Page 1

CHAPTER 1

Kayley

Then

Huddled and cowering in the pitch-black depths of a supply closet in my office while hand-to-hand combat took place in the lobby was not my idea of a good time on any day of the week.

Goddammit, Elliot.

You would think having the President of the United States as your future brother-in-law would be kind of cool.

You would also be wrong.

I heard shouting and the sounds of a door being flung open and hitting the wall behind it, followed by jumbled, shouted orders. Then unintelligible radio traffic before things went disturbingly quiet.

Finally, a knock on the supply closet door that made me jump and meep in terror.

“Dr. Cruz? Special Agent Hynes. It’s safe to come out now.”

Special Agent Andrea Hynes was the same agent who, several minutes ago, when the yelling started in the waiting room, had picked me up and practically carried me to the closet, tossed me inside and pulled the door shut behind me while ordering me to bolt it from the inside.

That she was shorter and smaller than me and yet possessed that much strength was quite impressive.

I stood and used the flashlight on my phone to locate the closet’s light switch. Then I unlocked the sturdy barrel bolt on the inside of the steel-reinforced door and opened it to find two other Secret Service agents from my detail standing behind Hynes.

“Is anyone hurt?” I asked.

“No, ma’am,” Hynes said. She was my lead agent today, and second in charge of my detail. “We’ve neutralized the subject and taken him into custody. He’s been removed from the office.”

I slumped against the door frame. “I think I’ll cancel the rest of my appointments for today and go home early.” I only had two more, and they were long-time clients who weren’t in crisis. I knew I could switch them to telehealth visits if they didn’t want to reschedule, and the charting I still needed to do I could finish at home.

“Is that a schedule change request, ma’am?” Hynes asked.

I considered it and nodded. “I think so. I mean, yeah, it is. Sorry.”

“No problem, ma’am.” She spoke into her wrist mic and called for my driver and the rest of the detail to prepare to move out once I was ready to leave.

Even though their literal job was keeping me safe as I went about my life, I still hated throwing unexpected changes at my detail if I could avoid it. I felt… guilty.

They didn’t make me feel that way—that was totally a me thing. My tax dollars at work, amirite?

Goddamn you, Elliot.

I finally stepped out of the closet doorway and peeked out my office door to look down the hall. Several of my office staff and fellow practitioners stood in their respective doorways, all staring toward the waiting room area.

“What the hell happened?” I asked.

Dr. Brian McDermott, one of my partners, turned at the sound of my voice.

I spotted the playful smirk gnarled across his grizzled features. “Maybe you have a not-so-secret admirer, Kayley.”

“I doubt that,” I said. “What did he want?” I asked Hynes.

“He said he wanted you to deliver a message,” she said. “He’ll be interrogated but he appears to be working alone and probably has a serious mental-health issue.” She stepped around me and headed down the hallway to speak to another agent in the lobby.

“Well, not like that’s what we deal with here on a daily basis,” I drawled.

Brian snorted. “Yes, but most of our clients don’t bring sharpened cutlery with them to make their point.”

I rolled my eyes as I walked down to join him, well aware of the two Secret Service agents who followed close behind.

“Sorry, Brian.” In his early seventies, he was also a friend of my parents.

He shrugged. “Never dull around here now.” He gently nudged me. “Now you understand why Leo was so adamant about you having a security detail.”

I grudgingly blew a loose strand of hair out of my eyes. “I still wish you hadn’t helped him gang up on me about it, but yeah. Now , I get it.”

Of course I’d agreed with Leo that my parents should have a detail.

They were our parents , duh.

Still, I’d kept insisting to my older brother that no, I didn’t need a detail, that it was ridiculous to think anyone would pay a second’s worth of attention to me. I wasn’t famous. I wasn’t the least bit fuck-you rich to be of interest to anyone, I wasn’t slutting around the greater LA area with famous guys, and I damned sure didn’t inhabit the kinds of social circles that the press and general public gave a shit about.

But my older brother also possesses a psychology degree as well as has a couple dozen years of Secret Service and private security experience under his belt…

And he’s my only sibling.

I’d move heaven and hell for him, especially after I almost lost him several years prior.

I love Leo, but I haaaate it when he can tell me see I told you so .

Twenty minutes later, after putting eyes on everyone in our office to assure myself they were safe, I was riding in the back of a black SUV with two Secret Service agents in the front, and another team in a car following us.

I stared out the window as we navigated the busy streets toward my home in Laguna Beach.

If it’s this crazy now, how bad will it be after their wedding?

And why the hell did Elliot have to propose to Leo? Why couldn’t Leo have married Jordan?

Over the years, a long series of events played out beyond my ken involving my older brother, Leo Davidson Cruz, who was a former Secret Service special agent, security expert, body man to the previous President of the United States ShaeLynn Samuels, and, until recently, was also Samuels’ deputy chief of staff.

That last position was terminated because Leo was now slated to become the First Gentleman of the United States, thanks to a surprise proposal by Elliot in front of the whole goddamned world at the ball on the night of Elliot’s inauguration for his second term.

My parents were just as clueless and shocked as I was.

Not because Leo’s gay. Hellooo, that’s old news and a complete non-issue for my family.

But because we had no clue he’d been in a relationship with Elliot in the first place.

Once I was safely locked inside my house for the night I kicked off my shoes and flopped back onto the couch. I stared at the ceiling for a long time as my mind spun in a thousand directions.

Elliot’s a lucky idiot. I hope he appreciates how much Leo loves him and how much he’s given up for him over the years.

And the things Leo would give up for him in the future.

Like privacy, and the ability to move unimpeded throughout the world without drawing any attention.

