B. J. Daniels
Page 12
Then she glanced behind her and spotted a car parked just down the street. She couldn’t be sure, but it looked like the one that had been following them before. It was hard to see if there was anyone behind the wheel because of the glare off the windshield. Had they been followed? Again?
She stepped back out of the bar and walked toward the car, turning down a short alley and circling around in order to come up behind it. The car looked like a rental. There was no one behind the wheel and on closer inspection she could see that the car was locked.
She glanced around but didn’t see anyone who looked suspicious. Maybe the driver had gone into one of the businesses and was watching her.
She made a quick call to Clare to run the plates. “I think you’re going to get a rental car agency. Find out who rented the car and let me know ASAP.”
As she headed back inside the bar, she told herself she wouldn’t be surprised if the car was rented by Presley Wells. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d been dead wrong about a man. Or the last, she thought as she saw the expression on Alex’s face.
He stood by the door to the beach with a drink in each hand, a frown on his face. “Let’s take these outside.”
She started to lie and tell him she’d been trying to find the ladies’ room. But she was tired of lying to him and determined to end it here today.
He didn’t say another word as he put down the drinks at one of the empty tables and pulled up a chair. He seemed to be waiting for her to say something.
She picked up the margarita he’d ordered her and touched her tongue to the salt, avoiding his gaze as she looked out over the water and thought about how to tell him the bad news.
ALEX HAD PLANNED to ask Samantha outright as soon as he saw her if she’d gone back to Caroline’s condo the night after they’d been there together.
Looking at her now, though, the question seemed ludicrous. What possible motive would a wedding planner have to break into anyone’s condo? It made no sense.
What did make sense was someone trying to make him distrust her. Trying to muddy the waters. He and Samantha had been working together to find Caroline’s fiancé. Someone didn’t like that. It told him that he and Samantha were getting close.
Even with all that wonderful rational thinking, Alex knew he was kidding himself. He’d already suspected that Samantha was hiding something from him. Now he would be watching her. And she already intrigued him.
“You look pretty today.” He meant it. Even with the bruise on her cheekbone.
The compliment seemed to embarrass her. He watched her swallow and look away and a sinking feeling gripped his stomach. He still wanted to believe that the call last night had been a prank.
He raised his glass and said, “To you, thank you for all your help.”
Samantha raised her plastic glass trying not to squirm. He couldn’t have made her feel more guilty than if he’d toasted to honesty.
She didn’t drink alcohol other than an occasional glass of wine. She liked to be in control. Always.
And, she needed all the control she could muster around Alex. The last thing she needed was alcohol and this beautiful beach on this wonderful afternoon. Her defenses were already down at just the hint of his smile.
“To happy endings,” she said, wondering where that had come from, and took a sip, pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted.
She licked the salt from her lips, the alcohol in the margarita sending a shot of heat through her. She could feel Alex watching her, measuring her. The man definitely made her feel unsettled, unsure. Vulnerable. But it was the other emotions he made her feel that scared her. Especially the big one: desire.
She recalled the last time she’d felt desire—and how badly it had ended. She reminded herself that she was happy being a chameleon, blending in, going unnoticed by men.
She didn’t want her life disrupted by him stirring up feelings, needs. She felt oddly exposed as if for all her care at hiding behind her glasses, her clothes, her front at Weddings Your Way, he could see through her.
It was the way he looked at her. There were moments when she was positive he could see right through her veneer to her deepest, darkest of all secrets. Not only that she was an agent but that her real guise was pretending to be a wallflower so she didn’t attract men like Alex Graham.
Was it possible Alex already knew that while she was cool and collected on the outside, she was a mess below the surface whenever she was around him? That it was a battle to keep anything from him?
Her heart beat a little faster at the thought that he knew her and that was one of the reasons she felt so drawn to him.
He started to say something but stopped as a waiter slid a basket and a dish with what looked like jalapeño peppers onto the table.
“Wait until you taste this.” He stabbed one of the pepper slices with his fork, uncovered the warm bread, took a piece and shoved the pepper into it before he holding to her lips, his gaze meeting hers.
There was nothing she could do but open her lips, all of her senses on alert at the intimacy of him feeding her.
Hesitantly she took a bite. The bread was warm and wonderful, the pepper both hot and sweet. She’d never tasted anything like it.
“I knew you’d like it.” He sounded a little sad, the pad of his thumb deliciously rough as he dabbed at the corner of her mouth when some of the pepper juice escaped. She felt the sudden intense heat of the pepper.
But it was nothing compared to what the look in his eyes did to her. Heat skittered over her skin, firing her senses and sending a shaft of desire straight to the heart of her.
“Well?” he asked.
She took a drink and had to swallow twice before she trusted herself to speak. “Wonderful.”
He smiled that beguiling smile of his. “That was just the beginning. There are more surprises in store.”
She was almost positive he wasn’t referring to food now.
He didn’t want to ask her if she’d gone back to the condo last night. But he knew he couldn’t put it off any longer.
