CHAPTER TWO

 

 

IF THERE WAS one thing Peyton hated more than being behind on her word count, it was missing her morning yoga workout. Thanks to that moron who broke in last night, she’d be lucky if she could slip in a few downward dog poses between chapters today.

But right now, she couldn’t do either until she ate something. Sighing, she glanced down at the plate piled high with sandwiches and made a face. Maybe she’d gone a little overboard. Then again, she thought as she caught sight of Noah walking across the lawn toward the house, he is a big, muscular guy.

Thinking about the hotness that was Noah made her head spin a little. While she’d seen plenty of photos of Laurissa’s older brother, meeting him in person had been an eye opener. She probably shouldn’t be thinking this way about her best friend’s brother, but damn, the man was completely droolworthy.

Peyton guessed he was a few years older than she was, making him somewhere in his mid to late twenties. Tall and broad shouldered, he had thick, dark hair, eyes the color of her favorite chocolate bar, and a chiseled jaw with the perfect amount of stubble. And from the way that dark blue T-shirt molded to his chest, it was impossible to miss how well he was built. If someone asked her to find a poster boy for male perfection, it would definitely be Noah Bradley.

Even his name was perfect. Like one she’d use for a hero in her books. Strong and silent, attractive and sexy, a little mysterious, and more than a little dangerous.

Peyton snapped out of her silly thoughts at the sound of footsteps behind her. She turned to see the aforementioned hunk walking into the kitchen, regarding her with those beautiful dark eyes of his. Her gaze drifted to his jean-clad legs, remembering what Laurissa had said about her brother injuring his knee. He wasn’t limping that she could tell. In fact, she wouldn’t have been able to pick out which leg was causing him trouble if her life depended on it.

Realizing she was staring, she self-consciously reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. “Sandwiches are made, if you’re ready to eat. I have water, coconut-almond milk, and iced tea.”

“Iced tea is fine, thanks,” he said.

Picking up the plate of sandwiches, he brought it over to the kitchen table while Peyton got the drinks.

“Sorry I don’t have anything other than tuna sandwiches to offer, but the cabinets start getting a little bare as I get near a deadline for a book,” Peyton said as she set the glasses on the table.

Noah was already standing beside the chair closest to the wall waiting for her, so she took the one opposite him. Something told her that a dangerous man like him always liked to sit with his back to the wall so he’d be able to scope out the rest of the room for inbound trouble.

She almost laughed at that. Man, she really needed to get a life outside the books she wrote.

“Tuna’s fine. Remember what I said about not turning down food,” he said, flashing her a grin as he reached for one of the sandwiches and transferred it to his plate. Damn, he had a nice smile. “I take it you don’t leave the house too much as you get closer to crunch time?”

She nodded, helping herself to a sandwich. “It doesn’t seem to matter how fast I write when I start a book, I always have to rush to finish it. Going grocery shopping is the first thing to go in that situation.”

“You could always order online and have it delivered, you know?” he pointed out.

“I could,” she admitted. “And when I’m desperate, that’s what I do. But at a certain point, I get so far behind that I don’t even want to waste time filling out the order. And forget about putting the stuff away once it gets here.”

He chuckled, taking a bite of his sandwich. “I can picture it now—bags of food sitting in the middle of the kitchen for days while you come in every once in a while to dig out a box of Pop Tarts.”

She laughed. “That’s about the way it works. Except it’s not Pop Tarts, it’s Honey Nut Cheerios. I think I’m addicted to the stuff.”

He took another bite, chewing thoughtfully. “So, you haven’t left the house in a while, except for last night. Who knew you were going out?”

The sudden nature of the question caught her off guard. One second they were laughing and talking about Pop Tarts and Cheerios, the next he’d gone all intense on her.

“Laurissa is the only one who knew. She showed up and dragged me out to see a movie and grab dinner. You don’t suspect your own sister was involved in the break-in, do you?”

“Definitely not, but you have to admit it’s convenient as hell that your house gets broken into the one night you decide to go out, right? It means the thief was either incredibly lucky you were out or he was watching the place for a while and made his move the moment you left.”

