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She then traipsed to the stairwell, hugged her body, and stared at the show’s producer and her savior as he joined her in the space.
“Cancelling now will be giving them what they want,” Snow said, her voice sounding different in the stairwell now that they no longer spoke in the echoing swimming pool area. “You can’t give in.”
Hunter couldn’t believe this was Snow’s stance. Someone had just tried to kill her—possibly because she was on HMW. Why else would this person have sent threatening notes to both Snow and the station?
“You could have been killed,” Hunter said.
Her violet eyes met his, and something strung between them in the middle of that glance. It was as though Snow could seewithinhim. She saw him as more than the outward appearance, his features and clothes and short-cropped hair. In that moment, he sensed that she sawhim.Hunter Bradley, a father, a business owner, and a man who cared about her wellbeing more than he could explain.
His insides shifted and rearranged themselves in a way he hadn’t expected. Places he’d felt were strong previously went suddenly weak.
“I wasn’t,” she said, her voice quiet but steady. “Thanks to you.”
He kept his gaze on hers. He felt a sudden pull to lift his hand and stroke her cheek, or worse, to hold her tightly to him once more. It wasn’t only the fact that Eloise was around, witnessing their every move, but he had to keep himself in check. He cared about Snow, that was true. He’d cared about many people he came into contact with, and her safety was important because she was a person, not because she began to mean anything more to him.
He couldn’t allow that to happen. He was happy as a bachelor and didn’t want to get his heart broken again.
Hunter attempted to keep his thoughts along those lines rather than treading toward more off-limits, dangerous territory like the notion that his concern for Snow meant more than it should. She was his client—that was all. And he was obligated to keep her safe while she was featured on his show.
He reeled himself in and considered his next steps, actions they could take to prevent anything like this from happening again. From the sound of things, Snow was avidly against cancelling. The police had advised the same thing as well. They’d suggested the same thing Snow had insisted—that it would be easier to find the culprit if they kept the show going as usual.
Be that as it may, Hunter didn’t want Snow to be on her own, not ever.
* * *
As soon as Eloise left,Snow found herself back in Hunter’s arms. She knew she should move away. She shouldn’t let Hunter hold her as he did. But she couldn’t seem to allow him to let her go.
The truth was, she was shaken, completely and entirely frazzled. Of all the things she thought might happen at the end of the flower petal trail, she never thought an attempt on her life would be one of the results.
But he’d saved her. Hunter had dived in and rescued her. She wasn’t embarrassed to admit she was falling apart right now and would probably break into pieces if she moved away from him. So she held onto him all through the elevator ride up to their floor. She cradled into his side through the entire walk down the hall to her door. And she laid her head on his shoulder as they stood outside it.
He was only her bodyguard. It was only because he’d just rescued her. Nothing more. Even still, Snow got the feeling she wasn’t the only one who wanted his arms around her.
“Do you have a friend who can come stay with you?” Hunter said. “You can’t ever be alone.” His cheek rested against her hair. His clothes were as wet as hers were, but he didn’t seem to care.
Snow’s first thought was of Lily, but as she was married and halfway across the world, that wouldn’t work. She considered having her mom come here, but that wouldn’t work either. Mom worked at a dentist’s office back in Vermont. Juliet could do it, though. She worked as a customer service rep for an internet search engine and could work from anywhere.
“Juliet is one of my best friends. She would probably do it.”
“Excellent,” he said, lowering his arms and moving away from her. Snow felt suddenly unhinged out of his embrace, but she did her best to hold herself together.
“Give me her information,” Hunter went on. “I’ll see to it that she gets a flight here. From now on, she sticks to you like glue, because I obviously can’t.”
He handed her her room key.
“You must have dropped it,” he said. “I’m assuming it’s yours.”
She wouldn’t have been surprised if she had. “Thanks,” Snow said, returning to their previous topic. “Juliet won’t be able to come until tomorrow at least,” she said. And though she tried taking the key from him, he didn’t release his hold on it.
His forehead bent in thought, and he stared at their hands. Slowly, his brown eyes lifted to meet hers. “Considering our discussion earlier, this might seem like the most indecent of indecent proposals, but I meant it when I said I didn’t want you to be alone. I’ll stay in your room with you tonight.”
Staywithher? Her insides flipped.
Snow managed to find her voice. “What about your daughter?”
His face remained stern. “She’s already at my mother’s.”
Though Snow was ridiculously eager to have him as close to her as possible, she suspected this was the kind of situation that warranted an argument. There were so many reasons that having him stay in her suite was a terrible idea. “Are you sure? I don’t want to jeopardize anything for you.”
