Chapter Three #2
“I don’t want to alarm her by assigning her a protection detail,” the senator continued, shifting his attention to Ryder and Lachlan.
“She’ll likely refuse one anyway—she has before.
I was hoping Danny could come in as head of security for the gala.
As a childhood friend, he’d have a reason to be close to Isabella, keep an eye on her without her feeling like she’s in danger. ”
Childhood friend.
His past with Bella might be more of a hindrance than a help.
Strickland’s jaw tightened. “I don’t want Isabella to be frightened. This is just a precaution.”
“You want me to lie to her.” Danny didn’t like the sound of that, and judging from Lachlan and Ryder’s expressions, neither did they. It sounded too similar to the clusterfuck Nathan had gotten into with Emily when they first got together.
To say Emily was displeased when she found out was a generous understatement.
The senator had the grace to look embarrassed. “Not lie. I really do want you to handle security for the event. I’m simply asking you to rekindle your friendship with Isabella while you’re in Charlotte. Keep an eye on her until the gala is over.”
“You don’t want me to tell her the whole truth then.”
Strickland sighed. “Isabella prizes stability and being able to control her world. I don’t want anything to dissuade her from keeping her leadership role in the Charlotte fundraiser.
Her mother feels it’s…important for her.
You were her best friend’s older brother. She’ll want to spend time with you.”
“The fundraiser is in two weeks.” Ryder locked eyes with Danny. “I know you’re owed leave. If you don’t want to accept this assignment—” his expression hardened as he glanced at the senator “—I understand. We can assign Tavari or the senator can use another security firm.”
The senator’s hands flattened on the table. “Please, Trip—I’m sorry—Danny.” Danny caught a hint of desperation in the older man’s eyes. “I trust you with my daughter.”
Danny’s stomach twisted in a way that made him grateful he hadn’t eaten breakfast.
You shouldn’t.
He dropped his gaze to his lap.
Graham Strickland had no idea what he was asking.
He should refuse. Bella wouldn’t be happy to see him.
But if he accepted the position, it would give him a chance to apologize to her for what he had done.
Make things right between them.
Then maybe he’d stop remembering their last time together. The hurt swimming in her golden eyes. The way her body had hunched as if he’d punched her in the stomach when he told her that night on the beach had been a huge mistake.
He’d been with plenty of women in the past thirteen years, but none of them lingered in his head the way Bella did.
He lifted his head. Met the senator’s watchful gaze.
“I’ll do it.”
As soon as he uttered those words, Danny bolted from the conference room and left his bosses with the senator to iron out the details of his new assignment. Ryder told him to check in with Nathan and meet Dìleas’s new employee, an expert in cyber security and intel.
He rapped on Nathan’s closed door. “L-T, you in there?”
“Come on in.”
When Danny stepped inside, he found Nathan seated at the round table in the corner of his window office next to another man working on a laptop.
Nathan’s normal attire of T-shirt and jeans had been replaced with navy trousers and a light blue button-down, making him look less like a member of a biker gang and more like a corporate executive.
Albeit one that could use a shave.
“Hey, amigo,” Nathan greeted him. “You’ve spoken with Ryder?”
“Just left him and Lachlan in the conference room with the senator.”
Nathan gestured him forward. “Come meet Ryan.” The big Texan smirked. “We won’t hold it against him that he’s Army.”
He turned to the man seated next to him, dressed in a white button-down shirt and khaki trousers. “Ryan, this is Danny Mayhew, one of my former Team Guys. He’ll be our security lead for Senator Strickland’s gala in Charlotte.”
Nathan’s icy gaze swung back to Danny. “Ryan will be your point of contact for the necessary background checks.”
The new guy carefully levered himself up from his seat and adjusted his balance before offering his hand. “Ryan Holloway.” A trace of a scar peeked out from beneath his neatly trimmed brown beard, but his blue eyes were clear and focused, and his grip strong.
“Caleb will be happy to have another grunt in the company,” Danny said. “You just get out?”
“I’ve been rehabbing.” Ryan lifted his left pant leg to reveal a metal prosthesis. “The tactical vehicle I was in hit an IED.”
Danny grimaced. “Sorry, man.”
Ryan shrugged. “It sucked when it happened, but I like to think of myself as a recalibrated warrior now rather than a wounded one.”
“A recalibrated warrior with a positive attitude and kick-ass computer skills,” Nathan added. “That’s why I hired him.”
“You can thank my physical therapist at Walter Reed.” Ryan’s smile was the same sappy one Danny was used to seeing on the faces of his Dìleas colleagues when they spoke about the women in their lives. “She appreciates you all offering me the job since she’s the reason I wanted to stay in DC.”
Danny gave a mock shudder. “Another one bites the dust.” It was one reason his schedule stayed so full.
He was one of the dwindling number of single guys left in the company, and spending more nights on the road than in his Alexandria apartment had never bothered him.
The place was little more than a crash pad.
Nathan laughed. “Danny’s allergic to love.” He clapped Ryan gently on the shoulder. “We’ll finish getting you up to speed after lunch.”
“Sure thing.” Ryan lifted his hand in a casual salute. “Nice to meet you, Danny. I look forward to working with you.”
“You, too. Welcome aboard.”
When the door shut behind Ryan, Nathan gestured for Danny to sit, then took the chair behind his executive desk. Two large monitors on movable arms sat mounted to the desk’s exterior edge. Off to the side sat a black computer tower that probably rivaled the computers at NASA, knowing Nathan.
Danny’s gaze lingered on the framed photo of Emily and Nathan from their wedding that hung on the wall to Nathan’s left. A smirk tilted his lips. The men in the wedding party had gone on a side quest the morning of the wedding that almost landed them in hot water with the bride.
Good thing they’d made it to the church on time.
Barely.
Nathan scrubbed a hand through his hair, creating spikes.
The muscles in Danny’s shoulders knotted.
“This woman, the senator’s daughter, she was your sister’s friend?” Nathan asked.
“Best friend.”
The one who could make Jaynie laugh. Who crawled into bed and held his sister when the pain and nausea were too much for her. The one Danny had done his damnedest as a teenage boy to protect without her ever knowing.
Until he became the one she needed protection from.
“You sure about this?”
Shit. What did Nathan know?
Or think he knew?
“Yeah, I’m good.”
So, his past had resurfaced. He was a grown-ass man, a former Tier One operator who’d seen and experienced things way worse than the mistakes of a messed-up nineteen-year-old boy.
He forced a grin to lighten the mood. “A hundred bucks says I come back single.”
Hell, even if Bella forgave him, he wasn’t the kind of man she’d want. Her father said she valued control.
And he was the opposite of stable.
Chaos.
Nathan snorted. “That’s too easy. You owe me two hundred bucks if you don’t come back single for all the shit you’ve given the rest of us.”
The fiery ache in Danny’s chest returned.
He widened his grin. “Easy money, L-T. You’re on.”