Page 88 of Masked

She looked at her watch. “Do we still have to go to this dinner?”

Noah shook his head. “I already made our excuses.”

“You can go if you need to.”

He scowled at her. “No. I’m not leaving you. Not after what you’ve been through. How are your eyes? Do you need to see a doctor?”

She laughed and gripped his hand. “Noah, I’m fine.”

He narrowed his eyes at her, and she glanced around the table. “Sir, I’m fine,” she repeated, a little quieter this time.

He bent and kissed her. “I’m glad you’re OK.”

Michael stood and tucked the notebook away. “We’ll file the report and keep an eye out for these guys. If you think it was a kidnapping for ransom, they may try again. Be extra tight with her security for the next little while.”

Noah extended his hand. “We’re already working on that. I’ve hired a full-time driver and I’m paying Peter’s firm for extra protection.”

Reva frowned and Noah figured she was going to have something to say about all that when everyone was gone, but she would have to deal with it. He wasn’t letting her walk around unprotected.

When Michael was gone, he turned to Gage and Peter. “I mean it. She needs round the clock protection. I’ve already told the building manager we’re beefing up security downstairs. This elevator is being completely shut off to other guests. It only goes to this apartment. There are three more elevators the other tenants can use.”

“Noah, is all of this really necessary?”

He turned and glared at her, but his face softened when he saw the exhaustion in her face. They could fight about this later.

“Sweetheart, go lay down in the bedroom and I’ll be with you soon. Leave your safety to me. The extra security is happening, and I don’t want any arguments. But you can rant at me about it later.”

She frowned, as if looking for a reason to argue with him. When she couldn’t find one, she headed for the bedroom and closed the door.

When she was gone, Noah turned back to Gage and Peter. “Whatever you need, don’t hesitate to ask.”

Peter pulled out a phone and handed it to him. “This is hers. I’ve already put a better tracker on it, and we’ll tag her backpack and purse, too. It would help if she would keep her smart watch on. They’re less likely to pull that off her even if they make her leave her phone behind. And we can track a smart watch regardless of whether it’s near the phone or not.”

Noah gave a sharp nod. “Consider it done. Anything else?”

“We’re putting a two man follow team on her at all times. They’ll follow the driver and be available for assistance if needed.”

“You know where to send the bill,” Noah said as he escorted both men to the elevator.

When they were gone, he put Reva’s phone on the charger.

In the bedroom, he found Reva naked and asleep, and he stripped down to his boxers and laid down next to her, intent on watching her sleep.

Something startled him, and he realized he’d fallen asleep too.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed with a blanket wrapped around her.

He sat up and crawled to the edge and sat next to her. “Hey, little siren. What’s wrong?”

She looked at him with sad eyes. “I had a nightmare. I haven’t dreamt about my family in years. It just left me feeling cold and empty.”

“That’s to be expected after a traumatic experience, sweetheart. You were kidnapped. And even though you got away, it’s still going to fuck with you. I’m just so fucking proud of you for acting as quickly as you did to get away.”

She laid her head on his shoulder. “I just wish they’d been caught. Now I have to stress about the fact that they’re still out there.”

“If they’d been caught, it might have lulled you into a false sense of security. But truthfully, whoever sent them would have just sent someone else. Now we’ve confirmed someone is still out there and we can start trying to dig into it. We’ve got pictures and license plate numbers and hopefully Parker will cooperate and start telling me what he needs to so I can help him.”

“He’s stubborn, so I’m not sure I would count on it.”

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