Master Unchained (Stealth Guardians Book 2) by Tina Folsom

office, but the two reporters weren’t done yet.
    “Who was the hero who saved you from the falling duct?” Thom continued. “Were you at the event together?”
    “Do you have a name for us?” Meredith added. “Nobody was able to tell us who he is.”
    “I’m sorry, I really have lots of work to do,” Tessa evaded the question and tried to squeeze past the two insistent reporters.
    “Just give us something,” Meredith begged. “Speculations are already running wild.”
    Thom nodded in agreement, pen poised over his notepad. “It’s the only way you’ll get rid of us.”
    Collette suddenly shoved herself between Tessa and the two journalists. “The way to get rid of you is to call security. So off you go.”
    The path to her office clear now, Tessa headed for it and turned the knob.
    “If you don’t give us his name, we’ll just put our bloodhounds on him to find out who he is,” Thom announced.
    Tessa sighed and turned. She couldn’t risk anybody finding out that Hamish was her bodyguard. It was better to give them something. “His name is Hamish MacGregor. And he’s my boyfriend.”
    “How long have you been dating?” Thom shot back, while Meredith asked, “Is this serious? Are you planning on getting married after the mayor’s race?”
    “No comment,” she ground out, already regretting having given the two reporters the information. “Collette, can you please make sure I’m left alone this morning? Thanks.”
    “Oh, Tessa, I almost forgot, your father—”
    “Miss Wallace!” Meredith interrupted, but Tessa was already entering her office and shutting the door behind her. She pressed her forehead against the closed door.
    Through it she heard Collette’s insistent demands that the two reporters leave or she would indeed call security and have them removed. A few moments later, she heard the opening and closing of the door, then silence.
    Finally, she exhaled.
    “Tessa!”
    She shrieked and spun around. She clasped her chest and gasped for air when she saw her father rising from the wooden bench in the window niche. “Dad!” she choked out, trying to get her breath back.
    “I’m sorry, honey, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said, approaching her.
    Dressed in a business suit and dress shirt, he looked the part of the distinguished businessman he still was, even in his late sixties, though he could have retired years ago. His hair was gray at the temples, but still dark blond everywhere else. His blue eyes were vibrant and his skin tanned as a result of the many hours he spent on the golf course on the weekends. He’d been a strikingly handsome man when he was younger, but even now he was still attractive, could still turn many a head.
    Tessa walked into his arms, accepting the hug he offered. And today she really needed it. “It’s good to see you, Dad. What are you doing here so early? Shouldn’t you be at the office?”
    He released her from his embrace, and only now did she notice the deep crease in his forehead. “I would be, if it weren’t for this.” He reached for the newspaper that lay on Tessa’s desk and pointed to the headline.
    “Mystery man saves councilwoman from certain death,” he read and shook his head, exhaling sharply. “Jesus, Tessa! This is how I have to find out about it? Via the newspaper?”
    “Dad, please, as you can see, I’m fine.”
    “You should have called me last night.” He pinned her with his eyes. As a child, that same gaze had always intimidated her and made her confess all her sins. “Your mother and I nearly had heart attacks this morning.”
    “Mother doesn’t have a heart condition,” Tessa deflected.
    “That doesn’t mean that she wasn’t worried about you.”
    Tessa shrugged.
    “Well, if you don’t care how your mother feels, how about me then? Do you care so little about me that you won’t grant me the courtesy of telling me that you’re okay?”
    “Of course not, Dad. I didn’t mean that,” she said quickly,