sensed Chloe advancing toward him, although her footsteps were quiet. He glanced over his shoulder, locking gazes with her. In the past those sea-green eyes had been warm with emotions developing between them. Now they were cold. Her demeanor was totally professional and reserved—at least where he was concerned. He had known going in that might be the situation, but he’d wanted the best female bodyguard as his partner. In that moment, though, he acknowledged he had wanted more. Were there lingering feelings?
A memory of their first kiss years ago taunted him, stirring emotions he’d tried to forget and thought he had. They hadn’t been right for each other nine years ago. Why should now be any different?
“We should be able to leave in ten or fifteen minutes. I’d prefer to wait until most of the people have left before we do.” T.J. assessed her long auburn hair pulled back in a ponytail and remembered a time when her hair had been chin length and straight. What else was different?
Chloe stiffened, but her expression remained blank.
“Is there a problem?”
She released a long breath. “No, I agree with your plan, but before you whisk my client anywhere, please inform me of your intentions. If this is going to work, we’ll need to be equal partners. A team.” Emphasizing the last word, she looked him directly in the eye and held his gaze as though waiting for him to challenge that claim.
“I totally agree, and I’m sorry I acted without consulting you after their presentation. However, there may be times when it’ll be necessary for one of us to act and then explain. The lobby is still full of people from the crowd outside.” He refused to break visual contact.
Her chin tilted up a fraction, and she squared her shoulders even more. But the look in her eyes, a stormy green like the sky right before a tornado struck, mellowed. “I know the only time we worked together you were the team leader and used to giving orders. My first priority will be Mary Zimmerman. I was hired to protect her. You were hired to guard her husband. I’ve been working for Guardians, Inc., for four years. I’m not a novice anymore.” The tense set to her body relaxed. “I’ve changed since we knew each other.”
He had changed, too. He realized if they were together very long on this assignment they would have to discuss their parting nine years ago, but with one glance around the room, he knew this wasn’t the time or the place. “I know you aren’t. I’ve read over the assignments you’ve done this past year. I’m impressed. That’s why I asked for you. I felt a woman would be better suited for guarding Mary, so I contacted Kyra.” He wouldn’t go into the details about the possibility of buying into a partnership with Kyra for Guardians, Inc. He wouldn’t be part of Guardians, Inc., if he and Chloe couldn’t at least call a truce between them.
“You know my boss?” Her body visibly relaxed.
“Yes, I’ve known her since the first time I lived here. We’ve kept in touch through the years.” And he’d asked from time to time about Chloe. Another tidbit he wouldn’t tell her.
Chloe peered out the window, confusion clouding her eyes for a few seconds. “She didn’t tell me. I didn’t even know you would be guarding Paul.”
“I told her not to say so because there was little time to get someone and I didn’t want you to refuse before meeting the Zimmermans. There’s so much that’s changed in nine years. I didn’t want our past together to affect you taking the assignment.”
She blinked several times.
“Their publisher didn’t contact me about the job until late last night. So I went to Kyra early this morning and was glad to learn you were available.”
“But—” she looked away again “—after what happened between us, I’m surprised.”
A silence fell between them peppered with murmurs from Paul and Mary’s conversation with the organizers. T.J. inched closer and lowered his voice. He touched her arm, not sure if she would yank away or not. She didn’t. “We need to talk later. I don’t want anything standing in the way of this partnership. I’m not the same man I was. Life has a way of redirecting your dreams.”
Chloe opened her mouth, but instead pressed her lips closed before saying anything and fastened her attention out the window. An uncomfortable moment later, she said, “It looks like the crowd is gone. I’ll feel better when we get them back to the house. Everything went well, but I couldn’t shake...” Her eyebrows slashed downward.
“I got the feeling someone was out there watching the Zimmermans, waiting for the right moment.”
She faced him. “I did, too, but then nothing happened, even with the last-minute change Mary insisted on with the crowd coming inside. I was beginning to wonder if my instinct was off. Generally, it isn’t.”
In that brief moment a connection sprang up between them as if their breakup had never occurred. “I don’t think it is. Someone in the audience could have been casing the Zimmermans. Just because he did something at the first and second stops in the tour doesn’t mean he will at this one. The security was tightened, and he might not have expected that.”
Finally, as though she’d realized his hand was touching her, she stepped back. “You keep saying he. Is there a reason you think it’s one man?”
He shook his head. “I need a way to refer to the person or persons since we don’t have any names.”
“I just want to make sure I know everything connected to this assignment. No clues to who is after them?”
“From what happened in Paris with the multiple stink bombs, I figure it’s more than one person. But frankly, I know so little at this time.” T.J. glanced at the pair they were guarding. “I’m concerned mostly about their lack of concern.”
“It could lead to problems. Mary puts everyone else first.”
“You know her?” T.J. kneaded his shoulder, aching from holding himself taut and ready to move at a second’s notice. There was still tension with Chloe. He’d thought the past was just that—the past—that they could forge a working relationship because Chloe was good at her job.
“Not personally, but I know of her. I’ve read her books, and they have a great message. We need to put God’s principles into action.”
“In theory, the concepts they promote might work, but in practice we need more law enforcement officers and tougher laws.” When he saw her forehead crease, he continued, “We should leave, but we’ll talk later, and I’ll make sure you know everything I do. There won’t be any confusion with this assignment.”
One of her perfectly arched eyebrows lifted, a smile flirting with her mouth. “Promise?”
He chuckled. “Yes, we made a good team once before. There’s no reason why we can’t now.” Her smile gave him hope that they could at least work together.
“I suppose anything is possible.”
“Let’s get the Zimmermans to a more secure location. Okay?”
She nodded.
Turning toward the couple, T.J. said, “It’s time for us to leave.”
While the Zimmermans said goodbye to the organizers, T.J. withdrew his phone from his pocket and called the limo driver
