Page 49 of Keeping Guard
Doubtful. “Nine minutes now.” He followed Dalton to an office down the hall. Positioning himself just inside the door, he watched the man pile personal items on the desk. When he unplugged a laptop, Noah took a wild guess. “That’s not yours.” That got him a death glare, but Dalton dropped the cord. When he opened a filing cabinet, Noah shook his head. “Nice try, but any folders in there belong to the company.”
Noah noticed a box pushed up against the wall with beer bottles in it. Samples maybe? He walked over, removed all but one of the bottles, then dropped the box on the desk. “Put your junk in here. And to show that I’m a nice guy, you can keep the beer. I figure you could use it after losing your job and the girl.” He almost snorted at the nice guy comment.
“Fuck you.”
Noah glanced at his watch. “Two minutes if you want to walk out of here on your own.”
Dalton snatched up the box. “You think you can just waltz in and take away everything I’ve worked for? Not gonna happen, pal.”
“I see you anywhere near Peyton, and you’ll regret it. That’s not a threat,pal. It’s a promise.” He had a bad feeling that the man was desperate, and desperate men got stupid.
He followed behind Dalton to the parking lot, then stood outside until his car disappeared from sight. “Okay then. That was fun.” For real.
“I expect you back to work first thing tomorrow.”
Peyton would have been overjoyed to hear that, and her father firing Dalton, if she hadn’t gotten the worst news of her life. “You know I’ll be here. But you have to promise not to shut me out of what’s going on with you.”
“I don’t want you worrying about me.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” How could he possibly think she wouldn’t worry about him? “I mean it, Dad. There’s no way I’m going to let you go through this alone. I want to go with you to your next doctor’s appointment.”
“Peyton—”
“Don’t Peyton me. You’ve never let me in, not really. There’s always been a wall between us, and I don’t understand why. But that changes as of today.”
A smile played on his lips. “Does it now?”
“Yes, and maybe someday you’ll explain that wall to me.”
“Maybe I will.” He picked up his phone and pulled up his calendar. “My next doctor’s appointment is Monday at two.”
“Good, and don’t you dare go without me.” Relief spread through her that she’d won this battle. Now all she had to do was win the battle for his life.
“Now tell me about this Noah Alba guy. How did you meet him?”
“At the waterfall.” How to explain Noah? She doubted her father wanted to hear that she wanted to jump Noah’s bones, so she’d leave that part out.
“You didn’t arrange to meet him there?”
“No!” That was what he thought of her, that she’d meet another man on her wedding day? “He came down when I was there. I’d never seen him before in my life.”
“Yet you brought a strange man home with you?”
That did sound bad, she’d give him that. “He’s been nothing but honorable toward me.” Did tingly kisses count as honorable? She decided they did. “He’s a Navy SEAL, and after Dalton pulled his stupid stunt, I asked Noah if he’d be my bodyguard for a few days. Since I’m sure you’re wondering, he’s staying in my guest room.”
“Why is a SEAL hanging out in Asheville? Last I heard, there’s not a navy base here.”
“He’s on medical leave.” Was he? He’d never said exactly what kind of leave he was on, but for her father’s benefit, that would do. “He has a friend here he’s spending time with. Jack was his teammate before he left the navy. Now he trains therapy dogs. You should let me take you out there sometime. It’s pretty awesome what he does.”
“I’ll take you up on that.” He tapped his fingers on his desk, and she knew that look. He was thinking something through. “Bring your...bodyguard to dinner tonight.”
“Why?”
“A man I don’t know is living with my daughter? I think I need to assure myself that he’s what you say he is, an honorable man.”
Now he wanted to start playing daddy? A part of her resented that he had never taken an interest in her life or friends before now, but the part that had always wanted his attention was okay with it. More than okay.
“What time?”
