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He let go of my hand and pulled away from the curb. “Think about it overnight. If you decide to move forward, you’ll follow the instructions on the note tomorrow, and we’ll see where this leads. Once you pass that test, I expect you’ll get more instructions.”
It sounded simple enough to start with. “Okay.”
This was a decision I’d have to make on my own. One word to my family, and Daddy would choose for me.
“You need to explain how this protection is going to work,” I said. “Are you driving me to work and stuff?”
He looked over briefly. “It’s simple, and it’s complicated. Your Smithsonian building is well secured, so while you’re at work during the day, you’ll be safe. Outside of work, it’s my job to keep you safe.”
“What are you going to do? Shadow me everywhere?”
“Pretty much. Yolanda’s out of town, right?” Somehow he knew my housemate had left on Saturday.
“How do you know about her?”
“We do our research, and her itinerary is on her Facebook page.”
“Oh.” That made sense. Yolanda was always oversharing.
“And you don’t have a boyfriend right now, do you?”
“That’s pretty personal.”
“Do you?”
Since he’d checked out my SuperSingles profile, I was pretty sure he knew the answer. “No. Not right now.”
“Good. Then I won’t have to shoot him to win your affections. I’m your new boyfriend.”
I pulled back. “Nobody’s going to believe that.”BoyfriendandCartwrightwere two things that didn’t go together in my world.
“I need to be around you all the time, so we need to make them believe it. Everybody needs to believe it.”
This just got a whole lot more complicated.
My new fake boyfriend reached over and took my hand. After a few blocks, we hit a red light. He looked over. “I had a very nice time with you tonight. I think you’re an incredible lady.”
I couldn’t tell if this was him getting into character or being serious. I decided he was acting, and responded accordingly. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
He smiled. “Think hard about whether you’re prepared for this. You have until the end of work tomorrow. After that, changing your mind is a problem.”
The blocks went by quickly, and he stopped in front of my house.
He pulled a business card out of his pocket after setting the parking brake.
The card readAdam Carterand looked to be an official State Department business card.
“My cover job, if you need to explain to anybody. And if you have any concerns at all during work, use that cell number and call me right away.” He shocked me by snaking a hand behind my neck and pulling me to him. “The other part of my cover.” He leaned over and kissed me quickly on the lips before letting me go. “Call me tomorrow.”
The tingle on my lips disoriented me for a moment. I grasped the card tightly as I opened the door and climbed out. “I will.”
I had a long night of thinking ahead of me.
* * *
Adam
I arrived backat my place, dog tired and ready for my first real night of sleep in a week—one I planned on taking advantage of. I poured a glass of scotch, which I wouldn’t need to fall asleep, but just because I felt like it.
