Protecting Lulu (Global Protection Agency) (18 page)

Noah
sat in the chair Benny had vacated. “Did you check his employment records?”

“Yeah,
he’s legit.” Mark typed on his laptop. “He did a tour in Iraq with the Army
reserves and was hired on here a couple months ago. He lives in Queens and
lists a mother in Saratoga and a sister in Chicago. Nothing else.”

Lulu
sat back in her chair. She had one more meeting before she could call it a day.
It was seven and outside her window she could see Times Square lit and ready
for the night. “George Clooney,” Aiden said looking up from his iPad resting on
the table in front of him. “He’s busy until the end of March. But his agent
says April is a definite yes.”

“Okay,”
Lulu said. “Give him three or four dates to choose from and have them get back
to us ASAP. What about that girl from the Mike and Molly show? Is she
available?” Lulu scribbled on the calendar in front of her. She’d been working
on the list of guests for the next two months before she took her summer
hiatus. “You know Hilary Clinton and I have been trying to do a show on the
women in government. Let’s nail her down.”

Aiden
continued down the list. “Melissa McCarthy is booked through June. Now that
she’s retired, you and Oprah can have a love fest. Oh I’ve got this great idea
for a show in Fiji.” He continued down the list of names he’d already scheduled
and confirmed. They just had a couple holes in the schedule, which should be
easy enough to fill. When he was done, Lulu smiled. Her slate was almost done
for the year.

“I
want to do some more serious episodes,” Lulu said. “Do you have any ideas?”

“Don’t
kill the messenger.”

“Sweetie,
throw it out there.” She had a suspicion on what he was about to say.

“Maybe
we should do something a little more personal,” he said.

“Like
what?”

“Do
you know how many people are stalked at any given time?”

“I’m
okay with that, but not until this is over.”

He
reached over and patted her hand. “How are you doing?”

She
hesitated a moment, opened her mouth and then closed it.

“Listen
you don’t have to put on a brave face for me.” He pulled his handkerchief out
of his breast pocket. “I’m armed and ready.”

She
sighed. “I don’t know if I’m more afraid for myself or for Aunt Julia, Wilder
or Grandma Penny.”

“We’ll
get through this,” Aiden said kindly. “You always do. You’re a lot tougher than
you think you are.”

“I
know. I just want this all to be over.” Lulu tried not to be afraid, but she
could only keep the fear at bay for so long. “You know me. Drama is only fun
when I create it.”

“Look
at the bright side,” Aiden said.

“I
had to buy ugly shoes. There’s a bright side?”

“Twenty-four
seven you are surrounded by some really hot looking men.”

She
grinned. “There is that.” Her thoughts drifted to Noah. He was the most
exasperating man she’d ever known.

“How
is Mr. Callahan doing?” Aiden asked, a little too casually.

Oh
that old gossip.
He just wanted the inside track. “Why do you ask?”

“You’re
the one kissing on him and I have to know. He’s so not your type.”

“I
don’t have a type,” Lulu objected. But she did have a type. She liked nice men.

“Of
course you do.”

“What
is my type?” she asked Aiden curiously. That he’d given any thought to her type
of man surprised her. Usually he was busy analyzing his own type of date.

“Pretty,
able to be led around by the ring in his nose. Gives in to your every whim.”

What
was wrong with that?
“What makes you think Mr. Callahan doesn’t give in to my every whim?”

He
grinned and pointed at her feet. “You’re wearing ugly shoes.”

“They
are for my protection,” she replied loftily. Though she agreed with the ‘ugly’
part of the comment. She tried not to look at her feet or the way the shoes
looked on them.

His
iPhone dinged and he glanced at it. “The laptops you ordered for P.S. 135 will
be there in the morning for Career Day.”

“Good,”
she replied. “I have a whole truck load of goodies for the kids.”

“They’ll
like that. So. Back to Mr. Callahan.”

“I
don’t know.”

“Okay,
that’s bad,” Aiden said with a grin.

“What?”
Because if she didn’t have a line on the man, well then, she was confused. And
Lulu didn’t do confused. It messed with her complexion.

“If
you don’t know, then you really, really, really like him.”

“We
have nothing in common,” Lulu said.

“You’re
a girl, he’s a boy. What more do you need?”

That
wasn’t going over well with her. “You’re a boy, too.”

Aiden
shrugged. “You can’t date me. I’m working on being taken. Besides, you have too
much ego.”

Lulu
hadn’t been perplexed about men since she was eight. Her father had been her
first conquest. She’d known how to get around him and get what she wanted with
simply a smile and a kiss on his cheek. But Noah wasn’t going to give her what
she wanted no matter how many kisses and smiles she gave. That excited her. She
felt challenged and intrigued. “The reality of this situation is that if I
weren’t being stalked, I would never have met someone like him. Men like that
don’t show up in my world.”

Aiden
clutched his chest. “Oh my God! Lulu Bennington, deep down inside, you’re kind
of a snob.”

“You
know money, breeding and social standing mean nothing to me. I dated a hockey
player.”

“With
the best teeth money could buy.”

Lulu
had been happy to get him back with his wife. “Noah is just so masculine.” He
bordered on dangerous.

“They
all are,” Aiden said.

“He’s
so strong and so…so…” she couldn’t figure out the right word.

“Rough,”
Aiden supplied for her. “I wonder if he’d be all commando in bed.”

“You’re
thinking about Mark,” Lulu leaned forward.

Aiden
grinned, a faraway look in his eyes. “Yeah. Oh girl. We’ve got it bad.”

They
both broke into a fit of giggles. For the first time in days she felt almost normal.
She was in control of her world and she just had to worry about regular things.
How she missed those days.

