Protecting Lulu (Global Protection Agency) (33 page)

“I
made a slight change in your look.”

“Aiden,”
Lulu said a warning in her voice. “I thought we had a talk about these unscheduled
changes.”

“You’re
going to like this one.” He reached back into the briefcase and pulled out a
pair of Yves St. Laurent six inch stilettos in bright pink. The very shoes Lulu
had admired at Bergdorf’s and which Noah said she couldn’t have.

“Did
you--”

He
giggled. “A certain bodyguard, who shall remain nameless, went to Bergdorf’s …”

“Oh
my God, that man,” she cried, reaching for the shoes.

E.J.
straightened from her slouch. “What’s going on?”

Lulu
couldn’t speak. She felt a prickling of tears in her eyes and her throat closed
over with emotion.

“Noah
bought these shoes for her,” Aiden said in a stage whisper.

E.J.
looked shocked. “Noah bought shoes? Girl shoes? For Lulu? Why?”

Lulu
jumped off the stool, grabbed the shoes, and opened the door to the waiting
room.

Noah
and Ian sat perched on pink chairs looking uncomfortable. Lulu held up the
shoes. She shook the shoes at him and tossed them to Ian. She grabbed Noah by
the lapels and kissed him. She drew back, a tear slipping out. “Thank you.” She
grabbed the shoes from Ian, turned around, and went back into the fitting room,
brushing the tears away.

“Lulu,
stop crying. Haven’t men have given you diamonds?” E.J. handed her a tissue.

Lulu
hugged the shoes to her chest while she dabbed at the tears. “Jewelry says I
own you. Shoes say… oh my God…”

“Maybe
I’m not girlie enough to understand, but I don’t get it,” E.J. said with a
confused look on her face.

 “Shoes
are her kryptonite,” Aiden confided to E.J. “She equates shoes with power. The
higher the better. He gave her shoes, which means he recognizes her power.”

E.J.
pursed her lips. “Still not getting it.”

“A
man has to explain to a woman about men?”

“Yeah,”
E.J. replied.

“Basically,
what he’s saying is that he isn’t intimidated by her power and is therefore a
fitting mate for her.”

E.J.
leaned toward Aiden. “You divined that all from a pair of shoes.”

“I
think he’s in love with me,” Lulu said in amazement.

“Is
that bad?” E.J. asked.

“No,”
Lulu said dabbing at the tears, “I think I’m in love with him.” She covered her
mouth with her fingers. “Oh dear, that was supposed to be an internal thought.”

E.J.
pulled out her phone and scrolled through the menu. “Your secret is safe with
me.” She glanced down at her phone. “Damn it, Harrison has tonight.”

Lulu
eyed skeptically. “So who are you texting?”

“Everyone.”
E.J. replied.

Lulu
turned back to Aiden to discover he was scrolling through his phone, too. “I
got a text from Ian; he’s moving his date up.”

“Which
date?” Lulu asked curiously. “The sleep together date or Noah’s declaration of
love date?”

“The
sleep together date,” E.J. said giggling.

“Hey
now,” Aiden added, doing a little dance snickering right along with her.

“You
two are giggling like a pair of pre-pubescent school girls. It’s so
undignified.” Lulu slipped the shoes on her feet and stepped back up on the
stool so that the seamstress could finish pinning the hem to the height of the
shoes. She felt like a goddess in the pink stilettos.

All
through dinner, Lulu felt odd. She didn’t know how to act. The shoes had
changed how she felt about him. He’d been uncomfortable as well. He had darted
glances at her even as E.J., Aiden and Ian tried to keep the conversation moving
despite an occasional snicker. But Lulu for once in her life, didn’t have much to
say.

Aiden
had cancelled his own dinner plans to have dinner with her, the amusement on
his face making Lulu want to throw something at him. “Emotional support” he had
said, but she knew he wanted to see the next step in her and Noah’s peculiar
romance. Was it even a romance? Did shoes constitute a romance?

In
the limo back to her home, she sat across from Noah studying him, wondering
what would happen next. Giving her shoes had meant something to him. She sensed
that he’d overcome an obstacle by telling her his story, by conceding his power
to her, though deep down inside she knew she’d have to share the throne with
him. Disturbingly enough, she was not bothered by not being in control of
everything with him. Which came down to a simple point, she trusted him enough
to make the right decision. The only other men she trusted the same way were
Wilder and Aiden.

She
looked out the window and watched the street roll past her. Even though it was
nearly nine, people still walked the sidewalks, little puffs of vapor coming
from their mouths into the chill night air. Even in the winter, New York didn’t
sleep.

They
dropped Aiden off at his apartment. He continued to snicker as he walked up the
steps to the foyer. E.J. wouldn’t meet her gaze and Ian had finally fallen
silent after having carried most of the conversation over dinner.

Lulu
stared at Noah’s reflection in the window. Until she told E.J. she thought she
was in love with Noah, she hadn’t really considered it. She liked him, she
enjoyed their verbal battles. But being in love? Yes, she was in love. She
wanted him in a way she’d never wanted any other man.

How
would he fit into her world? Why did she care? Three of people she cared about
most: Julia, Aiden, and Wilder already liked him. Wilder trusted Noah to keep
her safe. Julia loved him enough to flirt shamelessly. Aiden adored him. She
knew her best friend, Belle would love him too. Grandma Penny would make him
cookies and she didn’t make people cookies unless they were special. Now all
she had to figure out was how to reel him in.

The
car came to a stop in front of her brownstone. Ian slid out the door and held
out a hand to her. She thanked him as she stepped out into the cold. She pulled
her coat close to her. She felt Noah put a hand on her back.

With
one foot on the first step, Lulu paused to turn to Noah. He was looking at
something across the street. She felt, rather than heard, a crack behind her
and something wet spattering her face.

