Chapter 19

NINETEEN

Cooper

The next few weeks are pretty low key. Natalia and I fall into a comfortable routine, where she works all day and I spend my time trying to build my strength back up. The evenings, of course, are pretty phenomenal. I’m still not ready to swing from any chandeliers, but I think I’m doing a damn good job of keeping my woman satisfied.

My woman.

I like how it sounds when I say it. Well, mostly I just think it, but it’s the same thing to me.

Now that she’s gotten comfortable with the idea of being in a relationship, things are better than I imagined. The issue now, of course, is that I have to figure out whether or not to separate from the military. Before I can do that, I need to have a conversation with Sandor.

This morning I got up and went to the gym with Natalia and the others. Once she leaves to go shower, I approach Sandor. “Hey, when you have a little time, I’d like to talk.”

“I’ve got some time now,” he says, a curious look on his face. “You wanna come up to my office?”

“Sure.” I fall into step beside him as we file into the elevator.

“What’s on your mind?” he asks as the elevator doors close behind us.

“I’m considering leaving the military,” I say. “I don’t have a plan yet, but if I were to stay here, I’d need a job.”

Sandor is quiet for a moment. “What, specifically, are you asking of me?” He asks. “I’m not trying to be a dick, I just don’t want to make any assumptions.”

“I don’t know what my options are,” I say cautiously. It feels presumptuous to assume they would consider me Royal Protector material.

Sandor knits his brows together and eyes me. “I think we both know what your options are,” he says. “The only question is whether or not you’re willing and able to pledge your life and loyalty to king Erik.”

“I don’t know enough about it,” I admit. “You explained a little bit about what you needed when you sent Natalia to me in Iraq, and of course I’ve seen quite a bit of what you do in the month I’ve been here, but I’m not sure I understand the full spectrum of responsibility.”

“Are you willing to die for Erik, Casey, and the kids?” he asks bluntly.

“I was willing to die for Uncle Sam,” I reply wryly. “And he doesn’t even exist.”

“If you’re serious about this, we can talk more. I’d have to bring in Erik, Daniil, and Joe for a more in-depth conversation.”

I nod. “Absolutely. I really want to understand more about both what would be expected of me and how the process works. I know Natalia has had to go through extensive training.”

“A lot of what Natalia has had to do is because she came to the military with zero experience. She didn’t even know how to hold a gun, much less hand-to-hand combat or how to react in a crisis. None of that applies to you, considering your experience. There are other things you’d need to do, though, and while the list isn’t expansive it’s intense. You’d have to learn the basics of the language, our customs, and what I specifically require of the Royal Protectors. Not to mention two major questions you have to ask yourself.”

“Which are?” I ask, curiously.

“First and foremost, do you love Natalia?”

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it?

Do I love her?

I think so.

But we haven’t said the words yet, so I’m not sure. “It’s still new,” I say, slowly, “but it’s going in that direction.”

“Alright, well, the second question is whether or not you’re willing to leave the U.S. behind and become a Limaji citizen. You don’t have to give up US citizenship, but you’d have to have dual citizenship, and that could impact your ability to work for your government in the future.”

I hadn’t considered officially becoming a citizen of Limaj. “I have to think about that one,” I say after a moment. “I hadn’t thought about citizenship.”

“Fair enough. If you still want me to set something up, I’ll talk to Erik and do what we’ll call an interview. So you can ask questions and have the answers you need to think about what you want to do.”

I nod. “Great but will you do me a favor and not say anything to Natalia until we’ve come to some sort of agreement? I don’t want to get her hopes up until I’ve made a decision.”

Sandor nods. “Absolutely.”

“I think after what happened to Logan, she’s skittish,” I say carefully, not wanting to share anything too personal, “so we’re taking our time.”

“That’s smart. Just don’t take too long, because strong women take some nudging in the direction they want to go. Take it from a man who married one.”

“I do have one more question,” I say as we pause in front of his office.

“Sure,” he nods.

“How much does this gig pay?”

He smiles.

The number he gives me almost makes my mouth fall open.

Holy shit.

That’s a lot of fuckin’ money.

People aren’t kidding when they say you can do well in the private sector. “Thanks,” I say, when I can finally find my voice. “I appreciate your time.”

“I’ll let you know when I can set up a meeting.”

“Great.”

I turn and head in the opposite direction, still reeling from the conversation. I’d been contemplating a change, but I hadn’t anticipated having something like this fall into my lap so quickly.

But it feels right.

* * *

Sandor sets up the interview for two days later, and we gather in one of the small conference rooms. I’m not easily intimidated, but Erik is a king, Sandor and Daniil are princes, and Joe Westfield a legend in marine circles. Sitting here with the four of them staring at me is a little unnerving. I’m probably more awed than intimidated because it’s not every day you have a job interview with honest-to-goodness royalty.

“I understand you’re interested in learning more about becoming a Royal Protector,” King Erik says to start things off.

“Yes sir,” I reply, nodding. “I have a lot of questions.”

