Chance Encounter

by Christy Reece

  What’s a little white lie among friends?

  Feeling distinctly off-center, she pulled her gaze from Brennan’s dark, piercing gaze and looked over at Skylar. “This seems like a pound of prevention for an ounce of nothing.”

  “If it’s nothing, then that’s great,” Skylar said. “Let Brennan protect you while Justin and Riley figure out if there is nothing to be worried about.”

  As if aware she was going to protest again, Skylar added, “For me? Please?”

  Turn down the one person who’d saved her life and helped her come back from hell? How could she?

  “Okay. I’ll do it.”

  “Excellent,” Noah said.

  “You said only a handful of people are aware of your story,” Justin Kelly said. “We’ll need a list of these people.”

  Kacie nodded. “Of course. I’ll put a list together. There aren’t that many…really.”

  “You suspect any of them?” Brennan asked.

  Kacie closed her eyes, knowing she had no choice but to bring up a possible suspect, no matter how uncomfortable it made her. “My mother.”

  Skylar gasped and shook her head. “Why would she do that, Kacie? It would be no benefit to her at all.”

  “It would if she thought she could blackmail me for more money.” She grimaced and added, “It didn’t improve our relationship when I cut off my payments to her.”

  “Recently?” Brennan asked.

  “Yes…just this past month.”

  “You were paying your mother to keep her quiet?” Riley asked.

  Kacie thought it odd that Riley picked up on that. Most people would assume she was using her substantial wealth to help her mother.

  “My mother and I don’t have what you would call a close relationship.” She gave a slight shoulder lift, as if that didn’t matter to her. “She was more than happy to stay quiet since she looked at my abduction as more of an embarrassment than anything else. The money I gave her just sweetened the deal. She recently got married again, this time to a wealthy man, so I stopped sending her money, and she’s angry.”

  “Then you’re right,” Skylar said. “I’d put her at the top of my list, too.”

  “We’ll go by and visit with your mother,” Riley said. “If it is her, we can…encourage her to stop.”

  Kacie couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Justin and Riley paying Sonia Carson Musgrave a visit. Justin looked tough enough to take on a grizzly, much less her conniving mother. And though Riley was slender and on the petite side, the fierce gleam in her eyes said that she could be just as fearsome as her partner.

  Noah stood. “I’ve got a couple of items I need to see to before I head back home. Kelly and Ingram, keep me informed of your progress. Skylar and Gabe, you’re staying in New York a little longer?”

  Gabe nodded. “We’ll visit with Skye’s family for a few hours and then head back home tomorrow.”

  “Our babysitter is watching Megan,” Skylar added as she sent an apologetic glance at Kacie. “I wish I could stay longer, but I’ve never been away from her for more than a few hours.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Kacie said. “I’m just thrilled I got to see you both. If you’re available, come back tonight for dinner.”

  Skylar gave her a warm hug. “That sounds wonderful. We’ll catch up then.”

  Within a minute, they were all out the door with the exception of the tall, unsmiling Brennan Sinclair.

  Kacie closed the door and turned to face him. Before she could say a word, Brennan said, “So if we’re going to be dating, I guess we’d better get acquainted.”

  Chapter Seven

  Get acquainted with this grim-faced, tough-looking, gorgeous man? Odd how the idea both excited and terrified her.

  She hadn’t dated anyone steadily since before her abduction. Dating meant sharing and opening up to another person. Though she no longer considered herself Kendra Carson and felt as though she had almost nothing in common with her, wariness of the opposite sex was something they both shared.

  Before her abduction, she had dated plenty. Unfortunately, her selection in dates had been as poor as her decision-making abilities in other things. Kendra Carson’s last boyfriend, Calvin Henderson, had been into drugs, both using and selling. She hadn’t been a user, not even occasionally. She would have liked to say it was because she had good judgment, but that would be a lie. Her refusal to use illegal drugs had been all about vanity. She’d seen what drugs could do to a person’s appearance, especially their teeth, hair, and complexion. Her goal to be a model had trumped any desire to get high.

  Kacie checked her watch, thankful she had an excuse to delay the sharing. “I’ve got to get dressed for a business meeting. I have a two o’clock lunch appointment with my agent. We can talk when I get back.”

  “Then I guess we need to share quickly.”

  “This is a business lunch. You don’t have to go with me. I—”

  “Yes, I do. Remember, that’s why I’m here.”

  “It’s just with my agent. It’ll look really strange if I bring a date. Besides, I’ll be perfectly safe. I’ll take a cab there and back.”

  “I don’t care if you’re lunching with the pope and riding in the Popemobile, I’m going with you.”

  “But she knows nothing about you. It’ll look odd if you just show up without any warning.”

  “Can’t be helped. Unless you’re in the apartment, I’m with you at all times. Understand?”

  “But this is a business luncheon.”

  “And you’re my business. Deal with it.”

  Arguing would do no good, and she didn’t have time for it anyway. She gave him a stiff nod. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  Inside her bedroom, Kacie took a few minutes to settle her nerves. She knew she was behaving irrationally, which was the reason she hadn’t lost her temper in front of Brennan. He was here to protect her. How ungrateful and churlish of her to be angry with him.

