Seduction in Session (9 page)

“Yeah, I forgot about that. I do little check-ins through the day. You know, in case there are any friends who happen to be in the area.”

“Yes, I understand. Social networking is so important for your generation. It’s how you let assassins know where to find you. Lara
is . . . enjoying a latte. Please come murder her.” He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a stare assured to send the most seasoned operative into a fetal position. “You will shut down all social media today.”

Lara just stared back at him. Her eyes narrowed, her lips thinning, and he wondered if she was making fun of him. “Won’t that send out the wrong message? We told the press this attack was random. Shouldn’t I act all normal and stuff?”

Freaking hell, she was right. “All right, but I’m in charge of your social media now. You don’t put a single word out there unless it goes through me.”

She coughed, but he could have sworn it sounded like
Gestapo
.

He ignored her. He wasn’t the Gestapo, Nazi Germany’s infamous state police. He was so much fucking worse, but she would find that out on her own. So he had narrowed down his suspects to roughly 3,200. Thank you, Internet.

He turned to Tom and Kiki. “I’ve been told you two know about Lara’s website.”

Kiki sighed. “You really think this is someone Capitol Scandals burned? Do you think those people would follow her social media?”

“If I’d had my life trashed by a tabloid and found out who ran it, you can bet I would use everything I had to track that person down,” he explained.

“I told you that site would get you in trouble,” Tom complained.

Lara sat on the couch, apparently expecting Connor to take the single chair since she spread out. “You didn’t hate the site when I ran that article on the circuit court judge selling verdicts.”

Tom shrugged. “He was a total asshole and his clerks were jerks. They kept me out of the fantasy football league. They deserved it.”

It was good he had his priorities. Connor shook his head. “Your opinion of the site is irrelevant. All that matters is figuring out who’s trying to kill Lara.”

“Isn’t this what the police should be doing?” Tom asked.

Kiki rolled her eyes. “As childish as he made that question sound, it’s valid. Why aren’t we letting the police handle this? I’m not questioning Connor’s ability to protect you, but the police have resources he just doesn’t have.”

She had no idea what resources he could call to his fingertips, but he couldn’t explain to her that he could count on both Langley and the executive branch to aid him. “I’m good with investigations and I’m excellent with a computer.”

“But the police . . .” Tom argued stubbornly.

“Connor and my dad think that’s a bad idea,” Lara explained.

“Since when do you do what your dad tells you to?” Tom shot back.

“Since he ganged up on me with him.” Lara was pointing his way. “They’re surprisingly immune to my arguments.”

Those big blue eyes were killing him. Fuck. She was cute. He didn’t do cute. He wasn’t the guy who liked cute intellectuals with great asses. He definitely wasn’t buying into her bullshit. Professional. That’s how he had to stay, which meant getting some distance between them. Except when he went to sit down, he found himself on the couch, plunking down right beside her so she damn near fell against him.

“Hey. I left that seat for you,” she said, scrambling to right herself and Lincoln, who was growling again.

“I think it’s best if you got used to me being on top of you,” he said, settling in. “In a nonliteral sense, of course.”

She would look pretty riding his cock.

Fuck, had he just thought that? He could sleep with her for the sake of the mission, but he would be in control. He would never again be vulnerable like he had with Greta.

He forced his head back in the game. “If we bring the police in, we have to tell them our suspicions.”

Kiki groaned. “And then they find out about Capitol Scandals.”

“The police could keep that quiet,” Tom insisted.

He was as naive as Lara. “Maybe the cops wouldn’t mention it, but if the press got wind of an investigation, they would start digging and it wouldn’t be long before they found her out. She’s got a good setup. While I’m here with her, I’ll strengthen her firewalls and put some more layers of protection in, but she’ll always be vulnerable.”

“So you’re covering up the murder attempt to keep it out of the press,” Tom allowed. “What’s with the lip lock? Are you trying to convince her that sleeping with you is good protection? That’s kind of sleazy, isn’t it? Or is that the way she’s paying your fee?”

After that comment, surely rendering the kid unconscious would be acceptable. Maybe even applauded.

“Tom, are you trying to say I would sell myself?” Lara’s face had turned a vibrant red and Connor finally knew what she looked like when she was actually angry.

Tom backed down really quick, his angry posture changing in a split second. His shoulders slumped and his gaze slid away from hers. “I’m so sorry, L. I would never say that. I’m just upset because I think this guy is using you. We should talk to your dad.”

“I told you. Dad is all on board with Connor. Apparently Connor’s in good with Hayes, and you know Dad really wants into that circle.” Lara sat back.

