Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Noah was here. Really here.
Danica had never expected to see him in West Oaks again, or anywhere, really. Even though she’d thought of him often enough.
Noah Vandermeer. She was torn between elation at seeing him and frustration that it had taken this long.
He followed her into her office, and she closed the door. There wasn’t much furniture inside yet, just a desk and a small couch. A window overlooked an outdoor courtyard, with palm trees, bushes, and flowering plants creating a tangle of green with bright splashes of color.
Her father owned this building—a recent acquisition, part of some merger or other—and she was just borrowing the space.
“You can sit, if you want,” she said.
They both remained standing. Noah tucked his hands into his pants pockets, his shoulders tense in his jacket like he was ready to flee.
“I’m not going to attack the minute you let down your guard. If that’s what you’re worried about.”
“You did just call me a dumbass.”
“If you can’t guess why, then you are a dumbass.”
Noah tilted his head, the corner of his mouth lifting, and there was that dimple. She felt a tug in her stomach.
Where to even start with this man?
There was too much history to unravel between them. Danica liked to be prepared, and she hadn’t remotely been ready to see him again.
But that didn’t mean the surprise was unwelcome, as he seemed to assume.
There were questions she wanted answered, but that could wait until the ground wasn’t shifting beneath her. Between the kidnapping attempt yesterday and seeing Noah again, she’d had too many shocks in a short period.
Danica leaned against the wall. Her knees felt weak, and she didn’t want Noah to notice. In her family, weakness was something you kept to yourself.
“So you’re a bodyguard now? I didn’t even realize you were still in West Oaks.” This wasn’t entirely accurate. But she hadn’t known for sure.
“Came back after I left the Navy. I was a SEAL.”
“I know. That was what you’d always wanted.”
Danica had kept in touch with Mrs. Vandermeer, who’d sent a picture of him in his dress whites at his Trident pin ceremony. Danica had been proud of Noah. Worried for him. She’d ached for him.
But he’d been nothing to her then. Just a neighbor. Someone she’d used to know.
“You look different,” she said. “I mean, it’s been a long time, so of course you would.”
Despite the new lines around his eyes and mouth, he still had that boyish charm.
Light brown hair parted to the side. Clean-cut and preppy, with that mischievous dimple when he smiled, hinting that he could break the rules when he wanted.
A few freckles on his nose from the sun, though more than in her memory.
But he must’ve grown two or three inches and gained thirty or forty pounds of muscle since his sophomore year of college.
He looked…wow. Good was an understatement. He’d gone from boy scout to Captain America.
“You look the same,” he said. “Mostly.”
She remembered watching him at swim meets when he and Soren had been on the same competitive team. Her younger brother’s best friend. That tiny Speedo, hugging Noah’s ass.
Her skin heated as she pictured it, then imagined how well he would fill out that swimsuit now.
Danica started to laugh. Which was cathartic, considering what her last twenty-four hours had been like.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. I’m wired. Didn’t sleep much last night.”
“I can imagine. Do you want to talk about what happened yesterday?”
She pushed out a breath. This was a topic she could handle. She’d retold this story a dozen times at least, so it was getting easier.
“I’d planned to meet the director of the natural history museum, Lindley Colter, at six o’clock yesterday evening. But when my flight landed, I decided at the last minute to head to the museum early.”
“Very spontaneous. The Danica I remember would never have changed her schedule.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m a little more flexible now.” Though he was right. She liked to keep a strict routine. Danica needed that structure to keep herself focused and productive. Otherwise, she’d fall behind on her work.
Every morning, she woke up early for yoga, went on her run, then went over that day’s agenda while she had coffee. She had playlists to match every task and every mood, whether she needed to concentrate or kick back.
Reuniting with your brother’s ex-friend, who you fell for one summer and then never saw again…
Yeah, she needed a playlist for that.
“I wanted to visit the museum while it was open. To get a feel for it, since I’d never seen it in person.”
“You’d just arrived from New York?”
“Yes.” So he knew where she was living these days. But it wasn’t hard to find out.
For years, Danica hadn’t spent much time in California, even though her father still lived primarily in the house in the West Oaks hills. Usually, William came to visit her in Manhattan. And of course, Soren was there, too.
When her dad had told her the West Oaks Natural History Museum was struggling, she’d seen the opportunity to both help out and reconnect with her hometown. This would be a perfect project for your talents, her dad had said. And I’ve missed having you around.
“There was a man inside who seemed like he was watching me, and it made me uncomfortable. When I left, I asked my security detail to meet me at the back exit. But that’s when the white SUV drove in.”
The crash they’d heard had been another car ramming into her bodyguards’ Range Rover. It had all been coordinated. One car to cut her off from the security detail, another to grab her. But neither she nor the police had any idea whether that man with the neck tattoo had been involved.
She hugged her elbows, steadying herself. “When the SUV’s back door opened, I used my pepper spray. Caught the guy by surprise. Then, I ran.”
