Stephanie Doyle - Her Secret Service Agent

In the end, he’d left without entering.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see her. It was more like he didn’t want to be the one who made the first move. Which was ridiculous. It was entirely possible Vivian never wanted to see him again. He thought maybe it would be better if they met in a Starbucks, or the Metro. Some place where they could run into each other casually.

Except Carl and the puppy showed up before any of that happened. Now she had come to him. Yes, this was much better, he decided, letting go of his irritation. Because he was pretty damn sure she hadn’t tracked him down to Dom’s to apologize for a few questions from the Secret Service.

“No, Viv, I mean why are you really here?”

She squirmed on the stool and then reached to fiddle with her diamond earring, something she did when she got nervous. Only they hadn’t been diamonds back in college. Just simple hoops or studs.

It made him wonder how well she was doing with her business that she could afford diamonds. Despite Daddy being loaded, she’d never wanted his money. She used to talk about it all the time, making her own way. Becoming her own woman. Someone who wasn’t always in the shadow of her overbearing father.

Joe had pointed out that having Daddy pick up the college tab was a pretty big helping hand. Joe’s father certainly wouldn’t have paid for any private college. His children had the option of the military or bust.

Still, there was a part of him that couldn’t help feeling proud that she’d earned her success.

“You mean why did I come back to DC?” she asked, and he knew she was playing innocent. He let her have a pass. None of this shit between them was easy.

“Yeah. Why now after all these years?”

“Daddy’s getting older. You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but I realized hiding away on the other side of the country I was missing out on time I could be spending with my father. Suddenly I wasn’t afraid to come back anymore.”

“Did you have a business out there?”

That made her smile. “Still do,” she said, not hiding her pride. “I have some really talented people running it for me, while I get Vivian’s Creations off the ground here. I’m a chain now. Who would have ever have thought I might actually do something productive?”

“Me. I did.”

She met his eyes and then focused on the wineglass instead and nodded. “Yeah, you did. Always giving me pep talks.”

“I knew what it was like to have a father like yours. Always feeling like you never measured up. I felt I needed to offset that.”

“Yes, but my father loves me, too.”

Joe couldn’t say what the Colonel had felt for him. Love? If it was, it was fleeting after Joe had failed the nation.

“Don’t be mad.”

Joe’s lips twitched. Vivian always told him that when she knew whatever she was going to say next would make him mad.

“What?”

“I went to him.”

“Who?”

“The Colonel. I wrote a letter to your mother. I thought it was important that your family know the truth...”

“Hell, Vivian. Are you serious? What the hell did you say?”

“That you weren’t to blame. That we got into a fight and I ran away from you. That it was my fault. I didn’t mention...the other thing.”

The kiss. A kiss he hadn’t forgotten in ten years.

Joe was still trying to process why she thought the truth exonerated him.

“Your mom asked me to come and talk to him. To try to make him understand. I think she was heartsick about how he’d treated you. Plus, she probably missed having you around. I said everything I could, but he never looked at me once. When I ran out of words, he said thank you and left the room.”

One more thing to be angry with that bastard over, being a jerk to Vivian.

“I could have told you what his reaction would be.”

“Maybe. But you weren’t there.”

The jab hurt, and he looked at her to see if she’d said it intentionally. Reminding him of his many sins. Leaving Vivian at the hospital and never looking back.

Sometimes he could still hear her screaming in that broken voice.

Where is he?

So many sins. How could she possibly forgive them all?

One more time. “Why are you here, Viv?”

“I’m scared,” she admitted. “Not really something new for me, but with these notes...”

It wasn’t the answer he wanted, but at least she wasn’t lying. He could feel her fear in her tight, shallow breaths.

“Carl’s going to handle it. He’ll find whoever did this. Some nutjob who saw you on the news and now wants his fifteen minutes.”

She shook her head. “It’s not enough. I have a lot on my plate starting this new business, rebuilding my life here in DC. I can’t do that looking over my shoulder everywhere I go. I want to feel safe. I need to feel safe. Which is why I’m here. I want to hire you to protect me.”

Now that, Joe thought, was irony. Then he burst out laughing.

CHAPTER THREE

IT WASN’T EXACTLY the reaction she expected. She waited until he had calmed down, but noted that there were actual tears in his eyes. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him laugh so hard.

“It’s not that funny.”

“Yes. It is. You want me, of all people, to protect you?”

Vivian took a deep breath. She’d known coming here wouldn’t be easy, but she’d also known he was her best option and her first choice.

“I’m no longer entitled to Secret Service protection, and I wouldn’t want that anyway. I could hire another investigator, but that person wouldn’t know me and wouldn’t really understand the situation like you do.”

And the last time she had felt truly safe in her life was when Joe had been watching over her. She wanted that again. She was willing to sacrifice her pride to get it. It wasn’t a question that he could have forgiven her. A foolish stunt by a twenty-year-old girl who thought she was madly in love...

You were madly in love.

Regardless, she thought, her feelings had cost him his job, his future and his relationship with his father. Not to mention what that did to the rest of his family. Vivian considered what might happen when she saw him again.

That he might yell, or worse tell her to get lost in that scary soft tone he always used when he was superangry.

Laughing was unexpected.

Then suddenly he stopped. “You do recall what happened the last time you were under my protection?”

Yes, because she’d been stupid. Vivian shrugged. “I’m guessing you won’t make that mistake again. You were the best at what you did, Joe. I know that, even if no one else does.”

He huffed. “You don’t know anything about me anymore.”

Yes, it had been ten years, but back when they had been together, she had known Joe Hunt.

“I hear that Hunt Investigations has a sound reputation and that you come highly recommended. I did some research before I made the decision to find you.”

She couldn’t read his expression. Maybe pride? Then he closed it down. “Yeah, I’m aces at catching cheating spouses in the act. Just ask anyone. No marriage is safe when Joe Hunt is on the trail.”

“Surely you must work other cases.”

He stared at her hard for a moment and then shook his head. “I don’t think this is a good idea. For either of us. Find someone else.”

“There is no one else!” Vivian blurted out. She felt it. She was losing the battle. Losing him. The thought of that, after she’d had to summon all her courage to see him again, was unthinkable. “No one I trust. No one who can take away the constant feeling that I’m being watched...”

Her breathing got shallow, and she could feel the panting begin, the panic escalating.

Not in front of him. Not in front of him.