My stomach growled again.
I stopped short of the stairs and turned to face Logan.
His head cocked, and he took a step closer to me. “Is everything okay?”
No, everything’s not okay. I just told you about my mom, you listened better than anyone I’ve ever met, and you’re a potential mate. I could be with you and be happy. I know it. I can feel it.
I licked my lips, sweat from my upper lip beading on my tongue. Logan’s gaze dipped to my mouth before he hastily snapped it away.
“Yeah, everything’s fine.” I turned and walked inside.
Chapter 10
An hour later, I sat on the couch, a book propped in my lap as I pretended to read. Well, I tried to read, but my leg kept jostling, and I had the ridiculous urge to nibble my fingertips.
Since returning from our hike, neither Logan nor I had looked at one another. Instead, we’d climbed aboard the bus, had an awkward lunch with Cecile and Mike, then retreated to opposite ends of the bus. That hadn’t lasted long. Within ten minutes of lunch ending, Logan had grabbed his phone and stepped outside.
He’d been talking to someone ever since.
My shoulders slumped. Probably Crystal.
The couch cushion dipped when Cecile sat next to me. “Everything okay, Dar?” Her gaze drifted to my forgotten book, then my jostling knee. “Are you fidgeting from the latest email or something else?” She looked out the window at Logan who was pacing the length of the bus with his phone pressed to his ear.
I laughed shrilly, tossing my book aside. “It should be from the email, shouldn’t it?” Funny how I hadn’t given my stalker a second thought since leaving the bus with Logan that morning.
A sympathetic expression covered Cecile’s face. She patted my hand before standing. “You never know what the future holds. I know he has a girlfriend, but…” She shrugged. “If it’s meant to be, it will be.”
I smiled, more for her benefit than anything. I knew she was trying to make me feel better, but at the moment, that didn’t seem possible.
The bus door hissed, and Logan jumped up the stairs, his mouth tight. Both Cecile and I turned our attention to him.
Logan pocketed his cell phone. “I just got off the phone with those friends of mine. They’re going to fly into Billings this afternoon to join us. Alex is certain he can find your stalker, and when we do, I’ll need all of them close by.”
Cecile’s hand drifted to her throat. “You’re going to take care of her stalker … yourself? Without the police?”
Logan’s jaw set. “They’re military friends. Don’t worry, we have law enforcement ties.”
I pulled my bottom lip into my mouth to nibble. Law enforcement ties? Maybe they’re bounty hunters or something.
Whatever they were, relief that we could avoid the police with the help of Logan’s friends billowed through me, but just as quickly as that relief came, it was replaced by despair.
My lips parted. “But there’s no way I can pay all of them. I can barely afford you.”
Logan’s gaze softened. “You don’t need to pay them.”
“I don’t?”
He shook his head. “As I was telling you, we go way back. When one of us needs something, we’re always there for each other. Payment is not something any of them would ask for.”
∞ ∞ ∞
Mike drove us to Billings that afternoon. Since late evening had set in by the time we reached the small city, the sun neared the horizon, and a few stars peeked out. Logan’s friends planned to fly into the local airport, so we’d parked in the back of a large strip mall while we waited for them.
I glanced at my watch then tapped my foot. Logan had taken a taxi to the airport and planned to return with all of his friends.
Unlike Cecile and me, Mike seemed more relaxed. Snores drifted toward us as he slumbered in the back, whereas Cecile and I waited anxiously on the couches.
“Here they come.” Cecile nodded toward the front windshield.
A small vehicle drove toward us, the outlines of four large men inside.
“Well, they certainly look intimidating.” My foot tapped more.
I still wasn’t entirely clear on what Logan’s friends would do once we found my stalker. His evasive answers every time I asked made my suspicion that they were bounty hunters grow.
But they couldn’t know if my stalker was a wanted man, so even if they were bounty hunters, it still didn’t make sense.
