Prologue Recruitment
“I’m coming!” He tightened the towel around his waist, water dripping onto the hardwoods with each step as he hurried down the hall to answer the door.
Not bothering to check who was on the other side, he braced his left hand on the wall and quickly yanked open the door with his right. Momentarily startled, he froze.
“Well, well, well.” Adriana popped her dark brows up and down a few times and flashed him a smile. “What a way to greet a lady.”
Knox huffed out a laugh and secured the towel that was dangerously close to slipping off his hips.
“What the hell are you doing here, girl?” He gathered her into his arms for a tight hug before stepping back to take in the sight of her.
Her shoulder-length brown hair was in a loose ponytail with a few messy strands around her face.
Her long legs were hidden beneath faded denim.
Glow-in-the-dark bright orange Nikes for kicks.
And a fitted black long-sleeved top that hugged the woman in places a friend shouldn’t be thinking about. And now he was, so . . .
“What?” Her cheeks pinked as a smile touched her lips, the kind of smile she wore in her green eyes as well.
“Just looking at you.” He was one not-so-subtle throat clear and towel-tenting moment away from letting her know exactly what was on his mind.
“Checking for damage?” She reached for a familiar-looking black-labeled bottle sitting on the ground next to her shoes.
“Can you blame me? You showing up unexpectedly has me a bit worried.” And that was true, but it didn’t change the fact he was still a single man, and she was a gorgeous woman.
“Are you okay?” he asked when concern zipped up his spine at the realization it was late at night, and she’d driven to his house without a heads-up first.
“I’m more than okay,” she said, and his body relaxed at her answer. “But is this a bad time?” She pressed up on her toes to try and get a look over his shoulder.
“No one else is here,” he told her, knowing what she was thinking. “I just got out of the shower.”
“You do deploy in two days. I wouldn’t blame you for having a few pre-deployment hookups.”
Talking about his sex life with her was a hard limit for him and always had been. “Why the hell are you still standing there?” He stepped aside so she could enter, then closed the door behind her and accepted the bottle she offered. “You came straight here from D.C.?”
“Yeah, I got some news, and I don’t know, I hopped into my car and drove here.” Adriana’s light green eyes whipped from his six-pack to his face. “It’s not fair you get better with age.”
“This takes a lot of work.” He smoothed his free hand over his abs.
“Sure.” She dragged out the word, her lips twitching, then she pointed to his bedroom. “Clothes and then Jack.”
“You invite another brother over?” It was his turn to tease now.
“And share my best friend?”
He squeezed one eye closed and held the bottle up. “Oh, you mean my buddy here.” He pointed to the bottle with a smile. “Yeah, he and I go way back.”
Her shoulders trembled as she fought a laugh. “Maybe Jack was a bad idea. The last time we got drunk on it—”
“We nearly got arrested during Mardi Gras.” New Orleans had been one hell of a trip. Maybe they needed to take another vacation after he rotated back home.
“Not my fault.”
“Yeah, sure, blame Jack.”
“More like you! You almost popped that guy in the face who hit on me, a guy who happened to be an off-duty cop.” She waved her hand in the air. “Will you get dressed already? I can’t handle staring at all that rugged gorgeousness and maintain a straight face.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He handed the bottle back to her and went into his bedroom.
His two-story townhouse wasn’t much. A living room, a galley kitchen, and two bedrooms comprised the actual living space on the first floor.
The entire second floor was dedicated as a game room.
A ping-pong table that doubled as a pool table.
Two old-school pinball machines. And a drop-down movie screen he and his buddies played Xbox on.
He may have earned his nickname, Knox, after Fort Knox Depository because of his rich father, but once he’d joined the Navy, he’d never taken a dime of his old man’s money. Pretty much forgot all about his trust fund, too.
After throwing on a white tee and black sweatpants, he headed back to join Adriana in the living room. “So, you gonna spill the news, or what?”
She kept her eyes on the floor. “I did something, and I don’t want you to freak out.”
And there went his heart. It was about to fly out of his chest. When she started a sentence warning him to remain calm—yeah, he now knew why she brought the whiskey.
Last time he’d suffered heart failure from one of her announcements was two summers ago when she’d alerted him via email she was going to Barbados to swim with sharks.
“And, uh, what exactly did you do?” He took a moment to ground himself. To ensure his feet were planted firm, so he didn’t hit the floor when she leveled him with whatever she was about to say.
