Radclyffe - Oath of Honor

Evyn almost said I call it sexy , but caught herself just in time.

Wes really didn’t know her actions were both charming and unusual,

and that made what might have been annoying in someone else just

plain attractive. “I guess you take the officer-and-a-gentleman thing

seriously.”

“I do.”

“So you don’t just rely on the uniform to turn heads?”

“Never did, really,” Wes answered easily. The glint in Evyn’s

eyes made it hard to resist her good-natured teasing. “I’m not the head-

turning type.”

“Come again?” Evyn stared. Did the woman really not know how

hot she was?

“What?”

“Never mind.” Evyn took a mental step back. Fifteen minutes

alone with Wes and they were already dancing around personal issues

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again. Maybe even flirting. Without her even realizing it. Without

meaning to. Wes slid right through her usual barriers, and she couldn’t

have that. Especially not here, on the job, and especially not with Wes.

“We don’t have much time, so if you know what you want…”

“I’m good to order,” Wes said, visibly drawing back.

Evyn supposed she’d been rude, but better that than familiar. So

what if the cool curtain that fell between them chilled her more than the

miserable weather outside.

They ordered, grabbed a table by the window, and waited for their

number to be called. She started to rise when the server called their

order, but Wes got to her feet.

“I’ll get it. Ketchup on your fries?”

“What else?”

“Vinegar,” Wes said.

“Blasphemy.”

“You should try it.”

Evyn leaned back in her chair and stared up at Wes, who stood

looking down, amusement dancing in her eyes. Every single thing

about her was attractive—the sharp profile, the long tight body, the

devastating mouth. And she was close enough to being on the job to

know what it meant to have no life to speak of—a schedule that changed

at a moment’s notice, travel plans she couldn’t share, colleagues who

knew her better than family. Or maybe who were her family. Wes

Masters might just be the most interesting woman she’d ever met, and

that was a big, big problem. She’d had a very brief and very ill-advised

affair with another agent right after she’d been assigned to DC. They’d

split up when her ex’s ex returned from an assignment overseas and

wasn’t so ex any longer. Unfortunately, Evyn kept running into said ex

on the job. That was painful at first and then just embarrassing. Then

and there she’d decided to keep life simple—a total separation of work

and play. Wes was upsetting her game plan. Add to that the whole

breach in security issue, and the inadvisable became the impossible.

“I’ll stick to the sure thing,” Evyn said. “Ketchup, that is.”

“Okay.” Wes looked at her a second longer before disappearing to

retrieve their food.

“Smooth—really smooth, Daniels.” Evyn shredded her paper

napkin and wondered what the hell Wes had just seen in her eyes.

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“This is kind of scary,” Wes said, pointing to the grease-stained

brown paper bag filled with french fries as she sat down a minute

later.“Never took you for a coward.” Evyn grabbed her double burger

with cheese and bag of fries.

Wes just laughed and carefully tore the bag open. Fat golden fries

spilled out. She plucked one up, dipped it in a little plastic container of

vinegar, and ate it. “Good.”

“Told you,” Evyn said as she plowed through her food. “After

this I’ll take you over to the clinic—it’s in the OEOB.” At Wes’s raised

eyebrow she added, “Old Executive Office Building. You can sort out

your schedule and whatnot today in terms of coverage. Tomorrow,

you’ll report to me at zero eight hundred.”

“All right,” Wes said, carefully rolling up the remains of the paper

bag that had held her fries. “I need to take shifts in the clinic as soon as

possible. I want to see how things work—how the team meshes.”

“I understand. We’ll have at least one away exercise. The rest of

the sims we should be able to do at Beltsville.”

“Come again?”

“Our training center.”

“Gotcha. Assuming the polygraph results are okay.”

Evyn lifted a shoulder. “I doubt there’ll be any problem there. It

had to be done, but you wouldn’t have gotten this far if there was a

question.” She hesitated. “Those things are always tough.”

“It’s okay—I expected it to be intrusive. So I have no secrets

left—I never really had many to begin with.” Wes smiled but there was

a hint of bitterness in her eyes.

Evyn wished Tom hadn’t wanted her there—she didn’t want to

learn about Wes’s life in a windowless room while she was hooked up

to a machine that was set to gauge whether she was lying. She wanted

to hear about Wes’s family and her aspirations and the places she’d

been over dinner and a bottle of wine. She wanted to know more about

her, and there was that big, big problem staring her in the face again.

“Have you been assigned permanent quarters?” Evyn asked,

steering the conversation onto safer ground.

“I don’t know.” Wes flicked the temporary ID she’d gotten at the

gate that morning. “I’m not exactly official yet.”

“We’ll take care of that this afternoon.”

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“Thanks. I appreciate—”

“The sooner we get you settled,” Evyn said, gathering up her trash

and standing, “the sooner we can see how you’ll do in the field.”

