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Juliet was mega-famous and popular the world over and Nikki was Hollywood royalty, from a family that had practically invented film and blockbuster movies. The women were great friends despite being polar opposites with Julia’s boundless outgoing nature and Nikki’s shy reserve.
He laced his fingers through hers. “Breathe through it,” he teased. “The shock passes.”
She pretended to snarl at him. “Not cool.”
He squeezed her hand. “Come on. You’ve cooked for nearly every other headliner Juliet knows.”
“True. I did enjoy meeting Daniel Craig.”
“Touché.” He laughed.
Logan groaned. “It’s the accent.”
As the others chatted about celebrity encounters, Travis’s mind wandered again.
This was exactly where he most wanted to be. With her. If Brett and Logan could make their relationships work, surely he and Lila could figure it out.
First, he needed to make sure Lila wanted him sticking around. Then he could sort out the details about how to set up acareer that would support and empower her goals as a business owner. He was determined to give her the best life possible.
She meant everything to him.
As wild as it was and totally unexpected, it felt completely natural to think of her as his. To be in love with her and everything she represented. Not just within her community but within himself. She was more than a client in need of protection. She was the keeper of his heart. The woman who made all the difference in his outlook. Knowing her, being with her, loving her had changed him for the better. South Carolina was her home butLilawas the place he wanted to come home to.
He had no idea what he would do if she didn’t reciprocate. Probably hop on the nearest yacht headed for Europe and pretend he could remember how to protect someone other than Lila.
Her rejection, if it came, would crush him. Yet sitting here, holding just her hand, he knew telling her was worth any fallout. He just couldn’t hold all of these feelings inside, couldn’t hold himself apart from her any longer.
Because if she did love him too, if she felt everything between them as deeply as he did, their future together would be incredible.
Chapter 16
In the luxury suite of the Ellington hotel in downtown Charleston, Lila felt detached. The view that visitors raved about was lost on her. Of course she’d been spending her nights with Travis, but this felt different. The danger was over, the threat gone. Her grandmother’s legacy and her future were safe. The purpose that brought Travis into her life, the reason they’d been posing as an inseparable couple, was done.
Mission accomplished.
Why didn’t she feel better about that?
Her father. She half-expected Detective Bradley to storm in and arrest her for withholding evidence or conspiracy or something. Sure, she’d explained the basics to Travis, but had he figured out that Dan had been on the ferry? Did Travis understand the full scope of her father’s lousy, unforgivable behavior?
Here they were, together as survivors. Well, she was a survivor because of him. His efforts, his plans. Which only underscoredthe awkwardness. He’d come in, protected her, rescued her, and now… Well, now the case was closed.
Almost.
“Can I borrow your phone?” she asked. “I remembered something the police will want to know.”
He pulled his phone from his pocket, but didn’t offer it to her. “If you’re referring to the identity of the man on the ferry, they know it was Dan Copeland.”
“You knew?”
“Let’s say I wasn’t surprised.” Travis sighed. “The Guardian Agency is second to none when it comes to research. Connor pieced it together after you confided in me. He’s been combing through every bit of data to connect Copeland to all the incidents so he goes down for all his crimes against your family.”
She reveled in the way he phrased that. As if she wasn’t tied to Copeland by anything more than a strand of DNA.
“Lila, no one will hold his crimes against you.”
She rested in that for a moment. “And what about the woman?” she asked. “Was he playing me when he said he didn’t have a partner? Were they working together?”
“I don’t think so. Connor and the police are unraveling that. From the bits and pieces I’ve heard, the prevailing theory is she caught wind of the grocer scheme and was trying to beat Copeland at his own game. She has a rap sheet a mile long. If you’d skipped the galley inventory, she might’ve gotten away with the takeover.”
