Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Noah ran a full lap around the neighborhood before he found Danica. Just like the last time, she and her bodyguard Rosie were keeping pace side by side.
He fell in next to them. “Morning, Dani. Morning, Rosie.”
“Hi, Noah.” Danica’s eyes met his.
He got the feeling she was trying to telegraph something to him, though he couldn’t imagine what.
She’d written him during the night, asking if he was going to run in the morning. He’d said yes, but then she hadn’t texted further. It had been very mysterious. First thing after he’d woken, he’d dressed in his running gear and driven here from his condo.
“What’s up?” Noah asked. He wondered if she was ready to discuss whatever had been bothering her the last time they’d spoken.
“Just felt like a run. I didn’t get one yesterday.” She glanced back at her bodyguard and frowned. Like she was worried about Rosie overhearing.
What the heck was going on?
“Dani…”
“Want to race?” Danica took off, a coy smile suddenly playing at her lips, saying, Catch me.
He didn’t understand any of this. But he ran after her without even making a conscious decision. When a woman like her looked at him that way? It was kind of a base instinct.
They rocketed up the next hill, then slowed to a walk. She put a hand on his arm, and his heart turned over in his chest.
“I need to talk to you,” she murmured. “In private.”
“Yeah?” He didn’t look back at Rosie, but he remained aware of the bodyguard’s constant presence.
“It’s sensitive. I might need your help.”
Now, he was all business. “Why? What happened?”
“In private,” she whispered, lips barely moving.
He had an idea. They kept walking. His hands fidgeted as if he were nervous.
“Dani, I need to tell you something.” Noah had raised his voice so Rosie wouldn’t miss it. “I just have to put this out there.”
“Oh…kay.”
“I still have feelings for you.”
Danica turned sharply to look at him, eyes bugging. “What?”
He lifted one eyebrow slightly. Play along.
“Oh. Oh. Wow.”
“Can you put a guy out of his misery? Have I got any chance?”
“I don’t know. It’s really sudden.”
Noah held back an eye roll. She wasn’t making this easy.
“Can we at least talk about it before you shoot me down?” he asked.
Her lips screwed up thoughtfully. “Sure. Let’s talk. Tell me about these feelings of yours.” She was coming awfully close to sarcasm.
“What I need to say is pretty personal. About to open my heart, here.”
Danica sighed. “Rosie, could I get a minute with Noah? In private?”
Rosie’s eyes darted around. “I’m not supposed to let you out of my sight line when we’re outside the house.”
“It’ll just be for a minute,” Noah said. “This way.” He grabbed Danica’s hand. As soon as a narrow dirt path appeared, branching away from the road, he tugged her onto it. Trees and bushes hemmed them in.
“Remember this?” he asked.
“Yeah. Aren’t we trespassing?”
“Technically. I’m sure the Larsons will forgive us.”
It was a shortcut kids in the neighborhood had used back in the day.
Noah assumed it was still active because the path was fairly clear and not totally overgrown.
But the Larsons were only in West Oaks one month out of the year, anyway.
Their house was empty the rest of the time, so they weren’t around to complain.
A twig snapped. Rosie had followed them, but she was staying back to give them privacy.
They reached a small clearing. Danica spun around to face him.
“What was that all about?” she whispered.
“You said you wanted to talk in private. That was the fastest way. Though you could’ve been slightly more enthusiastic. Can’t even pretend to like me?”
“I didn’t want it to be completely obvious that I was bullshitting.”
Ouch. But he could tell from her slight smile she was teasing him. “Now that you’ve declared your feelings, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
She leaned back against a tree trunk. “Something happened yesterday. I saw one of the men who I think tried to kidnap me.”
“What? Where?”
Danica put a finger to his mouth, shushing him.
Her eyes were turned up to him. She was so close he saw the tiny beads of sweat above her eyebrows, on her upper lip.
“Outside the museum. But my bodyguard and my security chief are suddenly acting like I’m crazy.
I want to investigate the kidnapping attempt on my own. ”
“You don’t trust Blake?” Noah hadn’t minded the man when they met. He was surprised Blake—or anyone—would be dismissive of her.
“I don’t know. Blake has been loyal to my family for years. The real problem is, he’s acting like he doesn’t trust me. Same with my father.”
