Page 86 of The Bodyguard

He shrugged. “Everything that we need has shown up when it was supposed to. Why question it now?”

He didn’t mean those words the way she immediately took them. But Sawyer had shown up for her in so many ways. As much as she could help it, Angela wouldn’t question what appeared right before her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

A certain level of assumption and bravado came with working for Titan Group. Angela had seen it from the posh high-rise office in Abu Dhabi. Sometimes, Titan’s teams would waltz into hell zones. Other times, they would disguise themselves and hide under deep cover. No matter the occasion, Angela’s job was to ensure that ACES had the necessary resources for it.

Now that she was on the other side of an assignment, she realized fieldwork required enormous confidence in Headquarters. The operations team had to believe their support team would cross hell and high water to make sure what they needed would appear. That was the only way she could understand how Sawyer drove their rental car into the horseshoe drive of a swanky hotel without batting an eye.

She wasn’t an idiot. Angela knew Pham still had teams searching for her, but the drive from Emerald Isle into mainland North Carolina seemed starkly different from the chase that morning.

Sawyer exited the rental car, giving instructions for the valet to leave the vehicle alone, and guided Angela into the hotel lobby. Her new flip-flops whacked the gleaming floor. Sawyer’s arm was newly bandaged and hidden under a new shirt. But they were a far cry from spit-shined and ready for a five-star hotel appearance. Angela didn’t have a purse. Neither she nor Sawyer had a wallet. They stood out, but Sawyer didn’t appear to notice.

The person behind the counter greeted them warily. “Good evening. How can I help you?”

Sawyer scanned the modern furniture. “Checking in.”

“Name?”

“It would be under Titan Group.”

Another person stepped forward. “I’ll take this from here, George.” Her name tag identified her as a manager. “I have yourreservation ready. Your luggage already arrived and is upstairs.” She typed quickly then produced two key cards. “If you need anything, charge it to your rooms. You’re on the tenth floor.” She handed them a map and an envelope for their key cards.

They thanked the manager.

“Again, if you need anything at all, we are here to help.” She smiled at them and offered a business card. “If you have any problems, this is my direct number. Have a wonderful stay.”

And that was how it looked on this side of things. Of all the times that Angela had made arrangements like this, she’d never imagined what it would be like to walk in and know someone else had taken care of the logistics.

Sawyer pocketed the card. “I’ll move the car and be right back.” The woman behind the counter knew enough not to offer the valet. A few minutes later, Sawyer emerged from an elevator. “Ready?”

The same elevator’s doors reopened. He guided Angela inside, hit the button for the tenth floor, and, with his hands on her hips, backed into the corner. He squeezed possessively. “You’ve had a hell of a day.”

“I wasn’t shot.” Her eyebrows arched. “Unlike someone else I know.”

The corners of his lips turned upward. “Flesh wound.”

“All the same, it came from a gun, and you need to see a doctor.”

“I already saw a guy.”

She made a face. “I’m not crazy about a guy who met us in a parking lot.”

“I am, if he was Parker-approved.”

The elevator slowed, and, Sawyer, always her bodyguard, protectively urged her to his side before the doors opened to the unknown.

“You’re always on alert,” she noted, wondering if that was exhausting.

An empty hallway was all that greeted them.

His expression faltered. “Doesn’t feel like it lately.”

She wanted to protest, but he took her hand. She liked the way he did that, first on the beach, then at their beach house, and now. The handholding was temporary, but for the time, she felt claimed.

“Here you are.” He nodded to the door across from hers. “I’m right there if you need me.”

Two rooms. Of course. The manager had said “rooms,” plural. Parker would never guess of her situationship with Sawyer, and Sawyer would never breathe a word.

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