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“I didn’t mean by killing people,” she yelled. “Are you insane? Did you kill Veronica?”
The word insane seemed to strike a nerve. Lance stood tall, and his eye twitched. “I’m not crazy,” he said in an eerily calm voice. “I love you, and I’ll do anything for you. I thought if I helped you win this award, you’d finally see what a great team we are. Not just as friends.”
“Lance, I don’t love you. And I couldn’t possibly after finding out what you’ve done. You should go to jail.”
The look on Lance’s face made it clear he hadn’t seen this as a possibility and was rapidly making new plans. He turned the gun on Gabbi. “I’ve devoted my life to you. And this is how you repay me? You want me to go to jail? If I can’t have you, no one should.”
Gabbi’s eyes widened, and she threw up her hands. For a split second, Lance seemed confused. And that was all Noah needed. He lunged for the arm holding the gun and twisted until Lance screamed and dropped the weapon. Noah delivered a series of quick punches and swept his feet, knocking him to the floor. He kicked the gun away and stood over him.
“Do not get up,” he ordered. “Gabbi, call the police. Daisy, are you okay?”
“Yes,” Daisy croaked. “I’ll be fine.”
Gabbi ran to the hotel room phone and called the front desk. She relayed what had happened and hung up.
“Daisy,” she said. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea he was doing this.”
Lance wailed from the floor. “I love you. I love you. How can you not see that?”
Daisy and Gabbi huddled together while Noah stood over Lance. The police arrived, took him into custody, and split the rest of them up to get statements. The police told Noah that Lance had admitted to slipping GHB into Daisy’s drink. They thought he should know in case she had a bad reaction or required medical attention later.
After Noah gave his statement, he called Edward to tell him he’d found Daisy and that everything was fine. He’d save the details for when he saw him tomorrow.
Once the police finished their interviews and arrested Lance, Noah took Daisy back to their room.
“Are you feeling better?” he asked, slipping off her shoes and handing her a water bottle.
“Much,” she said. “Thank you, Noah. I’m sorry I left and went to the party. You were right.”
He waved a hand. “Usually am. It’s a tough burden to carry,” he said dryly, and she chuckled. “Can I get you anything? Are you hungry?”
She stood and slid out of her dress. Noah’s jaw hit the floor.
“Hold me?”
He choked on his reply. “You sure about this? Could just be the adrenaline talking. Lots of people make horrible decisions right after a life-threatening situation.”
She walked to him and pulled at his T-shirt. He allowed her to strip it off over his head. And then he followed her to bed, where they stayed until the next day.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Daisy woke feeling a hundred percent better. The drugs were out of her system, and a handsome man lay beside her. He would be swimming in doubts over what they’d done, but she had no regrets.
While she’d jumped fully on board with sleeping with him, she’d chickened out on telling him how she felt about him. And now, in the light of day, she was glad she’d hesitated. Her near-death, made-under-duress decision to declare her love might have been a tad premature. She’d play it cool and see how today went before doing anything drastic.
With the danger gone, now they could go out. She slipped out of bed and took a shower, then called for room service and ordered one of everything on the breakfast menu.
Noah stirred at the knock on the door but didn’t fully wake until the hotel waiter had rolled in a cart of food and left again.
“Please tell me there’s coffee,” he said, sitting and rubbing his eyes.
“Can’t start the day without it,” Daisy said.
He raised an eyebrow at the spread. “Feeling better, I see.”
“Yes, and I’m starving.” She bit into a croissant and relished the buttery goodness that melted on her tongue.
“Is it hard to stomach American versions of stuff like that?” he said, nodding to the croissant.
