my life, and I would face it head-on, on my own two feet.

  Right now, the important thing was to focus on my career. I needed to keep my head above water until the election in two months’ time. I needed to figure out if this fisheries activist was going to be a problem, and I needed to figure out what Tony Kowalski wanted from me.

  Anything else was a distraction—including Agent Bennett. No matter how sexy he looked, or how much he turned my insides to warm goo anytime he looked at me, I needed to focus.

  I turned the water off and dried my face. Heading back out to the kitchen, I frowned when I saw Agent Bennett crouched over my purse. In his hands was the one thing that I hoped no one else would see.

  The picture of my grandfather with Tony Kowalski…and a bit fat stack of cash.

  Agent Bennett turned around to look at me. His face was stormy. His jaw clenched as he arched an eyebrow.
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  “What’s this?”

  My heart thumped. His voice was hard, and his eyes were dark. I’ve never seen him like this before. He straightened his back and all of a sudden I felt smaller than I ever had before.

  “That’s my grandfather,” I answered slowly.

  “Who’s that in the picture with him?”

  “That’s something I’ve been trying to figure out.” I tried to keep my voice measured, and Bennett’s eyes narrowed.

  “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  Anger flared in my chest and I stomped toward him. I snatched the photo away from him and put my hands on my hips.

  “I don’t know, Bennett. But right now, it seems like you’ve forgotten your job. Your job is to protect me, is it not? It’s not to snoop in my purse, looking for personal items. It’s not to creep behind tree trunks watching me as I spend time with my grandfather. So back the fuck off, will you?”

  My chest heaved as I deliver my speech. I could feel the anger and anxiety pouring off me in waves, and Bennett stared at me for a few seconds.

  Before he could say anything, the doorbell rang. My shoulders slumped and I put my hand to my forehead.

  “That’s probably the pizza guy,” I said quietly. I lifted my eyes back up to Bennett and exhaled. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. I don’t know anything about that picture. It was given to me a month ago. Some guy snuck into my office. Which, by the way, is another sign that you’re not doing your job properly.”

  I couldn’t resist the jab, but Bennett didn’t react like I thought he would. Instead of being embarrassed, he frowned.

  “What? What do you mean? Who was in your office?”

  “The guy in the picture,” I said, waving it with one hand as I turned toward the front door. “Just let me get this pizza.”

  I hurried to the front door. Rummaging through my purse for my wallet, I opened the door.

  “I have some cash here for you…” I glanced up, but there was no pizza guy. My purse dropped to the ground and I gasped, frozen in place.

  It probably only lasted a second, but it felt like time stood still. The wind quieted down and my heart stopped. Everything turned to stone—even me.

  And then emotion slammed into me like a freight train.

  “Mickey!” I rushed onto the porch, my throat raw as I screamed his name again. His bloody, battered face laid on my old porch planks. I turned him onto his back and his head lolled from side to side.

  “Mickey, come on, wake up,” I said, panicked. I felt for a pulse, but my own heart was beating so hard that I couldn’t hear anything. Tears filled my eyes and I couldn’t see. My breath was ragged and I felt like passing out. I grabbed my brother’s shirt and yelled his name over and over and over.

  My tears mixed with his blood as I wailed, panic clawing at my throat as I tried to wake my brother.

  Agent Bennett pulled me out of the way. He was already on the phone to the ambulance. I took a step back and watched as he checked for a pulse and spoke to the emergency operator calmly, as if he’d seen a thousand emergencies before.

  Whatever happened between then and the time the ambulance came, I wouldn’t be able to say. All I know is I held my brother’s hand, praying for him to wake up as I rocked back and forth.

  When the paramedics strapped him onto a stretcher and lifted him into the ambulance, their words sounded like gibberish. Bennett took over, listening to them and answering questions. They shut the back doors and told us what hospital they were going to, and then the sirens blasted in the quiet, dark night, and they were gone.

  Bennett’s arms snaked around my trembling body, and he held me close. I was like a plank of wood against his chest, frozen with shock. It took a few minutes for me to take a breath, and then I wiped my eyes and looked up at him.

  “Who did that to him?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

  His jaw had a determined set to it, and the coldness in his gaze was gone. He wrapped his strong, protective arms around me again and stroked my hair until I took a deep, trembling breath.

  “I need to go to the hospital. You don’t have to come. It’ll be a long night.”

  Bennett chuckled. I could feel his laugh reverberating through his chest as he tilted my chin up to his face. His eyes gleamed and his face softened. He shook his head.

  “If you think I’m letting you go anywhere on your own tonight, or any day or night until I find out who did this, then you haven’t learned a thing about me.”