He wiped his mouth on his napkin then took a drink of his margarita. Funny, but he hated to disappoint her. He knew how much she was hoping that Preston would turn out to be one of the good guys.
Putting down his glass, he said, “I’m afraid it’s just as I feared. Caroline is broke. I have connections at the bank. She’s gone through most of her inheritance. From what I can tell she’s completely financing the condo development along with her own condo renovation. The checks are being run through Preston Wellington III’s construction company.” He could see that Samantha wasn’t any happier to hear this than he had been.
She took a sip of her drink, lashes hiding her eyes, and said nothing, giving him the impression that, as bad as this news was, it hadn’t exactly come as a surprise.
“You still want to believe in him, don’t you?” he said.
“For Caroline’s sake and the baby’s? Yes, I do.”
He sighed, unable to wait any longer. “I went to Caroline’s condo last night after I got a call that someone had broken into it.”
Something flashed in her eyes—or had he just imagined it?
“The champagne glasses and bottle were gone and the bathroom was shot up,” he said. “There were two bullets in the wall where the bathroom mirror used to be.” His gaze locked with hers.
He hadn’t realized how much he was hoping she would say she didn’t know anything about it. For the life of him, he couldn’t think of a good reason she would break in to steal an empty champagne bottle and two dirty glasses.
Unless she was covering for somebody.
And he hoped to hell that wasn’t the case, since he was falling for her.
She opened her mouth and said the last thing he wanted to hear. “I was the one who broke into the condo and took them.”
Chapter Twelve
Alex let out a curse and rose, almost knocking over their drinks as he reached for her hand. “Come on.”
They hadn’t gone far when she stopped to pull off her sensible heels. He let go of her hand and watched her slip off one shoe, then the other, her toes digging into the warm sand. Her toenails were painted a bright red. For some reason it made him smile—even as angry as he was.
He turned away from her and walked farther down the beach until he reached a small cove surrounded by water, rocks and trees. The place was secluded and they were completely alone.
She hadn’t caught up to him yet. He watched her walk through the white sand, the turquoise water behind her, and couldn’t help but remember the feel of her in the back of the limo last night. Looking at her, he would never guess that there were amazing curves beneath that boxy suit jacket. Or that the woman looking at him right now could be as passionate as the one he’d kissed last night.
He walked slowly back to her, never taking his eyes from her face. When he reached her, he cupped her cheek, thumbed away a tear, then rubbed the pad of his thumb over her full lips remembering how his mouth had felt on them, remembering the taste of her as he dragged her into his arms.
Her eyes widened, her lips parting. He heard her sharp intake of breath, felt the slight tremble in her body, as his mouth dropped to hers.
The moment their lips touched electricity arced between them setting off a storm in him. He felt a flash of desire as sharp and intense as a bolt of lightning. It set off a fire that rushed through his veins.
He grabbed the back of her suit jacket, fisting the material in his hands as he dragged her tighter against him until he could feel her wonderful body even through the fabric.
She quaked in his arms as his tongue explored her lips, her mouth, as if he could break through her cool reserve and unlock her secrets.
She wasn’t so cool right now. Her mouth was hot and tasted of citrus and salt. He wanted nothing more than to go on kissing her forever.
He heard a chorus of giggles behind him and reluctantly withdrew his mouth to glance back and see a gaggle of young children all tittering, small hands over their mouths, eyes wide as platters. Behind them, several women who appeared to be day care providers gave him a disapproving look.
Alex could only smile as he opened his fists, released the wadded up fabric of Samantha’s jacket and stepped back, but kept his arm around her. He could feel her still trembling, one of her arms around his waist, a piece of his shirt in her fist as though, if he let her go, her legs might not hold her up.
The interruption gave him time to come to his senses and he knew he should have been thankful for that. But he wasn’t. His heart was beating wildly and desire still burned in every cell.
Who was he kidding? He wanted this woman even knowing what he did about her.
AS ALEX STEPPED AWAY from her, Samantha sank down to the sand, not worrying about her expensive suit.
She was shaking, her head spinning, her body devoid of the strength to remain standing.
He looked down at her, a combination of anger and desire shining bright in his gaze. “Who are you?” he asked in a hoarse whisper. “Just when I think I know you…” Pain registered in his expression, a sharp anguish that squeezed her heart as if he held it in his fist.
He sank to his knees in front of her and took her shoulders again in his large hands.
All she could do was look up into his handsome face. The kiss had been so unexpected. He’d been angry at her, demanding answers. Why kiss her?
“Talk to me,” he commanded. “Dammit, Samantha. Why would you break into Caroline’s condo to steal an empty champagne bottle and two glasses?”
She tried to get to her feet, forcing him to rock back, giving her space but losing the smile, a hard wary edge to his expression.
She felt a little more in control again with distance between them although she was still shaking inside, her heartbeat slower but more painful. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away.”
