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“The landlord sent a guy up yesterday afternoon.”
“So, yesterday was your first active shooter situation, correct?”
“I…yes. It was.” She fought the urge to shudder. “I’m used to threats, but it’s never gone that far before,” she said. “It’s mainly the letters. Or sometimes phone calls, a few texts.”
“Like what you showed me yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever hired anyone to investigate? There are ways to trace these things, if you know the right people.”
She gave him a pointed stare. “That’s why I hired you.”
Spencer frowned. “I’m your bodyguard.”
“Given your military training, I believe this would fall under the ‘other duties as required’ clause of your contract.”
He ran a hand through his hair, making her wonder how those soft auburn locks would feel in her hands.
Oh, no.She dropped her pen and took her time picking it back up. Those thoughts had to stop. Nothing could happen between them. He was her employee, her bodyguard, the man paid to keep her safe. Not to mention the fact that she’d sworn off relationships after the end of her last romance had been splashed across the tabloids. From now on, she was concentrating on her career and the foundation. Saving Williams Wishes was all that mattered.
Toni swallowed hard and squared her shoulders, shoving her desires deep beneath layers of obligations. “Our flight to Jubail leaves tomorrow morning at six. I’ve chartered a private jet to take us, but I’m sure you’ll want to look at the aircraft and flight plans beforehand. If you don’t have your own transportation, you can use my personal SUV to drive out to the airfield this afternoon.”
“Thanks. I’ll make sure everything is in order.” He scrubbed his hand over his face. “I should tell you… there was more in that note yesterday. Threats against you if you delivered those e-readers as promised.”
Toni smiled. “Yes, I know.”
“You do?” His eyes widened.
“Most of my work so far has been in countries where Arabic is the primary language. And, like I said, I get a lot of threats. It would be pretty foolish of me not to be able to understand what’s being said about me, aloud and on paper, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah, it would.” A grin spread across his face. “So, I guess I flunked your test, then, huh?”
“You got the job, didn’t you?” She shook her head. “I do wish I could quash those e-reader rumors. They’re ridiculous, but they have the potential to do a lot of harm.”
The humor in his expression drained away. “Are you confident there couldn’t be any truth in them?”
She snorted. “Have you seen the blogs that are spreading the stories? They’re conspiracy websites that claim everything is a hoax, from the moon landing to 9/11 to school shootings. Of course they think that a charity helping children read is hiding something sinister. They thinkeverythingis hiding something sinister, especially if it’s connected to media or politics in any way. And my dad, for all that he tries to keep it quiet that he owns theDC Times, is a player in the media landscape and has a background in the defense industry. My family’s an easy target, even when all we’re doing is trying to help people. But the idea that anyone would try to use these donated devices as a way to spread terrorism is ludicrous.”
He stood, his dark expression clearing as if he’d reached some sort of decision, a sexy smile spreading across his firm lips. “So, you have any other tests lined up for me to pass?”
A warm buzz of attraction spread outward from her core at the devilish glint in his green eyes. “You never know…” She gave him what she knew was a flirtatious smile.
* * *
“Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for takeoff.” The pilot’s voice crackled through the plane’s PA system.
Spencer clicked his seatbelt into place, then glanced over at Toni as she did the same. Even this early in the morning, dressed in jeans and a plain pink T-shirt, she looked fantastic. Not that he had any business looking, not really. He was here for the mission, nothing else. Except the more he told himself that, the less it rang true.
He liked her, more than was probably wise. For her part, Toni seemed oblivious to his presence today. She’d met him at the private airfield with far less luggage than he’d expected, and they’d waited together for nearly an hour with no complaint on her part while their pilot ran through his preflight checklist, then finally allowed them to board. Now, she sat across from him on a plush leather bench seat with her legs tucked beneath her and her dark hair slicked back into a sleek ponytail, glasses on, lost in whatever she was doing on her laptop. She looked so damned sweet it made his teeth ache. Part of him longed to pull her over into his lap and kiss her silly.
The rest of him wanted to run for the hills. The kind of wham-bam, white-hot relationship he was imagining with her rarely worked out. Then again, it wasn’t like other kinds of relationships had paid off for him either. Too fast, too far away, too hot, too cold—he’d run the Goldilocks relationship gamut enough times to know better. Still, that didn’t stop him from checking her out and daydreaming. He was a straight, healthy male, after all. Thankfully, his phone buzzed in his pocket and distracted him. He pulled it out to see a message from Kyle.
Boarding flight at Reagan now.
Arriving in Jubail 05:30 local time tomorrow.
Even though this was technically Spencer’s mission, the team was coming to Jubail, too, to be on hand if Spencer succeeded in tracking down Toni’s father or figuring out how he was involved in this SHEEPSKIN organization. After spending the previous afternoon going over every inch of the plane and even sneaking in to search Toni’s office when she was elsewhere, he hadn’t found anything to clue him in to Coran Williams’s current whereabouts. He texted back to Kyle:
