He turned to me with his brows up. “This big enough for you? I can get you a bigger place if you prefer.”

And just like that? The stress faded away. If he was talking about getting me a bigger apartment, I wasn’t getting fired. It pretty much ruled out the possibility of there being another security guy out here with us. If he knew I was in love with his daughter, I would be at the business end of a fist right now.

Everything had to be okay. And my father would still get his retirement pension, and all was okay in the world. Minus the fact that I was a big fat fucking liar.

I forced a smile. “I’m fine here, sir. It’s close to campus, and that makes my job easier.”

“Good.” He slid his phone into his pocket, his eyes on my bed. Could he tell that only a few hours earlier, his daughter had been with me in that bed he studied so closely? “Why do you have two surfboards in here?”

My breath slammed out of me. I eyed Carrie’s blue surfboard and thanked God she didn’t pick a girly one. “Why not? I like variety.”

He gave me a hard look and sighed. “Let’s go.”

“After you, sir,” I said quietly. I followed him outside, my palms sweating the whole time. I scanned the faces of the guards following the senator, then slid my shades onto my nose. “Cortez. Morris. Nice to see you again.”

“You look different out of a suit, Coram,” Morris said, his voice flat. “Like a surfer boy.”

I was a surfer boy, but I kept my mouth shut on that matter.

“You look different in one while standing in California.” I shrugged. “I need to blend in, so surfer boy I am.”

“Makes sense,” Cortez said.

“Yeah. How many of you are there out here?”

“Just us, to the best of my knowledge,” Cortez said, his eyes on the senator, who walked in front of us. “But with the senator?” Cortez caught my gaze, not dropping it. “You never know.”

Well, shit. That sounded an awful lot like a warning. “I’ll remember that.”

“You should,” Cortez said, motioning me forward into the town car.

I nodded to both of them, then slid into the back of the car, settling into the far side of the seat to make room for all four of us. I kept replaying Cortez’s words in my head, dissecting them and trying to make sense out of the whole thing.

My mind raced and my heart raced even faster. Was Cortez trying to warn me about something? Maybe he was trying to tell me that the senator had sent another man out here. If so, it would mean Carrie and I wouldn’t even be able to be together. Could I handle that?

I’d been waiting to come clean for my father, but if I couldn’t even see the woman I loved, would it be so cut and dry? Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure about that.

When the senator sat beside me and closed the door, I blinked at him. “Where’s the rest of your team, sir?”

“They’ll watch Carrie today. After all, I have you with me.”

“I don’t even have my weapon, sir.” I tapped my fingers on my knee. “It doesn’t go with the clothes.”

He waved a hand. “It’s fine. I doubt we’ll be attacked at breakfast.”

“All right.” I cocked a brow and buckled up, not sure how to take the senator’s behavior. “She’ll see them in those suits.”

“I know.” He shrugged and looked out the window, gripping the side of the door so tight his knuckles showed. His entire body screamed of impatience and anger and something a hell of a lot like knowledge. “She knows they’re here now, so she won’t question it.”

Okay, he had a point, but she wouldn’t like them being there. I fidgeted with my seatbelt, but forced myself to stop. It made me look guilty—which I was. Damn it, I hated this shit. Maybe I should come clean. Spit it out. Get it over with.

He wouldn’t really cut off my father without a penny, would he? I didn’t know, and I couldn’t take that chance. If it were just me, I would open my mouth right now and tell him I loved his precious daughter. I’d accept the consequences of my actions. But with Dad months away from retirement, I couldn’t take that chance.

I forced myself to nod. “That’s true,” I said, my voice stiff sounding even to my ears. “Do you have other guys besides me out here, sir?”

He looked at me, his eyes so like Carrie’s it gave me the creeps. Even though they were the same shade, they were completely unreadable to me. He also had a way of staring me down that made me want to confess all my sins. Hard. Cold. Calculated.

He clenched his jaw. “Have you seen anyone else following Carrie lately?”

“Just thought I saw a few shadows moving.” I shrugged. “Could’ve been my imagination.”

“Keep an eye on it. As of now, you’re the only one out here.”

Thank fucking God. “I will, sir.”

He tapped his fingers on the door. “If you need backup…”

“I don’t. I’m fine.” I adjusted my seatbelt again. “If that changes, I’ll let you know.”

“Are you juggling the Marines and my daughter with ease?”

Was it just me, or was that question rife with innuendo? “Yes, sir. I have to report for duty this weekend, but I’m sure she’ll be fine without me watching her. She’s proved to have a remarkably good head on her shoulders. You must be very proud of her.”

The senator smoothed his jacket, a look of pride taking over his face. Not a smile, but the closest thing I’ve ever seen from him that wasn’t directed toward his family. “Indeed, I am.”

“As well you should be, sir.”

He looked out the window. “Your father says hello.”

I swallowed hard. Part of me had hoped he would have come here, too. I missed him. “I look forward to seeing him once I return home for the holidays.”

“He was going to come along, but something got in the way.” The senator turned away, his jaw hard but his eyes somehow softer. “Something unavoidable.”

“Oh?” I loosened my seatbelt, my heart quickening at the odd reply. I hadn’t heard from my father a whole lot lately, and it hadn’t even registered on my radar with all the other shit I had going on, but now it was glaringly clear. “And what would that be? Is everything okay with him, sir?”

He looked back my way, and the momentary flash of emotion had dissipated. The relentless politician I was accustomed to had returned. “I think that’s something you need to talk to him about.”

That didn’t sound fucking good at all. What unavoidable thing could my father have had come up? “I’ll call him after breakfast, sir.”

“Good.” Senator Wallington looked out the window again, giving me a reprieve from the nonstop scrutiny. I’d never seen the man so damned restless before. “I have to say, I had my suspicions in coming out here. Suspicions that led me to come out here directly.”

And just like that, my heart stopped beating, then painfully accelerated. “Sir?”

“I knew Carrie was hiding something. I came here because I knew she wasn’t being completely honest with me, and now I know what she’s hiding.”

My chest squeezed tight. “What would that be, sir?”

“Don’t you know already?” He leaned closer, eyeing me like a predator with its prey. “I think you do. I think you know exactly what I want to know, and you’re going to tell me every detail without leaving a single thing out.”

“I don’t know what you want to hear from me, sir,” I forced myself to say. My voice sounded pretty damn calm. I leaned back against the seat, even though I wanted to bolt and warn Carrie. My heart pounded in my ears, echoing like a drum solo in an empty room. “I’ve been doing my job. Watching your daughter. Keeping her out of trouble.”

He leaned forward and gripped my shoulder far too hard to be comforting. “Well, tell me everything you know.”

This was it. This was the fucking beginning of the end. Even knowing this, I forced myself to calmly ask, “About what, sir?”

He narrowed his eyes at me, for once not looking cold. No, he looked fucking pissed off. “Why don’t you tell me?”