Noah
shoved her up the steps shouting, “Gun!”

Another
crack sounded and Lulu heard something hitting the brick façade of her house.
The front door flung open. Noah pushed her inside. “Panic room, now,” he
shouted and shoved her past Roman, Dante and Gideon who raced out the door
reaching for their guns.

Another
crack sounded and E.J. shouted. Noah shoved her up the stairs to her bedroom,
opened the closet door then the door to the panic room, pulling her inside.

The
panic room was large, with king-size bed covered in a dark blue duvet,
cream-colored ankle deep carpeting, two light blue brocade chairs, a
refrigerator and a bathroom. Lulu had designed it herself. If she ever had to
use it, she intended to have all the comforts of home, plus access to her
shoes.

Noah
sat down at the computer and turned it on. Several screens lit up showing
various areas of the house and the front porch.

Lulu
took off her coat and realized the red blots were blood. She whirled to Noah. “Are
you all right?” She touched his shoulders, his arms.

“I’m
fine.”

“But
the blood?”

“Ian
took a hit.” Noah adjusted a screen.

Lulu
saw Ian stretched out on the sidewalk with Gideon squatting next to him holding
him down while he opened his jacket.

“Oh
my God!” Lulu felt faint. Her hands began to tremble, her body vibrating with
fear.

She
remembered her mother lying on the floor of her bedroom, blood pooling around
her. She forced the memory away. A police car pulled up to the curb and two
uniformed officers jumped out. One spoke into his radio. Noah turned up the volume
and they heard the officer calling for an ambulance. Shouting sounded up and
down the street. A few seconds later a media truck pulled up and parked. A
cameraman and a news reporter jumped out.

The
street turned into chaos as more police cruisers parked and officers started
cordoning off the street. Lulu saw a couple of her neighbors standing on the
street talking.

The
trembling migrated up her arms to her shoulders, down to her legs.

“Lucinda,”
Noah said.

Her
legs wouldn’t hold her anymore. She slumped down onto a sofa. Noah grabbed a
blanket and covered her with it. “Someone really tried to kill me.”

“Seems
like it.”

“All
the other accidents seemed so…so accidental,” she said through the chattering
of her teeth.

“Someone
is upset that you’re not following the plan,” Noah sat next to her and slipped
his arms around her, pulling her close.

She
couldn’t stop quaking. Even her tongue trembled. Fear strangled her. She had
felt this same fear the night her parents had been murdered and she found
herself angry that she felt so vulnerable again. And, Ian was hurt, leaving her
feeling guilty that he’d been shot because of her.

On
the monitor an ambulance roared up to the curb. Lulu closed her eyes, leaning
her head against Noah’s chest. She listened to his heart beat while the officers
on the street shouted.

Noah’s
phone pinged. He pulled it out of his pocket and look at it. Then he texted
back and put the phone down on the side table. “That was E.J. letting them know
the shooter got away.”

“That
means he’ll try again.” Her trembling increased and Noah held her tightly.

His
phone rang again and Noah answered it. “Okay,” he said and disconnected. “That
was Gideon; Ian is going to be fine.”

Her
eyes snapped open. On the monitor, Ian was being strapped onto a gurney and
pushed into the back of an ambulance. Behind him, an officer waved a news
reporter back.

“Dammit,”
she said watching the cameraman pan the camera toward her front door. “I’ll
have to call my brother. I should tell him I’m fine.”

A
second later, her phone rang. She reached for her purse and pulled it out. “Aiden,”
she said.

Aiden’s
voice was panicked. “I’m on my way. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“It’s
only been five minutes,” Lulu said.

“First,
are you alright.”

“I’m
fine. How did you hear?”

“An
EMT tweeted. You know I have birds all over the city,” he said. “Who was shot?”

“Ian.”

“Is
he okay?”

“He’s
on his way to the hospital, but Gideon said he’ll be all right.”

“Good,
he is way too pretty to die.” Aiden took a deep breath. “Is the Birkin safe?”

Lulu
almost laughed. She’d just been shot at and he was worried about her purse. He
was trying to make her laugh. Bless his heart. “The Birkin survived without a
mark.” She didn’t feel fine. She felt like a huge hole had opened up in her
life and she was falling through it.

She
disconnected and put her phone back in her purse and then smiled at Noah. “I
really am fine.”

A
look of admiration filled his face. “I know, Lucinda. I know.” He kissed the
top of her head. “We need to take some photos for evidence.”

“What?”

“For
the police. It will give them some information they need and we have to give
them your clothes.”

She
needed a minute to process that. It made sense it a weird sort of way.

He
took some quick pictures of her. “You did great.” He handed her a plastic
garment bag. “Put the dress in there and the shoes in here. I already have your
coat.”

She
held her hand out and took the bag. “I need …

“I
want you to stay here, while I take a look around the house and talk to the
cops. Will you be all right alone?”

“Can
I take a shower and put my pajamas on?”

He
nodded and smiled. “You will get through this.”

She
was glad he sounded so confident.

She
watched him unlock the door and leave, closing it carefully behind him. She
picked up her phone and dialed her brother. He hadn’t heard the news yet and
she carefully explained that she was fine hanging up before he could say
anything.

After
her shower, she curled up in bed and lay there staring at the monitor. Noah
stood on the street, E.J. next to him. They both looked up at the roof lines of
the houses across the street.

Lulu
watched for a moment, then felt the shivering start again, glad she’d remained
in the panic room. No one would be able to hear her. She closed her eyes and
started to cry.

Noah
stood on the street with E.J. John joined them. “I’ve have officers and CSIs
searching the roofs across the street.” He turned to E.J. his notebook in his
hand. “What did you see?”