The Bride's Secrets

He forgot all about her order. His eyes closed. His arms went around her. The move was pure instinct.

He’d fallen so fast, had loved her so damned much.

But that had been before.

Before she’d stood him up on the most important day of their lives.

His eyes opened.

Fury firmed his resolve.

She tensed, sensing his change.

He clutched her waist. Pushed her a few inches away.

“Who the hell are you?” he muttered, his voice thick with the need throttling through his body.

“Did they go inside?”

He blinked. Her focus was on the now…the situation. He should have known he was the only one affected by the meshing of lips.

Stupid, J.T. Truly stupid.

The idea that bullets had been flying around them as they’d fled that warehouse suddenly bobbed to the surface of all the questions and emotions churning in his confused brain.

He cut his attention to the building’s front entrance. Three of the five who’d followed them from the dock pushed their way into the theater’s lobby. “Three just went inside.”

“One or more will be sticking with my car.” She kept her gaze carefully locked on his. “You don’t see number five?”

“Wait.” His gaze clocked the movements of an older man, one who definitely didn’t fit in with the teenage crowd all around them. “He’s moving in the opposite direction.”

“Excellent.”

She grabbed his hand and started cutting through the crowd. He shouldered between the bodies, staying close behind her.

He had questions for her. So damned many questions. Those would have to wait until they were out of immediate danger.

Could she be telling the truth?

Why would these guys be after him?

He’d worked a couple of Colby Agency assignments with two of the other investigators but nothing on his own yet. He’d made no enemies in that short time or on either of those assignments. His former career in insurance had been as a claims investigator. He’d certainly made no enemies there. His work had been straightforward—review the closed files and ensure that the i’s were dotted and the t’s crossed.

J.T. shook off the situation analysis. Tried to think clearly about the moment.

No matter how he weighed it, he shouldn’t be here with Eve. What was he doing following her? Whatever she was into had nothing to do with him. Obviously she’d drugged him. The knock on the head wouldn’t have dulled his reactions to this degree.

When he would have stalled to demand more answers, she took a left, headed for a couple of teenagers loading into a minivan.

“Hey.”

The kid climbing behind the wheel looked back.

“Can you give us a ride?”

J.T. started to advise Eve not to waste her time. The driver looked ready to bolt. As he well should. Giving rides to strangers was a bad idea.

“I’ll give you a hundred bucks,” Eve tacked on.

The driver exchanged a look with his passenger, who’d already climbed into the van.

Eve pulled a couple of bills from her shoulder bag. “Two if you hurry.”

The driver stared at the cash and licked his lips. “You have to pay me now.”

“Are you crazy?” the passenger muttered to his friend.

Eve handed the driver a hundred. “One now.” She reached for the van’s sliding door. “One when we get to our destination.” She opened the door and climbed in before he’d had time to answer.

This was insane, but J.T. climbed in behind her all the same.

“What the hell you doing?” the passenger asked the driver. He was clearly a lot more rational than his friend.

“Just shut up,” the driver advised as he backed out of the space.

For J.T.’s eyes only, Eve pointed to the car she’d parked a couple of lanes away. Sure enough, a man loitered next to it.

J.T. couldn’t deny the threat had been real. But he was certain this wasn’t about him, despite what she had said.

“Where to?”

Eve turned her attention to the driver.

Before she could answer, J.T. gave the kid the address of the closest police precinct. “I’ll give you twice what she offered if we go there first.”

“You got it, mister.”

Eve glared at J.T. “You’re going to make this hard, aren’t you?”

He cut her a sideways glance. “I don’t know what you’re up to, and I don’t care. But, for me, it’s over.”

That she winced on the final word shouldn’t have reached out and put a chokehold on his throat. But it did.

They were out of the parking lot and a full two blocks down the street before Eve reacted.

She scooted forward. “Don’t pay any attention to my friend,” she said to the driver. “We’re going to the Pier. You’ll drop us off there, and I’ll give you the other hundred, as agreed.”

“No way,” the driver argued. “He said he’d give me twice as much.”