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“Whoever is doing this seems to want to stay under the radar, so they’d be very unlikely to come at you face to face. Just make sure someone is with you if you head out, and if you feel anything is off, let someone know right away, even if you think it’s nothing. You’d be amazed what your gut can tell you.”

“You d-do understand who you’re facing if th-this is them…the men who took me and sh-shot me. They h-have money and they were organised. They knew w-what they were doing,” I warned.

“You think they had done it before?”

“Absolutely. And they w-will d-do it again,” I confirmed.

“To answer your question – yes. We have done a lot of digging into the three of them and into their families. We’re very prepared to deal with them if it is them.”

“Good,” I replied as I took another forkful of food. My stomach was already protesting though.

“I know it will take a lot more than words for you to trust me, Blake, but I assure you, I will do everything in my power to protect you. It’s my job and I take it very seriously. I was a SEAL. Protecting others is in my DNA. I would never hurt you,” he told me, with so much ferocity, it was very difficult not to believe him.

“I b-believe you,” I told him as I met his eyes. “But I’m g-going to need m-more time…to get to know you b-before I’ll feel safe enough to be a-alone with you. It’s not you. I just…”

“It’s alright, Blake. You don’t need to explain. I completely understand. Take all of the time you need. If you want to ask me anything, or see any of my ID, or paperwork, just ask. I have recommendations from my time in the military and from past clients I have worked with if you want to see those too,” he offered.

“No.” I smiled. “I trust my dad t-to have checked all of that. I just n-need time to g-get to know you.”

“Well, okay then,” he agreed with a smile.

“Blake? Are you alright, babe?” I turned at the sound of Tom’s voice and found him striding towards me, looking between Luca and I with wariness. He was still in his shorts, but with a black tank top now. I had stolen his hoody. His glasses were a little wonky like he’d thrown them on in a hurry and he just looked so sexy, all sleep mussed.

“I was hungry,” I told him as I gave him a smile. He smiled too as he approached me and wrapped his arms loosely around me from behind.

“You should have woken one of us. We’d have gotten something for you,” he told me, his lips so close to my ear I felt his breath brush over my neck.

“I needed to g-get out of the furnace,” I laughed. “You guys make a lot of b-body heat.”

“You’re working late, man?” Tom questioned, his attention turning to Luca.

“Always do. I don’t need much sleep. Leftover from my military days,” he shrugged.

“Luca was t-telling me about his twin girls. They’re so a-adorable,” I told Tom, hoping he understood that I was okay with Luca being there. I didn’t want Luca getting shit when I had told him he could stay.

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you heard them both screaming in the middle of the night,” Luca chuckled with a shake of his head.

“Have you finished eating, Blake? You should get some more sleep,” Tom suggested when I pushed the bowl of food away from me. I watched on as, without comment, he grabbed my bottle of water and twisted the cap off for me, before placing it in front of me. It was so amazing to me the way he knew, the way all of them knew, exactly what I needed without me saying a word.

I nodded as I snatched up the bottle of cold water and guzzled it down. Throwing up earlier had obviously left me dehydrated.

Tom took the bowl of half-eaten food and made short work of emptying and rinsing it, before dumping it into the sink, then he was back, holding a hand out to me.

“Come on, little warrior,” he told me and I couldn’t help but smile at him.

“Goodnight Luca,” I offered as I followed Tom from the kitchen. I still had a ways to go with Luca, but at least I wasn’t bursting into an anxiety attack in his company anymore.

“You sure you’re okay? Luca should have left when you walked in there,” Tom told me as we headed down the hallway to my room.

“He was going to, but I st-stopped him. I need to g-get to know him, Tom. He’s not going anywhere for a while,” I explained.

“That’s true, but I don’t want you making yourself uncomfortable.”

“I was okay. He s-seems nice enough,” I shrugged.

“You know none of us would allow him to be in the house if we weren’t one hundred percent sure he can be trusted,” Tom told me and I nodded.

“I know.” I stopped just outside the door of my room and turned so he and I were facing one another. “Thank you, for always looking out for me. It m-means more than I c-can say.”

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