“Lunch at 2 in the afternoon. Must be a light day.”
You need to take better care of yourself.
“No one said running the country offered a healthy lifestyle. Not to mention the pay is comparable to my first job scooping ice cream.”
You are pulling a double paycheck from the Prophus.
“Oh yeah, that pitiful thing. It’s even less than this one. Between my two checks and what Roen sends me, that’s almost half of what I made at my old job before hitting the jackpot with my own Quasing.”
Tammy practically ran up to her as she returned to her office. “There’s someone in the office for you. Where did you find him?”
“What?” she said, puzzled.
“He’s really good looking and charming. And he brought you a present. It must be serious. How did you hide him from us?”
I see Marco is here.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jill replied. Instinctively, she checked her suit for wrinkles and calmly walked in. Between Paula’s description and Tammy’s gushing, she was definitely curious about this Marco.
Standing next to her desk was a tall man in a charcoal pin-striped suit. He turned toward her as she walked in and smiled. Tammy was right. Jill wasn’t sure what to gape at first: his Ken-doll peppered hair, the high cheekbones, or those kissable dimples. The guy also had a smile that had popped out of a dental brochure. He held a small gift-wrapped box in his left hand and extended his right.
“Jill,” he said, his voice a low pleasant rumble that tickled the bottom of her chest. “Marco. It’s a pleasure. I believe you’re expecting me.”
“I was expecting someone,” she said, suddenly very self-conscious. If Paula had exaggerated, it wasn’t by much.
Marco was tall and lean, yet she could tell he was in very good shape, built proportionally like an athlete without looking like a bodybuilder. His face was tan and weathered, but the age lines only made him look distinguished. And Paula wasn’t kidding. Those deep hazel eyes were whispering sweet nothings just by looking at her.
“Well,” he smiled. “I hope I exceed the expectation of just someone.”
Someone inhaled behind her. She turned to see Tammy jittering like a nervous fool, the pad and pen in her hand a pitiful excuse to eavesdrop.
“I’m good here,” she said, giving her assistant a get-out-of-here look.
Tammy had the audacity to look disappointed. “I’ll be at my desk, if you need anything. Just… call.” She turned to Marco. “It was nice meeting you.”
He tilted his head toward her in a way that with any other man would seem condescending. “Pleasure is all mine.” After Tammy left, he asked Jill. “There’s much to cover. Can your employer survive without you for the rest of the day?”
Jill shook her head. “Congress is in the middle of session. My hours are pretty much…”
“Nonsense,” Wilks said, walking into the room. “Marco here says he wants to kidnap you for the rest of the day. I say kidnap away.”
“Do you two know each other?” Jill looked perplexed.
Marco smiled. “The senator was good enough to entertain me while I was waiting for you. We seem to have a shared interest in golf and the European commodities market.”
“Marco here tells me he once swung a sixty-eight at Augusta. I told him if that’s the case, he’s in the wrong line of work. You still up for a game next weekend?”
“Why, but of course. Tee time at six?”
Jill’s mouth dropped open. “Senator, you’re going golfing with a man you met five minutes ago?”
Wilks laughed jovially. “I can tell Marco here is one of the good ones.” He leaned in close. “Make sure you do a background check before next weekend. Can’t be seen golfing with a serial killer or a gossip columnist, right?” He nudged her playfully.
Marco is not only a ladykiller but a man’s man as well.
“Great, that’s all I need. Bromance between my boss and my bodyguard.”
Marco handed her the small box. “Excellent. It’s settled then. I’ll see you later today, dear Jill. Something to remember me by until then. Adieu.”
He tried to kiss her hand; Jill would have none of that and kept her arms glued to the sides of her body. She tried very hard to not let her eyes roll. She and Wilks just stood there and watched as Marco left the room. She wasn’t sure what had just happened.
He leaves quite an impression, right? A host but not a doctor. In his case, I will make an exception.
“What a pompous ass!”
But you are still attracted to him?
Jill caught herself nodding unintentionally. There wasn’t much she could hide from Baji.
Wilks chuckled almost gleefully as he pat her on the back. “What a charming fella. I say, you do recover well with your men. That Marco guy is really something. You should keep this one. Anyway, break’s over. Do you have Beckman’s whip count? We need to get moving while the momentum is on our side.”
Jill gave the door one last look before getting back to running the country.
Jill walked out of the Hart Building after work and found Marco waiting. He was leaning on what she could only presume was his car, a sporty and impeccably shiny Tesla Roadster. She made a mental note to give her little Ford a bath the next chance she got.
“Rental?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Well, the cars the Prophus had available just wouldn’t do. Dreadful choices really, and I didn’t have time to arrange to have my Aston shipped over, so I did the next best thing. Fun little bugger.”
Jill couldn’t help but smile as she shook her head. “You’re an awful spy; you know that?”
“Why do you say that?” he asked.
“Because you look the international superspy with your flashy car and demeanor. You stick out like a sore thumb. Supermodels are supposed to be kept in New York City or cages.”
His smile brightened when he saw his gift wrapped around her wrist. She had to consciously tell herself to not touch it. It was a beautiful silver bangle bracelet with a single diamond in the center and several intricate grooves running along its edges. It was overwhelming, and she felt more than a bit uncomfortable wearing it.
“Do you like it?” Marco asked, opening the passenger side door, which made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. She appreciated a man with manners.
Roen has not opened the door for you since your first month together.
“I’m not going to play that game, Baji.”
You should, then maybe you will know what you are missing.
“It’s lovely,” she replied, “but why did you get it?” She got into the car and inhaled that fresh new car scent.
Marco got into the driver’s side and pulled away from the lot. “The bracelet has a microphone and monitoring device. If your life signs fluctuate past a certain point, the audio channel opens up and a tracker kicks in. So if you have been knocked unconscious, I can come to your rescue as fast as possible.” He turned to her. “I’m your security now and I take that role seriously. We’ll go over the ground rules over dinner and a nice glass of wine.”
They went to dinner at the iconic 1789 restaurant, housed in an old federal building in the affluent Georgetown part of the capital where, over dinner and several drinks, they went over the protocols of her protection. He would pose as her boyfriend for all public functions and would never be further than a klick away any other time. Marco was exact on every minute detail, from her positioning when they walked together to what their emergency rendezvous points were. By the time they were on dessert, he had combed through every part of her daily routine.
“So here’s the deal,” he said as he drank his bourbon. She noted that it was his third glass of a particularly expensive bottle of Glen Garioch and wondered how someone on Prophus salary could afford it.