Page 16 of Her Noble Protector

“Is there anything I can do?” Cami asked.

“I’ll let you know,” Raiden said, ready to hang up.

“Raiden?” Cami asked tentatively.

“What, honey?”

“Why are you there? Why do you care?”

He paused, wondering if he wanted to answer the question. He really didn’t know Camilla all that well, but then again, she’d been through the fire.

“I don’t know how it was between you and Nic, at least not in the beginning,” Raiden started. “But Lisa made an impression in Mexico. I saw her bravery, her heart, her compassion, and her grit, all of it, everything about her, and it just called to me.”

“Why did you wait so long to go and see her?” Cami asked softly.

“My bad, I was planning to give it a little more time. Actually, I was watching you, seeing how long it took for you to put things behind you, then I thought I’d take my shot. I figured she’d be with Paula. I had no fucking clue that she was by herself.”

And he’d regret this to his dying day.

“Are you beating yourself up?” Cami asked.

Raiden stopped short and pulled the phone away from his ear to look at it. “Maybe,” he answered. Nic’s Cami had a hell of a lot more wisdom than he realized.

“Well stop. You can’t change the past, you can only move forward.”

“I should have kept in touch with Paula. I knew that Lisa didn’t have close friends, and she didn’t have any family. I knew Paula was it.”

Raiden put his hand on Lisa’s back fence and looked up into the star-filled sky. He thought about his crazy-assed family and all the love that poured forth. He knew he was blessed. He’d even wondered if that was part of the reason that Lisa called to him so deeply, that he felt her level of isolation and wanted to enfold her into a different world.

“Don’t blame yourself, Raiden. You’re there, you’re going to help. I know it.”

Raiden couldn’t even summon up a smile.

“But I have a question; are you absolutely sure you want to get this involved? This is big, and if she gets too attached and you just go away, it will be another blow. Are you up for this?”

Damn, Nic had chosen a good one.

“Cami, the woman I met in Mexico, the woman I stayed with in Miami, she tore me up. Somehow I connected with her on a cellular level. I’m thirty-three years old, and I’ve been around the block a few times—trust me, this has never happened to me before. I’m going to stick.”

“That’s good,” Cami said softly. “How long are you staying?”

“As long as it takes.”

* * *

It was hot, and her face was pressed against the cream-colored fabric of her sofa. Why? She turned her body and almost fell off the cushions. She thrust off the blankets and groaned as she stretched her sore muscles. Why did it feel like a sauna in here?

God, she was so thirsty. The kitchen looked like it was a million miles away, but she desperately needed some water. She threw back the blanket and stepped around the dishes on the floor in front of the coffee table.

When she looked, she couldn’t find any clean glasses in the cupboards, which wasn’t a surprise considering how many dirty dishes were in the sink and on the counter. She spied the dishwasher. Maybe… Maybe…

She opened the dishwasher and found a clean glass. She snagged it, then went to the fridge and dispensed some cold water into the glass. She greedily drank down the entire contents and went back for seconds. She opened the fridge and saw that there were some tapioca cups, and when she checked the dates, they were still good. At least she thought they were. Grabbing a clean spoon from the dishwasher, she took two cups out of the fridge, leaned against the counter, and started eating. When she started to shake, she just slid down to the floor, still eating.

How much longer until she felt well?

First, she needed to turn on the A/C. Why had she let it get so hot in here?

Everything started to flood back. Her shower, the peach-scented shampoo.