Page 7 of Defending Love

Chapter Six

Dani

“ I ’ll be back Sunday night,” I said to my brother Damien through the phone.

“Eli is traveling with you?”

“Yes, I’m not fighting the bodyguard thing.”

Damien exhaled. “FaceTime me when you’re with Mom. Tell her we love her and want her to get better. Hey, tell her to consider moving back to Indy.”

“Are you sure you and Ella want Mom in your newlywed home?”

“With Dylan, there’s not a lot of newlywed activity.” He snickered. “Maybe Mom could babysit, and I could get some.”

“Way too much info, brother.” There was a knock on my bedroom door. “I need to go. I’ll keep you updated with text messages.”

“Dani, one more thing. Take the plane. It’s available.”

“Eli already booked our flights.” I forced a smile. “Give Dylan a kiss from Aunt Dani. And no, I won’t babysit so you can screw your wife. Work that shit out on your own.”

“Stay safe,” he said as another knock rattled the door.

“You too.” I disconnected the call and spoke louder. “You can come in, Eli.” It wasn’t rocket science to guess who was knocking—the only other person in the condominium.

The sight of Eli in bodyguard mode took my breath away. Wearing one of his custom dark suits, Eli’s brown hair was tethered at the nape of his neck, showcasing his high cheekbones and chiseled jaw.

After doing a sweep from my shoes to my hair, his green gaze was set on mine. “Larry is a few minutes away. He’s driving us to the airport.”

I closed the zipper on my suitcase. “I’m ready.”

His eyebrows arched. “Only one suitcase?”

“I have my laptop and other electronics in the leather satchel.”

His brow furrowed. “Laptop?”

“Yes. Is there a problem?”

“You didn’t mention it yesterday. I didn’t look through your laptop, only your desktop and phone.”

Placing the suitcase on the floor, I secured the satchel over the extended handle. “I told you Melinda went through them all.”

“You should have mentioned it.”

Squaring my shoulders, I pointed to the leather bag. “Feel free to inspect it at the airport after we go through security.”

I spun my suitcase and moved toward the doorway.

“Dani, I can get your luggage.”

“So can I. I’m not sure if you remember, but I’m not one of your spoiled, entitled assignments. I’m capable of doing most things on my own.”

My nipples hardened as I recalled touching myself last night, thinking about the man now only inches away.

Capable was not always the better alternative.

Eli’s timbre lowered an octave. “I remember many things about you.”

Ignoring the way his lowered tone reverberated through my body, sending mini explosions throughout my nervous system, I pushed the suitcase past him out into the living room.

My gaze went to the large windowpanes, taking in the gray clouds and drizzling rain.

“At least it should be sunny in Florida.”

“The flights are booked primarily under my name with a Guardian credit card,” Eli said. “The same with the villa at the resort. It’s more private than hotel rooms and safer with private parking.”

I wasn’t about to fight him on any of those fronts. Damien hadn’t told me how much he paid for the services of the Guardian Security Company, but I was confident that Guardian wouldn’t come out on the short end of the deal.

Despite my willingness to steer my own luggage, Eli took both my bag and his own and wheeled them to the door.

Ten minutes later, I was seated in the back seat of a large black SUV, and Eli was sitting shotgun.

Speaking of guns, flying commercially made it more difficult for Eli to carry his weapon.

Last night, after we’d ordered delivery and were eating chicken cordon bleu from a small place on East New York Street, he mentioned the dilemma.

It wasn’t like I couldn’t have cooked. I had when he was assigned to me last year. It was that through the trauma of the last two weeks, grocery shopping was low on my list of priorities, and my cupboards were bare.

The dilemma, Eli explained, was that in the case of flying commercially, TSA made transporting a weapon difficult.

The solution—a member of the Guardian team would pick us up from the airport and assign Eli working weapons for our time in Florida.

I knew from my limited experience that his arsenal would be more than simply a gun.

Besides the firearms, the team would have Eli’s hotel room set up as a home-away-from-home computer base.

Was it wrong that merely having him with me, even without a gun, settled my nerves?

My phone vibrated. I opened the screen to a text message from my mother. I spent over an hour talking to her last night trying to settle her angst at missing Dad’s funeral.

“I was just informed they’re moving me at 2 pm today to the physical-rehab facility in the Villages. What time did you say you expect to arrive?”

I couldn’t blame her for not remembering. She had more than enough on her own plate. I replied.

“Plane lands in Orlando at 2:45 pm. Text me the address of the new facility.”