That was a dangerous line of thought. The last thing he needed was someone thinking he was in Zack Hayes’s inner circle. “Not exactly. I did some work for the president back when he was just a kid in Congress. He came overseas on a fact-finding mission. He was part of the Armed Forces Services Committee. Well, what happened after that is classified, but he told me afterward if I ever needed a reference to go to him.”

Zack had actually been in the Middle East with a congressional committee, and Connor had provided security. He’d just been in the CIA when he did it and he certainly hadn’t been merely muscle. He’d been responsible for evaluating any and all threats to the American delegation.

So he wasn’t exactly lying. It was always best that any story he told her held a grain of truth.

“Tom, I have the skills needed to protect Lara. Her father is confident in that and so is she.” He looked her way.

She didn’t appear at all confident but after a few seconds, she got the idea. She nodded. “Yes. I am. He’s right.”

He needed to work on her acting skills. “And I kissed Lara in the elevator because it’s part of our cover, one all of us need to stick to. You two and her parents are the only ones who know that she’s the force behind Capitol Scandals.”

“And that there’s a douche bag who’s trying to murder me,” Lara added.

“Obviously, we don’t want him in on our plan. Tom and Kiki, if anyone asks, I expect you to keep our cover. If a reporter happens to phone you for a quote, you tell them she’s doing all right and she’s happily nesting with her new boyfriend.”

Kiki clapped her hands in what seemed like delight. “You’re going to pretend to be her fiancé so the press doesn’t think she has a bodyguard because then the press would wonder why she needed one and bam, we’re right back where we started. I love this plan.”

“Boyfriend,” Connor corrected. He damn straight wasn’t anyone’s fiancé. He’d never even come close to wanting that.

“Fine, boyfriend with an eye to marriage because no one’s going to believe Lara would just start sleeping with someone off the street,” Kiki explained.

Tom huffed a little. “Right. No one will believe that.”

Lara held up her left hand and those blue eyes sparkled with mischief. “I think I look best with a princess cut, but no blood diamonds. You have to make sure you don’t buy conflict gemstones. We’re going to be an earth-kindness home.”

He held up a hand to stop that line of thought right there. “Hey, slow down, princess. This isn’t real and we’ll just say we’ve been talking over the Internet.”

“Yeah, L. How are you going to explain this to your real boyfriend?” Tom sounded a little like a six-year-old on the playground. “How’s Niall going to take it?”

He watched her flush again, but this time any anger or mischief was gone. In its place was something he feared. Guilt. Shame.

Fuck it all, she thought she was really in love with Niall Smith. Niall Smith, who didn’t actually exist. Niall Smith—Connor’s own creation—was likely going to keep him out of Lara’s bed.

“I’ll talk to him tonight. I’m going to see if I can get him on the phone. I don’t want him to think this is real at all.” The words came out in a rush.

Lara’s hand drifted restlessly over the dog. Lincoln, as though sensing his mistress’s deep distress, settled down and rubbed against her.

“How serious is this thing with you and Niall?” Connor asked.

“We’re friends, but we’ve talked about trying to be more. You know what a great guy he is,” Lara said.

“You know you’ve got a whole country between you.” She had to see that it couldn’t work.

“That’s what I told her,” Tom explained.

He hated being on the same side as Tom, but this was a problem he should have thought of. All his careful planning could go up in smoke. He reflected on everything and realized he’d played Niall far too well. He’d constructed the guy to be a savior of endangered animals, her intellectual equal, and a sensitive activist. In short, her fantasy. Niall seemed a little like a walking vagina to Connor. If he didn’t work this angle correctly, his imaginary creation could screw up everything.

Fantasies always beat out reality. He needed Lara to trust him, to turn to him. Deep Throat was coming back, and Connor wanted Lara to tell him everything because he was important to her.

He couldn’t be as long as Niall was in the picture.

“Who knows,” Lara said with a wistful smile on her face that let
him know she’d been thinking about this for a while. “He might like D.C.”

Connor shook his head. “No. That is one California boy. He won’t ever leave.”

“Then maybe I’ll like California.” She stood. “I should go and make dinner. Isn’t your package going to be here soon? I assume you had them deliver something that previously had a face and a mother who probably loved it very much before she was brutally murdered for her meat.”

Niall was a vegan. Another point for him. Shit. He should have sucked it up and eaten whatever she put in front of him. He gave her a wink because there was nothing to do now but brazen through. “You know the secret ingredient to any burger is love.”

She frowned and flounced away, her ugly dog in her arms, likely dreaming of a man who didn’t exist and who would have to prove himself to be all too human very soon.

