CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
For the first time in weeks, when Amelia asked herself what on Earth was happening, the possible answers weren’t terrifying.
No one was trying to kill or arrest her.
She wasn’t talking to spies or big scary bosses.
She was simply going out on a date with a man who could make her hum by just turning his smolder her way.
That wasn’t actually fair.
He could convince her to do anything with those eyes and that mouth, but she had been the one trying to convince him.
She should thank him.
He was leaving as soon as the grumpy Boss Man said so, and she was probably using Camden to distract herself from reality.
She didn’t exactly mind him as a distraction, though.
Her clothing options were limited to what she had packed haphazardly from her condo and the gray sweatpants and oversized T-shirt Camden had let her wear.
“We can’t go anywhere fancy,” she called down the stairs.
“Oh no,” he deadpanned.
“You’re breaking my heart.”
She snort-laughed and tugged on jeans and a sweater.
Her hair had mostly finished drying while Camden kissed her into a million glittery pieces.
She couldn’t do much about its chaos other than to wrangle it into what she hoped passed for a messy bun.
After a quick swipe of lipstick, she headed downstairs.
He waited on the couch, football in hand, sexier than she remembered him being fifteen minutes prior.
How was that possible?
His smile crooked, and she knew the football was about to fly her way.
Amelia caught his easy loft with more confidence than she could have imagined possible.
A lot had changed in a short amount of time.
“Ready?” He grabbed his wallet and the keys off the hook by the door.
It struck her that this was how married couples did date nights.
After all, they lived in the same place.
No one picked up or dropped off.
They didn’t say “Good night” or “Give me a call.” They just went back into their home and repeated the whole thing whenever they wanted to.
On the weekends. On vacations.
After work.
A pang of guilt needled her.
Amelia had been ignoring work.
She’d had plenty of reasons to, but since she was out of prison, she didn’t have the same excuse as before.
“Can I check in with Veronica before we head out?”
He shrugged.
“Of course.”
“I don’t have my phone or laptop. Can I call her from your phone?” The last time she’d called Veronica, it had been to drop a bomb: She’d needed a lawyer in prison and for Veronica to run the business solo while she was out of touch.
They had so much to catch up on, but at the very least, she needed to explain she wasn’t in custody anymore.
Camden held out his phone.
“I’ll be here whenever you’re ready.”
Veronica picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Amelia? Oh my God. How are you? Where are you?”
“I—” She caught herself.
How could she explain the situation with a special operations babysitter and meeting with the CIA?
“Considering everything, I’m fine. What about you?”
“Fine. But who cares how I am? I’ve been so worried about you.”
“Honestly, I’m okay. I’m going to stay offline for a while and wanted to make sure that you’re good with that.” Veronica could handle the business part of Events and Occasions in her sleep, but dropping everything on her without warning hadn’t been fair.
“Of course I am.”
“Everything with work is—”
“Amelia. Who cares about work? I’m worried about you.”
“I’m in the process of straightening everything out.”
“These scary people came and talked to me about you, what you knew, what you and Hailey talked about. I didn’t think they’d ever leave me alone.”
Amelia’s stomach sank.
The CIA had been harassing her and probably everyone she knew.
“I’m sorry. They arrested me and then let me go. Big misunderstanding”— understatement of the century —“but it’s heartbreaking.” Her throat cracked.
“I just want to find Hailey.”
“I know, hon. Anything I can do? Can I drop food off at your place? Run out and get your groceries? Anything at all? I don’t even have to knock on the door.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m not staying there right now.”
“Where are you?”
“Just keeping my head down.”
Veronica hummed.
“Are you sure I can’t do anything for you?”
“No, but call this number if you need me. Okay?” She ended the call and hated how law enforcement was spending more time on Amelia’s social circle than on finding Hailey.
She returned to Camden and handed over the phone.
“Here. Thanks.”
“Everything okay?” His eyes narrowed as though he were trying to read her thoughts.
She didn’t want that.
Amelia had checked in and was ready to ignore her responsibilities once again.
“Work’s fine. I’m not needed. Veronica has everything under control.”
He didn’t look convinced.
“I’m starving, Cam. Can we head out?”
He pocketed his phone and led her into the cool night.
At least it wasn’t raining.
Camden locked the house behind them and scanned the street before leading them on the same path as their breakfast trek had taken.
Her skin prickled as he searched for threats.
“Who are you looking for?”
Camden looked down at her with a shrug.
“No one. Everyone. Habit, I guess.”
She hadn’t noticed that before.
The sidewalks were more crowded as they merged onto Mount Vernon Avenue.
How many of these people worked everyday jobs only to cover up their real work?
