Page 29 of Her Noble Protector

“I’ll be honest.”

“Do you like feeling the way you do?”

His question reverberated around her head like a tornado. It spun around for a long time before it finally rested and she could focus.

“I hate it. I hate feeling like I do, but I don’t know how to stop,” she whispered.

“Cami made it stop.”

“Camilla?”

“Yes, Camilla. She made it stop. I can’t make it stop for you—not entirely—but I can put you on the right path. Will you let me do that?”

The tornado started up again, but Lisa shook her head, willing it to settle.

“How?”

“Little by little, hour by hour. We started this morning with breakfast. We’ll continue with dinner tonight.”

“But not inside, right?” Her stomach heaved at the idea of him coming into her house.

“I promise, not inside.”

“Okay.”

“Close the blinds baby, I’ll be back with food as fast as I can. It’s chilly out here, so dress warmly, okay?”

She nodded.

* * *

Earlier, Raiden had texted Max. He’d been hoping that he could hear from him to see how things were going. Supposedly this was going to be an easy op, but Raiden wouldn’t be surprised if his boss had been blowing smoke up his ass just to make him feel better about taking leave. Things couldn’t have worked out better when he got a call back as he was making his way to the restaurant to pick up the Italian food.

“How’s everything going?” Max asked.

“That’s my question,” Raiden responded as he pulled onto the highway.

“Something tells me that out of the two of us, I have the easier job.”

“Tell you what, you give me the low-down first, then it’ll be my turn.” Raiden waited to see what Max would say to his deal.

“Sounds good. Can’t give you all the specifics, but suffice it to say, we’re in the desert and Cullen is being a smartass, Kane has gotten us the info we need, and in three days we should have a bead on the targets.” That explained why Kane could still work on things for Raiden.

“So right now you’re just kickin’ back?”

“I wish. We’ve been having to do some on-the-ground training with some newbies. Not a lot to work with, but we’re trying.”

Raiden chuckled. They’d been through that drill many times before.

“So if Cullen is busy being a smartass did you make him point for training?”

“Oh yeah, he’s definitely heading things up, it’s only fair. But, like always, Zed’s working with the youngest among the group we’re supposed to train and he’s already on his way to sortin’ their shit out.”

“In three days?”

“What can I say, Zed is Zed.”

Raiden laughed. That was true.