He hesitates. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I’m not worried about your safety here at the hotel but I’m more concerned about you once we get home. We can’t go back to my place.”
“Where will we go?”
“I might switch apartments with Rage.” He winks. “He has the same mattress I do.”
I chuckle despite the worry gnawing in my gut. “And what happens to Chris now?”
He actually laughs. “Of all the things to worry about, that isn’t one of them.”
“Why not?”
“Because Chaos is in a class of his own when it comes to this bodyguard stuff.”
“That’s not at all cryptic.”
“Let’s get comfortable and I’ll explain.” He pauses. “Unless you want to go back down to the party?”
“No.” I shake my head and step out of my shoes. “I’m ready to call it a night. I have to think about how I’m going to handle requests for interviews because while I don’t want to hide anything, I also don’t want to be a distraction at Alexa’s event.It’s not fair to her and frankly, I don’t know if I’m ready to talk about what happened in such a public forum.”
“Entirely up to you,” he says, taking off his jacket. “Just keep me in the loop so I know how to react when they approach you.”
“I think Caitlyn is going to make a nuisance of herself,” I admit as I walk into the bedroom. “And I’m not sure what the right move is. Do I offer up an interview in private if she leaves me alone at the event? Or do I just dodge her the rest of the weekend? More than that, does anything I say impact what we’re working on behind the scenes to find and dismantle the sex trafficking ring.”
He’s followed me into the bedroom but now he’s quiet a little too long.
I turn and put my hands on my hips. “Go on, say whatever it is you don’t want to say.”
“If we were talking about anyone else, anyone that wasn’t you, I would say shout it from the rooftops. Put them on blast. Let everyone start looking for them, so to speak. Oceanside, Temecula, and all the surrounding towns will be on alert. People will start paying attention.”
“But wouldn’t they just pack up and move their operation elsewhere?” I ask. “That’s what I would do.”
He shrugs. “Possibly but it’s not that easy. The proximity to the border with Mexico is hard to replicate anywhere else, and California is a gateway state. Lots of immigration. Crime. Wealth. It has a plethora of everything. Not to mention the sheer number of people. It’s so easy for these women to disappear. They can’t accomplish that as easily in Maine or Wyoming or wherever.”
I approach him slowly and then lay my palms flat against his chest as I gaze up into his handsome face. “You think I should talk about it.”
“Because of how close we are, I’m hesitant for you to put yourself in the line of fire, but yes, I think it puts us on the offensive and they’re going to have to scramble.”
All I can do is nod. “Okay. I trust you.”
He puts his big hands over mine. “I have your back, Allora. No matter what we decide.”
“I appreciate that.” I can’t resist moving closer and resting my head on his chest, closing my eyes when his arms close around me. “You feel so good,” I whisper.
“You feel good too.” He kisses the top of my head.
We stand there for a while, arms around each other, bodies close together. I can smell his aftershave and hear his steady heartbeat. He’s warm and strong and so incredibly sexy, I can only imagine what he’ll look like naked. I want him to make the first move, because I can be old-fashioned that way, but my gut tells me he won’t.
Because he’s a gentleman.
Because of what I went through.
Because…this feels important.
“Landon?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“I really want you to take me to bed.”