Tom leaned over, his eyes wide. “Please tell me you ordered enough for all of us because I heard her talking about tofu tacos. I can’t do that. Have you ever tried to pass vegan cheese through your digestive tract?”

Kiki shook her head. “Men. I’ll go help Lara while you two plan your next kill.”

“I don’t kill it,” Tom called out. “It just shows up in a nice plastic wrapper at the grocery store. It could have died a natural death. We’ll never know.”

Kiki stopped in front of Connor. “If you like my friend, you should know that Niall is going to be an issue for her. I think he’s too good to be true and I don’t trust anyone I meet on the Internet, but she’s spent weeks building some serious picket-fence dreams around him. And I’ve seen his picture. He is a very cute boy.”

Connor had used pictures of a barely-out-of-college intern who’d once done work as a wilderness guide in Northern California. He was
a twenty-four-year-old kid with too-long blond hair and a smile that could probably get him in the movies. In all the pictures on his social networking sites, Niall was climbing a mountain or river rafting.

Niall wasn’t covered in scars, both internal and external. He wouldn’t use sarcasm as a shield. He was bright and fucking shiny, like Lara herself. Niall didn’t cling to the shadows because the darkness felt like home.

If this was a fairy tale, Niall would be the handsome prince and Connor the villain who tore him away from the fair princess and broke her heart.

Lara was going to have to get used to the fact that this wasn’t a fucking fairy tale and princes didn’t exist. It was time to start resetting her expectations.

“I’m afraid she doesn’t know everything about him.”

Kiki’s eyes closed briefly, and she sighed when she opened them again. “Just let her down easy. She really likes him.”

“He likes her, too, but that doesn’t mean he’s right for her. Or that he’s in love with her.” At least he’d been careful about that. He’d been flirty and nice, but he hadn’t said anything about love. Even when he was playing a role, he would never have mentioned that word.

“Tell me he’s an asshole.” Tom seemed more than willing to talk to him now.

Kiki shook her head and walked off as the doorbell rang. “That’s probably your food, carnivores.”

When Connor got to the door, he realized it was so much worse.

A small army stood there. They were a motley group. A couple looked damn near homeless, but that was just how twenty-year-olds seemed to dress these days. There were two elderly ladies, one complete with a walker. A worried-looking mom with a child clutching each of her hands.

One of the homeless stepped up. “Is Lara here? We heard about her on the news.”

He was just about to toss them all out when he heard a little cry behind him.

“Oh, I’m fine. Please come in.” Lara threw the door wide open and the mass shuffled inside.

Tom slapped him on the back. “Welcome to her world. No one’s a stranger. Good luck keeping her alive.”

Yeah, he could see that he was going to need it.

L
ara shut the door on the last of her visitors and hoped they’d bought the act. She’d had to smile and pretend to adore Connor. She’d explained that they’d met through mutual friends, but he was based in California and this was his first trip to D.C.

Her friend Barb, a divorced mom of two who lived on the fourth floor, had asked if Connor had a brother. The elderly sisters from the eighth asked if he had a record. Freddy, a fellow truth seeker from the second floor, had told her bluntly that Connor was obviously a CIA agent here on a mission to silence them all.

Sometimes Freddy had a vivid imagination.

“You have an interesting group of friends.” Connor sat on her couch like he owned the place. His left ankle crossed his right knee and he sat back, a glass of Scotch in his hand. The lord of the manor. She could see him as a medieval duke, staring out over his peasants before he chose a pretty servant girl to share his bed.

That was so not a politically correct fantasy. She crossed over to her bar and poured herself a glass of rather potent blueberry wine. It was
organic and local and sometimes she wondered if the FDA shouldn’t step in because more than one glass really got her going.

She poured half a glass. She needed her faculties against him.

Lara turned and joined him in her small living room. She sat across from him on the love seat.

“There’s plenty of room here.” He gestured next to him.

No way. She’d spent the last three hours practically on his lap because there had been no place else to sit. In fact, she could still feel his arms around her. “I’m fine over here. You and Lincoln seem to get along now. I’ve actually never seen him so calm.”

He was sitting on Connor’s feet, his tiny body curled up as he slept. “I figured out what his issue was.”

“What? Do you have some veterinary experience? Because he has a ton of issues. He doesn’t sleep well. He never sleeps for more than an hour or two at a time. I think he has PTSD. Dogs can get that, you know.”

“He was hungry.” Connor’s lips pulled up in a grin and he tipped his Scotch toward her. “Just a hungry mongrel, like the rest of us.”

“He can’t be.” She stared down at him. About halfway through the impromptu gathering, he’d stopped growling. Usually she had to put him in her bedroom, but tonight she’d actually forgotten he was there. Not so great for a pet mother, but Connor had kind of taken over. “I keep his bowl full all the time.”

