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“Thank you for trusting me with this.” Heading for the living room, he placed a quick call back to Miami before calling reception.
He felt no guilt for putting the plan in place. Not when Leia’s safety was at stake.
They landed in MIA just before 8a.m. the next morning. Noah had wanted her to sleep on the flight, the cabin of the jet he’d hired more than adequate for a good night’s sleep. But she’d been too agitated.
In the end, he’d pulled her down on top of the sheets and kissed her for the better part of an hour before undressing and sliding slowly inside her. The gentle poignancy of the act had brought tears to her eyes and a little calm to her fraying senses.
But the thought that her stepfather was free, and possibly in Miami, never strayed far from her mind. Warren had called again, but she cut it short when he had nothing new to report.
Hell could wait just a little bit longer.
Now she smoothed her hand down her red Fused Realms T-shirt and leather shorts and looked at Noah as the pilot exited the cockpit and started to lower the door. He caught her fingers and brought them to his lips. “I want to take you home with me. Keep you safe until all the shit goes away.”
She shook her head. “I need to see Warren.”
His jaw tightened, but he nodded.
Her inhale was shaky and insubstantial. “Hell, I’m already beginning to hate reality.”
He released her seatbelt and helped her up. “You came home to face the monsters. Go kick their asses and call me when you’re done. I’ll make you dinner, and we can crash after. Sound good?”
Her heart soared at the certainty in his voice. Maybe this reality thing wouldn’t be as harrowing as she feared it could be.
Dinner plans. Crashing into bed after. They all sounded like good, wholesome,relationshipthings that she could get on board with.
“Sounds good.”
He smiled, and she caught the hint of relief in his eyes. When he held out his hand for her, it felt like the most natural thing in the world to slide hers into his.
They walked down the short steps onto the tarmac and Noah stiffened. “What the hell?”
She looked from his face to the cars parked a short distance from the plane. She recognized Warren’s sleek Jaguar straightaway. He stood next to the back door, his tall, thin frame impeccably dressed in his favored Savile Row threads. The other two cars—a dark red sports car and a Mercedes limo—were unfamiliar.
The back of the Mercedes opened, and she realized what Noah had reacted to.
The woman who alighted could easily have stepped off the pages ofVogue. Straight black hair fell in layered waves to her shoulders and her green dress, white and green Hermes scarf and high-heeled shoes matched so perfectly, it made her eyes hurt.
She swayed toward them and stopped at where Noah was frozen on the tarmac. “Noah.” Her voice was soft and sultry like a dawn breeze and she had an intimate smile that curved her lips like a dark secret.
Leia hated her on sight.
“What the hell are you doing here, Ashley?” Noah bit out.
Leia had never heard that tone before. He sounded like he was chewing frozen gravel.
“I would’ve thought it was obvious. I’m here to give you a ride home.”
“I’m more than capable of finding my own way home. And how the hell did you know what time I was landing?”
The hand clasping Leia’s trembled. She wasn’t sure whether it was from fury or another potentially more disturbing emotion.
“Your PA, Maddie, told me.”
“I seriously doubt that.”
“You really should hire PAs with more grit, Noah. She buckled under pressure within minutes.”
Leia glanced at Noah and inhaled sharply. His face was a taut mask of ice, and a tic throbbed at his temple. She flexed her hand in his, desperate to get a reaction from him. But he seemed to have forgotten she existed.