CHAPTER 5
Natalie
6 months later
My home had sported a pretty impressive library for as long as I could remember. It’s beechwood floors and tables were in perfect condition, and the bookshelves were lined with virtually everything—from literary classics, to cozy reads, instruction manuals, study-guides, and encyclopedias. Multiple computers—laptops and desk-tops—had been purchased and placed for visitors who wanted to do research.
I used to think it was a little too much as a child, fearing my friends would think I was from a family of nerds. Now, however, I couldn’t be more grateful to have such a space readily at my disposal. Although there was a nice library in the neighborhood, I’d learned the hard way that being the daughter of a potential vice-presidential candidate made it difficult to maintain privacy. I supposed it would have been different if I was still a child. As an adult though, I was fair game for the press. This had already been the case somewhat when my father was just Speaker of the House, but it was nothing compared to what we experienced now. I could hardly imagine what it must have been like for the families of actual presidential candidates. It gave me a headache just thinking about it, and I certainly didn’t need any more of a headache than I already had, considering I was in the midst of studying for my BAR exam.
Throughout school, I’d always made fairly good grades. Nevertheless, I’d always had terrible test-anxiety, which had unfortunately followed me right into adulthood. Final exams had been a nightmare and prepping for things like the ACT and SAT had been nothing short of torture. There was just something about standardized tests that made me panic and subsequently made my mind go blank. No matter how well I knew the material, being officially tested on it was always anxiety-provoking.
It had been my intention to dedicate several hours before lunch to studying. However, that hadn’t been working out well. My mind kept wandering, thinking over my father’s schedule for the next few weeks. Not only was I his main emotional support system, but I had become his unofficial secretary as well. Granted, it was by choice—I worried about him so much that I became obsessed with keeping track of his whereabouts at all times. Things just hadn’t been the same since our time in Turkey; that explosion had shaken both of us to the core. We didn’t want to be paranoid, but at the same time, we knew it was impossible to tell where an enemy may be lurking at any given point. Our peace of mind had been shattered.
With a sigh, I leaned back in my chair and stared idly at the opened book before me. The words blurred together and a deep boredom threatened to knock me off my studying schedule for the rest of the day. One too many more days like this and I could kiss my career ambitions goodbye. Frustrated, I drummed my fingers on the table, vaguely aware of my father’s voice droning from somewhere down the hall. At first, I figured he was taking a phone call, but then I noticed an additional voice present.
I listened, wondering if I should see who Dad was talking to. But then I reminded myself that if it was any of my business, he would have called me to join them by now. He knew that I was studying and therefore was not to be bother me unless it was something important. So clearly, whoever he was holding an impromptu meeting with wasn’t important enough to involve me. Nice that he was trying to give me some privacy.
Sighing again, I sat back up in my chair.
Focus, Natalie, focus.
Resigning to the fact that my studying wasn’t going to do itself, I reached for the hair-band on the table and tied my hair into a sloppy bun. I then stood up to stretch, getting my blood flowing and hoping it would improve my concentration. I contemplated getting a snack to appease my stomach that had been growling for the past fifteen minutes, but then I figured if I studied for at least a half-hour straight, I could reward myself with a snack break before resuming.
Reaching for my cellphone, I set the timer for exactly thirty minutes.
“Okay, Natalie. Buckle down,” I said out loud, resettling into my seat. I picked up my book and started reading again, determined to force the material to stay in my head this time.
Yet, my concentration was broken once again when the voices of my father and his visitor drew nearer. I closed my eyes in frustration, wondering why on earth they were so loud. Their laughter rang through the corridors, as did their heavy footsteps. I glanced to the door of the library, wondering if they were coming to see me. From the sound of their jovial banter though, whatever they were talking about didn’t seem serious at all. So if they were coming to bother me, they were doing it for no reason, which was uncharacteristic of my father since he knew I desperately needed time to study.
My father appeared first, poking his head through the doorway. “Natalie, sweetheart, I hope you aren’t too busy,” he said.
“Just studying,” I said, stating the obvious. “Why? What’s going on?”
“There’s someone I’d like to introduce you to. Or re-introduce you to, rather.”
Having captured my full attention now, I watched as he waved his hand, beckoning someone forward.
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“Honey, this is Colt Jackson, the security personnel who helped lead us to safety in Turkey after that bomb went off. Do you remember him?”
My father’s words continued after this, but I could no longer hear him. I was too stunned that Colt, the handsome stranger from Turkey who’d had a one-night-stand with me and then potentially saved my life, was standing in my home.
