Page 58 of Crossing the Line
“Xavier—”
“Before you embarrass us both and think this is some kind of romantic gesture, I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you it’s a GPS tracker.”
Waverly felt twin pangs of relief and something almost like disappointment. “You want to put a tracking device on me?”
Xavier ignored her and knelt down in front of her. He tugged her right foot up onto his thigh. She had to steady herself by putting her hands on his shoulders. “You can’t complain about it. It’s shiny and pretty,” he said, clasping it around her ankle.
“Your male clients must love wearing these,” Waverly joked, and her voice waivered. Every time Xavier touched her, her body reacted with an intensity that unsettled her.
“They usually get phony wedding rings or a high-tech belt buckle.”
“It’s beautiful,” she said, admiring the charm.
“I was going to have the designer make it a ball and chain, but I thought you might like this better,” Xavier straightened. “You don’t have to wear it all the time, but I’d like you to whenever we’re away from the house.”
He didn’t realize how telling his words were. He’d known she wouldn’t like yet another reminder of her prison sentence, so he’d tried to make it something pretty and sweet to take the sting out of it. Waverly bit back a sigh. If she had to spend too much longer with Xavier, her heart would be taking a hit. A hard one.
“Are you ready?” Xavier offered his hand.
Waverly took a deep breath. Would she ever really be ready?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Xavier felt the tension in the back of the limo like it was a smothering blanket. Waverly was sitting, back lance straight, on the lush leather seat next to him. Her hands were clasped in a white-knuckle grip as she stared out the window taking long, slow breaths.
On the bench seat with her heels stowed next to her purse, Kate texted maniacally.
“Your mom and dad are meeting us in the holding area. They’ll do the first half of the carpet with you and then peel off so you can alternate interviews,” Kate said, glancing up from her phone at Waverly.
When Waverly didn’t respond, Kate caught Xavier’s eye and then made a pointed look at her phone and back at him. Her thumbs flew over the screen, and Xavier felt his phone vibrate in his jacket.
He fished it out.
She gets nervous at these things. She’ll be okay. Just stick close.
As if he would let her out of his sight for a second tonight.
Will do.
Her response was rapid fire back.
You look tense too. Do I need to freak out?
Xavier gave her an exaggerated eye roll.
Everything is under control and no one is going to freak out.
He wasn’t tense. He was focused. He knew Ganim would show his face tonight, but what Xavier wasn’t sure of was the man’s intentions. Would he just watch from the shadows like before, or would he make a move tonight? Either way, Xavier was not leaving Waverly’s side for a moment. He would stand between her and any threat.
He glanced at her again, noticed that the thumb and forefinger of her left hand were moving rhythmically back and forth over the surface of something shiny. A lucky coin, perhaps?
He fitted the earpiece that would connect him with the rest of his team in place and fired off an ETA text to the Invictus staff already on-site.
His phone vibrated again with a text message from one of his men.
NSS.
It was Invictus speak for “no sign of subject.” Xavier had the utmost faith in his team and their preparation. He knew exactly where the crowd would be, where the exits were located, and what to expect once they were inside the theatre. He’d arranged for a second car and driver to be waiting at a side entrance as Plan B. Event security was on the lookout for Ganim and the seven other problem suspects on the “unfriendly” list.
