Page 58 of Silk Shadow

"They are?" The thought pulled her roughly back to reality.

"Yeah, I spoke to Blade earlier. Your abduction caused quite a stir. Your social media's been blowing up. Everyone's asking if you're okay."

"Crap, I should reply." She bit her lip, anxiously. "You can't ignore your followers. They can be so fickle—think you don’t care, and they’ll move on in a heartbeat."

He shook his head. "I'm not sure that's wise."

"Okay, fine, but I have to speak to Emily. She needs to release a statement that I'm okay and thank them for their concern. It's imperative. This is my business, Viper."

His nod was curt. "Call Emily from reception, but don't tell her where you're staying."

She pursed her lips. "I don't think I even know the name of this hotel."

He snorted. "Let’s keep it that way."

She got up and handed him the swimming trunks. "I got these for you. I thought you might like to jump in." She nodded at the pool. "The water's amazing."

"Thanks, but maybe later." Now it was his turn to avoid her gaze. She wondered what he was thinking, why he was so resistant to enjoying himself with her?

"You aren't on duty all the time, you know," she told him. "Just being with me is enough. You said yourself, we're safe here."

"I know." He walked beside her into the lobby. "But it’s complicated. I’ve already fucked up once. I can’t afford to do it again.”

“Having a swim is not fucking up. You deserve a little down time.”

He stared straight ahead. “Make your call and then, maybe, we can go for a swim."

She grinned. "Deal."

Emily was ecstatic to hear from her and gabbled on for a full five minutes about how worried she was and how she hadn’t been sleeping and thank God Izzy was all right.

"Emily, I need you to issue a press release," Izzy interrupted gently.

Emily gulped and calmed down. "Okay, sorry. Shoot."

"Tell my followers that I'm okay and thanks for their concern. Say I'm taking a break from the public eye for a short while, but I'll be back soon. Post some of the photographs Max took of me in San Diego. There are some good ones there. They'll think I'm still on vacation somewhere, recuperating."

"You are okay, aren't you?" Emily's voice wobbled with concern.

"Yes, don't worry. I'm fine. I'm with Viper."

"Oh?"

"Not like that. He's protecting me." Saying it didn’t stop the excited flutter she felt in her stomach.

Emily sniffed. "As long as you're all right, I don’t care who you’re with. Text me if you need anything."

"I can't. My phone is at the bottom of the ocean right now. But I'll call you if there's anything else. Oh, did you finish the shoot?"

"Yes, I thought you'd want to get it done while we had the crew out there. Was that the right thing to do?" She sounded guilty. "I thought about canceling it, but it was only the catalog shoot which we didn’t really need you for, and I didn’t want to waste money, especially since we’d paid everyone up front."

"You did the right thing," she confirmed, her voice warm. "Thanks, Em. You're the best."

They talked for a few minutes longer, then Izzy said goodbye, and handed the receiver back to the concierge. "I feel better now that’s taken care of," she said as they made their way back up to the room. "I can't afford to let my followers wane. As it is, I'll have to explain to my sponsors why I'm not advertising this week. Luckily, I had planned on taking a week off anyway, so they were expecting it."

Viper opened the door, then stuck his head in to check out the room before she entered. Always on the lookout. “I get it. Your contracts depend on their support.”

When it was safe, she followed him in. “Exactly.”