I frowned more. Unless they were mafia, and they simply disposed of creeps?
I gulped. Logan didn’t strike me as someone in the mob, but it wasn’t as if I had any mafia friends to compare him to.
Car doors slamming filtered through the bus’s windows when Logan and his three military buddies emerged from the car. They appeared to be joking around as they slapped each other on their backs or laughed at something one of the others was saying. But that wasn’t what caught my attention.
Instead, it was their sheer physical presence. Every single one of them had broad shoulders, muscled arms, large hands, and lean physiques. But their facial characteristics were different.
One was a blond with a ready smile.
Another had brown hair, wore aviator sunglasses, and had a face cut into planes and angles.
And the last had the boy-next-door appeal—brown hair, glasses, and a baseball cap.
But despite their being Logan’s friends whom he trusted with his life, they were still strangers to me.
And I was about to live with them.
Logan’s gaze caught mine through the windshield. My breath stopped. The way his chocolate-brown irises bored into me, as if he could sense all of the turmoil and uncertainty coursing through my veins, made me want to squirm and wring my hands even more.
Logan’s expression turned serious, and he said something to his friends. All three of them glanced my way.
That just made my cheeks flush more.
“Should we greet our guests?” Cecile smoothed her slacks.
“Um, yeah.”
Knowing our accommodation was about to grow more crowded with the addition of those three, I hurried forward, intending to rush outside so I could properly introduce myself in the wide open.
I slammed my hand against the door’s release button, but in my hurry to get outside, I tripped on the stairs. My eyes widened with horror as my limbs flailed. Before I knew what was happening, I was sailing down the stairs headfirst.
A shriek escaped me just before a strong pair of arms encircled my torso. Those arms flipped me upright and cradled me against a broad chest.
My breath caught in my throat. Tingles of light shot through me, like meteors blazing across the sky.
“Whoa, there.” The deep voice held a hint of amusement. “Logan told us you were eager to catch a stalker, but I didn’t realize how eager.”
With burning cheeks, I tilted my face up.
Cool blue eyes met mine. A smile came next. All I registered was a handsome face, straight teeth, and blond hair.
I struggled, trying to dislodge myself from his arms. My light had burst out of the storage chest in my belly, and painful electric sparks shot along my limbs.
Logan cleared his throat and said in a gruff voice, “Brodie, are you going to set her down?”
Brodie finally set me on my feet. The feel of his hard chest disappeared. Beneath my soles, the world finally stopped spinning.
Brodie grinned again, his face only inches from mine. “You must be Daria?” He gave a low whistle. “Wow! Logan didn’t tell us what a knockout you are. Do you know you have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen?”
I brought a hand to my forehead. The aftereffects of that much direct touch still lingered. “Ah, thanks.”
Brodie grinned. “And I have to say, that was quite the introduction.”
My cheeks heated.
“I can’t say I mind. It’s not every day an attractive woman lands in my arms.”
Logan glowered at Brodie bef
ore abruptly stepping in front of me, blocking Brodie from view. “Daria, these are the friends I was telling you about. You’ve already met Brodie.”
Brodie chuckled, sidestepping Logan so I could see him again. He seemed to find Logan’s annoyed tone amusing. “Nice to meet ya, Daria.”
Logan grumbled under his breath before gesturing to the other two men. “And these two are Jake and Alexander.”
The ones standing by Logan’s side nodded politely and murmured, “Ma’am.” They stood with duffel bags slung over their shoulders.
Jake was wearing aviator sunglasses, while Alexander had a baseball cap shielding his eyes.
They seemed more reserved than Brodie, who was still grinning, and they didn’t really seem like mafia nor did I feel threatened by them. If anything, a warm feeling of being completely safe with them slid through me.
“It’s nice to meet you too. Thanks for coming.”
“Not a problem.” Jake took off his sunglasses. Piercing, deep-set hazel eyes met mine. He was more angular than Logan and had cheekbones any supermodel would die for.
