Page 108 of The Bodyguard

Her mom paused and blinked as if Angela had crossed a line into asking far too personal questions.

A nurse knocked on the door and breezed into the room. “Just here to see how you’re doing.”

Angela answered a slew of concussion-screening questions and had her vitals taken. Her mother paced, head down, forehead pinched as though she were mapping out various argument strategies.

A moment later, they were alone again. “Stop the strategizing.”

“I’m not—”

“Yes, you are. But I’m not spending the rest of my life with Paul. I didn’t even spend the last decade with Paul, if we’re having an honest conversation. I had the title of girlfriend, and he had access to you.”

“That’s not fair—”

“It is, and it’s the truth.” Angela scrubbed her hands over her face. “Look, Mom.” She closed her eyes and recalled the buzz under her skin whenever Sawyer touched her. “I’m not you or Dad, and the things that I want… they have to set my world on fire.”

Crossing her arms, her mother scowled. “You shouldn’t knock the fire that comes from success and stability.”

Angela ignored her mother. “Fire. Passion. Romance. I didn’t even realize that existed.” A blush heated her cheeks. “But now I do, and I would never go back.”

Her mother stopped pacing, and her eyes narrowed. She scrutinized Angela like a political opponent about to be dressed down. “The man who was sitting in here—”

“Sawyer. You know his name.”

“Sawyer. He’s the same one from our meeting in Abu Dhabi?”

“You already know that also.” Could her mother see that Sawyer set Angela’s world on fire? “We work together—you should thank him. He’s the reason the attempts on my life have failed.”

Her mother dropped into the chair by the top of Angela’s bed. “I should thank him.”

“He’s important to me,” Angela admitted. “And he’s never come at me with an agenda.”

Her mother crossed her legs, uncharacteristically fidgeting, and then relented. “Like I do…?”

“Yeah. You’ve had some doozies.”

For once, her mother seemed to think long and hard before she spoke. “If I promise to drop the Paul conversation, would you mind if I stayed and sat with you for a few minutes?”

There was her mother. The person Angela had run to from Pham’s captivity. “That’d be nice.”

Somewhere out there, pigs were flying on a cold day in hell. Her mother didn’t pull out her cell phone or lobby her agenda. She sat there, a mother with her daughter.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Sawyer had left Angela’s hospital room as though he didn’t have a worry in the world. But under his closely managed exterior, he was fuming. He couldn’t imagine the relationship Angela had with her mother. Hell, he’d heard the stories about Senator Sorenson, but to see them play out in real life was an experience he wanted to forget.

Just as the Senator had said, Paul waited outside Angela’s hospital room. He leaned against the adjacent wall, taking a call while simultaneously typing on his phone.

Sawyer took a place next to one of the posted federal agents and waited. He had nothing to say to the guy, only because he wouldn’t embarrass Angela by revealing Sawyer knew the top-shelf-level crap Paul had told her.

Paul’s call ended. He briefly glanced up, did a double take at Sawyer, and then removed his earbuds. He stepped forward, hand extended. “Sawyer, is it? Nice to see you again.”

What a politician. The two men shook hands. “You’re here to visit Angela?”

Paul shrugged. “It’s a good opportunity to rehash some plans.”

“I didn’t think you had any plans. Am I wrong?”

“Well…”

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