“Sure.”

“Let’s get back.”

Evyn turned away from the intensity of Wes’s gaze. She’d have to

learn to look at Wes without wanting to fall into those damn gorgeous

green eyes.

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RADCLY f FE

chapter ten

Cam settled Blair into the crook of her arm and dragged the

sheet over them. Blair’s hair was still damp from the shower,

and she ran her fingers through the loose tangles while Blair traced lazy

circles on her belly. The heat of Blair’s body against her skin stirred the

blood in her depths—again. “This is better than spending time traveling

somewhere for a honeymoon.”

Blair raised her head and rested her chin on Cam’s chest, her

expression grave. “Anytime I get to spend every day with you is a

honeymoon as far as I’m concerned.”

“I know. For me too.” The times they were alone, or as alone as

they could be, with no schedules, no responsibilities, were rare. And

she was about to ruin it.

“Lucinda called this morning just as I was about to go out for my

run.”Blair stiffened, her fingers stilling. “Lucinda never calls unless

there’s a problem.”

“She wants me temporarily assigned to White House security.”

“Secret Service? Replacing Tom?”

“No,” Cam said. “I’ll report directly to Averill Jensen.”

“I know they ramp up the detail when he’s traveling, but there’s

more to this, isn’t there? Something is going on. That’s why you’re

coming with me on the campaign trail.”

Cam pushed up against the pillows so she could look down into

Blair’s face. She wanted Blair to read her eyes, as only Blair could.

“Yes and no.”

Blair slapped Cam’s stomach, a sharp little slap that was part

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annoyance, but still damn sexy. “Don’t use government-speak with me.

Just tell me what’s going on.”

“Lucinda thinks we might have a leak, someplace close to Andrew.

She wants me to find out who it is.”

“She wants you to go undercover because we have a spy?” Blair

pulled away and sat cross-legged facing Cam. She kept her fingertips

resting on Cam’s bare belly. The sheet pooled at her waist. Her breasts

rose firmly on her subtly muscled chest. Her eyes sparked. “Why you?

What she’s asking you to do is dangerous. Are you going to have backup

inside? What if whoever it is finds out you’re—”

“You buy there might be a leak?”

“If Lucinda says there’s a leak, there’s a leak. How close, really?

She must have given you some idea.”

“Close. Military aides, medical staff, security detail. Someone

with intimate knowledge of Andrew’s movements well in advance of

anything even his staffers and the communications department know.”

“I can’t believe it. I know every one of them.” Blair’s face clouded.

“Of course, I knew James Benjamin Harker too, and he stalked me for

years.”

Cam slid her fingers around the back of Blair’s neck and soothed

the tight bands of muscle with long slow caresses. “Hey. Your father is

the most well-protected man in the world. Nothing is going to happen

to him.”

“Every time he steps outside that building, he’s a target. God, even

when he’s inside, he’s a target. Someone tried to fly a plane into the

White House, Cam.”

“I know. And so does everyone whose duty it is to protect him, and

believe me, they’re the best. You know that. He doesn’t go anywhere that

every contingency isn’t prepared for. And in the worst-case scenario, he

has a full medical team standing by. Hell, there’s an operating room on

Air Force One.”

“I know, I know. It’s just—to everyone else in the world he’s

POTUS, the most powerful man in the world. To me, he’s my father.”

Cam pulled Blair down into her arms and kissed her. Blair had

lost her mother when she was a child. Andrew and she had been a team

since then, Blair at his side as he’d risen from the governor’s mansion

to the White House. He was her father, her friend, and her greatest

supporter. “I know, baby. I know.”

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“I’m glad Lucinda has you on this. I know he’ll be even safer. She

needs you there.” Blair gripped Cam’s shoulders and pulled Cam over

on top of her. “But right now, so do I.”

“Ah, Blair,” Cam whispered, “you have me, anytime.

Anywhere.”

Cam kissed Blair’s eyes, her mouth, her throat. Blair was restless

beneath her, her legs clasping the backs of Cam’s thighs, pulling their

bodies tighter, fusing them. Cam slid her hand between their bodies

and caressed Blair’s breasts until her nipples tightened and her breasts

tensed.

“Oh God, Cam,” Blair whispered. “Inside me. I need you.”

“Soon,” Cam whispered, inching down, skating her mouth over

Blair’s breast, kissing her nipple, biting lightly. Blair arched, a small

cry escaping, and Cam’s head pounded. She wanted her, hungered

for her. Blair was the strongest woman she’d ever known, and she let

herself be vulnerable beneath Cam’s hands, beneath her mouth. She

opened herself, gave herself, and Cam had never felt so humbled. She

kissed the center of Blair’s abdomen, moving lower, slowly, covering

every inch of skin with her fingers and her lips.