The coincidence hadn’t been lost on Peyton. She and Laurissa had talked about it while the cops had poked around. They’d come up with dozens of convoluted and outlandish theories. Peyton was a writer. But Noah had cut through all their wild speculation in seconds with his bleak—and rather creepy—assessment of the situation. The idea that someone had been outside her house day and night watching her every move made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

“Which one do you think it is?”

She wasn’t sure which she’d rather have him confirm. The first meant she was lucky to be alive, the second meant she had a determined stalker.

“I have no idea,” Noah said with a casual shrug before taking another bite of his sandwich. “If we’re lucky and the guy never comes back, that means we have our answer.”

Peyton sipped her iced tea. “You keep referring to the person who broke in as a he. Is that based on any kind of evidence, or simply plain old sexism?”

Noah snorted, reaching for another sandwich. “Good point. Consider me properly chastised. I’ll endeavor to be more inclusive when I’m talking about the thief.”

“Don’t worry about it. I figured it was a guy, too,” she said. “I was merely hoping you knew something the cops didn’t tell me.”

“I wish I did,” he admitted.

As they ate, Noah asked her to walk him through the events of last night’s break-in one more time. That wasn’t too difficult since she’d already gone over it at least twenty times for the police and then Em.

“What’s up with saving your book to an external hard drive?” Noah asked, licking some avocado mayonnaise off his thumb in a way she shouldn’t have found intriguing, but did for some reason. “Hasn’t your publisher ever heard of the Cloud?”

Peyton laughed. “I asked them the same question. Unfortunately, they’re sort of old school that way. When the third book in the series took off and became an international bestseller, they got worried someone would hack the Cloud and find the book or that someone on the inside would pluck it off and sell it to the highest bidder. I’m lucky. If they had their way, I’d be locked in an underground bunker somewhere writing this thing on a manual typewriter. The hard drive was the compromise.”

“International bestseller, huh? I guess I can understand the paranoia.” A frown marred his otherwise perfect features. “How many people know you carry the drive around with you all the time?”

“Not many. Em and Laurissa, of course, and a few people at my publisher.”

“That’s good,” Noah murmured. “If there really is someone determined to get their hands on your book and he discovers you carry it with you every time you go out, he’s more likely to come after you instead of trying to break in to your house again.”

She shuddered. “Then let’s hope they never learn about the hard drive.”

Noah picked up his glass, regarding her over the top of it. “Laurissa told me that you guys went to San Diego State together. Did you go to college for creative writing or something like that?”

“Not exactly,” she said. “I’ve always loved books and reading since I was a kid. I wrote stuff all through middle and high school, but nothing serious. Just goofing around, you know? I went to SD State to get an undergraduate degree in English and my master’s in education. I figured it would be a natural fit for me.”

“And it wasn’t?”

She laughed again. It was easy to do that with him, she realized, which was kind of crazy. It usually took her forever to get comfortable with a guy, but with Noah, it was like she didn’t even have to try. “Actually, it was. I taught for a couple of years. Teaching is a ton of work for sure—don’t ever let anyone tell you differently—but I enjoyed it.”

“Okay, so how does one go from being a hard-working English teacher to an international best seller?”

“The normal way, I guess. By pure accident.” She smiled as she thought about how many times she’d told this story at book signings and conferences. It was something everyone wanted to know. “During summer breaks I wrote stuff for one of the big fan fiction sites. It wasn’t meant to be anything more than a fun way to relieve a little stress. But then Em sent me an email saying she liked my voice and wanted to know if I had any original material. I sent her what I had and about a year later, the first book in my young adult series hit the stands. It kind of exploded from there.”

He seemed to consider that for a moment before answering. “I’m probably going to shock you by admitting I actually do know what fan fiction is, but even then, it sounds like an amazing ride.”

She laughed, imagining the big Navy SEAL leaning over his iPhone reading Harry Potter fan fic. “Amazing is a good word for it. One minute, I’m barely covering the rent on my apartment, and the next, I’m resigning from my teaching position so I can write full time. I might have loved teaching, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to chase a dream.”