  Just because he made her feel things… She swallowed hard as she amended that thought. No, he didn’t make her feel things…he made her feel. And how scary was that?

  Now that she’d left the room, Brennan’s mouth tilted in a small smile. If someone could stomp in an elegant, graceful way, Kacie Dane had mastered such a walk. He had pissed her off, and though it might make for some uneasy moments between them, for some reason he couldn’t quite figure, he was pleased.

  She was clearly having a bad time of it. Anyone could tell that she hadn’t slept well. Even as lovely as she was, the shadows under her eyes and the vertical lines at her mouth indicated she was stressed. Maybe that’s what pleased him about pissing her off. If she was angry with him, she would focus on that and not some crazed stalker.

  While he waited, Brennan took the time to familiarize himself with her apartment. Nicely decorated, nothing fancy. A simple elegance that matched the owner. Eclectic blend of colors, including a fondness for jewel tones. Some good pieces of furniture—expensive but sturdy and durable.

  Good-sized kitchen to the left of the large foyer. A small breakfast area just past the kitchen, along with a half bath and a laundry room. No formal dining area. He got the idea that a couple of walls had been knocked down to create a larger, more open living space. A small office on the other side of the living room was both feminine and functional.

  He unlocked and slid open the glass door and stepped out onto the balcony. The area wasn’t big enough to hold more than a couple of outdoor chairs and a few potted, flowering plants. He imagined that Kacie used it often since it looked over a small park, but he didn’t see it as much of a threat to her safety. The apartment was on the sixteenth floor, and at least fifteen feet separated her balcony from the next one. Guy would have to get damn creative to breach her apartment this way.

  He went back inside, grabbed his bag, and walked up the stairs. Three bedrooms up here. He was glad to see the smaller one had been converted into a gym that included free weights, a stair climber, and a
treadmill. Would make it easier on both of them if she didn’t have to go out to a gym every day.

  He dropped his bag in the guest bedroom and then headed back downstairs to wait.

  A minute or so later, Kacie descended the stairs with grace and confidence, as if she hadn’t a care in the world. She had gone through the deepest pits of hell. No one should have to endure what had been done to her, but looking at her now, it was almost impossible to imagine she’d ever suffered any kind of trauma.

  “The rest of the world still believes you’re in a mental hospital, still suffering from what happened to you. How’d you pull that off?”

  She stumbled slightly at his blunt statement but recovered almost immediately. “I see you’ve done some research.”

  When he didn’t respond, she shrugged and said, “I had a lot of support from some very influential people.”

  “Which means there are more than a handful of people who know your real identity. Even more than what you supplied Justin and Riley?”

  “No, those are the very few who know everything. There are others who might know a small portion.”

  “I want every name. Even the ones who might know only a portion could’ve done some digging. We leave no stone unturned.”

  She chewed on her lower lip for a second. When Brennan realized he was focusing on her mouth, wondering if her lipstick might taste as delicious as it looked on her lips, he pulled his thoughts back to the job. An attraction to Kacie Dane was the last thing he needed.

  “Okay, I’ll put together another list when I get back.” She checked the silver watch on her slender wrist. “We’ve got to get going. Our reservations are at two.”

  “Okay, here’s the deal. You’re with me, no matter what. If you need to go to the bathroom, I’ll go with you.”

  “What?”

  She looked so horrified he almost grinned. “Don’t worry. I’ll stand outside the door.”

  Looking only a little relieved, she headed to the door. “Let’s talk about it on the way. My driver is probably double-parked in front of the building.”

  They were in the elevator, almost to the ground floor, before she spoke again. “How do we explain our new relationship? Isn’t it going to appear strange for us to suddenly look like we’re crazy about each other?”

  “Keep it as close to the truth as possible. We met through mutual friends. Realized we have a lot in common. Kept it quiet until we’d spent enough time together to think it’ll last. Don’t make it sound complicated, and it won’t be.”

  The elevator came to a halt, and the door slid open. She was about to exit when she turned to him with a look of horror.

  Brennan stood in front of her and stuck his head out, searching for a threat. Seeing nothing, he turned back to her. “What’s wrong?”

  “Aren’t you married?”

  Of all the questions she could’ve asked, this one surprised him the most. Did she really not know his story? Now wasn’t the time to get into it, but they needed to talk soon. “No.”

  In response to his short, stark answer, questions flickered on her face. If she wanted to do research to find out more, that would be disgustingly easy. But damned if he’d go into detail about it right here, right now.

  They were seated in the cab, headed to the restaurant, when she said, “I understand not wanting to spill your guts to a virtual stranger, but it’s going to look exceedingly weird if I know next to nothing about you.”

  “I’ll give you the condensed version, which should get us through lunch. I’ll give you more later. I grew up in a little town outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Got a scholarship to play football at Ohio State. I played professional football for the Jets for two years.

  “I’m twenty-nine. My favorite color is green. Favorite kind of food is Italian. My shoe size is thirteen and a half, and my favorite drink is single-malt scotch.”

