Thief:A Bad Boy Romance(94)

 

But she only chortles; chortles. “Oh, my, no.” She smiles genuinely at me. “No cameras in the living quarters, I can assure you.” She winks. “The public bathrooms on the ground floor for tours and stuff though?” She wags her eyebrows at me and grins, and I decide right there that I like Emma.

 

“Feel free to change, Madison.” Emma says, tucking a lock of hair behind her eyes. “Relax and take it easy tonight, and tomorrow we’ll worry about how complicated things are about to get for you.” She gives me a little nod and a smile before she walks out.

 

Right, things are about to get complicated for me. I groan as I flop back on the bed and try to force the image of Hunter Ryan out of my head.

 

Way ahead of you, Emma.

 

 

 

 

 

6.

 

 

 

 

 

“Jesus, they’ve got you wearing the earpiece and everything, huh?”

 

Dexter; my younger brother, my best friend, my exact fucking opposite. The lip piercing, the rock t-shirts in the fucking White House, the “I stand for nothing so I’m above it all” bullshit attitude. Okay, so I was basically exactly like that before the Marines. Shit, I was worse back then when Mom was still around. But still, the kid’s gonna have some serious fucking growing up to do when he’s suddenly in the spotlight.

 

“It’s my job, Dex.”

 

“Sir! Yes sir!”

 

I roll my eyes at his goofy-ass salute and shove him back onto the couch. “Dude, you better get your shit in line man.”

 

He pulls a face. “For what, my ‘presidential duty’ like dad? Fuck that, I’m not marrying a President.”

 

“Guilty by association buddy, get used to it.”

 

It’s two days after the inauguration, and the whole house has been a whirlwind of new staff, new protocols, and even new decorators. Eleanor is having everything from the Lincoln bedroom to the Oval Office redone, which apparently is pretty standard for incoming Presidents, but it still has the place charging along like an absolute shit-show.

 

On the upside, the fact that my dad and Eleanor have got Dexter and me quietly set up in rooms in the apartment quarters of the White House — separate from the main living quarters, but still — seems to have gone fairly unnoticed.

 

“So, what’s the deal with our weirdo stepsister?” Dexter pulls out a pack of cigarettes, which I promptly snatch out of his hand. He makes a face. “What was that freakout man? She looked like she was going to hurl right in the Oval Office.”

 

“Hey, chill. She’s just put off by the whole thing. It was a surprise for her too, man.”

 

Holy shit was it ever.

 

“Oh there’s that chivalry.” His eyes flash as he grins at me. “And hey, don’t get weird with it, dude. “

 

“What?”

 

“Oh c’mon,” Dexter reaches for his cigarettes but I hold them up high over my head. “Hunt, like neither of us thought it.”

 

“Thought what?” I know where he’s going with this and I can feel myself tense up, even if I know I need to play it cool.

 

“Uh, that she’s hot?”

 

“Don’t be disgusting, Dexter.”

 

“Yeah, that’s what I’m telling you!” He makes a last snatch for his smokes, and I’m too on edge by the direction of this conversation to yank them back this time. He shakes them triumphantly as he heads for the door to one of the side garden patios. “Thats off limits, pal.”

 

I roll my eyes. “Of course it is.”

 

“Hey, you’re the one that can’t keep it in his pants.”

 

Oh you have no idea.

 

But the job comes first; that’s the first thing you learn when training for the Service. The job is all that matters, and I have to put what happened with Maddie that night out of my head and just move on. We’ll get over it.

 

It sounds a whole lot less convincing by the third time I repeat it in my head.

 

 

 

As if staying on top of security during a massive redecoration of the most iconic house in the western hemisphere wasn’t crazy enough, Eleanor has also decided that day three of her presidency will involve a charity event on the lawn of the White House.

 

The lawn, in Washington D.C., in January.

 

Okay, yes, there’s a tent, and it’s clear and the whole thing is heated with the solar technology stuff she’s been pushing as part of her platform, and won’t it just be the perfect media event. Yeah, well, it’s also going to be a major pain in the ass, security-wise.