Campaign of Desire (CSA Case Files 4) (8 page)

“I’m right here,” Kimmie called out, swirling her water bottle in the air. She walked around the other side of the kitchen, behind Lach, and finally settled herself onto the couch. “I told Ethan that I didn’t mind him tagging along behind me, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to knock on my sister’s door. Or my family’s home, for that matter.”

“To make things easier, why doesn’t Kimmie spend the night here and we’ll talk things through?” Phoebe ignored Kimmie’s dirty look as she went about soothing Ethan’s ruffled feathers. “We do appreciate what you’ve been hired to do and we’ll do everything we can to make things more convenient for everyone.”

“Kimmie, I’ll be back at zero six hundred tomorrow morning to introduce you to your first-shift guard.” Ethan shared a private look with Lach that was hard for Phoebe to decipher. “I’ll also need your schedule if it differs from the class calendar I already have.”

“I’ll print one out.” Phoebe could see Kimmie’s growing regret at having caused such a ruckus and she exhaled a sigh. She always reacted before thinking things through. “Ethan, I really don’t mind having guards, but the moment it interferes with me being who I am or with my family, I get pissy.”

Ethan nodded but remained silent, apparently not willing to forgive quite so easily. He then turned back toward the front door. Lach didn’t follow, but instead waited for the door to click shut behind his co-worker. Phoebe waited to see what Lach would say or do, her nerves stretched a little thin. They hadn’t spoken about their past or resolved their immediate future. She caught the slight move of his head, indicating that he wanted her to follow him into the entryway. He disappeared from view as he walked around the divider and into the foyer. She made sure that she stopped a foot away from him, but he stepped forward until their bodies were inches from each other and she was forced to look up at him. She swallowed hard but did her best to ensure he didn’t see how much he affected her.

“Zero six hundred. When Ethan and Kimmie leave, we’ll have our discussion.” Lach stepped around her and reached for the doorknob before looking over his shoulder. “You have a travel trunk inside your closet. Large enough for somebody to hide in, but it was locked. Keep it that way.”

Phoebe felt a flush start low and work its way up, but she steadfastly remained silent and gave a nod of agreement. She knew he brought it up due to security reasons and he had no idea what she kept inside, but it didn’t stop the mortification that had it not been locked he would have known her secret. He walked out the door without another word.

“He’s definitely hot,” Kimmie exclaimed from way over where she still sat on the couch. Phoebe finally took in some much needed oxygen and turned on her heels before joining her sister. She was fanning herself. “You failed to mention that when you came back from Iraq.”

“Would you please stop giving Ethan such a hard time?”

Phoebe kicked off her uncomfortable Prada shoes and felt immediate relief. She looked longingly into the kitchen where her wine still remained in the bottle on the cool granite counter. A little alcohol would definitely take the edge off that Lach seemed to continually have her on. How would she get through the upcoming months with him at her side?

“I wasn’t talking about Ethan, although he’s definitely got some sexy going on. Did you see that dimple?”

“Dimple?” Phoebe noticed that the man hadn’t cracked a smile, so no—she hadn’t seen any such thing on Ethan. It didn’t help that Lach had this magnetism about him, as if he had his own planetary pull that kept her attention focused on him like gravity. She needed to depolarize him. “I didn’t notice, but he’s a little old for you, isn’t he? Dad mentioned he was around my age.”

“Old? I’m in my mid-twenties, so I’d hardly classify him as being outside my window. Anyway, he seems fascinated by this woman named Fallon, not that he would admit it. I think she works for the FBI or something.” Kimmie sat cross-legged on the couch, a bundle of perpetual energy that Phoebe was in awe of. “He got a text from her while I was talking to some classmates. Our teacher got food poisoning and cancelled class at the last minute.”

“You are just a wealth of information.” Phoebe finally got enough oomph to get up from the couch to pour herself a glass of wine. She went about trying to remember what she’d done with the wine knife as she pulled a fresh glass from the rack. She didn’t bother to offer any to Kimmie. Her sister wasn’t much of a drinker and she preferred her vile tasting carbonated waters to the sophisticated taste of wine. “Ethan just happened to volunteer this information?”

“Let’s just say I read between the lines.”

“You mean you read the text over his shoulder,” Phoebe corrected, knowing how Kimmie operated. Ethan would be pulling his hair out by the time his detail ended. “He’ll never look at his phone with you around again.”

“He said something similar, if I remember correctly.” Kimmie made a face and then pulled her brown hair over her shoulder, playing with the strands. Her eyes zeroed in and Phoebe knew her luck had run out. Seconds ticked by and she used the time to pick up her glass and swirl the red velvet liquid gently as she walked back to the chair she’d been sitting in. She hadn’t yet leaned back when the declaration came at her like a bullet fresh out of the barrel. “Oh my god, you slept with Lach McKinnon. That’s why you’re avoiding talking about him. Holy shit. Spill it all.”

“There’s nothing to spill,” Phoebe answered, taking more of a gulp than a sip of the red nectar. She even closed her eyes as the taste of the wine spread throughout her mouth, warming her throat as she swallowed and calming her nerves. She let the seconds tick by until she knew Kimmie wouldn’t be able to take the silence anymore. “We had a brief moment of
L’extase
and then it was back to our own lives.”

Phoebe finally looked at Kimmie, a full smile blossoming on her face. Kimmie had always been the romantic one, the one who believed in happily ever after. Phoebe had done her best to shield her sister from harsh realities after their mother had passed away, but maybe she hadn’t done Kimmie any favors. Maybe now was the time to share the unpleasant actuality that just because a man had looks didn’t mean they had tact.

