Page 9 of Saved from Obsession

Her eyes are the first thing I noticed about her—wide and rimmed with a brush of long lashes, sky blue with a ring of deep sapphire at the center. Her heart-shaped face is set off by high cheekbones and full rosy lips. But during most of our conversation, her mouth was bracketed by tiny lines of stress, or pressed together in a trembling line—I wonder what she’d look like when she’s actually smiling.

When I leaned in to shake her hand, I saw a tiny smattering of light freckles across the bridge of her nose and her cheeks.

Georgia is tall for a woman, probably a few inches under six feet—if she stood next to me her head would fit right under my chin. She’s slender—almost too thin—with delicate wrists peeking out from her oversized shirt, the light fabric clinging to the line of her collarbone. I tried not to look at her body, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable, but I couldn’t miss the swell of her breasts or the way her hips flared out from her narrow waist.

As Georgia talked, she would tilt her head so her hair would fall in a curtain across her scarred cheek, the sleek length of caramel and butterscotch brushing the table. She’s obviously self-conscious about the scar, and any time she looks at someone it seems like she’s bracing for their reaction.

Did someone tell her she was ugly? Or has she convinced herself of it?

The scar is a thin line about six inches long, stretching from her cheekbone to the line of her jaw. It’s light pink and slightly swollen, still healing after the attack that only happened a few months ago. But the scar isn’t ugly, it doesn’t take away from Georgia’s beauty, the only ugly thing is the event that put it there.

It’s not just her looks that drew my attention. Although I’d have to be blind not to notice her. It’s the bravery and selflessness she showed—is showing—as she’s dealt with not just one stalker, but two.

Instead of taking the chance of endangering her friends by living with them, Georgia moved to a new place on her own. After months of terror, she still hasn’t broken. And though she was cruelly hurt—scarred mentally and physically—she still had the courage to come here and ask complete strangers for help.

And one last thing.

When I touched her hand, I didn’t want to let go. Her skin was the softest silk, but our touch was electric. I’m not sure I’veeverfelt that kind of reaction to a woman I just met.

But she’s a client, Hayden’s best friend, and Cole is trusting me to protect her. So it doesn’t really matterhowI felt when I touched her. What matters right now is going over the plan we’ve come up with, answering any questions Georgia may have, and putting the plan into action.

Especially because Georgia is still watching me with a mixture of hope and disbelief, like she thinks I’m going to say we changed our minds, and we’re actuallynotgoing to help her after all.

Raising my gaze to Hayden, then Georgia, I say, “Okay. I’m going to go over our plan for not only protecting you, but finding the person behind all of this. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask.”

“And if there’s anything you feel uncomfortable with, tell me. Your safety is our priority, but we also want to make sure we’re not causing you undue stress. Does that sound good?”

Georgia gives me a little nod, hair falling in her face again, and says quietly, “Yes. Whatever you think is best... I won’t complain aboutanyof it.”

“If anything comes up at any time, questions, concerns, let us know. Any of us.” I tilt my head toward Rylan and Cole. “We areallhere to help you.”

“Thank you.” Georgia twists a lock of hair between her fingers, staring at the table before looking back up at me. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”

Part of me wants to get up from my chair and give her a hug—God knows, she looks like she needs one—but I shove my emotions to the side and get down to business. “We’re going to be coming at this from a two-pronged approach. We’ll be providing protection, of course, but also running an investigation into the identity of your stalker.”

“I’ll have to ask you a lot of questions about your past, people you were friends with, worked with, anyone who could be holding a grudge. I won’t lie—it can be overwhelming having to go through everyone you know and consider that one of them could have the intent to harm you, but it’s something we have to do.”

“I know.” Her voice is soft. “I’ve thought about it myself hundreds of times. But if you can find something… I’ll do whatever it takes.”

I dip my chin at her in appreciation. “As for the protection, you’re going to be under twenty-four-seven surveillance. One of us will be with you at all times, and you’ll have a tracker to wear.”

“What kind of tracker?” Hayden jumps in. “Wearable or subcutaneous?”

Georgia turns to look at Hayden, her eyebrows arching up in surprise. “Under the skin? Like a microchip they put in dogs?”

“That’s an option, but we were thinking of something wearable. Earrings, if your ears are pierced, a necklace if not.” Pausing, I catch Georgia’s gaze. “Unless you would prefer an implant?”

“Um.” Her brow wrinkles, and small white teeth worry her lower lip. “Maybe the earrings? I don’t know how I feel about somethinginmy body. If that’s okay?”

“Of course it’s okay.” Now I have the urge to smooth the lines from her forehead. “Like I said, we’re going to protect you, but if we can do it in a way that makes you feel more comfortable, that’s what we’ll do.”

Georgia flashes me a grateful look, and I continue. “In order to keep up the surveillance without anyone suspecting we’re involved, we’re going to be moving you to a new location. We don’t want your stalker to know that we’re protecting you—we want him to make a move, so we can catch him.”

“Make a move?” Her voice rises, a hint of panic bleeding through.

“Something we can catch on camera,” I’m quick to reassure her. “The house we’re taking you to is fully alarmed and set up with security cameras. And we will be in the house with you at all times. So there’s no way the stalker can get to you. But if he shows up, tries to leave something for you or gets inside, we’ll apprehend him at once.”

“Thanks to a connection of ours, we’re going to be moving into a duplex upstate. It’s the perfect location because not only has it been used as a safe house, but it has inside access from one side of the duplex to the other. So you’ll be living on one side, and the three of us will have our own cover story for the other. That way, we can protect you without anyone knowing we’re there.”

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