  14

  Chris

  Logic told me to keep Cat at arms’ length. Training and experience told me to be suspicious.

  But my heart told me to trust her. As we stood there, watching the ambulance drive away, all the forces inside me waged war against each other. Cat fit perfectly against my chest and I held her close. Her pain became my pain, and my strength became her strength.

  I wanted to keep myself away from her. I wanted to fight it and to get to the bottom of everything with her grandfather and the people who wanted to harm her. I wanted logic, training, and experience to come out on top.

  But my heart won.

  Even though I didn’t know who her grandfather was or whether he had any ties to the Polish mob or the Russians. Even though I didn’t know what kind of trouble she was in, and I didn’t know where this operation was headed. Even though everything in my past told me to stay away, to not get involved with the target of an operation like this.

  Even with all that, my heart won.

  I knew that Cat was scared. I knew that she’d already been approached and given the photo without my knowledge. She’d been followed and assaulted in her own committee meeting. Things were escalating. Her brother had been attacked and dumped on her front porch as a warning.

  So, I ignored my training. I ignored my logic. I ignored the mission.

  Instead, I held her close and told her that I would protect her, and in the depths of my heart, I knew it was true. She sniffled, pulling away from me. Glancing up at my face, she wiped a tear away from her eyes and steadied herself.

  “We should go to the hospital,” she said. “I want to be with my brother.”

  My stomach twisted. I took a deep breath and cupped her cheek. “Cat,” I said gently. “My main priority is keeping you safe right now. Until I know what’s going on, you need to listen to me.”

  She frowned.

  “We need to think this through. Following your brother to the hospital could be exactly what they want.”

  “Who’s ‘they’?” Her whole body stiffened.

  “I don’t know yet—that’s the problem. If you’d have told me about the man in your office—”

  “So this is my fault?”

  “No,” I sighed. “Cat, we need to be careful.”

  “You don’t want me to go to the hospital? I need to be with my brother! I don’t even know if he’ll be okay.”

  “You need to stay safe, Catherine. You’re a US Senator now. You’re a target.” I slid my fingers down to her neck and sighed. “I need to take you to a safe house. We can’t stay here.”

  “Bennett…”

  “I’m serious.”

  “But…” Her eyes widened. “What about Mickey?”

  “I’ll get some agents out here and they can watch his room 24/7. The hospital is the safest place for him.”

  “You’ll ‘get some agents’? Is there just a never-ending supply of Secret Service agents that can watch over a fill-in senator from Maryland?”

  No, but the CIA has deep pockets. My heart squeezed. Every day that went by, I hated lying to her. Usually, I loved being undercover. I loved untangling all the twisted threads of a mission and seeing where it led me. I loved using my powers of manipulation and diplomacy to reach an objective.

  Not this time.

  This time, it felt like all I was doing was lying. I had stopped worrying about what Cat might do as a Senator and started worrying about what her enemies mig
ht do to her. Even the anger and suspicion I’d felt after finding the photo had completely melted away.

  She was in danger.

  I took a deep breath. “You brother will be safe, but we need to go.” I kept my voice low and looked her in the eye. Her eyes were pale and watery with unshed tears. She bit her lip, not wanting to listen to me. I held her close, feeling her erratic pulse under my fingers.

  Finally, she sighed. “Okay.”

  “Get your bag. We should leave now.”

  “Now?”

  I glanced around at the street, the parked cars, the neighbors’ yards. “Yes. Now.”

  Whatever was going on was bigger than we thought. Mickey had been battered to within an inch of his life, and I was sure he hadn’t done anything to deserve it.

  It was a message, and I was getting it loud and clear.

  We gathered our things in silence. I waited until we were in the car and on the road before dialing Berkeley.

  “Chris,” he said. “What’s up?”

  “There’s been an incident.” I ran him through what had happened tonight, leaving out certain details like how close I’d come to kissing the senator.

  “I’m taking Senator Crawford to the safe house near Annapolis. I’d like to request a protection detail for her brother.”

  Berk sighed. “What’s this all about, Chris? Gary told me about her grandfather. Who is attacking her?”

  “I’m not sure yet.” But if she’s not safe, we won’t be able to sniff out any involvement with the Russians… or the Poles. The subtext of the conversation was clear, even though I couldn’t say it out loud. Not with Cat in the car with me.

  “Fine. I’ll dispatch two agents to go to the hospital. Take her to the safe house and sit tight. You need to get as much information out of her as possible. We need to get ahead of this before it gets out of control.”

  “Understood.”

  I hung up the phone and Cat looked at me. Her eyes were wide and she rubbed her shoulder.

  “I’m hoping we won’t have any high-speed car chases today,” she said with a shy smile. “I’m still sore from the last one.”