Page 44 of The Hero She Deserves

“Wait?” She set her fork down. “Vander? Vander Norcross?”

Sawyer raised a brow. “You know him?”

“I’ve heard of him. I know several celebrities who’ve thrown lots of money at him to come and do bodyguard work for them. Which he refuses to do. One of his guys, Rome Nash, did protection for a friend of mine.” Hollis cocked her head. “How do you know Vander?”

“We worked together in the military.”

Her gaze narrowed. “You were a SEAL. In the Navy. Vander was Army. I heard that he was in Delta Force, then some shadowy, top-secret team.”

Sawyer made a noncommittal sound.

“Wow. You were on that team, as well. I knew you were a badass, but…”

He tugged on her hair. “Eat your eggs.”

They were almost finished when there was the sound of a car out front. Hollis tensed.

“It’s okay,” Sawyer said. “I called out our fingerprint tech to print the back door. We might get lucky and get a hit.”

“You have a fingerprint technician on Maui?”

“Well, Leilani is sort of a Jill-of-all-trades.”

There was a knock at the front door.

Sawyer crossed the room and opened it. “Leilani.”

“Big guy.” The small woman pushed inside. “Ilovethis place.”

Today, her shirt was bright blue, and her trousers were multi-colored with splotches of orange, red, blue, and white.

Leilani stopped suddenly, staring at Hollis. “Oh my God.”

Sawyer took a step forward. “Leilani?—”

She whirled and pointed at him. “You got laid.Finally.”

He looked at the ceiling.Jesus.

“Hi, I’m Leilani Sola.” She held a hand out to Hollis and they shook.

“Hi, I’m?—”

“Hollis Stanton,” Leilani finished with a no-nonsense tone. “I’m more of an action-movie fan, myself. So, if you could star in one of those, I’ll watch more of your movies.” She looked around. “This place is so awesome.”

“Thanks for coming, Leilani,” Sawyer said.

“No problem. Where do you need me, big guy?”

“Sliding door at the back. To the pool. We had an intruder last night.”

“On it.” Leilani glanced at the kitchen. “Any chance I can get some of those eggs? They smell great, and I missed breakfast.”

Hollis blinked. “Sure. I’ll cook some up for you.”

Sawyer shook his head. Only Leilani would have no hesitation in asking Hollywood’s most in demand actress to cook her breakfast. He watched her open her bag, then dust and take prints from the door. Then, she set up her laptop and portable scanner on the island. Her fingers flew as she tapped away.

“You get any decent prints?”

---