Page 23 of The American

They moved on, mercifully, to other topics, but Thad knew he hadn’t heard the end of the conversation from his mother, or Nico, or even Lucan. Later that morning, he left for the office feeling unsettled. Explaining everything to his family brought all the obvious problems with the plan out in the open and the second thoughts that were always bugging him, pushed and prodded more insistently as his driver fought morning traffic.

One thing he should try to do was ease off on his real, non-pretend pursuit of Sage. But he didn’t know how he was going to be able to do that when he found so many reasons to do just the opposite.

As he was pulling in, Lucan’s text said, “Check into their real-estate holdings on the Mediterranean.”

A niggle of worry added to his stress. And he wondered if Zachary had even more reasons for bringing him on than he had originally disclosed.

Chapter 13

Sage was deep into planning their second public date when she realized she was going to be late for work. She jumped up, dropping her laptop to the floor. She had never been late for anything, that she could remember. She flew to the shower, barely let the water splash her before she was throwing on clothes. She took her time on her hair and makeup since she could be photographed at any moment. And then grabbed her work bag and ran down the hall.

The elevator was slow. She tapped her foot, checked her watch five times, and then as soon as it opened she took off out into the main foyer. But she skidded to a stop, almost sliding in her heels, when she saw the huge crowd of people, all with cameras pointing through the glass at her.

The doorman said, “I just rang up to your flat. But looks like I missed you.”

“What do I do?” She swallowed.

He shrugged. “I don’t know, we’ve never had a famous person living here before.”

“Do you have security?”

“I think so.”

“Could you call them please?”

He nodded and picked up the phone. Meanwhile the crowd waited, waved at her, cameras pointing. She decided the footman wasn’t going to be any help. “Is there a back door?”

He started to point and she said, “Don’t point. Just tell me.”

“Oh, oh right.” He looked from the crowd to her and back. “So you head back toward the elevators, go down one flight to the basement, then go down the long corridor, sorry about the smell. There’s a set of stairs at the end and an emergency exit. The alarm won’t go off, just use that door.”

“Ok thanks.” She pushed the elevator button twenty times even though she knew it wouldn’t come any faster. And then pushed it one last time to go down. At last, she was running down a long and very smelly corridor to the end. She pushed open the door and was immediately surrounded by cameras and people and shouting.

“Oh no! Please.” They jostled her and pushed up against her, everyone shouting a question at once.

She held up her hands. “One at a time please.”

Then a burly man, at least six foot eight pushed through. “Move aside. Step aside. I need you to move.” Until he reached her. “Sorry we are late.” He reached a hand out to her. She had never seen this person before, but hesitated only a second. At least she would follow him through the crowd, then she could make a break for it if she needed to.

Once they were a few steps away from the noise, he said, “Thad hired me. He told me to use the keyword, romance novel.”

A big smile broke out on her face. “Thank you.”

He opened the door to a black sedan with tinted windows. And soon she was driving through the streets of New York toward work.

“You saved me back there. So Thad hired you?”

He nodded.

“Are you from around here? Is this your typical employment?”

He didn’t answer.

So she texted Thad. “Thanks for sending the big man. He’s a strong silent type but I could kiss him.”

A row of question marks answered.

She laughed. “He saved me. It’s just an expression. Plus he does have an appealing jawline.”

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