Page 42 of Protecting You
“It’s fine.”
The door closed behind them, silencing a low hum of the building that she hadn’t noticed until it was gone. Aside from the occasional rumble of a particularly loud vehicle on the street behind the walls, it was quiet out here. Peaceful. “This is nice.”
“Will you be warm enough?”
“I’ll survive.”
“Good.” He moved deeper into the space, passing the pond filled with bright orange fish swimming in circles around their tiny home. “I wanted us to be like kids in the fifties.” She was still trying to figure out what he meant, when he added, “You know, seen but not heard.” He stopped near a loveseat in front of the lobby windows. “This okay?”
She sat, her back to the glass.
He settled beside her—a little too close. She started to get up and move to an adjacent chair, but he gripped her hand, holding her in place. “We’re in love, Paris. Don’t leave me.”
“Ghazi isn’t even here yet.”
“How do you know?”
Oh. Right.
For all they knew, he’d sent men to stake the place out, which explained the elevator dance and the food she certainly didn’t need.
He set the coffee cups on the table, sliding one in front of her, then tore the sack and laid it flat. He’d bought an everything bagel with cream cheese and a giant cinnamon roll. “Help yourself.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Humor me.” Grinning, he bit a huge hunk of the pastry as if he hadn’t just scarfed down two entire breakfasts a couple of hours before.
She separated the top half of the bagel and tore off a tiny portion. “Now what?”
“We talk until Ghazi gets here. We need to be prepared for questions.”
“I thought you liked to wing it.”
“I thought you didn’t.”
Fair point.
“My name is Caleb Thompson. I sell computer hardware.”
“Sounds fascinating.”
He must’ve picked up her sarcasm because he smiled. “If you’re asked, say you don’t know much about my work because I don’t talk about it, but it takes me away a lot, and I do well financially. You should also know I have one sister, and my parents are still alive and married.”
“Have I met your parents?”
“Stick as close to the truth as you can. You haven’t met them yet, but we’re planning to tell both our families about our engagement this weekend. That gives us a hard deadline. We’ll need to leave Charles’s place by tomorrow night.”
It was Thursday, so that made sense. But… “Can’t we make it tonight, since it’s all fiction?”
“Malcolm wants us to gather as much intel as we can, and we want to have time to compare notes, which we might not while you’re working.”
He set the cinnamon roll down—he’d managed to eat half of it already—and sipped his coffee. He was the picture of casual. “I’ll need to know what he’s asking you to do before you can complete the task. Then, I’ll communicate with Malcolm, and we can make a plan about how to handle it.”
“You think Ghazi will let you make calls? I mean, what do you think this is going to be like?” She tried to imagine what they’d be walking into, but it was all too nebulous. She’d insisted Callan come with her, but now she wasn’t so sure this was a great idea. What if Ghazi hurt him? Or killed him?
What if she was walking into a trap that would destroy them both?
Callan’s arm slid around her shoulders, and he urged her against his side. “It’s okay, Paris. Don’t worry.”
