Chapter Nine
Amanda wandered to the closest skybridge and crossed into tower one, then took the freight elevator to the fifth floor. She figured no one from Titan would be on that floor. After all, one day, it would serve guests who didn’t need armored safehouse suites or SCIF-level conference rooms.
From there, she used a back stairwell and slipped out of the building, checked her surroundings, and eased into the steady stream of foot traffic, keeping a vigilant eye out for problems.
Two city blocks later, she took an easygoing breath and ducked down an alleyway between two imposing skyscrapers. She swiped a pass and let herself into the hotel she called home.
Amanda entered and moved through the service corridor until she could access the hotel’s marbled lobby.
Cool, jasmine-scented air conditioning met her as she walked toward the elevators.
The hotel catered to traveling mid-level businesspeople and families on vacation.
It offered luxury without the type of clientele that would increase its security risk.
Once behind her hotel room door, she fastened the deadbolt and leaned against the wall. The day caught up with her at once, and Amanda slid to her bottom. Her focus softened until her eyes slipped shut, completely exhausted.
Still, as tired as she was, her thoughts slipped back to the mystery man and his brilliant eyes.
The way he had watched her and whispered and made her feel alive.
They’d been so close. So inappropriate. Amanda shivered, then shook her head like it had been a dream she needed to forget.
But the man stayed in her thoughts, turning her insides to jelly.
She recalled his raw, masculine power and the way he’d towered over her with the hint of a devilish grin.
Her stomach flipped, and just that quickly, she recoiled at the memories from the last time she’d let her guard down.
Amanda slapped her hands over her face. “Don’t be stupid again. ”
The rules were there for a reason. Amanda pulled herself off the floor, searching for a distraction when her cell phone rang.
Small miracle. She placed her tablet on the entryway table, then removed her gun and the concealed carry holster from under her shirt, wondering if the man had known what was wrapped around her abdomen.
Like athletic wear that packed heat, it held her cell phone and hid her scars. She didn’t leave home without it.
Amanda checked the incoming call, and the distraction she’d been searching for waited for her to answer. She answered the call from her office. “This is perfect timing.”
“What’s wrong?” Halle asked.
“Nothing.” The tight answer would do little to convince Halle to move on. Amanda inhaled slowly and let it out as she stared out the window and took in Abu Dhabi’s surreal sunset. “I haven’t had dinner yet.”
“Hangry…” Halle seemed to accept the explanation.
“Hang on a second.” She popped her Bluetooth earbuds in, then headed into the kitchenette. “Can you hear me?”
“Yeah—but you still sound off. Are you sure everything’s okay?”
Amanda and Halle spent more time discussing projects than anything else.
Relationships never came up. Halle was in a long-distance relationship that seemed about as exciting as watching concrete set.
Shoptalk was their safe zone and the basis of their friendship, just as schoolwork had been when they attended college. “Jared was testy over the punch list.”
“That man scares me.” Halle laughed.
“Harmless as a puppy.” Amanda grinned. “Unless you tell him I said that.” She opened the small refrigerator and perused her options for making a quick meal, deciding on pasta leftovers.
She tossed it with butter and Parmesan cheese, then popped the bowl into the microwave. “What’s new at the office?”
Halle groaned. “Shah argued with his computer all day and drove me crazy.”
“So nothing new.” The microwave beeped. She removed the dish and topped it with butter and cheese.
Not a very exciting meal—but it was safer than Majboos with the mystery man.
Her stomach fluttered. Had anyone asked her on a date like that before?
No. A slow smile built that left her grinning and daydreaming.
He’d been earnest and funny—laughing had made her like him all the more.
“Amanda?” Halle called. “Are you there?”
She pressed a hand to her throat. Her pulse jumped hurdles against her touch. “Sorry. Yeah, I’m here.”
Halle explained that they’d won a competitive proposal.
Amanda lowered herself onto a barstool and ate as she listened.
A bank wanted a new security system. A famous horse breeder needed to upgrade a surveillance system that monitored rolling bluegrass pastures.
Most of their jobs weren’t megaprojects like Titan Group’s hotel.
Even with a Rolodex of interesting clients, Amanda had never interacted with anyone outside the contract’s stipulation. Did that make her world small and sad?
She finished her dinner, questioning what the man had asked of her versus what she’d always believed. Her world was as safe as the rest of the world as long as she stayed away.
Halle finished, and they ended the call. The walls seemed to squeeze closer, and the beautiful hanging tapestries dulled. Living in a hotel room had never felt lonely before. Amanda was anonymous and hidden away. Except, right now, somber loneliness numbed her outlook.
She pulled her earbuds free and tossed them onto the counter.
They skittered over the granite. One plopped into the sink, splashing into a glass of water as her cell phone rang again.
“Shoot.” She fished the bud out, then grabbed her phone with a wet, soapy hand.
The caller ID read White House Switchboard.
Thank God. Amanda answered on the fourth ring. “Mom?”
“Hi, sweet pea. Good time?”
“Sure.” She wiped her hand on her pants.
“But can you give me a sec?” She reached into a cabinet but dropped the phone.
“Sorry, Mom! Hang on.” Amanda wanted to save her pricey earbud and grabbed a box of boil-in-a-bag rice.
Did it matter if the rice had been parboiled?
Without another option, she tore it open over a bowl.
Rice spilled everywhere but where it was supposed to go.
“One more second,” she shouted toward the floor, then swiped enough rice into the bowl to cover her earbud.
Unsure if that’d work, she slumped, then remembered her mom and picked up the phone. “Sorry, I dropped you.”
Her mother had been humming as she waited. “Must’ve been a long fall.”
“Ha, ha, ha.” Amanda swept rogue pieces of rice into the sink. “I bought new earbuds and then dropped one into a cup of water.”
“Why would you do that?”
She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t mean to.”
Mom hummed again but sounded like she was wondering about life’s meaning.
“What, Mom?”
“You’re usually so…careful.”
“It was an accident.”
“I gathered that,” Mom said. “Is everything okay?”
“Why do people keep asking me that—never mind.” Amanda pinched the bridge of her nose. “I put it in rice. Maybe that will dry it out.”
“Submerged electronics never come back from the dead.”
“Don’t use your professor voice on me.” Amanda thumped her head against the wall that separated the kitchenette from the foyer. “I can’t handle it tonight.”
“What’s wrong?”
If Amanda could’ve told her teenage self how close she’d grow to her parents, she’d have passed out. Funny how that had changed, and she hadn’t realized it until now. “Jared Westin wants me to make a friend.”
“Oh, the horror. That cruel, cruel man does such mean things to you.”
“Mom.”
“Halle’s a friend who has never left your side, and, not for nothing, your dad was my friend before he swept me off my feet and into bed.”
“Can we avoid that visual, please?”
“Jared will always have your best interest at heart. Give him a chance and try.”
“I think that maybe, I sorta tried.” Amanda squeezed her eyes shut and thumped her forehead against the wall again. “It didn’t go well.”
“Nothing’s ever perfect the first time.”
“It was a guy.” She waited, unsure if her mom hadn’t heard her or if she’d shocked the woman into an early grave. “Mom?”
“I’m here, honey.” She faltered. “I think that’s great news, and when a guy’s involved, nothing ever goes exactly the way we hope. No matter what rules or contracts or—”
“I kicked him between the legs.”
“Oh…was he pressuring you to—”
“No!” Oh God. Maybe she shouldn’t have broached this landmine over the phone. “We were…” She gestured for a mom-appropriate description that wouldn’t trigger a conversation about hormones and nuclear reactions. “Talking. I just freaked out and kneed him in the ’nads.”
“The ’nads,” Mom repeated.
“Do you know how much The Washington Daily would pay to hear the First Lady say that?” Amanda muttered.
“At least I know you were listening when I taught you the proper names for body parts.” Mom laughed. “But honey, it’s gonads.”
“Okay!” She blushed. “Thanks for the reminder.”
The laughter over the phone line quieted. “Will you see this gentleman again?”
“What? No!”
Mom hummed. “You can’t go on a second date if you never see him for a first.”
“I can’t.”
“You can do whatever you’re ready for,” Mom said. “Just remember that one day I would like grandchildren.”
Amanda rolled her eyes. “It has nothing to do with what I’m ready for or what I want. It’s—you know this—I can’t.” The back of her throat ached. “It’s not safe for anyone.” She bit her lip. “Can we forget I brought it up?”
Mom sighed, then yielded. “All right. A conversation for another day.”
She played with the bowl of rice, swishing it over the earbud. “Thanks.”
“Other than torturing you, how’s Jared doing?”
Amanda half-laughed. “Oh, ya know. Snarling and growling his way through the day.”
“Sounds like he’s doing well.”
She grinned and nodded. “The project is coming along nicely.”
“Terrific. You know, your dad wants to visit.”
“Please don’t.” Her parents’ annoying habit of surprise visits always occurred at the worst moments. What if they’d waltzed into the stairwell with Jared? She’d have died on the spot. “I’ll come home and visit soon.”
“He wants to see your work,” Mom added.
Amanda rolled her eyes. “No, he wants to play with Titan’s toys.”
“That, too—honey, I need to take this call.”
The call ended, leaving her alone in the luxury suite.
She turned toward her makeshift workstation that overlooked the city, but her work didn’t lure her from the kitchenette.
Amanda shook the bowl and uncovered her earbud.
She tried to connect the Bluetooth to her phone, then tossed it aside. “I won’t be able to save my earbud.”
The empty room felt smaller than before.
Her thoughts drifted to the mystery man again.
She couldn’t stay here, stewing in her companionless night like this hadn’t been a decision she’d made.
Amanda grabbed a headscarf and a handgun, found her swipe card, and shoved it in with her cell phone.
She’d replace her earbuds and be surrounded by strangers.
Much better than sitting alone, wondering what might’ve been if she were someone else. At least tonight she could pretend.