A deep flush rose over my face and I prayed my father and Colt didn’t notice it.
Just like I hoped the thoughts running through my mind weren’t being hinted at on my face as I recalled the feel of Colt’s smooth and muscular body beneath and on top of mine…
His hands and lips and all the rest of him.
I clenched my teeth. At that moment, I realized my father must have asked me something, judging from the way he stared at me.
“Uhm…what?”
“Natalie,” he said, in a reprimanding tone.
“I’m sorry—can you just repeat that, please?”
“I said—I’m thinking about hiring Colt for our security team. He’s perfect for the job. He is a former army ranger. I’d feel a lot safer if I knew someone like him was watching out for us.” I blinked rapidly, still trying to wrap my mind around what was happening. “When I found out he was back in the States, I insisted he come meet with me so I could offer him a job,” Dad continued. “Wouldn’t it be great for him to join our team?”
The telephone from my dad’s office rang just in time, saving me from having to respond. “Be right back,” he said. He winked at me. “In the meantime, Natalie, make Colt feel at home. Convince him to work for us!”
When Dad turned his back and darted down the hall, Colt looked right at me and smirked, and then he winked, mimicking my father.
I continued to sit, dumbfounded. The book I’d been attempting to study slid out of my lap and onto the floor.
“So we meet again,” Colt said, moving farther into the library. With his hands nonchalantly in his pockets, he looked around, taking in the scenery. “Nice place you and your father have here. Big…I bet you know all sorts of ways to sneak boys in without Daddy knowing, don’t you?”
Colt was standing right in front of me now, looking down and continuing to give me that cocky and over-confident smirk of his. He was just as good-looking as ever, causing me to remember that I was in yoga clothes and my hair tied sloppily on top of my head, I didn’t look at all like the vixen he had seen upon first meeting me.
“Maybe you’ll give me a private tour once your daddy is done showing me around?” he asked.
Annoyance rose through my shock at the blatantly sexual insinuations Colt dared to make while my father was literally around the corner.
“Excuse me?” I said, incredulously.
Colt’s expression turned into one of mock-innocence. “What?”
“You did this on purpose, didn’t you? Coming here. You knew I was here.”
Colt gave a low whistle. “Mighty high opinion you have of yourself.”
My face flushed again. “I-I didn’t mean it like that, I—”
“Relax,” Colt interrupted. “You should have a high opinion of yourself. I certainly do.” His eyes roamed my body, as if he could see it right through my old t-shirt and sweatpants. I swallowed and suppressed a shudder, not wanting him to know just how uncomfortable—and hot—he was making me. Once again, memories of that passionate night we’d had together started drifting through my mind in ways I wished it wouldn’t. But there was no use denying it—I hadn’t had a night like that since leaving Colt back in Turkey, and my body was dying to re-experience it.
And based on the way he stared at me, he knew it.
I shook my head. “This is unacceptable. If you’re going to be working for my father, our relationship has to be purely professional, nothing else. Got it?”
“We’ll see about that,” he said, still grinning.
God, his confidence was infuriating! Just as a retort was about to spring from my lips, my father returned. “How’s it going in here?” he asked, smiling.
“Great,” Colt said, his devilish grin instantly turning polite.
“Excellent,” Dad said. “So I hope that means you’ll accept my offer. Did Natalie tell you how much we both appreciate what you did for us back in Turkey?”
“She surely did,” Colt said, a barely concealed laugh evident in his voice—or at least to my ears. My father didn’t appear to notice anything unusual though. Colt cleared his throat. “She was actually very welcoming and accommodating to me back in Turkey. I’m glad to have met you guys back there. I guess it was fate, huh?”
I pressed my lips together and gripped the edge of the table before me, not at all liking Colt’s word choices about me being welcoming and accommodating. The nerve of him. I couldn’t believe he dared to be so brash in front of my father.
However, my dad remained utterly oblivious. He smiled wider. “Wonderful. Natalie means everything to me. Ever since her mom died, it’s just been me and her.”
“Well, sir,” Colt extended his hand to my father, “now you have me too.”
Dad positively beamed. He clutched Colt’s hand enthusiastically and gave another jovial laugh. “That’s just what I want to hear! Welcome to the team, son!”
I swallowed, knowing that trouble was clearly on the horizon.
The guy who gave me the best sex of my life was going to be our new security detail.
FUCK.