Executive Protection(8)

“I can’t reschedule. If I reschedule that means I won’t see my family for almost a week.”

He didn’t like that answer. She saw it in his eyes. They went hard and he didn’t say anything, just fidgeted with the knife, which gave her an uneasy feeling.

She was beginning to change her mind about this one. Was he a control freak?

“Your family is very important to you,” he finally said, the intensity softening from his eyes.

“Very. I love them. We do things together all the time.”

The waitress dropped off their drinks and took their food order.

“Do you want kids?” Cam asked after she left.

She didn’t hide her enthusiasm. “Do I ever. Three.”

He smiled and the Cam she’d first met returned. “Me, too. I don’t care about the number, but I want a family.”

“And one wife?” she joked.

He laughed. “Yes. I’m a faithful man.”

“Then you’re perfect.”

He seemed to take that to heart. The way he looked at her, his brown eyes warming to almost a creepy degree, unnerved her.

“What about work?” he asked.

“I would still work.” Aside from liking her job, she needed to prove to herself and everyone else that she was capable without her father’s influence. She respected him and his well deserved reputation, but she’d work for her own, on her own.

“Wouldn’t you rather stay at home with the kids?”

“And be worthless if my husband ever left me for another woman?” She laughed at her own teasing, which he didn’t find funny. “I like my job,” she verbalized her thoughts.

“I want my wife to stay at home. I want to provide for her and my kids.”

His kids?

“I would stay home after delivery. Maybe for about six months or a year, but after that I would be itching to get back to work. I like to stay busy.”

“You don’t think kids would keep you busy?”

“Oh, I’m sure they would. But I need adult busy. Brain challenge. Catch my meaning?”

His smile faded and his eyes got that offended look again.

“Why do you want your wife to stay at home?” To control her and everything in the household?

“It’s just my idea of an ideal family. I make a lot of money. My wife shouldn’t have to work. And I don’t want my kids being raised by strangers.”

“That’s understandable. My nursing job could be flexible. I wouldn’t have to work full-time.” And maybe she wouldn’t want to. She didn’t know yet.

When she realized it felt as though she were arguing with Cam and that he’d push the issue if he were ever in a position to have a say on the matter, all-out dread brewed in her.

This was not going to work.

Their food arrived, and Lucy was no longer hungry or excited about this evening.

“Part-time would be all right with me,” he made it worse by saying.

“It wouldn’t be up to you,” she said.

This time he covered his dislike. And he did dislike her response. She could feel it in the energy between them, in the way his eyes shifted from his food to her.

“You wouldn’t take your husband’s wishes into consideration?” he finally asked.

“Would you take your wife’s into yours?” She was not putting up with this.

He surprised her by smiling and then laughing it all off. “You sure are a spitfire.”

“An independent one.” He better believe it, too.

“I like a little fight in my women.”

He still smiled, but what he said could be construed as a taste for violence. What kind of fight did he like in his women? The kind that “made” him start swinging punches if his woman didn’t act according to his warped script? Or was she reading too much into this, into him? Maybe he was only trying to get a feel for her boundaries. His ego would love to have a woman he kept at home, but that wasn’t as much of a priority as love and family. That would be the normal way of thinking in a secure man. Abnormal would be he’d resort to domestic abuse to have it his way.

Eating their dinner was awkward and she was glad when it was over and she had her own car there.

Cam tried to lighten up the conversation by talking about other things like barbecues and sporting events. He liked going to festivals, too. She didn’t reveal anything else about herself. She wasn’t sure if she was going to see him again.

He walked her to her Subaru and when he leaned in for a kiss, she allowed a brief one.

“Thank you for dinner,” she said. “It was delicious.” And it had been.

“You’re welcome.” He smiled, liking that she’d thanked him. “I’ll call you.”

She faced her car.

“I’d like to take you to a movie when you’re free. How about next Wednesday night?”

“Maybe. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“‘Maybe’? Did something upset you tonight?”

She sat in her car, shut the door and started the engine before rolling the window down a few inches.

He looked concerned. “All that talk about working and having a family didn’t upset you, did it? I’m sorry if it was too soon to start talking about something so serious.”