“So,”
Aiden leaned toward her, “how does he kiss?”

“On
a scale of one to ten…seven hundred and fifty seven.” She closed her eyes
remembering the kisses, the way her body reacted, the warmth of his closeness.

“Here’s
my advice,” Aiden said. “You work this until you get what you want.”

“Sweetie,”
Lulu said, “that man is putting up walls like he’s China and I’m the Mongol
hordes.”

Aiden
snapped his fingers. “You are Lulu Bennington. You get what you want.”

Maybe
not this time, she thought. “Back to Career Day,” she said changing the subject,
“we do have the clothing coming, too. My babies have to be warm.”

“You’d
make a great mom.”

“I’d
need a sperm donor,” she said with a grin.

Noah
opened the door and walked in.

“Speak
of the devil,” Aiden whispered.

Noah
stopped in mid-stride, a look of confusion on his face. “You need the devil for
what?”

“Gird
your loins,” Aiden said, “tomorrow you’re facing hordes of grade-schoolers.”

“Yeah,”
Noah said, “and a security nightmare.”

“I
can guarantee none of them are trying to kill me,” Lulu said.

“I
can’t get over the fact you went to school there.” Noah shook his head.

“Aunt
Julia isn’t very conventional.”

“I
couldn’t tell,” Noah said.

“She
didn’t want us to grow up not understanding who we were and our
responsibilities to the world. I spent three years there and Wilder went to a
public high school. If Uncle Hiram had won the custody suit for me and Wilder, my
life would be very different,” Lulu said wryly remembering the ugly battle
between Julia and her half-brother even though her parents will had spelled out
who should get custody of her and Wilder. Julia barely won. Uncle Hiram hadn’t
been interested in Lulu or Wilder he’d wanted to control the money.

“I’m
happy Aunt Julia won. If Uncle Hiram had won he’d have sent us to some boarding
school in the Alps, hoping we’d freeze to death or die in an avalanche so he’d
have a clear claim to our money.”

“If
he were still alive, he’d be number one on my suspect list.”

Grandpa
Bennington had been married three times with one child from each marriage. Lulu’s
father had been the firstborn, Uncle Hiram the second, and Aunt Julia the baby
of the family.

“If
Grandpa weren’t such a randy old goat,” Aiden said, “you wouldn’t have had to
pay off Uncle Hiram.”

“Thirty
million dollars is a lot of money,” Noah said. “But I can’t help but feel its
pocket change for you.”

“It
was thirty million dollars cash,” Lulu offered. “Even though Uncle Hiram wanted
the whole shebang, he settled for the money. Otherwise, Aunt Julia would have
brought up some of his more interesting associations.”

“Such
as,” Noah asked curiously.

She
was never really sure, but hated being out of loop, so she told a bit of a lie.
“Twenty years ago the world was not ready to hear about Uncle Hiram’s
activities and I’m not ready to divulge them.” Though she remembered a
conversation between Julia and Hiram where Julia told him that if he took her
to court, she would make sure the whole world knew about his dirty little
secrets. Uncle Hiram had backed off then.

“That’s
because you don’t know,” Aiden said. “I’ve been trying to get the info out of
Julia for years and she won’t tell me. If she won’t tell me, I know she
wouldn’t tell you.”

Lulu
winced. Busted by her assistant. She might just have to fire him.

Noah
made a note on his iPad. “Do you two practice this routine or does it come to
you naturally?”

Lulu
exchanged a look with Aiden. “We’ve been together so long, we’re just like an
old married couple.”

Aiden
glanced at Noah. “Apparently I’m sharing with you.”

“Aiden,”
Lulu said sharply.

He
stood up and gave them a sly smile. “All right. I have work waiting for me. I’ll
leave you two alone. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” He sauntered out of
Lulu’s office.

“Why
do I get the feeling that statement gives me a lot of flexibility?” Noah said.

Lulu
ignored his comment. “Did you need to talk to me about something?”

“I
just wanted to go over the security for the trip to the school tomorrow.”

That
sounds like so much fun
, Lulu thought. What she really wanted to do was kiss him
and run her hands over his short-cropped hair. She pulled back. She wanted him.
He called to her. But every time she pushed to get closer, he backed away. Her
head told her to leave him alone because he was too risky. But her heart
demanded she take the risk.

“You’ve
got a strange look on your face,” Noah said.

“Is
it unattractive?”

He
answered her question with another question. “What are you planning?”

“Nothing
important,” she replied.

“Should
I be nervous?”

She
waved her hand at him. “You’ll be fine.” Smiling she tuned him out as he went
over the security for the next day while she figured out just how she was going
to seduce him. She ran a number of scenarios through her mind. Aiden told her
to get what she wanted and she wanted him. He was just going to take more
planning than most other men.

She
nodded her head in all the appropriate places, one ear listening to him while
she planned her campaign of seduction.

A
knock sounded on the door and E.J. poked her head in. “Harrison wants to know
if you can spare a few minutes for him. He’s in the conference room.”

Noah
stood, nodded at Lulu and stepped out into the hall.

“You
look miffed,” Harrison said when Noah entered the conference room.

Noah
stopped. “Miffed? I look miffed? Miffed is a term a woman would use. I’m pissed
off. Good and pissed off. I think pissed off is a much better phrase.”

“Okay,
you look pissed off,” Harrison said mildly.

The
conference room was strewn with piles of paper, open laptop computers and trays
of glasses set around pitchers of ice water. Noah hoped no one would need the
room anytime soon.

He
poured himself a glass of water and sat down across from Harrison.

“Have
you noticed that E.J. is looking…like a girl.” Noah complained. When had he
lost control of the situation?