How many spied for the United States?
For other countries?
American spies wouldn’t be walking around the US, would they?
Well, Jonathan and Hailey had.
They’d traveled extensively and lived within an easy drive of three airports, two of which were international.
The more Amelia stared at the surrounding crowds on the sidewalk, the more it felt like someone was staring at her as well.
She checked over her shoulder.
Had Camden always checked their surroundings before they left the house?
She hadn’t noticed before.
“Burgers? Barbeque?” he asked.
She inched closer to his side and tried to ignore the lingering feeling that someone was tracking her.
“I have an idea.” Amelia did a quick mental calculation of their location and thought they were roughly two blocks and a straight shot from a great place she’d used for work.
It had limited seating where she could hide and ignore the paranoia that had been creeping up her spine since they stepped outside.
A few minutes later, they were seated on the second floor of a familiar restaurant that touted itself as upscale American.
Amelia had always found their catering menu trendy enough to meet the high expectation of bridal parties but reliable enough to earn high praise from corporate head honchos.
Right then, she appreciated their low lights and tight spaces where she—or better, Camden—could catalog every person who walked in.
Camden sat with his back to the wall.
She almost asked if she could sit next to him so that they could watch their surroundings together.
He scanned the room then scrutinized her.
He saw her as vulnerable and fragile.
She painted on an unbothered face.
“Brussels sprouts with bacon jam. Yum.”
His eyes narrowed.
“That’s not what you were thinking about.”
True, but she knew from experience the entire appetizer section could be devoured without leading him astray and was much better dinner conversation than sharing her new neurosis.
He didn’t look wowed by her Brussels-sprouts suggestion.
She would make a crappy spy.
How was Hailey so good at this?
Amelia doubled down on her interest in the menu.
“Are you more a pork-chop or rib-eye kind of guy?”
“ Amelia .”
“You said I get to ask all the questions I want.”
“Yeah, and I said that before you were jumping at your shadow. What’s up?”
First-date jitters?
Paranoia? Both? “I don’t know,” she muttered under her breath knowing she didn’t get date jitters and had every reason to be paranoid.
He surveilled the room again then turned his full attention her way.
“I’m not going to let anything hurt you. You know that, right?”
What did she know?
He believed he could protect her.
He certainly was trying to keep her heart safe from him in the bedroom.
Out of the bedroom? There probably hadn’t been many times in Camden Brooks’s life when he didn’t get his way.
She also believed she would be dead if anyone else had answered her phone call that terrifying night.
Camden had kept her safe from a thousand miles away.
No doubt he could do that when they were close enough to touch.
“I feel like someone’s watching me.”
He nodded without taking his eyes from her.
“Starting when?”
He was taking her seriously.
That alone made her feel safer.
“Since we reached the main strip.”
Camden glanced over as the waitress returned and smiled at him as though she’d never seen a man before.
He didn’t seem to notice.
If it had been an ordinary first date, that would have been a point in his favor.
Since it was their first date after she tried to pull him into her bed, Amelia didn’t bother with a tally.
She did, however, let a warm flush roll through her as she recalled the way he closed in on her and took her mouth with a mind-melting kiss.
“Ladies first,” Camden told the waitress.
Forced to acknowledge Amelia’s existence, the other woman asked what they wanted.
They quickly ordered the smoked cream cheese with hot honey to start and two rib eyes for dinner.
When they were alone again, Camden cut back to their previous conversation.
“Tell me if you get that feeling again.”
“Do you think I’m crazy?”
The look he gave her might’ve said yes, but he said, “I know the bullshit you’ve been through.” He turned up a hand as though to say he rested his case.
“See something. Say something. Get a weird vibe, read me in on it. Okay?”
She bit her lip and nodded.
That was fair. “I’ve totally screwed up tonight, haven’t I?”
He laughed.
“You kidding me? I would rather hear what your instincts are screaming than whatever preconceived notion you have on date conversations.”
Date made her insides feel gooey.
He really was treating it like a date even after clearly pointing out that he was leaving in the near future and rebuffing her embarrassing advances.
He shrugged. “Besides, I owe you answers. The only thing that needs to happen is your list of questions.”
“Now?”
The corners of his lips quirked.
“Shoot.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Ha.” He snorted.
“Why would I have a girlfriend when I’m here with you?”
“You’ve gotta be a thousand miles away from home.”
“I kissed you,” he pointed out.
Kiss was an understatement.
Nervously, she twisted her fingers.
“What happens on the job stays on the job?”
“Guess I’ve got more to prove to you than I realized. I’m not an asshole.” He tapped his index finger against his water glass.
“Is it hard for you to trust me?”
