Page 56 of Protected

Damn it. She hadn’t told him she was going to New York. Security must have already talked to him. She glowered at the guard standing next to her.

When she ended the call, she stalked through the check point, not bothering to say goodbye to the men who had dropped her off. Twenty minutes later, she was sitting on a mostly empty plane for a late-night flight to New York City. Closing her eyes, she tried not to think about not being in Bradley’s bed tonight. It hadn’t been long, but she had gotten used to having him next to her.

Once in New York, she hailed a cab and directed it to the hotel near the New York ACSL field office. Zipping around the city that was still wide awake even after midnight calmed her. The travel bug had bitten Darci at a young age and never let go. Being in big cities made her happy.

Not quite happy enough to forget Bradley but almost. Feeling a bit lighter in spirit, she tipped the driver and pulled her carry-on into the hotel. There was nobody in line at the counter, so she was able to pick up her keys right away. When she stepped out of the elevator onto her floor, she stopped dead in her tracks. How the fuck did he figure out where she was staying?

“I told you we were going to talk even if I had to come to New York.”

20

“I don’t have time for this right now,” she snapped. She’d left D.C. to escape him. Not have him confront her in the hallway of a hotel room.

“Talk to me, Darci. What happened? You told me Jim was going to New York. Why did you change your mind? What did I do? And why did you think you couldn’t talk to me about it?”

Her phone rang before she could answer any of his questions. She winced when she saw the name but figured she was better off answering. So she held up a hand for Bradley to wait as she lifted the phone to her ear.

“Hi Peter.”

“Don’t even try to sound all innocent, Kitten. What the hell are you doing?”

“It’s a work trip. I will not let this interfere with my life, Peter.”

Peter growled and for a moment she half expected him to show up in the hallway, too. “But it is interfering with your life, Kitten. Whether you like it or not. You need to stay safe and listen to your security detail.”

“I’m in another state, far away from danger. And besides, Bradley showed up, so I’m not entirely alone.”

Peter chuckled. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

She huffed and walked down the hall away from Bradley so he couldn’t hear. “I don’t fucking know. Leaving was supposed to be to get away from him. I needed to breathe. But it was also kinda hot the way he just showed up. How did he beat me here, anyway?”

“A certain man you danced with in the club the other night has a private jet. I would imagine Bradley borrowed it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Is nothing a secret from you?”

“Not if I can help it, Kitten. Now behave and never let me hear about you leaving your security behind again. If you need space from Bradley or even from your detail, you call me and we’ll work it out, understood?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Better. Now go make up with Bradley or kick his ass, whichever you plan on doing and then get your ass back home.”

She laughed. “You get your ass home first.”

“Working on it.”

She ended the call and walked back to where Bradley stood watching her. She nodded her head towards her room and slid her keycard into the slot.

“How did you figure out which hotel I would be at and what floor I would be on?”

“Your security is still getting calendar updates for you, and the floor was just a guess. You live on the top floor of your building; you have a thing about cool views of big cities. I just guessed you would ask for the top floor.”

He was good.

“Look, I’m sorry I took off. I really did need to be here for Jim. He hates New York. I shouldn’t have told him no in the first place. I really don’t want to talk about this right now, but you can come in. We can have breakfast and talk in the morning. I don’t have to be in the office until eight-thirty.”

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