“Yes, I saw that. What’s vegan dog food besides torturous for the poor animal?”

“It’s a compassionate way for an animal to eat. I try to live my life with as much kindness and compassion as I can, so I put Lincoln on a vegan diet, too.”

“Let me tell you something, princess. Your dog likes burgers.”

Anger flashed through her system. “You fed him meat?”

“The little fucker wouldn’t leave me alone. I gave him a taste just to shut him up but then he whined so I gave him more. Your friend Tom
was a little like the dog. He wouldn’t shut up until I gave him a burger, too. I only got two. I’m actually still hungry.”

She couldn’t believe he’d done that. “He’s my dog. I make the choices for him. You just ruined his diet. He won’t go back.”

He regarded her with all the seriousness of a lazy but hungry lion, as though he was deciding if tearing her up was worth the effort. “He never was there, Lara. He’s a dog. He was born a carnivore. He’ll die one. It’s his nature.”

“He was fine.”

“He was hungry and that made him angry. You say you’re all about compassion, but your dog was hungry.”

She knew some vets who said it could be done. Plenty of animals lived on a vegan diet, though once meat was introduced it was very hard to get them to go back. “You have all the answers, don’t you?”

His face softened, but only slightly. “Not at all, but I do know that trying to change a creature’s nature will only bring heartbreak for you and him. The world isn’t a pretty place, and you can’t change it by feeding your dog a bunch of vegetables.”

“So I shouldn’t try. Yeah, I’ve heard this one before.” There was no point in talking to her bodyguard. They wouldn’t be friends. She knew his type. He probably thought she was stupid and naive, that she caused more problems than she solved. Whatever. He wouldn’t fit in her world and she didn’t want to fit into his. “I’m going to work for a while.”

She headed for her office. Until this guy was caught, she would spend as little time around Connor as possible. The last thing she needed in her life was another man who thought she was an idiot. Even though her dad loved her, he didn’t understand, either. No one seemed to.

Connor caught her hand as she started past the couch. He fixed his stare on her. “They all liked you. That whole group of people. They were each different, but they got together because they like you. What do you do for them?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I share meals with some of them. I
watch Barb’s kids from time to time. I help some of the college kids with their essays. I’m really good at that.”

He let go of her hand and nodded as though satisfied. “So they use you. That’s why they were here. They wanted to make sure you didn’t get hurt so they could continue to use you.”

What the hell had happened to him? “No, I’m a part of their community. Our friendships aren’t one-sided. Those same old women whose prescriptions I pick up taught me how to knit. And Barb always checks in on me. She sometimes does my laundry when I’m too busy. The college kids helped me get my furniture in this unit. We help each other.”

“Sure. You go on believing that.” He turned back to his Scotch.

“I might be naive, but you’re cynical.”

“Like I said, you can’t change a creature’s nature. I’m going to need all their names. I have to run checks on everyone who was here.”

“Why?”

“To see if any of them might have a reason to kill you.”

“Yes, because my eighty-year-old neighbors own a motorcycle and a revolver.”

“It was a semiautomatic,” he corrected. “I didn’t get a good enough look to know the model. And just because they can’t physically do the deed themselves doesn’t mean they didn’t pay someone else to do it. People always have their secrets. So get me a list of names.”

And he would start trying to dig up dirt on them. “I won’t do it.”

“Lara, we can’t have an adversarial relationship between us. I’m not the bad guy here.” He reached down and picked up Lincoln, settling him on the couch so he could turn more fully toward her. In the evening shadows, the planes of his face looked even harsher, starker. It did nothing but enhance his attractiveness. “I am sorry about Lincoln, but I think you’re wrong. All dogs are different. Some might be able to handle a vegan diet. I don’t think he could. If what you’re telling me is correct and he’s had all these issues since he’s been here, they’re probably dietary. Meat is easier to digest than grains, which gives him
issues. So how far does your compassion go? Will you try it again and put him through this? Or will you feed him what he needs? Or does he no longer meet your requirements as a pet because he can’t follow your cruelty-free lifestyle?”

“So now I’m a vicious radical?” She hated the fact that she was tearing up in front of him. “I only care about the people who meet my exacting standards? Make up your mind about me, Connor. In the course of a single day I’ve been a one-percenter who didn’t care about poor ex-military men, an idiot who isn’t smart enough to stay off Facebook, and now I’m the vegan police, shutting out anyone who doesn’t follow my code. I should really pick a persona.”

She broke away from him.

“I need that list.”

She was sure he couldn’t see her, but she flipped him off anyway.

Her office was blissfully quiet. She went over to her desk and sank into her chair. Her Mac and the massive screen she used were a welcome distraction to the fact that the most interesting and infuriating man she’d ever met was still sitting in her living room, and he wasn’t leaving anytime soon.

Deep breath. Let out all the bad energy.
This was her space. This was where she felt powerful, and she wasn’t going to let Connor’s disdain taint her sanctuary, where she really could help change things.

And damn it, she was going to have to buy Lincoln more dog food. She certainly wasn’t going to let him starve and she wouldn’t give him up. She had plenty of friends who weren’t vegans. Hell, she had gun-toting friends who thought the world was coming to an end. She wasn’t isolated. She got along with everyone.

Everyone except Connor.

She touched the keyboard, bringing the big screen to life. Forty-five e-mails to the Capitol Scandals account. She flipped through them quickly. Some were indictments of her as a human being. Several thanked her for what she did to call for accountability. There were the requisite advertisements. Somehow the Internet thought she was a
married woman looking for a hookup to cheat on her husband, and a man in need of little blue pills to cure sexual dysfunction.

And then there was the ad that popped up in her e-mail.

Farmers’ Market this Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial. Great deals at noon. Don’t miss out! Bring your friends for all the best produce American farmers can offer.

Her breath caught. It was a code. There was no farmer’s market at the Lincoln Memorial; a product would be offered. Information.

Two months earlier, a man who claimed to have information concerning the death of Maddox Crawford had contacted her. He’d given her a name: Natalia Kuilikov. She was still looking for the mystery woman, but she felt as if she was getting closer.

How did all the pieces of the puzzle fit together? Something was going on but she just couldn’t see the big picture yet. She was intrigued because this Kuilikov woman had something to do with Crawford’s death, and Crawford had been friends with the president. The president had a group of friends he’d known since prep school. The Perfect Gentlemen. A few of them were very high profile. Gabe Bond, Maddox Crawford, and Roman Calder were media darlings. She’d heard there were two more but they were in positions that didn’t garner exposure. One, Daxton Spencer, was an active-duty military man. The sixth guy apparently had no name, at least not one she could find. But he was a rumor anyway. Either way, all of the Perfect Gentlemen were ruthlessly protected by both the White House and the nation’s intelligence agencies.

She had to keep digging for information, maybe find out who else had ties to the president.

Find out who he might have hired to murder his wife.

She focused on the words in front of her. They were a code she and the informant had worked out once he’d told her he couldn’t contact her in conventional ways.

The meet site was the Lincoln Memorial. Easy enough to get to. Saturday was five days from now. How was she going to get away from Connor so late at night? Lara shook her head. She had time to solve that problem. From there everything else in the message was opposite.
Noon
really meant midnight.
Bring your friends
meant come alone.

As she pondered ways to ditch Connor for her meet, her Skype pinged. She felt a goofy smile cross her face. Niall. She clicked the icon and his sweet face popped up.

Hey, pretty girl.

Hey! I was just thinking about you.

Did Connor make it okay?

Yes. He seems very competent.

She wasn’t going to go into the whole “she’d almost gotten shot” thing. She had other plans. It was past time to figure out where their relationship was going. Lara started tapping on the keyboard again.

But I was actually thinking about coming out to California for a couple of weeks. How about we get on the phone and talk? Or we could turn on our cameras and see each other for once!

Seeing Niall, getting to feel like he was here, would be a balm after the crappy day she’d had.

A long moment went by and then another one. She stared at the computer, getting more and more anxious. He must have stepped away for a minute.

I don’t think that’s a good idea, Lara.

A nasty feeling began brewing in her gut. He wouldn’t even turn on his camera?
Is it a bad time?

Look, I talked to Connor and he thinks I need to be straight with you. Actually, the fucker told me if I wasn’t he would beat the shit out of me. I guess I didn’t think he would sell me out like that, but there’s Connor for you. I should have known.

Yep. She was a little nauseous. Not in all the weeks they’d been talking had he used a single curse word with her. Not once. Now he sounded like all the other guys.

She sighed.
Just tell me.

It’s nothing and it doesn’t have to change what we have. I want to meet you. I want to be with you, Lara. We’re in synch, you and I. When I get some time off, I’ll come out to D.C. and we can hook up.

But she couldn’t come to California?
What’s nothing? Tell me.

I’m married, but it doesn’t mean anything. I don’t love her. I’m just kind of stuck. But I think about you all the time. You make everything else worthwhile. I’m going to leave her. Meeting you has really given me the courage to walk away. I just need a little time. But that doesn’t mean we need to wait.