Page 13 of Secrets We Fight

“Good morning, Agent Davis.” I smiled as I walked into the room and headed toward my kitchen. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”

“Sure.”

Him accepting the offer surprised me because I half expected him to tell me drinking a cup of coffee was against the rules. “Cream and sugar, or are you a psychopath?”

He balked slightly and then walked toward where I stood in the kitchen. “A psychopath?”

“You know. They say psychopaths drink their coffee black.”

He chuckled. “Is that so?”

I lifted a shoulder and then placed a mug under my Nespresso. “That’s what some shit on the Internet told me.”

“Do you believe everything on the Internet?”

I rolled my eyes. “No, but you still haven’t answered the question.”

He leaned against the granite countertop and crossed his arms over his broad chest. Unlike the other mornings when we had class, Agent Davis was dressed in a black suit with a white shirt and black tie like his colleagues wore. The fabric of the arms tightened around his biceps and made me swallow hard at the naughty thoughts running through my head.

“No, I’m not a psychopath.”

I plopped a pod into the machine and started brewing the coffee. “Right. You had to take a psych eval and all that shit, huh?”

“I did, and obviously passed with flying colors.”

“Good to know.” I grinned. “So, cream and sugar?”

“Just cream if it’s sweetened already.”

I pulled the vanilla creamer from the fridge. It was sweetened, of course. “Does this work?”

“Perfect.”

The Nespresso finished brewing, and I handed Agent Davis the cup and creamer. “Spoons are in the drawer behind you.”

He took the items from me and added creamer to his coffee while I grabbed another mug and made my cup.

“So, you didn’t have any coffee this morning before your shift, or do you need more caffeine to tackle the day?” I asked.

“Agent Jones was the first one up this morning and made a weak pot. Since you offered, I took you up on it for a chance to have a second cup.”

I cocked my head to the side. “Agent Jones was the first up? You two live together?”

Agent Davis stirred his coffee. “It’s only temporary. I was traveling the country while on your father’s detail, and the others worked on missions elsewhere. We were kinda in limbo until the election. I thought I’d be living in D.C. once your father won, but instead, the agency assigned me here for the next four years. About half of us are looking for places to rent.”

“And the other half?”

“The evening and night time shift guys have all found places, but since I work days like Day, Leigh, and Jones, it’s been hard to go apartment hunting, so we’re all roomies until we can find our own places.”

“I had no idea.” I grabbed the creamer off the counter and poured a good amount into my mug.

“It’s just a transition stage.” He took a sip.

I leaned on the counter across from him. “You were hoping to be in the White House, huh?”

He stared at me for a beat and then said, “At first, of course. That’s what we all want. But then …” He looked off to the side.

“Then you found out you got to protect the president’s handsome son, and you knew you’d won the lottery?” I grinned.