Protect Me Not ((Un)Professionally Yours 2)

“A lapse in judgment.” He briefly expounded on the circumstances, and Brand’s eyes narrowed, while Colby’s lips pursed, making her look more perplexed than stern. “Also, she fired an employee on Monday and the situation spiraled a bit.”

When he explained what had happened with Cassie, Brand’s face transformed into a full-on scowl, and Colby’s hazel eyes widened to the size of saucers.

“Those are rookie mistakes, Chambers.” Brand’s voice was so frigid Ty was surprised icicles didn’t form on his screen.

Ty grimaced. “I know.”

“You’ve been working this assignment, what? A year?”

“It’ll be fifteen months in a week’s time,” Ty corrected.

“I get that it’s not the most exciting detail and that the predictability could allow one to get lulled into a false sense of security, but I need you to stay sharp on this one. Not only is her brother a good friend, he’s well-connected, and influential. I don’t want anything happening to his baby sister on my watch. This ex-employee, what’s the potential threat assessment there?”

“Practically zero. She was insubordinate and, yeah, she’s a hothead, but the girl is too lazy to mastermind some kind of revenge plot against her former boss.”

“I know your talents are wasted on this assignment, Tyler.” Brand was one of the very few people who used Ty’s full name. “And I’ve already spoken to Miles about easing up on his sister’s protection detail. He’s amenable to the idea but wants to do so only after his mother’s wedding in November. He wants you with his sister while she’s carousing around the Cape getting up to God knows what. After that—both of you will be happy to learn—she’ll go back to having only a light detail, and you’ll be reassigned. Until then, I need you to stay vigilant. I won’t tolerate complacency. Your best. At all times. Got it?”

“Yes, sir.”

The call ended soon after that, and Ty was left to stare at the silver-on-navy blue Brand EPS logo that he had as the background on his laptop.

A reassignment.

The prospect should excite him, but instead it filled him with something close to dread. His last two assignments had been…challenging. Laura Prentiss had been impossible and frustrating. Working with her had been one long headache. Victoria Hollingsworth was a different kind of impossible. The job wasn’t exciting, or interesting, or particularly rewarding, and he should be happy that the end was in sight.

He should be…he was. Of course, he was.

But the prospect of starting from scratch—possibly with another demanding pop diva, or spoiled playboy, or neurotic dotcom millionaire—was draining. He groaned and scrubbed his palms over his face.

Perhaps it was time to consider a career change. He had kind of fallen into this job, initially as a favor to Brand and—Brand’s then business partner—Mason Carlisle. Ty had met them in Kabul; a couple of wise-cracking SAS guys whom Ty had shot the breeze with a few times. Both were men Ty held in high regard. Men he considered mentors and friends.

With most of his friends still on active duty—and no immediate family—Ty had felt invisible and worthless back in Texas after his medical discharge. He had just lost his best friend—Dylan Harper—and had been recuperating from an injury that had nearly taken his ability to walk. Overcoming the physical, emotional, and mental obstacles had been a slow, arduous process.

It had taken a year of hard, often excruciating, physiotherapy but he had recovered…physically. The mental and emotional recovery was very much a work in progress.

His back would never be strong enough to allow for active duty again, but when Brand and Mason had reached out to Ty offering him a job that paid very well, played off his strengths, and that he damned well knew he would be good at, Ty had happily packed his bags.

Now here he sat, six years later, nearly thirty-three years old, and feeling aimless as fuck.

He sighed; moping would solve exactly nothing. He checked the time and pushed to his feet. He shrugged into his jacket, adjusted his shirt cuffs, and headed to the door—it was time to escort Vicki downstairs.

The anticipatory curl that bloomed in his stomach at the prospect belied his earlier conviction that this job was predictable. Because while the job really was boring and predictable…

She wasn’t.

He squelched the thought, along with that annoying buzz of excitement. A few more months of this and he was out. Whether to be reassigned, or on to something completely different, was yet to be determined.

Allowing anything to further complicate the decisions he had to make before then would be foolish.

Chapter Seven

Four interviews down, and Vicki wasn’t any closer to finding Cassie’s replacement. Of course, having Ty’s silent, unsmiling presence standing in the corner behind her desk didn’t help. He was a granite sentinel, arms folded, mouth grim, gaze unflinching…

He unsettled the interviewees, hell, he even unsettled Vicki. But he was adamant about being present. Thus far, she had interviewed two recent university graduates, a wannabe florist, and—the latest candidate—a young man who seemed eager for any job that offered a stable income. Vicki sympathized with his obvious desperation but didn’t think he’d be the best fit.