Page 78 of Guarding Grace

Constance appeared a few minutes later. “She’s scared,” she said quietly. “What’s the plan?”

“Keep her here at night and limited to her work building during the day until we get this sorted out. They don’t know where we are yet, and I have a solid door downstairs, a good security system, and no ground-floor access, which makes this pretty defensible. What do you think?”

She started around the perimeter and stopped at the sliding glass door to the terrace. I followed her, and Clyde followed me.

She pointed down. “You should put a rod in the track. You don’t want somebody climbing onto the terrace and picking this lock.”

I nodded. “Will do.”

She continued around, checking rooms, windows, and the angles of my hallway cameras. “Looks good to me.” She returned to a corner of the living room and stopped.

My gaze followed her eyes to the floor. Grace’s panties were in the corner.

“I’m not one to judge, but in the Secret Service, we would consider your level of…connection to the protectee to be disqualifying.”

“It’s not what it looks like,” I lied with a straight face. It was totally what it looked like—or soon would be. And often, if I had anything to say about it.

She cocked her head with a sigh. “It never is.” She lowered her voice. “Look, I don’t give a damn what you do with your personal time, but getting involved with a protectee is reckless and puts her at risk. I know that, and—” She poked me in the chest. “—you know that. You can lose objectivity and make a mistake. Maybe you should have a chat with the boss about assigning somebody else.”

“I’ve got this.” Duke, Constance, and Winston had other commitments right now, which left Zane as the next choice for full-time protection, and I wasn’t agreeing to that.

She shook her head, not ready to let this go. “You could take time off from other assignments and hang around or whatever, but not be the primary.”

“I said I’ve got this,” I assured her. Nobody would be better protection for Grace than me. Nobody else would be as invested.

“Last week, you were at each other’s throats.”

Here we go again.“That was then.”

“Have you considered that she may be reacting to the events of the day? An attack, even unsuccessful, is emotionally jarring.”

“I know that.” Her implication was clear—what if Grace was only attracted to me because I’d been there for her during the attack?

“Then figure out how to cool it for a while,” Constance insisted. “Objectivity wins over passion in this game.”

“Sure,” I agreed. But I hadn’t thought through how I’d do that, given everything that had happened between me and Grace today.

Grace appeared around the corner. “Hi.” Her voice held an obvious question.

“We were just discussing this as a defensible space,” I explained as Constance and I moved away from the pair of panties in the corner.

“Because bad guys are after me?”

Constance raised a brow.

“Stressful day,” I whispered.

“Grace, it’s always better to be prepared,” Constance said.

Grace sighed. “Constance, would you like to join me for a glass of wine?”

“No thanks. I’ve got to run.” She picked up her purse and headed for the door.

I told Grace I’d be right back and escorted Constance downstairs.

“Cool head, professional and objective,” she said, wagging a finger at me. “Given the way you’ve acted around her in the past, you might want to consider how these attacks are affecting you too.” She walked out with that last statement hanging in the air.

“Got it.” I locked the door after her and shook my head.