“I’m joining the Secret Service.” Her don’t-kill-me smile worked its way to her mouth. “Training starts in Georgia in two weeks.” She held two fists in front of her mouth when her eyes lifted to his.
He took a breath. A long, long breath.
He’d yet to harness the power of speech. He was stuck somewhere between a Hell, no and Congrats!
As much as he hated sharks—even though swimming in the ocean was a requisite for his profession—he’d take them and Barbados over the news she’d be in danger on a regular damn basis.
Knox held one finger between them. “Last time I checked it wasn’t April first. You’re not playing me right now?”
“No.” Her hands crashed to her sides as the disappointment of his reaction tossed a shadow over her face.
“This is unexpected.” He pressed both palms to his face and pulled them down. “Why?” A three-letter word he knew she wouldn’t want to hear, but how could he not ask the question? She’d never mentioned the Secret Service before tonight.
Cop? Yes.
After finishing undergrad at Georgetown, she had an offer to attend grad school at GW. She had come to him torn. Her desire to join the police academy, despite her father’s protests, had yet to disappear.
She’d wanted Knox’s advice, but he’d known he wouldn’t be the best person to give it because he’d choose grad school to keep her safe. He’d side with her father out of fear.
So, he’d told her it was her decision to make, and when she chose George Washington, he remembered how to breathe again.
Apparently, the need to serve and protect had only grown stronger over the years.
But she knew what politicians, people like his father, were made of—nothing good as far as he was concerned. She’d seen the results of their hypocrisy. Why, then, would she willingly put her life on the line to protect them?
Her shoulders slumped. “You don’t look happy.”
“Shit, it’s not that.” He had to sit. Time had slowed to the point he was sure he could actually feel the rotation of the earth. “But why? You haven’t—”
“Charlie.” She was deploying her soft tone, hitting him where it’d hurt.
She was also the only one who called him by his given name. A reminder he was still the son of a senator. Charlie was the name of the man he’d left behind. A man he’d prefer not to be anymore.
Once on the leather couch, his gaze pinned to his hands—hands that, as far as his family had been concerned, were supposed to belong to a doctor.
“I didn’t expect you to take it so badly.” Her voice was soft, gentle as she eased herself down to sit next to him. He veered his focus to her face and swallowed a groan. She was using her damn puppy dog eyes.
He’d be putty in her hands now.
“I get why you’re not a fan. You hate politicians. But maybe I’ll get assigned to the investigations division.”
He grunted. “You didn’t join to sit behind a desk and find money launderers. No, you’ll want to be on the front lines of the action.” He swiped his hand over his closely shaved head but kept his gaze steady on her beautiful lighter-than-light emerald green eyes.
She was still dodging the hell out of his question, and there had to be a reason for it.
“Be happy for me, please.”
“I already worry about you. If anything happened to you, I’d never survive that.” He attempted to hide the break in his voice.
He was going to J-Bad in two days. How would he focus knowing she was joining the Secret Service?
“Uh, need I remind you what your own job entails? Don’t be a hypocrite, okay?”
“You teach criminal justice. It’s—”
“Safer, I know.”
She’d landed a professor job at George Washington after getting her doctorate there only two years ago. None of this made sense.
But trying to convince her not to put herself in the line of fire when he lived and breathed that life every day? Kettle calling the pot black. Or whatever the hell that saying was.
He needed that Jack. He rose and went to the bar and poured two glasses. Before he considered facing her, he drained his glass and refilled it.
“I was going through some boxes in the attic at my dad’s place a few months back, and I found a journal of my mom’s.”
He knew what was coming, and maybe he should’ve known sooner.
“Mom applied to be in the Secret Service before I was born.” Her words were light. Like she was worried her voice would break if she spoke in a normal tone. “She got accepted but then found out she was pregnant, and so she stayed on the police force.”
His stomach plummeted to the depths of the deepest ocean.
His mind catapulted him back to October of 2000. The night he met the most amazing girl in the world. The night that girl’s mother died.
At the feel of her hand on his back, his muscles snapped together.
He slowly faced her with both drinks in hand, and every painful emotion layered atop him brick by brick as he stared at the incredible woman that girl had become.
Her lashes lowered, and a touch of crimson flowed up her graceful neck and tinted her cheeks.