“You’re a strong woman, babe. I knew that the first time we met.”

There was an actual smile on her face. “We’re back to the babe thing?”

“Yeah, well . . . I put off the Getty for a little while. We still haven’t been on a date.”

“Dinner in bed doesn’t count?” She motioned toward the half-eaten food.

He shook his head. “Nor does breakfast in the hospital.” He shoveled in more food, swallowed quickly, and loaded his fork again. “A date requires a shower, dinner with wine or at the very least an adult beverage, and shoes.” He leaned over and tickled her bare toes.

She laughed, really laughed for the first time in over a week. Rick seemed just as pleased with the sound coming from her lips as she did.

They finished their meal in quiet conversation about almost nothing. When Judy had enough, Rick polished off her plate. He set the tray aside and leaned against the bedpost facing her.

“I need everyone to go home,” she said with a heavy sigh.

“Me?”

She smiled, laid a hand on his lower leg as if to prove he was not part of the everyone.

“Not you. My parents, Hannah. Zach needs to get back to work. Karen hasn’t even been to the Boys and Girls Club since last week. Thank goodness Mike listened and left. Now if I can just get everyone else to follow his lead. It’s like everyone put their lives on hold.”

“Family does that.”

“I know. And I appreciate it but it feels like everyone is staring at me, waiting for me to break.”

Rick ran his thumb over her instep with gentle strokes. “Kinda like you did tonight at dinner?”

“Is that what I did?”

“It is. Being alone when it happens again might require more than a bandage.”

She knew enough about post-traumatic stress syndrome to understand she wasn’t exempt from harboring unhealthy emotions. It had only been a week and the truth was she wasn’t sleeping well. Seemed she wasn’t often hungry . . . well, except when Rick was close by.

“I don’t want to be alone.” She shivered. “I just don’t want to be the quicksand that keeps everyone from their lives.”

He picked up her other foot, rubbed it. “I’m happy to hear you don’t want to be alone.”

The foot rub nearly made her miss his next words.

“When you’re ready to go back to work, either myself or someone from our team will drive you and pick you up. One of us will be at Michael’s home twenty-four/seven.”

Twenty-four/seven? “What?” She opened her eyes, blinked a few times.

“Until this guy is caught, you won’t be completely alone.”

“I told you I was tired of the fishbowl.”

“There won’t be a fishbowl. The security detail is to keep you safe, not make you home-cooked meals.”

“But—”

“Look me in the eye and tell me you believe with all your soul this man isn’t coming back. He took your purse, didn’t kill you when he could have, went through some serious effort to go in and out of that garage to corner you alone. Look me in the eye, Judy, and tell me he won’t be back.”

His words scared her. Primarily because he was right.

She leaned against the bed again, and pulled his foot closer to rub. She wasn’t sure why he was working so hard to protect her. He didn’t owe her. Hell, they weren’t technically even dating. A few stolen kisses and some seriously heavy flirting summed up their relationship. Still, there wouldn’t be any complaints from her lips.

“When I do go back to the office . . . that first day . . . can you be the one who takes me?”

The dimples on his face managed to grin even if his lips didn’t. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Chapter Fourteen

Rick shook himself awake a few hours later, realizing that he’d fallen asleep with Judy’s feet in his lap. She was sound asleep as well. He eased off the bed and tucked the blankets around her. Chances were she’d wake in the middle of the night, uncomfortable with the amount of clothing she had on, but there was no way in hell he was going to take the liberty of undressing her. Maybe at a different time in their life, that would be acceptable. Not today . . . and not in light of everything she’d been through.

After dimming the lights, he made a quiet exit with his shoes dangling from his fingertips.

Down the hall, he noticed the flickering of a television set and poked his head inside.

Sawyer, Judy’s father, and Zach were both propped on easy chairs watching the late news. Seemed everyone else had gone to bed.

“Hey.” Rick made himself known with a simple greeting.

Sawyer sat up, his face a mask of worry.

Rick tossed his shoes to the floor and sat on the sofa between the two of them.

“How is she?” Zach asked first.

“Sleeping.” But that wasn’t the real question. “Your sister is a strong woman, Zach.”

“Didn’t seem strong tonight at dinner,” Sawyer scoffed.

“No. She didn’t. Those things are to be expected, Mr. Gardner. She’ll get through this, not let it beat her down.”

“She should come home with us. It’s safer in Hilton.”

Rick might not be a father, but he understood the need to keep Judy safe.

“If she hides in Utah now it could cripple her forever. The world isn’t any more unsafe today than it was yesterday or will be tomorrow. The sooner she joins the world again, the stronger she’ll be.”

Sawyer glared at him. “I can’t watch over her from home if she’s not there.”

“Are you suggesting you’ll stick to your daughter’s side every hour of every day? My guess is the days of you doing that passed a long time ago.” Rick was too tired to get in a pissing match of right and wrong with Judy’s dad, but the stubborn man wasn’t listening to reason.

“This wouldn’t happen in Utah.”

“C’mon, Utah has problems, too, Dad,” Zach told him. “Judy has us here.” Rick was happy to see Zach nod in his direction to be included with the “us.”

“I hate this, Zach. Didn’t want her here to begin with.”

“We all hate this. We all want her safe.”

Rick sat forward and met Sawyer’s eyes. “Judy will have round-the-clock protection, not only with a physical bodyguard taking her to and from work, but weekends and evenings. Michael already approved more audio and video monitoring of his home. We will find who did this to her, and she will be protected while we search for him. I want this bastard more than you can possibly know, Mr. Gardner. I’ll keep your daughter safe.”