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The lovers lost themselves in their visual connection until Trevor cleared his throat behind her. "Well then. I'll go let the gang back in. We need to keep moving. It's gettinglate."
Ryder gave her one last predatory grin before he put the phone back to his ear, walking away as he added, "Talk to me,Axe."
Chapter 23
The soundof gunfire filled the darkened theater. Even seeing the smoking weapon on the mammoth screen didn't calm Ryder's racing heart completely. His brain knew that the loud crack had not been the work of the Volkovs, but instead, the effort of a good sound technician working on the movie,Dirty Business. Standing in the back, out of the way to be sure he wouldn't be connected to the star of the show, he'd allowed himself to get lost in the spectacular drama playing for the full house of movie critics, press agents and other bigwigVIPs.
He'd seen many of Khloe's movies even before he'd met her. But he'd made sure to take in those he'd missed in their time apart, using the films as a small way to feel closer to her, if even for a few minutes. Yet he was angry that today, when he should be paying attention to everything but the film, he'd allowed himself to be drawn into the suspenseful story on the bigscreen.
Her performance was magnificent. He was no industry expert, but he had a unique way of judging her skills as an actress and that was that despite being madly in love with Khloe Monroe, her performance was so realistic that even he had forgotten for long moments that the gritty heroine who'd just shot her husband's killer wasn't really Stella Wade, widow, but Khloe Monroe, talentedactress.
He'd never felt such pride as the entire theater jumped to their feet to give Khloe and the rest of the cast a standing ovation as the credits started scrolling. As the lights came up, he panicked when he lost sight of her. She remained humbly seated, surrounded by the cheering accolades of her peers. When she finally stood, he could see the adorable blush on her face, reminding him of how unpretentious she was compared to other leading ladies who'd be milking the limelight for all it wasworth.
A throng of well-wishers started crushing around Khloe to congratulate her on the film's success. A pang of jealousy sliced through his heart as Jaxson and Chase flanked her closely, keeping the crowd from crushing the star of themoment.
That should be me. I should be protecting her rightnow.
The enormity of their impossible situation was starting to sink in as he watched the woman he loved being hugged and kissed by dozens of people uninhibited by the dangerous baggage he would drag around with him like an iron anchor every day of his life until either he or the Volkov brothers weredead.
When he caught sight of the pimpled coffee boy from the studio trying to press to the front of the throng surrounding Khloe, Ryder used the small two-way radio to alertMcLean.
"Peter's moving closer. You have eyes onhim?"
Trevor's voice was clear in his left ear, courtesy of the tiny speaker he'd had sent over fromLangley.
"Yeah, I've got him. He's holding something that's wrapped up. I'm moving incloser."
"Rogerthat."
Knowing McLean was there to take close protection of Khloe, Ryder scanned the crowd for other threats, still uncertain who was at the heart of the stalking activities. Axel had uncovered several hot leads, though. Like uncovering that the errand-boy wasn't actually a relative of any movie executives as Khloe had been assured. It was certainly very curious how a kid working part-time for less than minimum wage somehow had the money to travel across the country to attend every opening. Someone was paying for those trips and Axe was working on getting to the bottom of the moneytrail.
And while that was suspicious, and it was true the young man seemed obsessed with the actress, something felt fishy about it all. His gut told him there was no way the kid had the intelligence or means to pull off the threats against Khloe Monroe, which meant he was a dead end, or worse, a distraction. Until he could ferret out the truth, they'd have to keep a close eye onhim.
Ryder scanned the room until he locked gaze with a staring Natalie Kaplan who was leveling him with a glare from the edge of the room where he'd arranged for her and her husband to be seated far from their client. He grinned at her just to piss heroff.
By the time he glanced back at Khloe, she was watching him intently, waiting for him to see her. Despite the hundreds of people crowded into the room, within seconds they renewed their tenuous connection. He was struck with an almost uncontrollable urge to go to her... to hold her... to kiss her. Not being able to do any of those things made him physically ache as if he were coming down with abug.
Khloe finally broke their visual connection to chat with the next wave of well-wishers pressing forward to her location, presumably offering up their congratulations. He watched as Peter got outwardly agitated at being continuously pushed farther away from the actress he was not so patiently trying to talk with. When he rudely elbowed an older woman in a formal gown, pressing to get physically closer to Khloe, Ryder moved into action, skirting around the edge of the room to get closer in case he needed tointervene.
Trevor, who wasn't bogged down with the same anonymity concerns, moved to stand directly behind Khloe, leaning in to talk into the ear of the only man in the room as tall as him, Jaxson, who listened and thennodded.
It took another five minutes for Peter to make it to Khloe. Knowing Ryder would want to hear, Trevor turned on the two-way communication between them so he could listen in from across theroom.
"Hello Peter. I'm surprised to see you in Washington." He could hear the edge of anxiety in her voice as she addressed a possible suspect in her stalkercase.
"I will follow you everywhere, Khloe. I am your biggest fan." Before she could respond, he reached into the pocket of his jacket and Trevor and Ryder both moved into action simultaneously. Trevor, being much closer, got to him first, stepping between Peter and Khloe and pushing the kid until his back crashed into Ryder'schest.
The two men sandwiched Peter between them as Ryder spoke softly in his ear. "I'd like to speak with you in private, Mr. Martinez. Come with me quietly and don't make ascene."
He clamped down, holding Peter's elbow in a firm grip as he started pulling him away from Khloe and towards one of the side exits to thetheater.
Unfortunately, the kid wanted to do things the hard way and started flailing and shouting, "Let go of me. I need to talk to Khloe! I need to give her mygift!"
His shouting was drawing attention and that was the last thing Ryder needed in a room full of photographers and reporters. He hustled them faster, almost dragging the suspect along behind him as Peter stumbled to keep up. Trevor grabbed his other arm and together, they wrangled him through the side exit and into the back hallway of thetheater.
Ryder had done a thorough security sweep before the movie had begun. He recognized their location and knew they weren't far from the security office. They headed in that direction as Peter put up a half-ass attempt to free himself from their grasp, uttering nonsensical sounds as theywent.
Only once they had Peter in the security office did Ryder bark at Trevor. "Go back to Khloe. I'll handlethis."
