Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
The next afternoon, Noah was getting ready for the gala when Danica came out of the bathroom.
He whistled, taking a moment to let his gaze drag over her.
She was wearing a green silk dress that hugged all her curves.
It had a long slit up to one thigh. The thin straps showed off her toned shoulders and the swoop of her collar bones.
She’d styled her dark hair in loose curls, and she was wearing more makeup than usual. He preferred when she wore less, but he had to admit the silver shadow brought out the different shades of gray in her eyes.
“You look incredible,” he said.
“Thanks. You look…nice yourself.”
“I heard that awkward pause in the middle.”
“You look great.” Her teeth dug into her lip. “But after last night, I’m trying not to notice.”
“So you do remember. I was wondering if I’d just imagined us getting naked.”
She averted her eyes. Which was not a good sign.
When Noah had woken that morning, Danica had been in the shower.
She’d barely glanced at him when she came out.
All day, she’d been either ignoring him or peppering him with random, sarcastic comments.
It had been fucking annoying, actually. Like she’d been trying to ghost him, even though they had to stay in the same space.
This interaction right now was the most attention she’d paid him.
Exactly why you shouldn’t have sex with a client, dumbass.
Except Danica wasn’t just some client. She meant a lot more.
All the more reason that he shouldn’t have done it.
She gestured at his tie, which was draped around his neck. “Can I do that for you?”
“I won’t say no. But you already know that.”
Her eyebrows ticked up. “Be good.”
This was him being good. “You’re the one who’s insisting on touching me.”
“I know,” she murmured. “But I might not get many more chances.”
He had to look away from her. Because damn, it hurt to hear something like that. He was pretty much screwed, as far as his feelings went.
But when he’d been a SEAL, he’d learned to embrace shitty moments like this. Life didn’t always go the way you wanted. You just had to go forward and complete the mission. And make a joke or two so it all went down easier.
She tucked the end of the tie through the knot. “Any word about my laptop?”
“Tanner will be there tonight. I’ll get an update.”
From what he’d heard from Bennett Security, nothing suspicious had turned up on her computer. But they were being thorough.
Danica tightened the tie around his neck and adjusted his collar. He wished he could enjoy these few brief moments of being close to her without longing for more.
As soon as she was out of danger, she would be leaving West Oaks again. He’d known from the start of this assignment that was how it would end. But trying to keep his feelings out of it had been futile.
Noah put his coat on. Danica brushed lint from his lapels, then took a step back from him. “I was thinking that we’d skip the red carpet tonight. I don’t want to deal with reporters. And it would just bring unnecessary attention to you.”
“Don’t want all the gossip columns writing about your new boyfriend?”
“Trust me, you’d rather avoid that. It’s tedious as hell.”
He would’ve braved just about anything for her. But her plan made sense. Otherwise, they’d have to deal with answering questions about their sudden breakup later on. “Then are you planning for us to sneak in the back?”
She nodded. “I was thinking about what you said the other day. How I need to be unpredictable. If we take your motorcycle, no one will see me coming.”
“You can get on the bike in that dress?” He looked skeptically down toward her feet.
“Just wait and see.”
“The helmet’s going to mess up your hair and makeup.”
“I’ll survive.”
“But you’ve been planning this night for months. You’ve been looking forward to it, and it’s important to you.”
“Noah.” She grabbed his lapels. “I’m okay. I promise.” Danica kissed his cheek, lingering a beat too long. His heart thumped in his chest. “You’re supposed to protect me, not fuss over me.”
“I’m a multi-tasker.”
Smiling sadly, she brushed a thumb across his lips, and he couldn’t stop himself from kissing it.
A crack had opened up in the middle of his chest.
The mission, he told himself. Focus on the mission.
They left their motorcycle helmets at a security checkpoint as they walked inside.
Noah had never been to the West Oaks Natural History Museum before. One wall of the atrium was open, and music and lights spilled out onto the patio.
Rosie and another Valoris bodyguard followed in their wake. They’d driven in an SUV behind the Ducati from the Foster-Grant house.
Noah’s eyes scanned the crowd, instinctively ignoring the regular partygoers and searching out the bodyguards. He spotted half a dozen that belonged to Valoris, like Rosie. They were providing the official security for the event.
He saw his teammates—Tanner and Rex. They’d each taken up posts on different sides of the atrium.
“There you are, Cap,” Rex said in his ear. “Had to sneak in the back entrance?”
“They wouldn’t let him in the front,” Tanner quipped. “Thought he was one of the caterers.”
Hilarious. Noah didn’t answer, but he pursed his lips.
His teammates wore tiny earpieces identical to his, and they’d be able to hear anything he said tonight, and vice versa.
