Hot and Bothered - Erika Wilde Page 0,60
didn’t take a master’s degree to figure out that someone was following her, considering how bold Chad had been in his pursuit so far.
There was no way to soften his answer, so he gave it to her straight. “Yeah, I do. And it’s someone you know. Someone from your past that you don’t remember because of your amnesia. And you need to know who this person is so you can protect yourself.”
She shook her head, her confusion and apprehension plain. “I don’t understand.”
As the man who’d taken it upon himself to be her guardian, it was his job to make her understand. No matter how painful the process, no matter that his revelations might trigger a flood of memories that would be the beginning of the end for them. He had to level with her, at least about her relationship with Chad, so she knew what kind of danger she was up against.
He sat in the chair next to hers at the table and took a long drink of his coffee for fortitude. “Before you moved to Oakland, you lived in Reno. Do you remember that?”
Her brow furrowed into a frown, as if she were trying to recall that time in her life. “Parts of it,” she said vaguely.
He waited a little longer for her to mull over the information he’d given her, but nothing seemed to click into place for her. Not yet, anyway.
He continued to feed her more facts, a little at a time so he didn’t overwhelm her. “You went to college at the University of Nevada, Reno, and you were dating a man by the name of Chad Freeman.”
She set her spoon in her half-eaten cereal and pushed the bowl aside, her appetite obviously gone. “The name…it’s familiar somehow.”
But she wasn’t placing the man’s name with a face…yet. Noah knew he had no choice but to connect the link for her. Reaching for the file folder he’d brought into the kitchen with him, he withdrew the photo her old landlady had given him. He was all too aware of the personal risk he was taking by showing her the picture, bringing Chad Freeman between them.
But his choices were limited, and he wasn’t about to sacrifice her safety for his own selfish desire to completely erase her past with a man who’d abused her. “This is Chad Freeman,” he stated, and forced himself to turn the picture around for her to see.
Her eyes widened, and her face paled. “Oh, God,” she croaked, visibly shaken. “He’s the man who cornered me in the restaurant.” She raised her gaze to Noah, panic and confusion etched across her expression. “And what am I doing in that picture with him?”
Seeing how traumatized she was by the photo, he tucked it back into the folder. “Like I said, you were dating him for a few years. He’s the man I believe is harassing you, Natalie.”
She shook her head in denial, her shock rendering her momentarily speechless.
He hated putting her through such emotional turmoil, but her life and future were at stake. “Natalie, honey, I need to know if you remember if this is the man you were running from before you were hit by the car.”
She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her fingers to her temple, as if trying to conjure images in her mind. When she looked at him again, her distress was prominently stamped on her features. “I…I don’t remember!” Her breathing had grown labored. “Are you saying that an old boyfriend is stalking me?”
“All the evidence that I’ve been able to come up with leads to Chad.” He placed a comforting hand over hers, not surprised to find her skin cool and clammy to the touch. “He’s getting bolder in his attempts, and you need to know who and what is threatening you.”
“But why would he want to hurt me?”
Because Chad Freeman was a deranged son of a bitch who didn’t deal well with rejection, Noah thought bitterly. But he kept his own personal theory to himself, instead revealing to Natalie what he’d discovered from her landlady, Vivian. He explained how Chad had become more domineering of her and mentally abusive, and how his temper had exploded when she’d taken on a job as a showgirl to earn some extra money. When she’d broken off the relationship he’d stalked her and finally physically attacked her one night after work.
Disbelief and horror flashed in her gaze, and she abruptly stood up, her entire body stiff. “Why don’t I remember