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After a single knock, the door opened, and Constance entered. “Lucas, Winston said you wanted me?”
“Yes. Constance, this is Serena Benson, a new protection client.”
Constance offered her a hand. “Nice to meet you, Serena.”
They shook hands. “You too.”
“Serena was run off the road in the hills,” Lucas explained.
“Oh, that’s terrible,” Constance replied.
Serena locked onto Lucas. “I will not be hidden away. I will continue my normal schedule and activities without restriction from you or…” She looked my way. “…or anybody.”
Lucas tried to hide his annoyance, but I saw the clench of his jaw. “We will secure your house, and you can continue your normal activities. But this will only work if my team accompanies you when you are out and you follow all their instructions. If they see a threat and think it’s necessary to remove you from a situation, you will not object. Do we understand each other?”
I wished he’d said those words about following instructions when we’d taken on Ariana as a client.
“I understand perfectly.” Serena turned to look at me. She didn’t blink, and her pale-green eyes held a determination I’d rarely seen off the battlefield. Behind the blood and the dirt, she was a strong natural beauty, and I bet she knew it.
For a moment, Freddy’s words came back to me. “You need a strong woman by your side for the long haul.”Serena struck me as that kind of strong. I blinked away the memory, needing to lock down that shit. After what happened with Marilyn, I didn’t want or need a woman long term, strong or not.
Lucas nodded, seeming satisfied that he’d won the round.
“To clarify,” she said. “I work at the EPA on Wilshire. It’s a secure federal building with armed guards, metal detectors, the works. They won’t be able to follow me inside.”
Lucas looked my way.
“I’ll get an office nearby, and you can notify me when you’re leaving the building,” I suggested.
“That’s a good start,” Lucas said. “Constance is technically still a Secret Service consultant. So if we determine we should also be in the building, we can arrange credentials to get her inside.”
I looked over at Constance, surprised. She hadn’t mentioned that consultant tidbit to me.
“I’d rather play that by ear,” Serena said. “I don’t want my coworkers to know. Nobody knows.”
Lucas nodded. “We’ll keep this as discreet as possible.”
Serena eyed my boots. “Outside the office, we may also be going places where your current attire doesn’t fit in.”
“He can adapt,” Lucas quipped.
I smirked. “I can even shower if the occasion requires it.”
Constance bit back her laugh.
Lucas drilled me with his don’t-piss-off-the-client glare. “Should I assume we’ll bill your father?” he asked, turning back to Serena.
Her father must have been a previous client.
“No,” Serena blurted. “This is my business. You aren’t to tell my father anything about this.”
Lucas shifted. “That may be difficult.”
“Not a thing,” Serena emphasized. She straightened in a way that had me noticing her chest, an asset I’d been trying very hard to ignore. She had a surprising amount of spunk. I’d give her that.
Lucas’s jaw ticked. “If you don’t comply with Cobra’s requirements, we’ll withdraw and notify?—”
“I get it,” she said, interrupting what was likely a threat to tell her father.
