Bodyguard SEAL (SEALs of Coronado Book 8), Paige Tyler [best classic books txt] 📗

The man snorted. “When is anything in your life not complicated?”

“You two know each other?” Peyton interrupted, even though the answer was obvious.

Noah chuckled. “Are you telling me you don’t recognize Dwayne from the photos you saw at my place?”

Peyton searched the detective’s face as she tried to remember the people in the pictures at Noah’s apartment. When the answer hit her, all she could wonder was why she hadn’t recognized the man the moment she’d seen the photo.

“He’s one of the guys you pointed out,” she said. “One of your Teammates who got out of the Navy!”

“Well, it’s been a few years since I took that picture.” Dwayne laughed. “And I might have added a few pounds, too, but I’ll never admit that out loud to anyone else.”

Peyton knew she couldn’t ask what kind of injury the man had sustained while in the Navy because that would be seriously inappropriate. But she definitely wanted to know how this man had gone from being a Navy SEAL to a detective in the SDPD. Unfortunately, this didn’t seem to be the time to talk about the man’s past.

“You going to tell me what happened here?” Dwayne asked, gesturing to the woozy man the uniformed cops were helping sit up, then the two guys who’d been fighting earlier that hotel security was leading their way. “Because it looks like it was interesting.”

Noah gave his former Teammate a quick rundown of what happened, starting with the fact that he’d been guarding Peyton since the break-in. Then he pointed out how the two men fighting had been there as a distraction so the guys in the van would get a clean shot at Peyton. She was stunned when Noah gave his friend a partial on the van’s license plate. She had no idea how he’d been able to see it while running down the vehicle, but she was glad he had.

Dwayne immediately got on the radio and put out a BOLO on the car, then started asking more detailed questions. The first one was simple since he yanked the ski mask off the man who’d tried to grab Peyton and asked if she recognized him. She didn’t. After that, he asked the two morons who’d been fighting by the front door what they had to say. Peyton expected them to immediately demand a lawyer—they always did on the TV shows—but instead, both men pointed at Ski Mask as the cops put him in the back of the police car.

“He paid each of us two hundred dollars to start a fight out front when she came out the door,” one of them said, pointing at Peyton. “He told us it was some staged promotional event kind of thing.”

Dwayne shook his head and motioned at the uniformed officers to take the men downtown for further questioning.

“Let me know when you pick up the driver,” Noah said to Dwayne. “It would make my job easier once I know that guy is off the streets.”

His friend nodded. “No problem. I’ll be in touch.”

Gwen, Scott, and the rest of her publisher’s entourage had already given their statements—not that they’d seen anything since they were inside the hotel and had only heard about it after the fact.

“I’ll stop by to check on you tomorrow,” Gwen told Peyton, then looked at Noah. “Thank you for keeping her safe. I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if those men had kidnapped her.”

Noah looked like he wanted to say something suitably sarcastic in response, but Peyton caught his hand and gave it a squeeze. It was after midnight and she was too tired for this.

“This isn’t over,” Noah said. “Not until the cops catch that other guy.”

Peyton only hoped that was soon.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I FEEL HORRIBLE taking your bed,” Peyton said as they walked into his apartment. “If you had to sleep on my couch when you were staying at my place, shouldn’t I get the couch at yours?”

“I slept on the couch at your place because it put me between your bedroom and the easiest way into your house,” he said, taking off his suit jacket and tossing it over the back of the couch. “I’m sleeping on the couch here for the same reason. Anyone coming in the front door will have to go through me first before they can get to you.”

Picking up her bags from where he’d set them down on the floor, he headed for his bedroom. It was probably an indication of just how rattled Peyton still was by the kidnapping attempt that she didn’t even try to argue the point. Just like she hadn’t complained when he suggested staying at his place instead of hers. She’d simply packed an overnight bag as fast as she could, grabbed her laptop and a yoga DVD, then followed him out the door.

Trying to grab her right in front of a crowded hotel in the middle of town was an act of desperate men. Someone—maybe even Magpie—was pushing to get Peyton’s book sooner rather than later. And with one of the would-be thieves already in police custody, the other had to know he was running out of time. He’d come for Peyton as soon as he figured out where she was. Which meant keeping her somewhere they wouldn’t expect.

“Do you have someplace I can set up my laptop?” she asked, following him into the bedroom. “I came up with a few thoughts for the ending of the book while doing the signing and I need to get them down before I forget what they are.”

Noah turned to see her looking around, her gaze resting on his king size bed and the thick comforter spread across it. He wondered if he should point out that it was nearly midnight but knew it wouldn’t matter. Peyton might be physically exhausted after the evening she had, but mentally, she was probably pinging off the walls. He wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up staying awake half the