“Mama, can we go down to the beach now?” Tina said from atop his shoulders. “Toby needs a walk.”
“I’m sure he does, Pepita, but I need you to go and unpack your clothes, especially your PJs. You’ve been bossing people around all day, now it’s time for you to do some work.”
“Mom,” she protested as Camden set her down. “Camden, tell Mom Toby needs a walk.”
Appalled, Elena’s mouth dropped open. “I don’t know where your attitude is coming from, but that’s enough. You will go unpack right now.”
“Mom—”
Elena pointed to the sliding doors. “Not another word.”
Tina shot her a death-ray stare. Then she turned and hugged Camden and motioned for Toby to follow her as she trudged to her room.
Elena covered her face. This was not how she wanted her day to end. “I am so sorry about that.”
Camden took her hand and gently pulled it from her face. “Hey, don’t apologize. She’s had the run of the place all day and now she’s tired and wired. It’s partly my fault. Me and the guys spent the day obeying her every whim.”
He looked down as if he just realized he was still holding her hand and let it go. Elena immediately missed his touch. On impulse, she grabbed his hand and gave it a quick squeeze to let him know she didn’t mind before letting go again.
“It was sweet the way you guys did that, actually. She didn’t have the best male role models in her life for some time, and I can’t imagine better ones.”
To her surprise, Camden took in a sharp breath as if she’d just sucker-punched him. He regained his composure quickly, though he couldn’t hide the trace of pain in his eyes. “Thank you,” he said, and Elena got the impression that there were other words hiding behind those.
“Did I say something?” She took his hand in hers and held it.
Camden’s eyes warmed, the amber in them almost glowing in the last light of day. “You said a very kind thing. And I do thank you.” He raised her hand to his lips and brushed a soft kiss against her knuckles, sending shivers down her arm. “Elena, I don’t want to overstep my bounds here, but I have to tell you, I like spending time with you, and with Tina. Today reminded me how much I’ve missed you. My offer to show you around L.A. still stands. On your terms, of course.”
She was unused to being treated with such gentleness and respect, and by a man she knew firsthand could take down any enemy when he needed to. Elena covered her heart. Her thumb brushed the chain holding Antonio’s wedding ring. He’d been the only other gentle man she’d known in her life, and yet he and Camden were so different from each other in almost every other way. For the first time, she wondered what Antonio would have thought of Camden. She thought he might have liked him once he saw past their differences.
“You know, I would like that. Tina and I can use all the friends we can get.”
She expected to see disappointment in Camden’s eyes at the word ‘friend.’ Instead, he beamed. “Then I look forward to it.” His eyes filled with mischief. “And to a cookie. Dunked in chocolate milk from a coconut.”
Elena laughed. “Okay, that’s my first condition—that you cease and desist with the coconuts.”
Three
Monday morning couldn’t come fast enough for Camden. Now that he’d seen Elena and Tina—with the promise of spending more time with them—he was ready to meet Roger Bennett and assess the man. He was eager to start this job and prove himself to Lachlan. Sure, he liked training the FNGs, but he was ready for some real action. If he could find and stop the foreign agent from corrupting Roger, he’d be doing a service to his country—something he missed from his SEAL days. As far as he was concerned, this was an attack on the nation. He couldn’t afford to fail.
On Sunday, he’d done a deep-dive on the actor-turned-politician and learned a few more things about him. He’d married his college sweetheart and after some infertility issues, they’d had twins, one boy and one girl, now in grade school. Cici Bennett seemed on board with her husband’s aspiring political career. They had no overwhelming debts or unexplained bank account deposits that might indicate either a weak spot to exploit or a bribe paid for a future favor.
“He’s a choir boy,” Camden said to Toby on the drive in to Watchdog, “But there’s got to be something there, don’t, you think?” he added, as if the critter could understand Camden and give sage advice. Instead, the curled-up ball of dog just thumped his tail.
If Camden could find the man’s weak spot—before the bad guys did—he’d know what threats to look for and what countermeasures to take. If they didn’t have dirt on Bennett already they might try to cook some up. Maybe compromise Bennett through an extramarital affair, though by all accounts, his marriage sounded like a happy one. He’d never shown up high or drunk to a set, never made a spectacle of himself in a bar or nightclub, so they’d have a hard time tempting him with cocaine or pills and catching him doing something unsavory under the influence.
While Bennett wasn’t the tip-top of the Hollywood scene—though that was changing, the more he soft-campaigned—he seemed to have plenty of money according to the financial information Jake probably shouldn’t have had access to. He’d even made friends in the tech sector, guys with small start-ups that had gone on to become multi-billion-dollar corporations. He had his pick of big campaign contributors to go with his grass-roots donations.
I’ll just have to judge the man for myself this afternoon. Camden had an appointment to meet Bennett at his house at two, which gave him time for the Monday morning briefing and to check on his FNGs—short for Fucking New Guys. He also needed to think about who to recruit for the rest of his team. He’d know after the brief who might be available. After talking to Bennett to assess his security needs, he’d make his final decisions.
Camden pulled into his spot at Watchdog, parking his black Tahoe in a line with six others just like it. Each bumper, front and back, had a small decal of a stylized watchdog and a number one through ten. Lachlan added the decals after the last Oscars. They’d been hired to guard three actors, which required their entire fleet. Thing was, every other security company was there supporting other celebrities too, and when it came time to escort everybody out after the show, no one could figure out which black Tahoe belonged to which company. Car alarms sounded and headlights flashed as everyone kept hitting their buttons trying to find their own vehicle. The small decals solved that problem for Watchdog at least.
Gladys the receptionist greeted Camden and Toby. The two made their way to the courtyard dominated by two obstacle courses, one for dogs and one for humans. Kyle was busy running two other dogs through their course—Reggie and Fleur. Those two dogs meant that Nashville and Gina were here already.
“Got room for one more?” Camden unsnapped Toby’s leash and he joined the other dogs.
“Sure, no problem.” Without pausing his work with Fleur, Kyle directed Toby into the mix. The Pup didn’t know his way around a celebrity, but he had a knack with the canines.
Back inside, Camden grabbed a coffee and headed for the conference room. The Monday briefs were for upper management only. Camden took a seat next to Jake, who was engrossed in a conversation with Nash about music, so what else was new? Lachlan was punching at his phone like it had just insulted his mother. A cut-down, chewed-up plastic pen missing its cartridge and nib poked out of his mouth. Gina casually leaned against the wall, arms crossed, studying the rest of the group. Camden wasn’t sure if her knees were capable of bending because she almost never sat during a meeting. Her gaze made a circuit of the men, the room, the door, then started over again, endlessly patrolling.