“We’ll answer all of them,” Joe says, “but first we have some questions of our own. As well as things for you to think about.”

“Don’t be offended,” Sandor says, opening the file in front of him, “but we did full background checks on everyone in your unit before we sent Natalia to you.”

I nod.

“I figured the royal family would do something like that.”

“Since we spoke the other day,” he continues, “I dug into your past quite thoroughly.”

I shrug, “I don’t have anything to hide.”

“Obviously there are no red flags, or you wouldn’t even be here,” Joe says. “But from everything we’ve discovered, you appear to be on track to stay in the military until you retire. Does your sudden change of heart have to do with what happened to you in Iraq?”

“That’s a fair question, and the answer is both yes and no. You guys know my friend Louis Faulk. He’s been trying to get me into the NSA for a couple years. But one of the things that’s been on my mind is money. I don’t need a lot because I’ve been deployed most of my career, squirreling away most of what I have. But if I were to get married, start a family, buy a house… Well, my salary isn’t going to go that far. So making a change has been in the back of my mind—I just haven’t had any incentive to do it.”

“Natalia is an amazing young woman,” Erik says, quietly. “But loving her cannot be your reason for becoming a Royal Protector.”

“Absolutely not,” I say firmly. “That’s why I’m here. I understand this would be a huge commitment.”

I think that’s the right answer because I see Sandor and Daniil share a quick look of what appears to be approval.

“What else are you considering?” Joe asks.

“A job with Westfield & Carruthers would allow me to pick and choose assignments so I could fly back and forth, maybe even get some bodyguard work in Europe to keep me closer.”

“If that’s on your mind, why the Protectors?” Daniil asks bluntly.

“I started thinking about becoming a Protector after the first drill, when I’d only been here a few days. The intensity, precision, and dedication are impressive. And I see how devoted everyone is. It’s like a family here, and while I have that with my current unit, from what I hear we’re going to be split up if I go to Hawaii.”

“What happens if things don’t work out between you and Natalia?” Sandor asks bluntly.

“I’m not sure,” I admit, “but I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t as positive as I could be that this is going to work out.”

“Are you willing to take a bullet for me and my family?” Erik asks.

“Like I told Sandor, I’ve spent the last decade or so willing to take bullets for my country. It feels a lot more meaningful to do it for specific people you like and respect.”

“So far, we like everything we’ve heard,” Sandor says. “But you realize we’re going to talk to Natalia about this as well, right?”

“Absolutely,” I respond. “Just please give me a chance to talk to her about it first. I made reservations to take her to dinner at the Eiffel Tower Thursday night. Joe said it would be okay for us to get away for a couple of hours to do that.”

Erik scowls. “Dammit, man. When my wife finds out, you’ll be making me look bad.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Sandor warns him.

Erik shakes his head. “Last time I checked I was your boss, not the other way around.”

Sandor doesn’t seem impressed. “Yeah, but my job is literally to keep you alive and dinner at the Eiffel Tower is a huge security risk.”

“My wife hates you,” Erik deadpans.

“Whatever,” Sandor shrugs. “As long as the two of you are alive you can hate me all you want.” Then he turns to me. “This is the really fun part of the job,” he says.

I chuckle. “I see that.”

“I have a proposal,” Joe interjects. Everyone looks at him. “How about we do a trial run in Paris?”

“I like it,” Daniil says, nodding.

“Good idea,” Erik agrees.

“What exactly does that mean?” I ask.

“It means we fit you with a weapon and an earpiece,” Sandor says, “and you work security along with the rest of us the night of the ball.”

“You and Natalia will still be a couple out on a date,” Joe adds, “but you’ll get an inside look at how we handle security for events like this and a feel for what we do in the real world.”

“I’d like that,” I say. “And I really appreciate you giving me a chance to prove myself. I’m still not one hundred percent physically, but I’m getting there.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Sandor says, shaking his head. “Even if we officially hired you today, you wouldn’t get any kind of duty shifts until multiple doctors have cleared you.”

“Thank you. All of you.”

“If you were to decide to sign on, when do you anticipate officially separating from the military?” Sandor asks.

“As soon as I’ve secured another job.”

“We probably won’t make a decision until we’ve had multiple meetings and you’ve had time to take it all in,” Joe says. “Remember, you’d be pledging fealty to the leader of a foreign country for life. We only want people here who want to be here.”

“I understand,” I respond.

“We’ll be in touch,” Erik says. “Thank you for meeting with us.”

Looks like I’ve been dismissed.

I nod and head out.

I have a lot to think about.

Dual citizenship.

A lifetime commitment.

Learning a new language and spending the rest of my life putting the royal family’s safety before anything else.

As crazy as I am about Natalia, this may be more than I bargained for.

If I move here to be with her, but don’t become a Royal Protector, she’ll never put me first. The job will always be her priority, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. And if I do decide to take the leap, and both of us are Protectors, what kind of relationship will we have knowing our priority will always be the royal family?

It’s problematic, but the bigger problem is how I feel about her.

And I have to find a way to reconcile the two before I can make any kind of decision.