She sent a thumbs-up emoji.

Beyond the windows of the SUV, the dreary day accurately reflected my gray mood.

Focusing on the man in the front seat didn’t do my emotions any better.

Each time I recalled him telling me not to read more into his assignment than there was, I was reminded that Eli Rhodes was only here because I was a job.

Even if he was concerned, that wouldn’t be reflected in anything other than his duties.

Larry brought the SUV to a stop in front of the ‘departures’ sign at Indianapolis International Airport. After retrieving our luggage, Eli and I entered the airport. As he scanned the crowd, he whispered, “Stay close.”

My pulse thumped within my ears as I realized that I too now saw people differently than I had in the past. Never before had I minded taking commercial flights, walking a few blocks to a restaurant, or entering a sports arena filled with thousands of people.

In the last two weeks all that had changed. Every person was a suspect. I imagined people looking in my direction, hundreds of eyes on me. Even small children turned their faces toward me and away.

Had they seen me on the news or in their media feed?

Did they know I was the daughter of the slain CEO?

I held my breath waiting for a reaction as I passed my driver’s license to the woman at the airline counter.

She glanced at the picture and back to me before handing it back.

I exhaled. The TSA pre-check line moved painfully slowly.

The same anxiety hit me as I once again handed over my ID. This time the man scanned it.

No obvious indication of recognition.

It wasn’t until we were walking down the hallway toward the gates that Eli asked, “Are you all right?”

The question was laughable.

There was nothing about me that was all right.

I’d just buried my father and was on my way to my mourning and injured mother.

Instead, I responded, “I’m fine.”

He nodded. “If I’d just met you, I could believe that.”

I stopped walking and turned to him, lifting my chin to meet his stare. “I’m a little slow with all that’s happened. Are we or aren’t we pretending the past never occurred? Because your statement makes it seem like we have a history.”

“A history where I can’t recall you being as tense as you’ve been since we entered the airport.”

Pressing my lips together, I shook my head. It was all too much. My skin felt tight. Another couple walked around us, the woman’s shoulder brushing mine, causing me to flinch. “I’m not talking about this right now.”

“Then by all means, let’s go to the gate. Boarding begins in less than a half hour.”

As we sat at the gate in the connected black chairs, I varied between searching every face and keeping my eyes down.

Eli’s deep voice returned me to reality. “I’d like to see your laptop.”

Begrudgingly and with a sigh, I took it from my satchel and handed it to him.

Without asking, he turned it on, entering my security code.

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“I helped you set it up.”

“And you remember it?”

He nodded as he pulled a thumb drive from his satchel and inserted it into the side of my computer. Within seconds, the screen was filled with scrolling letters and numbers.

“I have files I don’t want to lose.”

“It’s searching, not deleting.”

The sign behind the woman at the desk said boarding would begin in thirteen minutes. I wondered how long whatever Eli was doing would take. Peering down at the screen, I nibbled on my lip as the data continued to scroll.

I wasn’t certain what was slower, watching the fast-moving file names and numbers or waiting for the boarding time to decrease.

Finally, the data disappeared, and a small rectangle appeared. “What did you learn?”

Eli didn’t answer. Instead, he typed on the keyboard.

The sign now read nine minutes. People were beginning to stand. The woman behind the desk made another announcement about carry-on bags, offering to check them for free.

Eli slid my laptop back into my satchel and sent off a text message.

The pressure within me was beginning to reach a boiling point.

“What did you find?” I whispered with a growl of discontent.

“The same thing I found on your phone and desktop.”

“Nothing?”

“We can talk about it when we’re in private.”

“Are you trying to freak me out?”

He lowered his voice. “I’m trying not to freak you out.”

“Well, you’re not doing a good job.”

“Dani, look at me.”

Exhaling, I did. I turned and stared into the tranquil green of his eyes.

“You’re safe,” he said. “Once we’re back to Indianapolis, I want to look at your work computers. All your personal technology contained a virus.”

“A virus? I have virus protection. You put that on too.”

“A year ago. Technology moves faster than most companies can keep up.”

“Boarding first class to Orlando,” came from the speakers.

“What did the virus do?”

“I sent the information to Ben. He can figure out anything. It could be harmless.” He stood and offered me his hand.

For a second, I stared at it and finally laid my hand in his. “Or?”

“I’d rather not discuss hypotheticals.”

That didn’t help my anxiety.

What would anyone gain by bugging my personal technology?

As the airline employee scanned my ticket, I knew the answer. They could learn everything about me.