“Actually, the truth of the matter is that after we slept together, he had no interest in me. It happens. Spontaneity got the best of both of us and when reality returned, he made it clear it was a one-time thing. Don’t go reading something into it that’s not there and whatever you do don’t tell Dad.”

Kimmie choked on her water, and while she screwed the cap back on the bottle and got her coughing under control, Phoebe continued to sip her wine. Sharing the details was like a weight being lifted off of her shoulders. Yes, she had friends, but her closest confidant was and always would be her sister.

“Run? Lach doesn’t strike me as the type to cat around,” Kimmie said, after having cleared her throat multiple times. “He’s…well, he’s such a man. Did you see the size of his hands?”

Phoebe swore she could still feel his touch and she was in total agreement with Kimmie’s statement. Lach was definitely all male, but that didn’t make him any less of an ass. His comment
it is what it is
had made her want to throw him out of that hotel window. Instead, she’d put on her public persona and handled it with what grace she could manage. She had her mother to thank for her calm nature. Unfortunately, Kimmie was a little too young to remember those lessons.

“He didn’t run away like
that
,” Phoebe corrected, twirling the stem of her wineglass. Even though she felt relief sharing this with Kimmie, it was still difficult to admit out loud that Lach hadn’t felt more than just something physical. She’d personally never experienced something so intimate before. “It was more of a change in his manner. He distanced himself immediately and it was obvious he didn’t want to take things farther than a casual encounter.”

“Bad boys never do, although some just play hard to get.” Kimmie tilted her head as if she were studying Phoebe. “You always were too serious. Let me guess. It was you who ended up walking away, but you justify it as he was first because he didn’t say what you wanted him to say.”

“I did what he wanted me to do.” Phoebe didn’t like where Kimmie was headed with this. Nine times out of ten her sister always took her side. “Trust me, there weren’t that many words exchanged. We dressed and then went straight to the airport. This afternoon was the first time we’d seen each other after we arrived back to the States.”

“Oh man,” Kimmie said, shaking her head in regret, “if I’d known all of this beforehand, I wouldn’t have missed that meeting today for anything.”

“You didn’t miss much. I tried to talk some sense into Dad, but as usual it was like talking to a totem pole. I waited until we were done and then told Lach that we needed to discuss some ground rules.”

“Like what?” Kimmie leaned forward and set her bottle of water on the coffee table, not bothering with a coaster. Phoebe sighed, knowing she’d have to wipe the ring off of the wood in the morning if she didn’t get one. Right now, she was getting sleepy from the wine and a little depressed with how things had gone today. Regardless, she reached over the side of her chair and retrieved a thirsty stone, tossing it to her sister. Nothing had been resolved. “There really doesn’t seem to be a lot to say, Phoebe. It happened, it’s over, now move on. Let Lach do his job. Unless you’re still hoping for more?”

“It’s not that simple.” Phoebe frowned and took another sip of wine. She tried to explain the situation again. “Lach runs hot and cold. Do you know what he said to me in Africa? He told me that I was a spoiled little rich girl. And then when he showed up in Iraq, he kissed me, which led into us having sex. Afterwards, he acted like it was an everyday occurrence and—”

“
You
are still attracted to him,” Kimmie said, interrupting with a smile on her face. “You want to lay down rules so that you don’t go falling into his bed the minute he smiles. Speaking of which, did you notice that none of the men seem to smile? Ethan did once, but that was only because Fallon texted him.”

Phoebe downed the rest of her wine, knowing full well she wasn’t going to get Kimmie to understand the predicament she was in. Having Lach around as a reminder that she wasn’t good enough for anything more than casual sex wasn’t conducive to a good working relationship. Technically, it was the first time that she’d been the one placed in that position and she found that she didn’t like being dismissed. It was usually she who had to set limits, due to who she was or, more to the point, who her father was. Being with a U.S. Senator’s daughter came in handy for those men who aspired for a political career and needed a social ally. Kimmie had spent the majority of her adult life on campus, so she hadn’t yet experienced what Phoebe had.

“Kimmie, guidelines have to be made and implemented.” Phoebe stood and then walked to the kitchen to place her wine glass in the sink. “Lach made his position clearly known, as have I. He’s being paid to make sure that my safety is ensured and I’m to represent the family for Dad’s campaign. Neither one of us can afford for things to get sticky.”

“If there’s nothing between the two of you as you claim, then why do you two have to state it verbally? It seems to me that it’s you who doesn’t want it to be officially over.”

Kimmie was facing the kitchen, resting her head on her hand with her elbow placed on the back of the couch. Her eyes shone with so much humor that Phoebe had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from saying something in retaliation. Leave it to her sister to point out the obvious. Phoebe didn’t want to admit out loud that she needed to see Lach’s reaction when she brought up their past tryst. Had it really meant so little to him?

Chapter Seven

L
ach walked into the lobby of Phoebe’s apartment building off Main Street and immediately saw Ethan and two of the sentries that would take over first shift. The security guard for the luxury apartment complex kept shifting his gaze toward them as if he was uncomfortable having armed men roaming the building. Lach had no doubt that Ethan had already spoken to him, as well as the Managing Director of the property management firm. He took his time crossing the marbled foyer, not really looking forward to the conversation he and Phoebe were about to have. She’d made her stance perfectly clear months ago. There really wasn’t any reason to rehash it.