“Quit that,” Danica whispered to him.
“What?”
“Acting like a bodyguard. You’re frowning and glaring at everyone.”
Noah rested his hand on her lower back, the corner of his mouth inching up. “Force of habit. I spend a lot more time on bodyguard duty than as a boyfriend.”
“And it shows,” Tanner muttered in Noah’s earpiece.
Noah scratched his forehead with his middle finger.
“Oh, very subtle,” Rex said.
Danica couldn’t hear any of this juvenile exchange, which was for the best.
She reached up to touch his face, fingers sliding along his freshly shaven chin. After avoiding him for so much of the day, she was suddenly all about the physical contact. First the neck tie, now this. She’d been holding him awfully tight on their ride over here.
Maybe she was trying to make their cover story convincing. Or maybe she was torturing him.
“I look okay?” Noah asked.
She patted his cheek. “You’ll do.”
“Danica!” A redhead in sequins and stilettos dashed over. “What a gorgeous dress. And who is this?”
“Lindley, this is Noah. My…boyfriend. Noah, this is Lindley Colter. The executive director for the museum.”
Lindley’s eyes were curious. “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.”
“I’ve been chasing her for a while,” Noah said, “and she finally gave me a shot.”
“Sounds like a good story.”
Danica’s head swiveled toward him. “It really is. Why don’t you tell it, Noah?”
“Maybe later. I’ll get us some drinks.”
She squeezed his arm. “Of course, sweetie. Hurry back.”
He blew her a kiss as he walked toward the bar. Tanner was a few yards away, watching with amusement. Behind Noah’s friend, a string quartet played classical arrangements of modern pop songs.
Noah asked for a glass of soda from the bar, then wandered over to the bar-height table where Tanner was casually leaning his elbow.
“Fancy meeting you here.” Noah clinked his glass against Tanner’s.
“Looks like the assignment is going well?” Like Noah, Tanner was wearing a tux, though he’d opted for a bowtie. Tanner’s unruly hair was slicked back with gel.
“The assignment’s great. Her father despises me. Her brother wishes I’d drop dead. Her chief of security thinks I’m an asshole. And I fucked up and slept with the client. Aside from that, no problems.”
Tanner choked on his drink. “Shit. You pulled a Devon?”
“Is that what we’re calling it now?” Everyone knew Devon and Aurora had gotten together when he’d been her bodyguard. But they’d wrangled a happy ending out of it.
Noah shouldn’t have been saying any of this stuff. But his nerves were too frayed from holding his battered heart together.
It took a few seconds for Tanner to stop coughing.
“Do you have news?” Noah asked.
“Some. Sylvie just finished analyzing Danica’s laptop.”
Sylvie was their lead computer expert. “And?”
“Totally clean. Not compromised in any way, as far as Sylvie can tell. Including the scheduling app you were concerned about.”
“I was afraid of that.” Noah glanced around the room, mind working.
“Isn’t it good news?”
“In a way, yeah. But not for Danica. It definitely means the person behind the kidnapping is someone close enough to know her schedule. That’s a very small group.”
Tanner ran a hand over his beard. “We can narrow the investigation, though.”
“I’ll get you the list tonight. We’ll need full background on each one of them. Whatever we can dig up. Which includes her father.”
Tanner nodded. “That’ll be sensitive. I see the issue.”
Noah glanced toward Rex’s position over near the patio. “Anything, Rex?”
“Negative. All quiet here. Valoris has a decent perimeter around the patio, actually. They don’t suck as hard as I’d expected.”
That was good. But Noah intended to be vigilant tonight all the same. “There’s one other thing I’d like to investigate, since we’re doing background on her father anyway.” He told them about the blackmail message and its reference to January 17th.
She’d asked him not to look into it, but as far as Noah was concerned, the news about her laptop made the blackmail fair game. They needed to know absolutely everything that William Foster-Grant—and everyone else close to Danica—could be keeping secret.
As he and Tanner spoke, Noah kept an eye on her. Partygoers kept coming up to her, their expressions brightening as she spoke to them. She glowed, and that glow rubbed off on anyone who came near her.
Every time Danica smiled and touched someone, giving them the gift of her notice, Noah felt an unreasonable surge of envy.
He would never try to hold her back from anything she loved. And she would never let him do it, either.
But he wanted her for himself all the same.
Her body and her affection. Even her criticism. He wanted it all.
He wanted to be the thing she loved most.
I am so fucked.
He had to get it together. Stop these possessive thoughts. Remember his job.
Someone she’d trusted had betrayed her. Noah was going to make sure they didn’t get away with it.