“We hear some guy’s giving you trouble?” Alexander pulled my attention to him. A baseball cap hid most of his brown hair, and glasses perched on his nose. He had such a boy-next-door wholesomeness to him that the lingering embarrassment over my fall ebbed away.
“That’s right. It started a few weeks ago.”
Logan nodded at Alexander. “Alex is the one who’s good with computers. With his help, we should be able to track down your stalker.”
Footsteps tapped from within the bus, and Cecile and Mike appeared at the top of the stairs. I knew Cecile had witnessed my fall because of her muffled scream, but I never would have guessed it now. She appeared entirely composed and serene—so very Cecile.
Cecile descended; her willowy form as elegant and composed as a duchess being announced at a ball. She extended her hand to shake first Brodie’s hand then the others’, her gaze warm, her words welcoming.
Mike yawned before doing the same, but his yawning stopped when he looked Logan and his friends up and down. Each of them towered over six feet and had shoulders wide enough to brush a doorway.
“Well, nice to meet you fellas.” He hefted his jeans over his belly before patting his paunch. “You boys make me think I should hit the gym more.”
Jake smiled crookedly. “Working out is part of our job.”
I cocked my head. They have to work out for their job? Does that mean they work security like Logan?
Mike chuckled. “Well, driving’s my job. Not exactly great for the six-pack.”
Brodie laughed.
As the seven of us stood in the parking lot, cars occasionally driving by and the sun sinking below the horizon, it struck me for the first time that I was about to embark on something I’d never experienced before—hanging out with new people in an enclosed spaced. That was something I usually avoided since it wreaked havoc on my gift, but it would be necessary while we tried to track down the man who wanted me dead.
But Lord help me, I’d never lived so closely with so many drop-dead gorgeous men.
Chapter 11
“These are the kinds of emails this prick’s been sending you?” Alexander asked from the couch.
Brodie and Jake sat beside him, peering over his shoulder at my laptop. They reminded me of sardines packed tightly into a can.
Alexander had taken his hat off, revealing startling blue eyes behind his glasses and a heavy brow. Muscled forearms rested on his thighs while the computer lay in his lap. His gaze traveled over the emails as he scanned them one by one, his earlier boyish cuteness gone as his jaw became a hard edge.
“That’s right. Thirteen so far,” Logan replied. He sat beside me on the opposite couch. My senses were acutely aware of him.
Cecile and Mike stood near the kitchen, watching on anxiously.
“What a crazy mofo.” Brodie shook his head, his mouth tight.
“No kidding.” Jake’s hazel eyes flashed darkly.
“Scary stuff,” Alexander added. “Seems like a real psycho.”
My stomach tightened. “Exactly, which is why I want to figure out who he is. Is that possible?”
Alexander nodded and leaned forward. “I’ll find him.”
I eyed him curiously. “Can I ask how?”
He angled the laptop screen in my direction, my email already pulled up. “Through his messages. Most emails have information in what’s called an ‘email header’ that’s normally hidden. But if you know a thing or two about computers, you can find out all sorts of information about someone.”
Alexander pulled up an email from Cecile and showed me what lay within an email header. My eyes widened when I took in page after page of technical gibberish.
“You can understand that?”
“Lucky for you, yeah.” He pointed at the screen. “See here? This tells me that Cecile emailed you from her smartphone, a Samsung device. And here? This tells me what router it went through. Using that info, I just pull up this handy-dandy site.” He pasted the IP address into a browser. “This site gives me the longitude and latitude of where Cecile was when she sent that email, so I have a fairly good idea where she was when she sent it.”
I grinned. “That’s amazing! So you can definitely find where my stalker lives!”
“Should be able to.” Alexander pulled up my stalker’s emails. His fingers flew across the keyboard, and technical gibberish appeared. He paused, scratching his chin. “Or not. The creep emailing you seems to know a thing or two about tech, cause he’s using a VPN.”
