He swore violently, ignoring the look that passed between his two best friends.
CHAPTER6
Of all the mornings Marin could have overslept, the Saturday before the Easter egg roll was not one of them. She was already behind on the centerpieces. Today, she and Diego were supposed to arrange the marzipan figures in the chocolate nests and build the sugar flowers that would complete the arrangements. At this rate, she’d be working until midnight.
She was late because sleep had eluded her the previous evening. Marin couldn’t seem to get the image of Anika, bloodied and unconscious, out of her head. She’d tried to call the hospital, but no one was able to give her any information on the young woman’s condition because Marin wasn’t family.
Anika wasn’t the only one haunting her thoughts last night, either. Griffin Keller’s sexy dimples kept appearing behind Marin’s eyelids every time she tried to close them. Marin’s body heated up when she recalled the feel of his hand on her lower back or his lips on her forehead. Thanks to the aggravating special agent, she’d tossed and turned until the early hours this morning.
She hurried through the northwest gate and jogged up the driveway to the North Portico steps. As she rushed past the usher’s office, the admiral’s voice halted her in her tracks.
“Chef Marin,” he called after her.
Marin swore under her breath. She couldn’t afford to waste any more time. Pasting a smile on her face, she turned to face her boss.
His expression softened at the sight of her; he took several steps to close the gap between them.
“How are you this morning, Chef?”
She was late, that was how she was. And a little bewildered at the admiral’s obvious concern.
“I heard about the incident on the Metro last night,” he explained.
Marin relaxed a fraction, fearful if she relaxed too much, she might lose her composure. “It was unpleasant,” she said. “But I’m trying not to think about it. I’ve got way too much to do today.”
He quietly studied her. “No one would blame you if you needed to take a day. You’ve had quite a week. I can call in some of the contract chefs to finish what needs to be done for Monday.”
She bristled at his words. Marin would have to be bloody and unconscious herself before she’d let contractors—or anyone else, for that matter—in her pastry kitchen—in this case, the de-facto pastry kitchen in the residence. She’d worked long and hard planning the centerpieces and desserts for this event to let someone else mess them up.
“That’s not necessary.” She lifted her shoulders. “I’m fine.”
The admiral paused a moment before he nodded. “The offer stands for as long as you need it. If there’s anything my staff can do to help out, you let me know.”
“Thank you, sir. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get to work.”
Marin had the sense he watched as she disappeared up the stairs to her third-floor office. She dumped her backpack onto her desk and reached into the closet to pull out a clean chef jacket and toque.
“The ladies in the linen room did their best to get the smoke smell out of your jackets and hats. I hope they were successful.”
She turned to see her friend, Terrie Bloodworth, standing in the doorway. Terrie was the head housekeeper for the White House. Next to the chief usher, she was the person who kept the place running like clockwork. Terrie had left her job as an executive overseeing the entire housekeeping efforts within the forty-five Chevalier hotels to come to the White House when President Manning’s predecessor was in office.
“I appreciate their efforts,” Marin said. “I’ll be sure and stop in to thank them when I get a spare minute.”
The two women headed down the stairs. “You look exhausted already.”
Marin sighed. “Trouble sleeping.”
“I heard about last night.”
“Word certainly travels quickly in this place.”
“No one’s gossiping about it, if that’s what you think,” Terrie explained. “As far as I know, the admiral, Director Worcester, and I are the only ones briefed on the stabbing. I think Agent Keller wanted to make sure you had some support today in case you needed it. He’s very thoughtful, that one.”
They passed the cosmetology room that served as both a barber shop and hair salon for the first family and headed to the center hall of the residence floor. Marin always loved to linger in the wide hallway because the large, half-moon windows at either end of the floor provided a gorgeous view of Washington. Today, she was more focused on what Terrie was saying about Griffin to take in the scenery.
“He was a hero for that poor woman, that’s for sure,” she said.
“Agent Keller is a very resourceful and dedicated agent. He cares for people. I got the sense this morning that he cares a lot about you, too.” Terrie wore a sly grin.