“About what?” Tessa asked with all the innocence she could muster. She didn’t care if they knew. But watching them try to pull it out of her was too much fun to short-circuit.
Benjamin wasn’t fooled. “Oh, I don’t know. But maybe you could share with the class how it is that you blazed out of here last night with your shorts in a twist because Rodriguez jerked your chain about Zane dating other women.” He paused to give Zane a reproachful look. “And then Zane insisted that Luke leave you at your place because it turned out he had a key?”
Tessa didn’t respond to the bait.
“And then after you were attacked in your own home, Zane pulled rank and insisted he be the one to stay with you, but after everyone went home, you left him sweating out in the hall for a while.” This time, the censorial gaze was directed at her.
“But eventually you let him in, and when Luke got there this morning, he had to insist that Zane go to the hotel to get some sleep because Zane didn’t want to leave you?”
Although it took a Herculean effort, Tessa refused to let herself look at Zane. She kept her eyes on Benjamin and tried to maintain a placid expression.
“And then you were talking to him when the snakes were discovered, and he burned rubber to get to you. And according to people who were there and saw it with their own eyes, you two were locked in each other’s arms for severalminutes.”
He took a breath. “Then you went straight to the Carmichael estate, but you left there an hour ago, and I hate to have to point this out, kiddies, but it doesn’t take an hour to get back to the office. So inquiring minds want to know exactly what you’ve been up to.”
“What he said,” Luke chimed in when Benjamin stopped talking.
“Ditto.” Gil grinned at her. “Come on, Tessa. Spill. I saw Ivy’s text to you last night. And I know what I saw this morning.” When she didn’t respond, he turned his attention to Zane. “You two are friends. Good friends. But I’ve never once in my life held afriendthe way you held her this morning.”
“I’m not sure what you guys are on about.” Tessa tapped the table. “We have work to do. And the sooner we finish it, the sooner Zane and I can go somewhere where we can make out without an audience.”
Her skin heated as four sets of eyes turned on her in shock right before the room erupted in hoots of laughter.
When the chaos settled, her eyes met Luke’s and the fierce joy she saw nearly overwhelmed her. “About time,” he said. “I’m happy for you both.”
“Thank you. Now that we’re done gossiping like middle schoolers, let’s see if we can get this guest list sorted.”
Of the ninety-two people on the guest list, the Secret Service had detailed information about fifty-seven of them due to their known connection to the president or previous attendance at fundraising events. That left thirty-five individuals they had to create basic profiles for. Twenty-eight of the thirty-five were couples, which would make that part of the process easier.
Tessa assigned all the couples to Benjamin, Luke, and Gil. She kept the seven singles for herself. Zane was busy working on the plan for the arrival of the Beast and going over the route for the motorcade.
They ordered pizzas and worked while they ate. The couples on the list were mostly local families, registered voters with high net worth and a history of supporting the president either financially or in business ventures.
Morris showed up and accepted the offered pizza while he filled them in on Tessa’s assailant. “He’s still alive. He’s also met with his public defender. They did speak, but it was a brief conversation. Of course, since it was privileged communication, we have no idea what they discussed. The public defender is a good guy, but he’s young and inexperienced. With that said, I got the distinct impression that he was not happy about their conversation. I’m tempted to say that Loth scared him, but that’s conjecture on my part.”
Tessa closed her eyes and for a split second was back in her room, his hot breath on her neck, fear flooding her system withadrenaline. Zane’s low “Tess?” was accompanied by his hand on her neck and a gentle squeeze.
She opened her eyes and shot him an appreciative glance. “I wish I could understand how he got in. I realize he had forged Martin’s security cards, but how did he get them?”
“We’re still working on that, but we do have one possible lead,” Morris said around a bite of pizza.
“Do share.” Zane hadn’t moved his hand, and Tessa was fine with that.
“We showed his picture to everyone on staff today, including part-time help. Nothing until the assistant manager said he looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place him.”
“What about Devin?”
“Is Devin the head of security?” Morris asked.
“Yes.”
Morris tore the crust of his pizza in half. “See, that’s where this gets interesting.”
Tessa could almost taste the wild energy burning off Zane, but he didn’t interrupt Morris.
“It turns out that your head of security is on a primitive backpacking trip in Wyoming. Minimal cell coverage but calls his wife every couple of days when he’s in an area with a phone.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Tessa swiveled in her seat. “I’m not much of a hiker, but Gil’s brother-in-law-to-be is into that stuff. He went on a trip to Montana not long ago. He was completely out of pocket for six days. He was with a guy who had a sat phone, but apparently the rule is that you only use it if there’s an emergency.”
