Page 69 of Her Noble Protector

Raiden stayed seated, just continued to calmly look at her. “All right, let’s use the word friendship. Coming to Virginia would give you a lot of time to spend with Cami. She’s seeing a therapist out there who is doing her a world of good, maybe you can see them too.”

Lisa thrust her hands on her hips. “This is crazy. I can’t stay with Cami; she’s just starting a new relationship with Nic.”

“I’m not suggesting you stay with her and Nic, or with me. I think it’s important for the next little while that you’re surrounded by good, loving people. So I talked to my mom and dad this morning. Mom’s probably already bought fresh flowers for the guest suite.”

Lisa took a step backward and looked over her shoulder to see how far she’d have to run to make it to her bedroom. The man was crazy, with a capital ‘C’.

“I’m not staying with your parents.”

Raiden smiled. “You don’t know them well enough to know how crazy the idea is, and how crazy they are, otherwise you would be scared. Cami has been to my parent’s house twice. She really loves my mom, so when I mentioned my idea to her, she thought it was great. She’s already volunteered to stay over at their house with you for the first couple of days after you get there to help you acclimate.”

“Raiden, you’re seriously out of your mind. And what’s more, you’ll be putting them in danger.”

“Already told you. Nobody will know where you are.”

“Maria and the Mexican drug cartel will find them!” she wailed.

He laughed. “Not going to happen. You pull up stakes, don’t leave a forwarding address. Nobody will be the wiser. It’ll take a couple of days to arrange. Cami will be back home and you can call her tonight to discuss it with her. In the meantime, we can go about getting your house shut down for the foreseeable future.”

Lisa took one more step backward.

“I see you moving away from me, but it’s not going to work. Why don’t you go put on some TV, or read a book? We can come back to this after you talk to Cami, okay?”

“I am never going to see this as a good idea. Just know that.”

“I hear you,” Raiden said. His eyes were twinkling.

19

Lisa looked around Akari Sato’s kitchen and for the umpteenth time couldn’t believe she’d actually let Raiden talk her into moving in with his parents. Sure, she thought she might have to give in for a day or two just to give him his way a little bit, but six weeks?

Lisa let out a sigh and two male heads looked over at her.

“What’s wrong?” Max Hogan asked immediately.

“Are you okay?” Raiden’s voice was concerned.

“It’s nothing, guys. Just trying to get the recipe right,” she assured them.

Akari’s kitchen was large, but with these two Navy SEALs in it, it was feeling pretty small and she was feeling a little hemmed in. She looked over her shoulder at Cami who was seated at the kitchen counter and mouthed the word ‘help’. Cami just laughed.

Raiden’s mom bustled into the kitchen. “Get away from the food!” she yelled at Raiden, hitting his hand with her wooden spoon as he crept in for a crab wonton.

“No fair, you’ve been letting Max be in your kitchen for the last half-hour, and you haven’t hit him once,” Raiden complained.

“Go out into the garage with your father and Nic and leave me with Max and Lisa,” his mother said with a shooing motion.

Max laughed. “Yeah, Raiden, leave me alone with Lisa.”

It was total madness. This was the first time that the Satos would be having a big get-together since she’d come to visit.

“Cami, don’t let Max try any funny stuff while I go out into the garage,” Raiden warned with a wink.

Lisa looked over to where Max was diligently mashing the Adzuki beans into a paste for the red bean mochi ball dessert they would be serving tonight. The silly man had asked Akari for a recipe a few months ago, not knowing that was not how she rolled. She didn’t write anything down—all recipes were in her head. Therefore he was in the kitchen getting a hands-on demonstration of how to make the treats. He was actually doing a damn good job of it.

“Lisa, what are you daydreaming about? Stir the dough,” Akari said as she pointed her spoon at her. Lisa was in charge of making the mochi, which was the rice dough that would surround the red bean paste. She heard Cami giggling from behind her. Akari’s attention lasered in on Cami.

“Cami, I need you to get some of the ice cream from the freezer in the garage, we need to start making the punch now,” Akari instructed the school counselor.