Page 8 of Keeping Guard

“No, it’s Dalton’s. I borrowed it.”

“Borrowed, huh?” He still didn’t get the boyfriend. The man hadn’t said a word to her, and although curious what the deal was, he was already more involved than he had any wish to be.

“I wasn’t going to keep it, so yeah, borrowed. How do you think they found me?”

“Does he have OnStar or some kind of app that can locate his car?”

“Fudge. I never thought of that. Yeah, he does.”

She went silent again, and he glanced over at her. “You’re going to chew your finger off.”

“Nervous habit.” She dropped her hand to her lap. “I’m sorry, Noah. I’m sure the last thing you wanted to do was to have to rescue a crazy runaway bride.”

True that. “Never said you were crazy.” Might have thought it a time or two since coming across her.

The exit from the Parkway came up, and as soon as he was on the public road, he picked up speed. He wanted to quickly lose the two Mercedes without ending up in a chase. At the first intersection he came to, he turned right, then left at the next one. He wasn’t familiar with the area, wasn’t sure how to find his apartment from where they were, but he’d worry about that once he was sure he’d lost her father and boyfriend.

After making several more turns and not seeing either car behind them, he pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store. He stopped in a space where he could see the road.

“Why are we stopping? Do you need groceries?”

“No. Need to put my address in the GPS. Watch the road and tell me if you see your father or boyfriend pass by.”

“He’s not my boyfriend. Not any longer. Why do you have to put your address in the GPS. Don’t you know where you live?”

“Not exactly.”

Her finger went back in her mouth. He was sure she had questions about that, but he chose not to enlighten her. The less she knew about him, the better. He’d already shared more than he wanted back at the waterfall.

“Oh, God,” she muttered. “You’re a runaway bride serial killer traveling the country in search of prey.”

“Busted.” Damn this girl for making him laugh. He didn’t deserve to laugh, and he especially didn’t deserve to have a beautiful, sexy woman sharing his space.

“You are kidding right? I mean, I was just joking around.”

At least she’d stopped trying to gnaw off her finger. “Yes, Peyton, I’m kidding.”

“I knew that. Would you please tell me where we’re going?”

He could tell she was starting to get worried, and he had no desire to add to her stress. “My place.”

“Not sure that’s a good idea.”

According to the GPS, they were about ten minutes away from his temporary apartment. “Listen, you said you can’t go home, and you can’t go to a hotel. Not dressed like you are. I promise you’re in no danger from me, and we’re just going to go to my place long enough to make a plan. Okay?”

Hopefully, he could convince her to go home.

Chapter Four

“You don’t have much stuff,” Peyton said as she stood in the middle of Noah’s living room, her gaze taking in the bare walls. There were no knickknacks on the coffee and end tables, not a thing that gave her a clue about the man who’d rescued her.

“Just moved in.”

Where were the boxes filled with his stuff? The apartment was small, the living room and a tiny kitchen in view, and then a hallway that she assumed led to a bedroom and bathroom.

A dog barreled into the room, heading straight for Noah. At least, she thought it was a dog, but that was questionable. Ignoring it, Noah took a few steps, which put him in the kitchen. He set the champagne bottles on the counter.

“Want some water?”