Lara frowned at the president of the United States. “I don’t owe you any favors, Mr. President. I’ve done everything for you I possibly will. You should know that while I will honor our deal and stay out of politics, you can’t force me not to vote. It’s my legal right and my moral responsibility, and I have to say after today, I won’t be voting for you.”
Zack’s brows rose. “You see, Roman. You did this. You cost me a vote.”
“Will you please just tell her? This is the second time today I’ve had one of your women verbally beat the hell out of me. It was easier when everyone was single and all our arguments were settled with a couple of punches thrown and a round of beers. This whole new thing of setting the women on a man is bullshit,” Roman grumbled.
“If I’d known what you’d done, you would have had all three of us on your ass,” Everly added, then she regarded Lara. “We women have to stick together. It’s the only way to survive this group.”
“Ms. Armstrong, may I call you Lara since it seems we’ll be family soon?” Zack asked in that oh-so-polite way of his.
“You can call me Lara because that’s my name. I’m not marrying Connor.”
“Yes, you are.” He would take a page from Roman’s playbook. Often when something negative came up about Zack, Roman just denied and denied and rewrote the story until everyone simply believed him because it was easier than arguing.
“No . . .” Lara took a deep breath and turned back to Zack. “What else do you want from me? Tell me so I can figure out what it will take for you, your friends, and your security team to leave.”
Zack turned on the charm. He reached for her hand and put it between both of his. His gaze focused on Lara and softened. There was a reason he’d gone into politics. “Would you please serve as an emissary from me to your father? I need to apologize to him for the actions of my chief of staff.”
“I can apologize myself,” Roman said in a grumpy tone.
“You’re horrible at apologizing. I’m quite good.” Zack’s stare never left Lara. “Roman thought he was protecting me. That’s his only excuse. Please let your father know that whatever information we have on him will never be used against him. We’ll destroy it immediately. The last thing I want is for a good man to leave the Senate. We have so few of them.”
“And the website?” Connor wanted to make sure Lara got everything she wanted. “She took Capitol Scandals down.”
“Lara is free to do as she pleases. No one in this room will reveal her identity or strongarm her into shutting down again, though, please, if you don’t mind, could you stop running the stories on the size of my . . .” He cleared his throat. “While flattering, I find it takes away from serious politics.”
Lara shook her head. “You would be surprised how many women those stories bring in. I actually have data that women who read stories about the size of your penis or your sexual prowess go on to read more substantial stories forty-five percent of the time, and they become regular commentators.”
Connor didn’t like the way she was looking at Zack. Her eyes had widened and her hand was still in his. She was looking up at him like he was some kind of rock star. Zack had movie-idol looks. He wasn’t covered in scars. Zack was suave and didn’t have any trouble being romantic. Would Lara forgive him if he was more like Zack? Would Lara prefer Zack?
He moved in and snatched her hand out of his. “She won’t think about your penis anymore.”
“I always knew he would be a possessive caveman with the right woman,” Dax said with a chuckle in his voice.
Lara stood unmoving in his arms, not fighting him, but also not leaning back against him the way she used to. “I’ll talk to my dad. But I have to ask why you would do this. It’s obvious you don’t like my site and you have the leverage to take it down. I won’t stop you or fight you. So why do it?”
“Because Elizabeth threatened to tear my balls off,” Roman said. He held a hand up. “Well, not in those words exactly. She said a lot of Southern things and then she blessed my heart, which I’ve come to realize is Southern women code for ‘something bad is going to happen to a man’s balls.’”
Zack sat on Lara’s couch, crossing one leg over the other. “Despite what Roman will tell you, Elizabeth merely brought the situation to my attention. Roman often acts on his own. We’ve worked this way for years, but sometimes he becomes overly protective as he did in this case. It’s true I didn’t see the value of your site, but that doesn’t matter now. I wouldn’t have done it because it would hurt you, and hurting you would mean hurting Connor. I don’t have a lot of friends. I have sycophants and people who hang on to my coattails in hopes that I’ll do something for them. All of my life, I’ve been surrounded by people who want something from me—with five exceptions, and one of them is gone now. These men are my brothers and I would do anything for them. The minute you became involved with Connor, you stepped into my circle and that means I’ll protect you, too. I’ll protect you whether you like me or hate me or vote for the other guy.”
Lara paced and Connor could see plainly that Zack had confused her. She’d walked into this room expecting a confrontation. Instead, Zack had given her acceptance. “All right. I’ll call my father.”
Zack nodded. “Good. Please tell him I really would love to have dinner and meet his wife. Perhaps you and Connor could join us.”
“I’ll have to see about that, but thank you for clearing this up for me.” She turned to Roman. “You got the information out of my safe, didn’t you?”
“Yes. If you’re going to keep information like that around, you should protect it better.”
Connor tried very hard not to kill Roman. “I’ll upgrade the safe.”
“Or I can just make sure I don’t have people in my home who let their friends steal from me.” Lara turned and walked back toward her bedroom.
Shit.
“Dude, she’s pissed at you,” Dax said, pointing out the obvious.
Connor chose to spend his anger on Roman. “Did you have to do that to her? You really thought that was your best play? What are you going to do next, asshole? You want to kick a couple of puppies?”
“That’s your dick talking, Sparks, and you know it. When we started out, you agreed with me that she was dangerous. You were the one who promised to get the fucking site shut down in the first place. This was all your plan. I don’t see how I ended up being the villain of the piece.”
It didn’t matter that Roman was right. “Things change. Even in the middle of an op, the situation can change and you have to change with it. She’s not a danger to Zack.”
“I don’t know about that,” Roman shot back. “I found a ton of e-mails where she talks about some kind of evidence she’s collected on him.”
“Stop reading her e-mails,” Zack said quietly. “Connor’s serious about her and that means we’re all going to welcome her with open arms.”
Connor had never thought about it, but Zack really was like their Godfather sometimes. Ever since that day they’d almost been expelled from Creighton and Zack had calmly explained to the administrator why and how he would ruin the man’s life, they’d all looked at Zack as the authority figure. Connor might be the one who physically protected them, but at the end of the day, Zack was the final word.
“I like her a lot,” Everly said with a smile. “It will be really nice to have another woman around.”
“I don’t know if she’s going to be around.” Gabe’s gaze trailed back to the bedroom. “She seems pretty damn angry.”
“I don’t think she’ll be able to stay that way for long.” Dax set Lincoln down and the dog made a beeline for Connor. “She’s a very sunny woman. She’ll be angry for a few days, but as long as Connor keeps her close, she’ll come out of it and find the good in the situation. She won’t be able to help herself. She slept with you for a reason.”
“We have chemistry.”
“When I talked to her, Connor . . .” Everly began. “She glowed when she said yo
ur name. That’s more than simple chemistry. She’s in love with you. A woman in love can forgive a lot. Ask Gabe.”
“They never forget, though.” Gabe shook his head. “Be prepared for that.”
Connor picked Lincoln up, cradling the little guy to his chest. Maybe she would talk to him if he was holding her dog. At least she wouldn’t push him away. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to have her pack a bag. We’ll be staying at my place. It’s more secure. Until we figure out what the hell is going on, I’m keeping her close. I can’t risk the Russians coming after her again.”
“I would really like to take a look at whatever the new guy gave to her. I still can’t believe there are two informants,” Everly muttered.