Page 17 of Reid

He shrugged his big shoulders. “A few. I need to make some calls.”

“Any chance you want to clue me in as I’m the one going to paying them?” she asked through gritted teeth.

“A friend in Hereford has a security company. I’m waiting for a call back from him.”

“Fine,” she said, letting it go. “You’ve seen my schedule and how much travel I’ve got coming up. What’s the plan for that?”

“I’ll be travelling with you.”

“You what?”

“I’ll be travelling with you as your bodyguard until we get someone else on board and find the stalker.”

“We don’t even know there is a stalker, this could be a random thing.”

Reid shook his head, and his eyes went hard. “Fraid not, sunshine,” he said, sounding genuine. “We found cameras in your home and evidence last night wasn’t the first time this person has been on your terrace.”

Nausea crept up Callie’s throat and she swallowed hard to force it away. Her body shook as panic from Reid’s words invaded her system.

“Fuck.” Reid bit out as he moved so he was crouched low in front of her, hands on her knees. “Focus, baby. Just look at me,” he demanded, and her brain automatically obeyed the command and moved to his face. “I won’t let anything happen to you; do you understand? I’ll keep you safe until we’ve found this guy.”

“Okay,” she said, and her voice sounded weak even to her. She felt him rubbing his thumb over her knee in a calming gesture which was having anything but a calming effect.

“Good, now let’s eat and then get you home,” he said standing and moving away to his seat as the food arrived. Callie instantly missed the physical contact, even though it was small.

She smiled as he watched her and waited for her to start eating before he nodded, seeming content that she was all right for now and then dug into his own burger.

The food was excellent, and as they ate, she relaxed again and asked him about his family and his job.

“Well, mom is still working her ass to the bone. Nessa is in remission, we got the news just last week, and Tori is applying for different colleges.”

“You must miss them,” she said, hearing the affection for his family evident in his voice.

“I do, but I also love what I do here. I get back when I can though. What about you?” he asked as he threw his napkin on his empty plate and eyed her fries. She pushed them towards him with a grin, and he dove right in.

“I miss Clay and my parents but I don’t have a lot of friends back home now. Modelling took me out of school a lot, and I ended up being home-schooled. The modelling world is cutthroat, so not too many friends there. The few I did have either stabbed me in the back or fell in with the wrong crew, and we lost touch.”

“That must be lonely?”

“I guess, but I’m so busy I don’t get a lot of time for anything anyway.”

“No serious boyfriends?”

Callie snorted at that. “You saw the list.”

“Yeah, but surely there’s someone who caught your eye for longer than a few weeks?”

Yeah, you and then only the pictures of you from my brother’s phone. “Not really,” she answered instead.

“You should meet my friend’s girlfriends, Evelyn and Pax. They’re both fashion lovers and would love you.”

She tipped her head to smile at him. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“I’d like that.”

“I’ll see if I can make it happen in your crazy schedule.” He laughed and tipped back the rest of his drink and laid some cash on the table.