“Sounds like you were quick on the draw.” Noah had been walking closer as she spoke, a look of careful concentration on his face as he listened.
“Good thing. Otherwise, who knows where I’d be right now.” She’d seen two men in the back seat, one in the front. Without a doubt, they’d had guns.
But after she, Lindley, and Anderson had run for the beach, the SUV driver must’ve decided to cut his losses and flee. Same with the hit-and-run vehicle that had targeted her bodyguards. The police had issued alerts on those cars and plates, but the kidnappers had likely abandoned them.
Noah rested his hand on her arm, then let go, which was too bad. She’d liked that brief touch of warmth, the reassuring weight.
“I remember you and Soren both had anti-kidnapping training when we were in school,” he said.
Danica nodded. “Yeah. Joys of being our father’s kids. For the last several years, I’ve been taking martial arts classes. Jiu-jitsu and Krav Maga. I wanted to learn how to fight.”
“Those kidnappers didn’t know what they were in for.”
“Maybe.”
She didn’t tell Noah that he’d inspired her. After he’d become a SEAL, she’d thought of him often. How brave he was.
“You’re tougher than most,” Noah said. “I saw that TV interview last year.”
“You did?” She groaned.
There’d been a particular morning show where the TV hosts loved to bring on guests with opposing views.
She’d gotten drawn into an argument, and the clips of her biting responses had made the rounds on national news.
Since then, she’d had a much higher profile, going from a fixture of New York gossip rags to People Magazine and US Weekly.
Privacy was becoming a luxury, harder and harder to find.
Noah’s smile broadened. “It was hard to miss. But I tend to pay attention when I see your name.”
“After all this time?”
“It’s been a while, but I never stopped thinking about you,” he said softly.
Noah touched his lower lip, and she wondered if he was remembering what had happened between them all those years ago.
That kiss.
Her breath caught in her chest.
“Do you think they wanted ransom money?” Noah asked.
She forced her mind back to the present. “That seems most likely. But I don’t know.” She’d been going over each detail in her head since last night. So far, the picture wasn’t clear. Who they were, what they were really after.
“And your father decided to hire new bodyguards for you? What about the team with you yesterday?”
“They’re back to running regular security for my father’s house. Dad wants me to have bodyguards with special forces military training. Only the best, like you.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m supposed to meet the finalists later to make a decision.”
Danica had promised she’d keep her new detail close while she was in West Oaks. After her trip was finished, their chief of security would assess whether or not the threat was bigger. She certainly hoped not.
“Bennett Security is the best,” Noah said. “I hope we make the list. But I assume your father won’t be happy about me working there.”
She bit her lip. It was tough to say. William wasn’t the type to get involved in his children’s dramas. But her father also valued loyalty over nearly everything else.
Noah pressed his lips together. “And then there’s Soren.”
She had a better idea of how her brother would react.
He despised Noah. He’d claimed that Noah had tried to ruin his life out of jealousy, which she didn’t really believe.
But the true story was less clear because Noah had never told her.
She only knew her brother’s side, plus the pieces the media had reported in the wake of the scandal.
“Soren doesn’t make my decisions for me.”
“Dani, I’ve never wanted to come between you and your brother. That’s why you and I…cut things off.”
She huffed a laugh. “You make it sound like it was a mutual agreement. But you didn’t even give me a chance. Do you have any idea how that felt?”
“I tried. I wanted to explain.”
“Months later.” She’d ignored his voicemail because she’d been too pissed by then. “But here’s your chance. You can tell me right now.”
He opened his mouth. And nothing came out.
The man was unbelievable.
“Really? You’ve got nothing?”
“You know most of it,” he said. “As for what the media left out, I don’t see the point of dredging it all up.”
Danica walked over to her desk and put her hands down on the surface. She didn’t want to be angry at him over ancient history. But she was so sick of the people in her life not telling her the truth.
Especially the men in her life.
“I could’ve handled things better,” Noah said. “But I can’t change what happened. Right now, my biggest concern is your safety. I think Bennett Security is the best company to protect you, but only if my history with you won’t be an issue.”
Danica turned around. “Are we really talking about Bennett Security protecting me? Or you, specifically, being my bodyguard?”
Noah held her gaze. Tingles spread through her limbs. She was definitely not supposed to be thinking about how Noah’s lips had felt against hers. The way his fingers had sifted through her hair, while his other hand had pressed into her lower back. The eager strokes of his tongue.
She’d had a lot of kisses since then. Fallen in and out of love. So why did that one kiss with Noah hold such a prominent place in her memory?
Maybe because they’d never gotten to find out where it would lead.
Before Noah could answer, his phone buzzed. He looked at it. “Shit. That’s Devon, my teammate. I need to go.”
“Oh.” Now that he was here, she realized she didn’t want him to go so soon.
Even if what had happened between them was long in the past, and they couldn’t go back to change any of it, she’d missed him.
“Maybe we can finish this conversation another time,” she said. If you can be honest with me.
He smiled, his dimple winking. “I hope we’ll get the chance.”