My grin vanished. “What’s a VPN?”
“A virtual private network. VPNs route internet traffic through their own servers, so instead of seeing his actual IP address, I’ll see something else instead that points me to Russia or France or some other country. Obviously, that’s not where he actually is.”
“Oh.” My shoulders fell. “Then how do we find him?”
Alexander rolled up his sleeves, a devilish smile growing on his face. “This is where it gets fun. Since he’s not playing nice, I’m not going to, either.”
Brodie chuckled. “Don’t get him started. The dude seriously gets off on this stuff.”
Jake’s lips twitched up. “Daria, I think it’s safe to say you’re in good hands. Sooner or later, Alexander will find him.”
“But how?” I persisted.
“I’m going to drop a few phishing emails to start off with. All I need him to do is click the link. Once he does, I’m in and can access everything on his hard drive. Even if he’s careful about what he stores, most likely, I’ll still be able to find something on him that will allude to his identity.”
I breathed a sigh of relief that Alexander obviously knew what he was doing. “Thank you. Honestly, I can’t thank you enough.”
He pushed his glasses up, the cute-boy-next-door appeal back. “Not a problem. This is kinda what I do.”
Logan inched closer. “Just let us handle it, Dar. We’ve all dealt with creeps like this before. We know how to get to the bottom of it.”
I smiled at him even though I wondered how they would deal with my stalker once they found him, but gratitude still flooded me. “Thank you.” I reached over and squeezed Logan’s hand. As soon as I did it, I couldn’t believe what I’d done.
Logan stared down at our hands, his entire body going still.
You did not just do that! I hastily snatched my hand away, heat rushing up my neck. Is this another potential mate thing? That I randomly touch men who are actually off limits?
Logan’s gaze stayed on his thigh, where our joined hands had been. The rigidness in his posture didn’t ease.
Brodie cleared his throat.
My cheeks heated even more when it became apparent that everyone was staring at us. Cecile and Mike’s jaws had dropped.
Nervously, I threaded my hand through my long, blond hair. A few wavy strands fell across my shoulder. Logan continued to sit there, unmoving.
>
Brodie leaned back against the couch, a curious glint in his eye before he slung an arm over the couch back.
∞ ∞ ∞
The moon bathed the sky in silvery light. Snores filled the bus as I lay in my bed. It seemed not only Mike snored, but Jake did too.
At the front of the bus, bright light from Alexander’s laptop illuminated his and Logan’s faces as they tried to find more information on my stalker.
They probably thought they were the only ones awake, but I couldn’t sleep. Too much had happened. Not only had Logan called in his friends to help, but I’d also accepted what had been staring me in the face ever since I’d met my bodyguard.
Logan Smith was a potential mate, the first potential mate I’d ever met, and I had an insanely stupid, completely ridiculous, mind-blowing crush on him. I groaned in despair. I was crushing for him so hard that one would think I was a thirteen-year-old girl who’d just entered puberty.
Up the aisle, Logan’s broad shoulders were visible from where he sat on the couch. He looked like a wall of concrete—hard and immobile.
I itched to touch him, to run my fingers along the hard planes of his back, to feel his muscles jump and dance beneath my fingertips.
But despite my interest in him, interest that Brodie had obviously picked up on, given his knowing smirks during the evening, Logan hadn’t said a word about it.
Duh. He’s got a girlfriend, he’s obviously loyal, and he’s still doing his job while tolerating your blubbering actions.
I pushed deeper under my covers as tapping from Alexander’s keyboard drifted my way.
I needed to stop thinking about Logan. As soon as my stalker was caught, Logan would be on his way, returning to his normal life, a life that didn’t include me. But I still couldn’t stop my feelings.
It was completely insane that only three days had passed since I’d met him, because one thing was growing increasingly apparent to me—I was falling for Logan hard and fast—and it would only end in tears.
∞ ∞ ∞
Magic in Light Page 8