  He was grateful when they pulled in front of the restaurant. Just as the driver opened the door for her to get out, she said, “Oh…what about your family? Do they still live in Ohio?”

  “I have no family.”

  Before she could ask another question that would stab him in the heart to answer, he threw out a comment to get her mind focused in a different direction. “And if anyone asks, you can tell them I’m unemployed and living off your generosity. They’ll believe that faster than anything else.”

  Chapter Eight

  Kacie scrambled to get her thoughts together. After Brennan’s rushed and condensed version of his life, her mind had worked to try to remember all that he’d said. Then, just when she thought he was finished, he’d given that bald, flat statement about his family and then the bizarre sentence at the end. She definitely had some catching up to do.

  If she’d had more than a few minutes before she was due to meet Edy, she would have stayed in the car and asked the driver to drive them around for a while. The emotionless way Brennan had spoken told her that the man had been hurt, and quite badly. And though she’d only met him less than two hours ago, for some reason she wanted to comfort him.

  She vaguely remembered seeing or hearing something about his past but couldn’t honestly remember if it was good or bad. He’d said he’d played for the Jets for only a couple of seasons, but Kacie did have one distinct memory of seeing a photo of him in a magazine. He’d been at some extravagant New York event, but what she remembered most clearly was how incredibly handsome he’d been in a black tuxedo. He’d had a sexy, devilish smile on his face and a cocky confidence that had set her young heart to a quick pitter-patter and her naïve young mind soaring with imagination.

  So what had happened to him? To his family, his career? It frustrated her that she didn’t know, but finding out more would have to wait. She had a business lunch to get through, contract negotiations to discuss, and a virtual stranger to pass off as her boyfriend. Her agenda was full for the moment.

  She took Brennan’s hand as she exited the car and flashed a smile at a couple of photographers who called out to her. Marvin’s was one of the most exclusive restaurants in Manhattan and attracted numerous celebrities as well as some of the city’s wealthiest patrons. Reservations had to be made months in advance, and even then they were almost impossible to get.

  As her fame had grown, it had become increasingly easier to get into exclusive places such as Marvin’s, but there was still an extensive waiting list.

  Last year, the owner, Marvin Lowe, had contacted the Kacie Dane Foundation to request assistance for his fourteen-year-old daughter, Jillian. She’d been sexually abused by a male relative. Though the man was in prison, Jillian continued to have nightmares but had refused further counseling. Knowing his daughter was a fan of Kacie’s, Marvin had suggested seeing someone at Kacie’s foundation for a reference. Jillian had agreed.

  The young girl was still in counseling but, according to Marvin, doing so much better. As a thank-you, Marvin had told Kacie she could make reservations on a second’s notice, and he would make sure she had a table.

  At first Kacie had balked. Using contacts she’d made through her foundation seemed wrong. When Marvin had insisted, she realized that the man needed to do something. She understood that need. The kindnesses that had been extended to her were immeasurable, and she’d had that same feeling numerous times.

  Odd, but when she had recognized that need, she had realized she was on her way to recovery. Wanting to do something for someone else enabled her to get outside herself and her own worries. Gratitude had replaced grief and bitterness.

  They walked into the restaurant, and the instant she saw the happiness in Marvin’s eyes as he came toward her, she was glad she’d accepted his offer.

  Marvin held out his hand. “Ms. Dane, it’s so wonderful to see you.”

  “You, too, Mr. Lowe. And please, call me Kacie.”

  “Thank you, and you should call me Marvin.” He turned to Brennan and blinked in surprise. “Why, you’re Brennan Sinclair. I went to every game you played with the Jets.”
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  Brennan nodded and smiled but didn’t offer a verbal response.

  “I have a special table for you,” Marvin said to Kacie.

  “I hope it’s not a problem that we need a table for three?”

  “Not at all. Our tables and booths are extra generous.” He flashed them a big grin. “Please, follow me.”

  As they wove through the crowded restaurant, Kacie recognized at least three Broadway stars, a soap opera actress, and one well-known anchor of a cable news show. She also noted the many shocked expressions when their eyes drifted to her companion. Skylar and Noah had been right. No one would even consider that Brennan was her bodyguard and not her boyfriend.

  Marvin seated them at a square, white-cloth-covered table. The instant they were seated, a waiter arrived to hand them menus and take their drink orders.

  With one last pat on her shoulder, Marvin wished them a good meal and hurried away.

  “Nice place,” Brennan said.

  “I’ve never eaten here before, but I’ve heard the food is fantastic.”

  “Really? The guy certainly seemed to know you.”

  Kacie shrugged. She didn’t want to go into how she and Marvin had become acquainted.

  Before he could question her further, she heard Edy’s voice and turned. The woman certainly knew how to make an entrance. She glided toward them as if she was the Queen of New York and those around her were her loyal subjects. She stopped at a table and chatted with a couple.

  “There’s Edy,” she told Brennan. “Just to fill you in, she’s been my agent for two years and has been one of my biggest supporters.”

  “But?”

  “She can be a bit...um…assertive.”

  He gave her a quick nod of acknowledgment. “Thanks for the warning.” He stood as Edy finally broke away from the couple and approached them.