“Sure,” he said, getting to his feet and turning his back to her, the Gulf of Mexico blue-green and endless.
Her eyes burned with tears as she stood and brushed sand from her suit. She wanted to step toward him, to place her hand on his back, to have him take her in his arms. She wanted him to make love to her.
The truth shocked her. She barely knew the man and yet she felt as if she knew him better than herself. Worse, he didn’t know her.
Or maybe he did, she thought as she noted the angry set of his shoulders. She remembered the look on his face when she’d turned to see him back at the wedding reception.
She took a deep breath, smothering the urge to touch him and instead brushed again at the sand on her skirt, buying herself a little more time. Where was her famous cool now? And what was she going to do about these feelings?
“Alex…”
He glanced back at her. The look in his eyes hurt more than if he’d struck her. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to. She couldn’t have denied him anything at that moment.
“Alex, I went back to Caroline’s the other night. I took the champagne bottle and the glasses.”
“Why would you do that?”
She was sick of lying but there were some things she couldn’t tell him. She had to protect the anonymity of the team. She couldn’t let what she was feeling for him cloud her judgment. Or worse, endanger their lives or those of the people involved in this case.
And yet she knew if she let him go on believing she’d betrayed his trust, she would never forgive herself. Alex Graham mattered. More than she ever dreamed a man could matter again. Every instinct told her not to trust her feelings. Not to trust another man. That it would end badly. That this time it would kill her.
“I took the bottle and glasses for fingerprints.”
“What would a wedding planner need with fingerprints?”
Leave it to Alex to get straight to the heart of it.
“I have a friend who works at the lab.” True enough.
“Why didn’t you just tell me you wanted to take the champagne bottle and glasses when we were there together?” he asked. “I would have let you.”
She swallowed. “I didn’t know you well enough then.” Which was laughable. She’d only known him a couple of days. And yet she believed she knew him now?
“I didn’t want to upset you since I had no idea what I would find out.”
He was shaking his head, his smile devoid of any humor. “Upset me? A call in the middle of the night telling me my sister’s wedding planner is breaking into the condo upsets me. Lies upset me. Finding my sister’s condo shot up upsets me.” He reached out and brushed his fingertips lightly across her cheek.
She felt a stab of heat shoot straight to her center.
“Seeing that bruise on your cheek upsets me.” He drew back his fingers. “What happened at the condo?”
“Someone showed up. He had a key—and a gun. I didn’t get a look at his face.”
Alex just stared at her. “You’re telling me someone tried to kill you?”
She swallowed, holding his gaze, seeing the play of emotions cross his face and desperately wanting to tell him anything he wanted to know. “I managed to get away. Alex…” She started to reach for him, but he drew back.
“Who are you?” he asked again. His gaze cut to her core. “And what the hell is going on?”
SAMANTHA’S CELL PHONE rang. She flinched as if pained by the sound, reached into her bag and looked at the caller ID. “I’m sorry. I have to take this.”
Alex let out a frustrated laugh. “Saved by the bell,” he said, turning to walk a few yards up the beach, half-afraid of what he would do if he didn’t put space between them.
He couldn’t believe what an idiot he’d been. He didn’t know what surprised him more—that she was admitting to breaking in to Caroline’s condo or that she had a friend who could run fingerprints on champagne
bottles and glasses.
At least she had told him the truth about being at the condo, although he wasn’t fool enough to believe that’s all there was to it.
Instead of demanding answers, he’d kissed her and only managed to make things worse. This wasn’t about him. Or even about her, he reminded himself. It was about finding his sister’s fiancé, finding out just how much trouble Caroline was in. And making sure she was okay.
He’d gotten sidetracked with this woman. He turned to look back at her. She was listening intently to whoever was on the other end of the line. The woman had more secrets than the CIA. Every instinct told him to give her a wide berth. The last thing he needed was another deceitful woman and he’d had his share.
He walked farther up the beach away from her, trying to get his head on straight. She’d broken into his sister’s condo to get fingerprints. Amazing. And he thought the last woman who lied to him was bad. Hell, all she’d done was try to marry him for his money.
“Sorry, I had to take that,” she said behind him.
He braced himself before he turned. She’d taken off her suit jacket. Her arms were lightly freckled, her skin much fairer than he’d realized.
She squinted up at him, one hand raised to shield her eyes. “I need to go back.”
He nodded. “Wedding business, right?” He hadn’t meant to sound so scornful. The sun was in her face and he saw now the sprinkling of tiny golden freckles across her nose and cheeks that she normally kept so well hidden under makeup. “What is your real hair color?”
“What?”
“That brown, it’s not your natural hair color, is it?”
Her eyes widened a little. “I don’t understand why—”
“Never mind,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. Like you said, you need to get back.” He turned and started down the beach away from her.
“Red,” she called after him.
He stopped walking but didn’t turn around again.
“I’m betting it’s a strawberry blonde.” He heard a catch in her throat.
He turned slowly to look back at her. There were tears in her eyes.