Narcissus: Okay.You can tell the Mamas.Maybe E, if you guys think it’s necessary.The fewer people who know, the better for all of us.It might be more dangerous than not.I only got in touch to ensure you stayed on guard.Also, can you have Mama warn my family…maybe say that I had acquired sensitive info that someone might come looking for?Actually, convince them to get protection or do it without them knowing?
She and her team were always careful, but they hadn’t truly thought their identities were at risk of being discovered like this.Or that they might be endangering their loved ones.Price’s attack on Emma changed that, as did the man currently tracking Natalie.Until she discovered who was on her tail, everyone was under threat.
Dahlia: Roger that.I’ll pass it on.What kind of help do you need?
She needed a distraction from her life.But more than that, she needed her life back.Dallas might be able to help with that part.She gave him the information Ford’s contact had provided about the man who came looking for her at the hospital, including a still photo and some security camera footage.
Narcissus: We need to figure out who he works for.
Dahlia: I’ll see what I can do.I might know someone who’ll help without questioning things.Let’s do twice-a-day check ins, okay?How about 8a and 8p your time?
At nine hours behind, that would make it on the elevens for him.
Narcissus: Perfect.I’ll do my best, but don’t freak until it’s been 24 hours.My Internet is unreliable.
They signed off and she added recurring check-in reminders to her burner phone, already missing the connection to her team.Even if she were in trouble though, what could Dallas do?
Nothing.
For now, she and Ford were on their own.
CHAPTER TWELVE
FORD’S UNEASE GREW like a vine as he read Natalie’s online conversation over her shoulder.When she shut the laptop, he took a step back, curling his fingers against the desire to see if the skin of her neck was as soft as it looked.“What kind of journalist are you exactly?”
She swiveled in her seat and met his gaze, her blue eyes bright.“I told you.We investigate some pretty shady guys.Taking precautions for our safety has become second nature.”
Clearly her job could be dangerous, or she wouldn’t be in this situation, but they had secret online meeting places and code words and surveillance detection.Then again, he’d read stories of journalists being followed, having their phones hacked, and even being killed when going up against powerful people trying to avoid exposure.Precautions were important.
But, for some reason, he hadn’t realized Natalie faced those types of threats regularly.Nor had he expected her to want that kind of life.The way she usually avoided facing negativity didn’t gel with someone whose work was mired in it.“Have you been attacked before?”His mouth turned sour at the thought.
“Nope.”She stood and put her hands on her slim hips.“This was a first.Zero out of ten.Would not recommend.”
There she is.He frowned.Maybe the question shouldn’t be why she did what she did, but how she stayed so upbeat in the face of it.Thatwas her superpower.“But you regularly work under thepotentialthreat of attack.”
She rolled her eyes.“People who work hard to keep secrets aren’t happy when you start poking around their hiding places.”
“I never pictured you doing something like this.”
Her jaw tightened.“Why not?”
“It’s just that you’re…” How to explain?Damn.Was it too late to back out of this conversation?
“I’m what?”Her expression turned stormy and she put her good hand on her waist in a defiant stance.“Too frivolous?Too flighty?Too…broken?”
Shit.“No.”Without thinking, he cupped her cheeks.“You’re amazing, Natalie.You have this buoyancy about you, an upbeat nature that I’ve always envied, and I don’t know how you can face the things you do every day and stay so positive.”Lord knew he couldn’t do it.
Not that he’d ever been particularly jolly, even as a child.Serious should have been his middle name.
Her shoulders relaxed, but she backed away from his touch.“I thought you hated that about me.”
He scoffed.“I’m not sure there’s anything I hate about you.That’s the problem.”
She went completely, uncharacteristically still.Her blue eyes looked up at him, wide and vulnerable.“Really?”
“Natalie.”He gave a short laugh, feeling exasperated.“I find you so distracting that I once gotstabbed in the backfor letting down my guard.”
They’d been walking the campus at sunset following one of her group project sessions at the library, the grounds largely deserted for the weekend.She’d started playfully mocking his rigid demeanor and saying things like, “No frat boys in sector two, sir,” and “The pigeons in quadrant five are staging apeacefulprotest, Commander.”
