Page 73 of Her Noble Protector

“You are trying hard. That’s the point of this, remember?” she hissed to her reflection.

Since coming to Virginia Beach she’d made a decision. She was going to start living life. All of life. She was going to suck the blood out of life’s bones. Of course, as soon as she’d said that to Cami she’d scared herself to death and hadn’t talked to her for three days. But after that, she’d talked to Cami’s therapist, which didn’t go all that great at first. But now Lisa was beginning to feel a difference. She was seeing life through a different lens.

Near the bed were some ankle boots with a one-inch heel. Hell, maybe one day she would even learn how to walk in shoes with a two-inch heel!

She glanced down at her cell phone on the bed. Raiden was supposed to be picking her up in ten minutes. There was no way she was going to sit down in the living room with Akari and William, waiting for their son to arrive, she’d feel too weird. So she’d just put on her ankle boots, sit on her bed and wait.

Her phone pinged.

It was a text from Cami:

TAKE A SELFIE

She called Cami.

“Why didn’t you send me a picture?” Cami asked.

“I’m not going to send you a picture. That’s too weird.”

“I haven’t seen the dress with the haircut. I need to see it all put together. You have to take a picture.”

“Women don’t actually do that kind of thing,” Lisa protested.

Cami laughed. “You’re wrong, women do it all the damn time. Wait until you start going out with Eden, A.J., and Samantha, then you’ll really be in trouble.”

Lisa didn’t know if she was ready for that much comradery. She’d always kind of avoided it, sure that she wouldn’t fit in.

“So are you going to send me a picture?”

Lisa heard the front door open. Oh hell. Her palms started to sweat.

“He’s here, Cami.” She hissed.

“Good. Call me tonight. Or tomorrow morning. Or whenever the date ends.”

“Cami,” Lisa wailed. She’d told Cami what was up with her.

Cami knew.

She knew all of her phobias. That she had never done anything like that. She knew that she wasn’t going to go there.

“Lisa. Calm down, sweetie. Calm down. It’s going to be okay. This is Raiden. Just let him take the lead and enjoy. Remember, he cares a whole hell of a lot about you, and he won’t do anything to make you feel uncomfortable, okay?”

Lisa sucked in another deep breath.

“Yeah,” she agreed.

“So enjoy yourself. You’re beautiful. Have a good time. Call me tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Lisa smiled. “I will.”

She disconnected the call and put her phone in the small purse she’d bought to go with the dress. She rubbed her hands together, then shook them out.

“I can do this.” She smiled at herself in the mirror, then opened the bedroom door and went down the stairs to the living room.

* * *

Raiden turned around at the sound of Lisa’s foot hitting the bottom step, and he stopped in his tracks. It wasn’t until he felt the heavy thud of his heartbeat going into overdrive that he realized he was staring.