Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Danica greeted the donors, making sure they felt welcomed. She and Lindley talked up their plans for the museum renovation. But from the corner of her eye, she was watching Noah.
Of all the people in this room, all the people in the world, she most wanted to be right next to him.
It had nothing to do with the fact that he was her bodyguard. She just wanted to see his dimple when he smiled. To tease him. Kiss him.
Make love with him, like they had last night.
When she looked at Noah, she kept hearing that epic swell of soundtrack music. The signal in a cheesy movie that the two romantic leads would never let the other go.
And that depth of feeling, welling up from within her, was really starting to scare her.
Danica wanted things that just weren’t possible. Not because of her family—she hardly cared what they thought—but because of the life she and Noah had each chosen. She traveled all the time, and he stayed put. Her home base was the East Coast, and he was on the West.
She was so close to falling for him. And that would only guarantee she’d get her heart broken.
Yet she couldn’t bear to stay away from him, either.
Noah finished his conversation with Tanner and returned, sliding his arm around her waist. She introduced him to the donor she’d been chatting with.
“I’m her boyfriend,” Noah said, the lie flowing so easily from his lips. Lying for her.
Noah had been the one to point out that they couldn’t end up in bed together. But he’d been willing to break that rule as well.
I won’t say no, he’d said. Yeah. No kidding.
She had to be the strong one when it came to their attraction. But her heart was getting whiplash from the mixed signals she’d been giving it. Pushing him away, only to pull him close again.
Right at this moment, Noah’s arm around her waist was excruciating, even though it would’ve torn her apart to see that arm around anyone else.
Her chest tightened. She struggled to get enough air.
Damn it. This wasn’t like her. She didn’t let men distract her from her job and her responsibilities. But when it came to Noah, she was an absolute mess.
“Would you excuse me?” she asked, interrupting what the donor had been saying. She hadn’t been paying attention anyway. “I’m so sorry, but I need to dash away. Grab another drink, and I’ll catch up with you later?”
The donor nodded politely, walking toward the open bar.
Noah looked over at her with concern. “Everything okay?”
He was probably thinking she was worried about the kidnappers. And she was, at the back of her mind. But the museum was crawling with security, both Valoris and Bennett. If anything, she felt too surrounded.
Noah was too close, and also much too far away, and she had to get her head on straight.
“I just need to stop by the ladies’ room. Stay here, keep being charming with the donors for me. I’ll be right back.”
As she crossed the room, Danica nodded at Rosie, who followed her. Rosie had been sticking fairly close to her all evening, as Blake had no doubt instructed.
She wondered if Rosie’s colleague had mentioned last night. At least the Valoris team would believe their romance cover story. Though hopefully, they hadn’t heard too much. She and Noah hadn’t exactly been trying to stay quiet.
Her skin flushed as she remembered how he’d felt inside of her. How he’d moaned her name. How he’d wanted to fuck her with his tongue, and god she wanted that too, even though it would mean letting down her barriers completely.
Danica was washing her hands at the bathroom sink when Lindley came inside. A partygoer left at the same time, and Danica and Lindley were the only ones there.
“Everything’s going perfectly, don’t you think?” Lindley asked. “The food, the music. The donors seem really impressed with the renovation plans.”
Danica nodded. “Thank you for all the work you’ve put in. Especially with me being unavailable a lot of this week.”
“Are you kidding? It was my pleasure. None of this would’ve happened without you.” Lindley gave her a fond smile in the mirror. “Oh, I almost forgot. I got the strangest text a little while ago. Do you know someone named Tori Peterson?”
“Tori? She works for my father’s chief of security.”
Why on earth would Tori be texting Lindley?
“See for yourself.” The museum director took out her phone and showed Danica the message.
My name is Tori Peterson, and this message is for Danica Foster-Grant. I need to speak with her urgently. But please keep this request private. It’s a sensitive matter.
Anxiety flooded Danica’s stomach. “I don’t get it. Tori didn’t say anything to me.” She checked her own phone, but saw no message. She wondered how Tori had even gotten Lindley’s number.
A sensitive matter. Could it have something to do with Danica’s father?
“What’re you going to do?” Lindley asked.
“Talk to her. I have to. It could be important.” Why else would Tori go to the trouble of speaking to a third party like Lindley?
Was Tori afraid of the message being intercepted?
If the “sensitive matter” was about her dad, Danica had to know.
She sent off a quick text to Tori, asking if this was a good time to call. “I need to see if she calls back,” Danica said. “Could you go back out with the donors? One of us should be there.”
“Yeah. Of course.” Lindley’s expression was bewildered, but she did as Danica asked.
Dani paced in front of the sinks, waiting for a response. With each second that passed, the more her anxiety grew. What did Tori need to tell her?
A couple of donors came into the bathroom, smiling at Danica. She chatted with them when they spoke to her.
Finally, a text came in. Tori had asked her to call.
Danica pushed out of the bathroom. Rosie caught her eye and joined her. She must’ve seen the look of uncertainty on Danica’s face. “Anything I can do for you, ma’am?”
Danica glanced at the entrance to the exhibits. “I just need a moment for a phone call. Someplace private. The exhibits are secured, right?”
“Yes, ma’am. We made sure those spaces were cleared and blocked off as you requested.”
Danica and Lindley had wanted to focus the donors’ attention on their new plans tonight, rather than the old exhibits that might soon change.
“Good. I’ll just be a few minutes.”
A velvet rope blocked the walkway, and she unhooked it to go past. Rosie waited just on the other side.
Danica walked into the hall of evolution, then turned a corner, entering the maze-like exhibit rooms.
The lights were dimmed, and her heels clicked against the hard floor. Her sore ankle twinged, but she’d been wrapping it with a sports bandage. It was nothing compared to the rest of the stress she was under.
Arrows showed the path for guests to follow. Danica ventured further in. If she was going to talk to Tori, she didn’t want this overheard.
The noise of the party faded away. Danica stopped in front of a huge fossil of a tyrannosaurus footprint.
She pulled up Tori’s contact and called her.
The phone rang and rang. The shrill noise was loud in her ear, but the exhibit around her seemed like it was frozen in time. Fossilized skeletons cast strange shadows across the floor, and brightly colored illustrations of Mesozoic plant life created an uncanny backdrop.
The ringing stopped.
“Hello? Danica?” Tori was speaking quietly. Almost a whisper.
“Hi. I got your message. What’s going on?”
“I was hoping we could meet.”
“Now? I’m at the gala. At the museum.”
“I know. I’m nearby. Can I meet you there?”
“Well, I guess. I can let security know to allow you inside.”
“Where will you be?”
“I’m in the exhibit halls. But—”
The phone made a noise. The call had ended. She couldn’t tell if Tori had hung up, or if the connection had dropped.
Danica tried calling back, but it didn’t go through.
Her phone said No Service.
Suddenly, despite Rosie’s assurances, Danica didn’t feel so secure. She was thinking of the other day. How her phone had showed No Service shortly before the first kidnapping attempt.
I need to get back to Noah.
She started back toward the lobby. But the maze of rooms seemed like it had tripled in length. The path kept extending, and she started to run, tracing the arrows backward as they took her from one space to the next.
Had she already come through here? Had she taken a wrong turn?
She entered a new room, and Danica’s heart jumped into her throat.
Someone was standing there in the shadows.
“Hello?”
Then she realized it was just her reflection. A glass case was acting like a dark mirror, and Danica was seeing herself.
She exhaled. That had really scared her.
But as she stepped forward, a different shape emerged in the reflection.
The shape of a man, standing right behind her.
Danica screamed just as a hand closed over her mouth.