“No, actually. I don’t know why I asked you that.” She waited as their server returned with their drinks.
Camden thanked her without appearing to notice the ways she batted her eyes at him and ignored Amelia.
Alone again, she asked, “Why don’t you have a girlfriend?”
He chuckled as though she’d asked a better question.
“The easy answer would be I’m too busy, that work doesn’t allow for it. But it’s easy to point out that my teammates are all married.” He lifted his shoulders.
“So that answer doesn’t ring true.” He took a sip of his Manhattan.
“It’s simpler. I’m not the relationship type.”
“ Oh . You’re the love-’em-and-leave-’em type.” But that wasn’t true.
He had clearly warned her against sleeping with him.
“How did I miss that? You don’t seem like a player.”
He rolled his eyes.
“I’m not.”
“Emotionally unavailable?”
“Nope.”
“Immature?”
“Nah. A little impulsive, maybe, but not immature.”
“Hung up on the woman who broke your heart?”
Camden laughed.
“Not that one either.”
“So what’s wrong with you?”
“Guess I’m perfect.” He winked.
“What about you?”
She rolled her eyes but let out a judgmental sigh.
“I’m a workaholic so deep in it that I didn’t realize my sister was a spy.”
“You’re going to have to get over the not knowing.”
She tried not to pout.
“It’s easier said than done.” Amelia chewed the inside of her cheek.
“I’m a little bit of a control freak.” That was why she’d wanted to let go and let Camden take on that burden.
In bed . Heat rose to her cheeks.
She wondered if he knew that.
His index finger tapped against the Manhattan again as though he might have an inkling.
Their appetizer arrived.
She spooned the cheese onto a toasted baguette—the screech of a fire alarm wailed.
Diners gasped. Silverware clattered.
False alarm or a kitchen fire?
A moment of uncertain surprise hung in the dining room as everyone waited for everyone else to make a move.
“Sorry for the interruption—” the restaurant manager called between wailing cries of the fire alarm.
Bright white lights strobed.
He directed the room as though flagging a Boeing 747 into a terminal parking spot.
“—proceed downstairs—” The alarm wailed again.
“—apologize for—”
The diners nearest them stood.
Camden caught Amelia’s arm.
“Hang tight.” He scanned the room.
For the most part, patrons shoved arms into jackets and gathered belongings.
They fell into a single-file line down the stairs.
One man was chugging his beer.
Another shoveled dinner into his mouth.
Most weren’t going to wait for the fire marshal to show up and announce they could proceed back to their soon-to-be cold meals.
Camden bucked the trend and ignored the single-file line.
He moved to the wall by the front of the building and quickly peeked out the window.
A strobe light spun above his head.
Amelia crept to his side.
“What are you looking at?”
“Trouble.”
She glanced at the window closer to her.
Her heart seized. “ Cam .”
Two men were watching the stream of restaurant diners flooding into the cold night.
The roar of approaching first-responder vehicles intermixed with the fire alarm.
Their lights colored the busy street, announcing their arrival moments before they screeched to a halt.
“Excuse me.” The manager hurried over.
“You have to leave.”
Camden took her hand and hustled down the stairs.
He stopped a woman coming from the kitchen as she pulled off a chef’s hat and on a coat over a kitchen uniform.
“Two hundred bucks for your hat and jacket.”
She frowned but immediately took Camden up on the offer when he showed the cash.
“Put it on,” he told Amelia.
“Quick.” He stopped a man wearing the same stained kitchen uniform and made the same offer.
Amelia pulled the white jacket over her clothes.
It smelled of grease and food and had stains splashed on the sleeves.
He did the same.
“Leave your jacket. Tuck your hair up.”
She balled it all under the hat and pulled it as low as it would go.
They stayed close to the last group of kitchen workers and followed them into the back alley.
For as large and tall as Camden was, he managed to disappear into the small group.
Some joked. Others pulled out smokes.
He made conversation with a man in Spanish.
She ducked her chin.
They filtered past two men that stood like sentries searching for a woman on a date.
A fireman poked his head out the door they’d just stepped from.
“Farther back. Farther back, people. Remember the drills from kindergarten.”
The horde of kitchen staff continued past the dumpsters.
Some kept going. Others clumped up.
Soon, they would stand out as impostors among the group.
She glanced at Camden.
Well, maybe not him.
He had become one of the guys.
How could he morph into another person in front of her eyes?
Amelia stood out like a beacon of fear, with her stiff walk and inability to look anywhere but at her feet or Camden.
“Keep walking,” he said as though they’d been chitchatting easily the entire time.
“Not too fast.”
She wanted him to take her hand or to pull her to safety.