“Did you grow up in the San Diego area?” he asked, changing direction with his question. “Since you went to State, I’m assuming you did.”

“Nope. I grew up in San Francisco.” She shrugged. “And while I love it there, there was no way I could pass up a chance to go to someplace warm enough where you can actually swim in the water. And once I got used to the weather, there was no way I was moving back.”

Noah let out another chuckle. “I get that. I went swimming in the San Francisco Bay once during a training exercise and definitely didn’t enjoy it.”

They talked for a bit longer about what it was like growing up in warm, sunny San Diego versus the frequently sunny, but not-so-warm San Francisco. Before long, Noah had polished off the rest of the sandwiches, and she realized she’d spent a lot longer on lunch than she’d planned.

She glanced at her watch. “Crap. I need to write.”

“Yeah, of course,” he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you from your book. If you could give me a quick tour of the house first…?”

Peyton opened her mouth to tell him it wasn’t like that and that she didn’t mind spending time with him, but then remembered Noah was there to protect her, not hang out with her. He wanted to get on with his job.

“Sure,” she said, quickly getting to her feet and feeling a little silly she’d been gabbing away with the guy hired to be her bodyguard. Like he didn’t have anything better to do. “You’ve already seen most of the downstairs, so it won’t take long.”

As Peyton headed for the stairs, she was extremely aware of Noah walking behind her, and she suddenly found herself wondering if he was checking out her butt. Reminding herself that they weren’t in one of her books, she hurried up the rest of the steps, quickly pointing out the guest room, workout room, the home office where she did her writing, and a spare bathroom.

“My bedroom is the one at the end of the hall,” she added.

“Does your boyfriend stay over often?” he asked, his dark gaze surveying her bedroom, eyes lingering for a moment on the king-sized bed with its soft blue paisley-print blanket before turning to look toward the en suite bathroom beyond.

Thank goodness Noah wasn’t looking her way or he would have seen her standing there gaping like a carp.

“What?” she finally managed to squeak, hoping it would give her a little more time to gather her thoughts.

“Your boyfriend?” He swung his gaze back to her. “I assume he spends the night occasionally and need to know when so I can make myself scarce.”

Blushing, she slowly shook her head. In truth, her dating life was nonexistent. But it wasn’t her fault. She’d gone out with guys in college and had been in a relationship for a while after graduating, but nothing had come of it. Dating had taken a backseat once her writing career took off. Hell, she hadn’t even been out with a guy since sometime during the middle of book two in her series. Or had it been the beginning of book three? It was hard to remember. She liked to blame her lack of social life on her writing schedule, but honestly, she hadn’t met anyone who sparked enough of an interest to bother. But maybe that was changing.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” she said. “I’m sort of between boyfriends at the moment, so no guys will be hanging around.”

“Except me,” he murmured.

Peyton was sure she saw a flicker of something in his chocolate-brown eyes, though before she could be sure, he stepped past her into the hallway.

“Yup, just you,” she said, only realizing how sad that sounded once it was out.

When he didn’t respond, she decided he probably hadn’t heard her anyway, which was fortunate.

“So, this bodyguard thing,” she said, catching up with him in the hallway. “How does it work? Do you follow me around all the time, or will you be somewhere in hiding, ready to come running when I scream for help?”

He gave her a smile. “Less of the first and more of the second.”

She refused to touch the innuendo with a ten-foot pole. “So, I simply go about my business like normal, writing and stuff?”

“Yup. You do whatever you usually do, go wherever you usually go, and I’ll stay in the background. You won’t even know I’m here.”

Um, right.

Peyton seriously doubted she’d forget a man like Noah was hanging out in her house. He was sort of hard to miss, even when he wasn’t in the same room.

She cleared her throat, motioning toward her home office. “Okay then. I’m going to hang out up here and get some writing done. Feel free to grab something else to eat or drink if you want. I’ll be up here…just writing.”

Noah smiled again, then turned and headed downstairs. Peyton watched him disappear down the steps. How the hell was she ever going to get any writing done when her hunky bodyguard had taken up residence in her head?