After they all agreed, Chad stared at the two male operatives. “I’m making Rosie the lead op on this case.”
The urge to stand up and cheer at her first supervisory assignment warred with the heavy burden of leadership that crushed her shoulders. Every decision she made, every order she gave would be witnessed by none other than the owner of Hauberk himself. Someone who had the power to override her anytime he wanted. Someone who had the power to fire her. But why her and not Andy who had more seniority?
“Either of you got a problem with that?” Chad continued.
Andy gave Chad a thumbs up as he winked at Rosie.
Kris shrugged. “Hey, no problemo here, boss. Her ass will be a lot sweeter to kiss than lardbutt’s over there.”
“Check the attitude, Campbell.” Chad unlocked his top drawer and removed another folder and handed Rosie a piece of paper. “I’ve arranged to sublet an apartment in Sam’s building so you can keep an eye on him at night. This is a letter the owner of 1202 faxed over giving us access to his apartment. With that, building security should give you the spare set of keys the owner left with them. There’s also the security code to his place in there so you don’t set it off. Sam’s in suite 1201, you’ll be beside him in 1202-he’ll have to go by you to get to the elevator.”
“Or if someone’s trying to get to him, they’ll have to get past us first.” Rosie nodded her approval.
“Exactly. Kris, I want you to install extra cameras in the main hallway-I’ve already secured permission from building management. Set up a system in your apartment so you can monitor them. You’d better change the codes too. Whoever it was that broke in knew them. Let’s see if we can prevent that from happening again. Can you get everything working before tonight?”
Kris returned to his attention-on-deck stance. She needed to remind him he wasn’t in the navy anymore. “Yes, sir.”
“Andy, John Lake over in IT has configured a laptop so you can monitor the security system in Sam’s apartment. That way you’ll know immediately if he hits the panic button.”
“So John knows about the op?” Andy asked.
“Only that I asked you to keep a personal eye on Sam’s system because of the break-in.”
“But you trust us?” Kris asked.
“I already checked your schedules. None of you could have taken some of those pictures-you were out of D.C. on assignments when at least two of the pictures were taken.”
“Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence, boss.” Okay, maybe Kris remembered he wasn’t in the navy still after all.
“Why don’t you guys head over to Sam’s and get started on those cameras. I’d like to talk to Rosie privately for a few minutes.”
“I’ll grab the laptop from the Nerd Brigade and meet you out in the parking lot, Skippy.” Andy snagged the letter from Rosie as Kris unfurled himself from the chair.
Once they were alone, Chad leaned back in his chair. “I want your team to see if they can find any patterns of when the pictures were taken compared to who might have been off duty. Check the personnel files, see if there’s any reason someone might have a grudge, that type of thing. I’ve cleared your access with Personnel-they think you’re helping me do annual assessments so they shouldn’t hassle you.”
“I hate to think it’s someone inside Hauberk.”
“I’m hoping you’ll be able to rule out that possibility. I’ve also arranged for you to have access to any cases Sam was involved in from the time he started with Hauberk. If you have any questions and Sam or I aren’t available, you can ask Sandy.”
He opened the folder he’d tossed on the desk earlier, and removed a half dozen sheets of paper. “This is Sam’s schedule for the next month.”
Rosie scanned Sam’s appointments. “He’s got a fundraiser tomorrow night, a black tie event at the French embassy Thursday. A speech in Annapolis Friday, an event on Saturday morning, a literacy fundraiser Saturday night.” She flipped the page and tried to stop her jaw from dropping at the number of functions he was attending. “Next week he’s attending a party in Annapolis, a speech over at Explorer’s Hall, three more fundraisers-including ones for the Democrats and the Republicans, something at La Porte Rouge-whatever that is, an exhibition over at the Corcoran, another at the Library of Congress.” Too many people, too many places. Too many opportunities should anyone want to kill him. “I don’t suppose he’d be open to canceling any of these, would he?”
Chad made some weird noise in the back of his throat. When she looked up at him, he picked up a pen and began to doodle. “I, um, I think I can convince him to cancel out on a couple of those functions.” He tossed the pen back in the pot and took another, cleared his throat again. “As for the rest, you can ask, but don’t be surprised if he refuses. Man’s determined not to let someone get the best of him. You know what they say about doctors being the worst patients? Sam’s going to be our worst client.”
“Men,” Rosie muttered under her breath.
“It’s not all ego, Rosie. Sam’s got his reasons for not wanting bodyguards. He’s going to fight having CPOs to his last breath. And I sure as hell don’t want it to get that far. Which means you’ll need to stick to him like glue.”
Chapter Five
The limo pulled into the underground parking lot and past his Jag. A sigh escaped Sam as they cruised past his Harley. The crisp October day would have been perfect to drive his Road King. Instead he was cooped up like a damned dog in the back of the limo that finally stopped near the elevator where Rosie was waiting.
Damn it, why had Chad insisted on Rosie Ramos as his lead CPO? If he’d wanted a woman to accompany him to any upcoming parties or meet ’n greets-the reason Chad had given him-why not McKee or Anderson? Neither of those women got his cock twitching like Rosie did.
The fantasy he’d had of getting her alone in his apartment hadn’t included her wearing a gun and acting in as his personal bodyguard. All right, maybe one had. But, damn it, if a bullet was going to be aimed in his direction, there was no way in hell he wanted the little spitfire throwing herself in its path. He’d rather have her throw herself in his bed. Go down on her knees and unzip his fly… Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
“All clear, Mr. Watson,” Rosie said quietly.
“Of course it is.” Sam ducked his head and clambered out of the limo, then stomped to the elevator. Goddamn it, she’d even acquired a key to the elevator, locking the door open so no one else could use it. He ignored that it was standard operating procedure and lashed out, “You think other people might not need the goddamned elevator?”
“Better than having the door open and somebody shoot you from inside. Besides there are other elevators still available.”
Her voice was so damned reasonable. Placating. Like he was some baby to be soothed out of a tantrum.
Which is exactly how he was behaving but goddamn it, his people were supposed to be protecting others. Not him.
She turned the key and let the door close, pressing the button for the penthouse. The elevator began to rise, a quiet chime announcing each floor they passed. And with each ding, Sam became more and more aware of the delicate smell of apricot shampoo and woman filling the confined area. He closed his eyes, trying not to deliberately inhale great lungfuls of that amazing scent.
As long as she was around him, he’d not sleep. Instead he’d be staring at the ceiling imagining what it would feel like to cup her breasts in his hands, to unzip her pants and nudge aside that blue thong. Imagine going down on her and tasting her honey. When she’d been in the gym doing those stretches, he’d obsessed about some of the positions she could get into while he fucked her. Then in his office while Chad had been briefing her, he’d pictured her stretched out over his desk, her legs hitched over his shoulders. And now she’d be in the next apartment, so damned available.
Damn it!
“Mr. Watson, do you have a problem with me guarding you?”
“Nope.” He couldn’t help that his answer sounded like a growl. He had one helluva a problem and at the