“Good. Just like that. Right foot. Left foot.” He strolled by her side as they peeled off from the herd.
“Don’t forget to breathe.”
Her boot-camp yogi was always looking out.
They made it to the corner.
He quickly scanned the street.
“All right. Let’s ditch the kitchen scrubs.”
The scent of grease stayed with her as she handed him the white jacket.
He stuffed them into a garbage can as they walked by, arm in arm, on the strangest first date, if it could even be called a date.
The night had crashed and burned before it even started to get anywhere good.
But she had learned major details on Camden.
Most notably, he was a confirmed bachelor.
She didn’t know why that mattered.
He would return to the Middle East. She would figure out how to kickstart her life again once Hailey was home safe.
Whatever happened with Camden would be a fantastic distraction and would never lead anywhere.
She ducked her face into his strong arm and surreptitiously peeked at their surroundings.
No one stuck out. Nothing out of the ordinary caught her eye—a sedan with tinted windows crept by.
“Chin down, sweetheart.” He’d seen it, too, and pressed his lips to the top of her head as though they were a couple out for a stroll.
“Tuck your face close to me.”
“They’re looking for me.”
“Seems like someone is.”
The cold weather was their friend.
It didn’t look strange as Amelia curled into his body.
At the corner, they turned off the main street.
Without the bright lights from businesses and headlights, they tried to disappear into the shadows along the residential block.
Camden inched apart, pulled his phone out of his pocket, and made a call.
“We’ve got a situation.” Camden explained the fire alarm, the men stationed by the exits, and the cruising vehicle.
“You’ve got my location?” After a long pause, he sighed.
“New safe house. New ride.” He glanced at her.
“I don’t think she should either.” Camden listened as they walked, and she wished the conversation was on speakerphone.
“Got it. Thanks.”
He pocketed the phone.
“You don’t think I should what?”
“Be at your condominium alone.”
Someone was searching for her.
Her stomach churned, and Amelia inched closer to Camden as they ambled down the street.
“Were those people CIA?”
He shook his head.
“If the CIA wanted to speak to you, Beth would set it up. They wouldn’t pull a stunt like that to smoke you out of a building.”
Amelia stopped cold.
“So they were the people who took Hailey?”
“Maybe.”
She turned.
He caught her arm, reading her mind: she wanted to find them.
“What’s your plan?” he asked.
“I don’t have one, but—”
“Where’s your backup?”
She hadn’t thought about that either.
“You.”
The corners of his lips rose.
“I’m supposed to be the impulsive one, sweetheart.”
Amelia tugged her arm.
The possibility of finding Hailey trumped his reasoning.
Camden didn’t let her go.
“Well, then come up with a plan,” she said.
“They’re coming to you. Have any guesses as to why?”
Her first thought had been fear.
Her second thought had been to find Hailey.
Both were knee-jerk reactions.
The why hadn’t crossed her mind once.
“No.”
“You have to have that answer before you go to them.” They paused on a corner.
Camden searched the intersection as though danger lurked between the parked cars and houses.
They crossed the street.
“My guess is that you’re a witness that needs to be eliminated.”
Amelia chewed the inside of her cheek.
“I would have said something if I knew anything.”
They walked for a long moment, each lost in thought.
Finally, he agreed. “You’re right. You’ve been a sitting duck for weeks.”
“We should go back and find them.”
He shook his head and eyed a car that was slowly creeping down the road.
“No, but we do need to get back to a busier street.” Camden reached into his pocket and pressed his phone to his ear.
“Yeah?” He stopped short and checked his watch.
“Sounds good. We’ll be waiting.”
Her eyebrows arched as he ended the call.
“Waiting for who?”
“Colby Winters and a new safe house. We can’t go back to where we were.” He led them up a driveway as the car with tinted windows crept closer.
“Duck down.”
They hid between the front of a car and a trash can.
She shivered. “Are they looking for you also?”
“My gut says no, which means they’re working with an intel deficit.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’ve been with you since I broke you out of prison.” He winked like this was just another day on the job and none of this—the fire alarm and creeping cars—was a big deal.
“I’m easy to see if they knew who to look for.” He thought for a moment.
“They did have a spot-on guess that you were inside the restaurant.”
“Yeah, how’d they do that?”
He rolled his lips together.
“You don’t have a phone, right?”
She shook her head.
“Not since it was confiscated.”
“Maybe they’re running some kind of facial recognition. Though how they matched an image of you walking down the street beats the hell out of me.” He pulled out his cell phone.
Camden’s thumbs tapped out a quick message.
“We’ll worry about that later. First things first: new house. New ride. And I guess I wouldn’t mind new dinner plans.”