“And Rosie?”
“She’ll report it back to Blake. And I…I have this feeling. Like there’s something they aren’t telling me.”
“Based on what?”
“The people who tried to kidnap me knew my schedule. The more I think about it, the less likely it seems that someone outside my inner circle would know when I’d be at the museum on Friday. If I hadn’t shown up early? Those assholes might’ve been successful in snatching me.”
“You’re saying someone leaked your schedule?”
“Maybe?” Her teeth pressed into her lower lip. “It sounds paranoid. I hope I’m wrong. But I want to find out, and I need someone in my corner. I thought of you.”
“I asked you to tell me what I can do, and I meant it. Whatever you need.” His fingers itched to touch her, and he decided to give in to the urge. Noah brushed her hair from her forehead, and the plaintiveness in her gray eyes tore at his heart.
Bad idea, he told himself. Be her friend. Don’t go imagining that you’ll ever be more.
Danica was breathing hard, like she found their closeness as distracting as he did. Her breasts rounded at the top of her sports bra. “You don’t know what a relief it is to have someone listen to me.”
“I’ve got work today, but I’ll clear my schedule.” He’d call Tanner and figure something out. “Let’s head to my family’s house, and we’ll talk it through. Everything you’re concerned about.”
She exhaled. “Okay. Good. I’ll skip going in to the museum this morning, too.”
Noah looked over his shoulder at Rosie, who was waiting patiently with her hands behind her back, gaze averted. “Your bodyguard will think we’re going to my place to hook up.”
Danica’s mouth opened as she laughed. “Hardly. I’ll tell her I needed to let you down easy.”
Behind them, Rosie coughed. “Um, Ms. Foster-Grant? I’m getting questions about our route. They can see we’ve been…stopped a while. From my location.”
Danica stifled a grin. “We’re almost done.”
“But I was asked not to deviate from your usual path.”
Danica’s smile turned wooden. “Who asked you that? Blake?”
“No, your father.”
“Why would my dad care about my run?”
“It was one of the security protocols he put in place.”
Danica’s eyes met Noah’s. She looked pissed. “Let’s go,” she said tightly.
They backtracked along the path to the road. Noah jogged next to her, Rosie bringing up the rear.
“Rosie, I’m going to Noah’s for a bit,” Danica said.
“That wasn’t on your schedule for today.”
“Then I’ll put it on my schedule,” she snapped, cheeks reddening. “Am I a prisoner suddenly?”
She sprinted ahead.
“Dani, wait.” Noah pushed off his back foot, arms and legs pumping. Rosie picked up the pace behind him to catch up.
Trees flashed past. The road curved, snug against the cliffside. Waves roared into the rocks far below.
Noah heard an engine. A white paneled van barreled downhill along the road, only its roof visible from his vantage point.
They’d seen a white work van when they’d been running on Sunday. Hadn’t they? Was it the same one?
Danica had rounded the curve. He couldn’t see her anymore.
This felt wrong. Bad, bad, bad, his pulse pounded.
Every instinct screamed. Shit was about to go down.
He raced around the curve. Danica had stopped on the side of the road. She’d seen the van now, too.
Noah sprinted toward her. The vehicle had almost reached her.
It sped up. Like it was racing him.
Fuck.
The van screeched to a stop beside her.
He was only seconds away. But everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.
A gloved hand reached from the van’s open side door, followed by a set of bulky shoulders. A ski mask.
No.
Danica’s arm shot out to block the attacker’s attempt to grab her. She ducked and twisted away, her foot kicking out. The man fell back into the van.
Danica threw herself into the brush at the far side of the road just as Noah reached the van. Through the vehicle’s open door, he caught a quick glimpse of the barrel of a pistol.
“Gun,” he shouted. He leaped back toward Rosie, and both of them dove for the asphalt. The same moment, a shot rang out.
The engine roared, tires peeling. He and Rosie both scrambled upright. The bodyguard drew her weapon and fired at the retreating vehicle. The rear glass spidered, but the van didn’t slow.
Noah searched the brush frantically for Danica.
Then she screamed, and he saw her further down the slope below.
She was rolling down the steep hillside, heading straight for the drop-off into the ocean.