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“Must have been intense.” I hunt the sand for a shell fragment because if I don’t keep my hands busy, I’m going to reach for her.
“It was crazy. Walls of people and camera flashes.” Her lips part like she’s trying to find the right words.
“I hate that you had to go through that.”
She rubs her hands up and down her arms. “I’m just glad Alex and Gabe were there. I’ve never been that frozen before,” she says, a shudder in her voice.
I glance over my shoulder, wondering if they’re watching. What’s their game? Is Rothburn hoping to get close to Katherine for information about Chanler & Cort? And what’s Hunt’s angle? I’ve always known him to be a straight shooter. Keeps his fingers clean. Has an excellent reputation.
Whatever their reasonings, I am glad that someone was there for her. Looking out for her. “I’m glad you weren’t alone.”
“Same.”
I swear I feel eyes on us. “Want to stretch your legs?” I ask.
She glances at the house and then down the beach. The ball of unease tightens in my chest.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.” She holds out her hands.
I vault off the sand, brush my hands against my thighs to get rid of the sand, and pull her up. She comes up to my chest, so fresh-faced and achingly gorgeous. Her fingers are icy in mine, and I wish I could warm them. Press them against my chest. Take her inside and?—
Not now, Saint. Focus.
She glances over her shoulder at the house again and takes a tiny step away, her hands falling to her sides. Then she tucks her phone up the sleeve of her sweatshirt as she starts up the beach. “Alex’s worried about security. Don’t be surprised if we have a shadow.”
I fall into step beside her, processing that nugget of information. “I thought you got rid of your security team.”
After she graduated college and moved into her current building, she’d been adamant that the security at her apartment and the office were enough. She didn’t need the team of men who’d followed her around all her life.
“He pointed out that betting on me at the auction put a target on my back.” She licks her lips and wraps her arms around her waist.
“Hell.” He’s not wrong, which chaps my ass. Both of them should have known better. They’re old enough and wealthy enough to know how obsessed the media can be. How crazy people can become when they smell money. Or weakness.
Now Katherine will be seen as their weakness. She’ll be vulnerable.
I clamp my hands over my hips and glance at our surroundings with fresh eyes, looking for anyone or anything out of place.
“Don’t worry about it,” she says, as usual, brushing things she doesn’t want to deal with aside. “Tell me about you. How’ve you been? What are you doing in the states? I didn’t know you were coming h?—”
She bites off the word, but we both know what she’d been about to say.
Home.
Except, she knows that the city never felt like home to me and she’s careful to not call it that.
Even as I’m appreciating that small detail, I feel my world spinning out.
I want to take her away from here. Far away. Where she’ll be safe and none of these whackos will be able to find her.
Am I really thinking about kidnapping my best friend? Just throwing her over my shoulder and hauling ass up the steps of my family’s private jet?
Hell yes.
So I take another deep breath and grit my teeth. She needs my friendship and protection, not me losing my mind again and doing something stupid.
She tucks her arm through mine and leans in close, uncaring that I’m a sweaty mess. Gosh, this is perfect. She’s perfect. She feels like heaven.