My burner cell phone rang and I reached for where I’d left it on the coffee table next to my personal phone. “Hey, big bro.”

“What’s my ringtone now?” Leo asked.

“‘Love Shack’.” I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I thought it was appropriate, given what you’re up to.”

He didn’t reply at first. “Kay, we told you?—”

“I know, I know.” I sighed. “It was a joke . I get it—Jordan’s happy, you’re happy, Elliot’s an idiot and happy—you’re all a happy, secret throuple I can’t say a damned word about.”

“You sound like you disapprove. I thought we were okay?”

“We are okay.” I finally sat up, opening my eyes as I did. “And I keep telling you that it’s not that I ‘disapprove’,” I added. “You’re all consenting adults. I just… I don’t want Jordan to get hurt. Okay?”

Yes, I can deflect with the best of them.

Leo’s voice gentled. “He won’t get hurt, Kay. I promise. He’s happier than he’s ever been. You can ask him yourself. He gets the best of both worlds now. He can work with Elliot, his frequent contact with me at work isn’t suspicious, and now all three of us can spend nearly every night together without anyone saying anything about it or triggering a scandal.”

Jordan’s absolutely adorable. He’s eighteen years younger than Leo—meaning fourteen years younger than me. My parents and I had spent time with him over the years while Leo dated him. They’d even lived together for several years.

We’d no idea Leo had secretly dated Elliot throughout all those years, including several years before Jordan arrived on the scene.

We’d also had no idea that, later, Elliot and Jordan ended up secretly—to the general public, at least—dating each other.

While both still dating Leo. Apparently, to Leo’s delight.

When Jordan had returned to Florida, all either he or my brother would say was that Jordan wanted to finish his degree there, and that the upcoming presidential campaign cycle would be grueling.

My parents and I had suspected there was more to it but we didn’t dig because we’d all known neither Leo nor Jordan would reveal more than that suspiciously sparse and well-coordinated excuse.

Six months later, Jordan had suddenly returned to DC and started working for Elliot as his body man, moving into the VP’s residence presumably as a friend and trusted advisor even before Elliot’s first campaign for POTUS launched.

Let me add more convoluted context: somewhere along the line, Elliot had finally admitted he’d had a secret crush on Jordan from the start but didn’t tell Leo or Jordan about it sooner for… reasons, I guess?

I don’t know. Before all of this, Elliot had tightly sealed himself in a damned deep closet. But when Jordan left Leo and returned to Florida, and Elliot didn’t see Leo going after Jordan to convince him to return to DC…

I intuited from the limited information Leo and Jordan had given me that Elliot took things into his own hands while he was still VP, headed to Florida for an “official” trip, and that’s when he’d begged Jordan to return to DC.

And at some point during that time, Elliot finally confessed his feelings to the younger man and my brother.

Then, when Elliot won his first election as POTUS, Jordan made the move with him to the White House residence. Everyone was told that since Jordan was single and Elliot’s body man, as well as Elliot’s “best friend,” it made sense for Jordan to occupy the residence.

Believe me, it sounded that confusing in person, too. I mean, I’m definitely not a prude. I’m not exactly vanilla, and I have clients—and a few friends—who engage in ethical non-monogamy. I totally get it and support it when everything’s above-board and everyone is consenting to it.

It’s just not my thing.

Still, I feel protective about Jordan. When Leo had first introduced him to us, I’d quickly come to love him as the younger sibling I’d always wanted but never got, and my parents basically adopted him in everything but name.

Jordan had a hard start in life, too. Disowned by his parents in his teens after he came out, he was raised by his grandmother, who died while Jordan was in college.

Jordan’s a cutie and a sweetheart. If he wasn’t young enough to nearly be my kid, I would absolutely date him.

And, of course, if he was, you know, not completely gay.

Or romantically involved with my brother.

We talked for another ten minutes or so, which wasn’t uncommon for us. We’d always been close. Then Leo finally got to the real reason he called, which pulled my thoughts back to the present.

“So… I heard there was some excitement at your office today.”

And yes, I’d suspected that was why he’d really called. He would know when my detail safely deposited me in my abode.

“Took you long enough to get around to it,” I said. “And you were right. You told me so. Is that what you want to hear? Yes, Leo. Thank you, dearest big brother, for insisting I have a Secret Service detail to keep the kooks and creeps away because your fiancé is the president of the United States.”

While also keeping away any chances of me ever having a normal romantic relationship.

But I didn’t say that part out loud.

He heavily sighed. “I’m sorry, Kay. I know you got pulled into this without any warning, but I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you, or to Mom and Dad.”

I took another breath, closed my eyes again, and slowly let it out.

Years ago, we’d almost lost Leo to a work-related small plane crash that ended his career as a Secret Service agent. He’d been the only survivor. My parents and I had never liked his career choice, worried about the danger he might find himself in.

The possibility of that danger being a small-plane crash instead of getting shot had never crossed our minds. As I’d sat next to his bed in the hospital I’d thought for sure he was going to die, and cried countless tears until he was finally back on his feet again.

I damned sure didn’t want to lose him emotionally because he was marrying POTUS.

“It’s okay,” I muttered. “I know I need one. I don’t have to like it.”

“Is your detail okay?” he asked. “I can have personnel switched out if?—”

“They’re fine , Leo. They—they’re fine. Everyone’s fine, okay? They’re nice. No complaints.”

Not about them , anyway.

Just about my stupid brother-in-law to-be.

“He’s only in office four more years,” Leo said. “Then we’ll be civvies again and your detail can shrink as long as there aren’t any credible threats. Maybe one day we can even get rid of it altogether. But I won’t risk my family’s safety.”

Great. At least four more years where my already nonexistent dating life will crash even harder.

But I didn’t say that, either.