Chapter 6
She saw me.
How is that woman everywhere?
I glance back to make sure the crowd caught her and that she didn’t faceplant onto the sticky bar floor.
But one glance was one too many, because her gaze seems to have a direct connection to mine. It helps that she’s being hoisted over people’s heads and is two feet higher than her normal tiny height.
I duck around a group of University students dressed in bright red gear and lift my hand to my ear, for no other reason than habit. And movies. But it doesn’t help the frequency at all.
“I’ve been made.” I dodge around a waiter and slip behind a private booth.
“By who?” Cruz asks.
I snatch a hat from the back of the booth and flip my jacket inside out. “Amelia.”
There’s a silence. “Seriously? What are you doing? Throwing out some kind of mating signal?”
“Not funny.” I duck behind a beam. “Did you get anything from the bartender?”
“He said Hawthorne paid for a private room but he hasn’t seen anyone go inside with him. Said he might recall more if I showed him something. I showed him my gun.”
Serves the pervert right. I peer around the edge of the beam. I don’t see Amelia anywhere.
I think I lost her.
“He gave me the fake name Liam gave him. Theo Randall. I’ll look into it, but I doubt it will pan out.”
Hardly ever does.
“I also carded a kid with glasses and acne,” she continues. “This job has some perks.”
I snort. “Poor kid probably wet his pants.”
I spin around and come chest-to-face with Amelia. My body turns to stone.
AmI putting out a mating signal?
“Hi.” She beams, a wicked gleam in her eye. “Running from something?”
I clear my throat and take off my sunglasses. “Possibly.” No reason to deny the truth.
She looks me over. “The jacket was a neat trick but it’s not like you’re Tom Cruise and can disappear in plain sight. No one can be that cool.”
I lift a single brow downplaying what I’m really up to tonight. “Okay, how would Tom Cruise disappear in plain sight?”
“Well, first of all, isn’t the point to blend in? Tom would never pick a red jacket.” She eyes the bright fabric of my sleeve.
“Oh ho ho!” Cruz hoots in my ear. “Rookie mistake.”
I’m getting sick of having her in my head this much.
“And the hat,” she reaches up and tips it off my head, “is mine.”
She places it on her head, and only then do I register that the hat is black and in sparkly pink letters across the front it says “BABE.”
My throat clenches.
“It’s a little flamboyant, I know, but it matched my shoes.” She wiggles her pink Nikes. “It was worth wearing tonight just to see you in it.”
I want to smack myself. Rookie mistake for sure.
“So, now that I’ve caught you, you have to answer me.”
I realize I’ve been quiet for a long time. I’m not sure how to answer her, and therefore the best option here is to remain silent.
“Why are you running from me?” She drags the words out like she’s the principal and I’m a school kid getting in trouble. If she’d been my principal in high school, I wouldn’t have minded all the time I spent in her office.
I shake my head. Where is my partner? She spewed all that crap about having each other’s backs, and now when I need her, she’s gone ghost protocol.
I study Amelia. Which is a mistake. She’s too beautiful in a black tank and cut-off shorts, showcasing way too much of her tan legs. It feels like her blue eyes are taking a nosedive into my soul and I’m afraid she can already see whatever it is she wants to find.
I need to get out of here. And preferably back to my job.
How is this job so easy for everyone else?
Probably because they don’t kiss pretty strangers while on the clock.
“You know why,” I say, then swiftly turn. But for the small woman she is, she quickly rounds me, blocking my path forward.
“Oh, would you be referring to how you kissed me when you weren’t even my date?” She plants her hands on her hips.
“You kissed me back.”
She scowls. “I was offering instruction. You clearly needed all the help you could get.”
“Is that why you bit me?”
She raises up on her toes, getting as close to my face as she can. “Maybe you need another lesson!”
“Maybe I do.” Wait, what?
This woman is in my head. I better get a bulletproof vest before she gets into my heart as well.
I don’t want to be rude, but I’ve got to ditch her. If this was five years ago, and a woman as beautiful and feisty as Amelia had crowd-surfed her way to me, I might have fallen in love on the spot and flirted until I had her number and our first date already lined up. But I can’t. Not today, not ever.
I take a deep breath and turn myself into a cocky jerk. “Look, I’m flattered you were so smitten by me, but you’re not really my type.” The words taste awful coming out of my mouth.
Her eyes narrow, but only slightly, before a coy smile takes over her face. “I never said you were my type either. But I’d like an explanation and a name, and then you can be excused.”
There’s that sexy principal vibe again.
“I’ve already explained. I’ve got to go.” I step around her, but she mimics my movement and plants her hands on my chest.
My desire to leave evaporates like she stole it right from my body with her touch.
“Do you often shove women out of doors to get rid of them?” she asks, cocking her head to look into my eyes.
I arch a brow. “No, but it was quite entertaining. I might have to make it a regular practice.”
“And here I thought I was special.” Her fingertips trace lazy circles on my pecs, and I go still, struggling to draw in regular breaths. “Why did you kiss me?”
How hard is it to get rid of one woman? I bite the inside of my cheek, hating myself already. “Convenience.”
It’s impossible to miss the flash of hurt that crosses her features, but as quick as it comes, it’s gone. She fists my shirt and I clench my hands at my side, ignoring the instinct to take her down like I would if someone else grabbed me like this.
“You’re lying. To me, and yourself, Mr. Policeman.”
I purse my lips. “Perhaps you should consider why you feel distrustful of everyone.”
She scowls. “You want to kno—”
“There you are.” A kid with a pimply face and glasses appears beside Amelia. He doesn’t get so much as a glance from her though because her gaze is still fixated on me.
“I got you a drink.” He holds out a glass.
I’m not sure, but the substance smells a little like root beer. I wonder if this is the kid Cruz carded.
“Looks like your date has come to take you home.” I snicker at Amelia. “His mom must be waiting outside.”
She glares up at me. “He’s not my date.” Then she turns on the kid. “Derek, I’m as close to thirty as you are to puberty. I’m sorry but it’s not going to happen. My heart has already been pledged to this man.” She leans into me, resting her head on my chest possessively.
My muscles tense, ready to go on the defense. For her? Or from her?
“What does he have that I don’t?” Derek whines.
I flex, unintentionally, of course. “Do you really want her to answer that, kid?”
“No.” His eyes fall to the floor and he slinks away.
“You pledged your heart to me, Amelia?”
She pulls back and flicks my chest. “Oh, I’m not done with you.” She presses in closer, ready to let me have it.
I’m almost ready to let her give it. Something tells me I’d enjoy it immensely.
“Hawthorne left out the back. We gotta go.” Cruz’s voice brings me back to why I’m here.
“Funny, I’m not done with you either.” I step forward, gently pushing Amelia back, until I’ve got her pinned against the beam. Her breath comes out faster and she bites her bottom lip.
Slipping off my jacket, I wrap it behind the beam she’s pinned to, pulling the fabric snug around her.
I drop my head and her lips part, her eyelids fluttering. I brush my nose along her cheek, bringing my lips to a stop right above her ear. She smells so good. Like flowers and sunshine. “I’d love to hear all the words coming out of your pretty little mouth,” I say, looping the limp sleeves in front of her stomach, and tying them in a knot. “But I’ve got to go.”
I pull back, flashing her a smirk as she realizes what’s happened.
It will only hold her for a few seconds. But that’s all I need. I turn and run.
“Are you kidding me? You tied me to a pole?” she yells at my back. “I’m going to kill you. And I don’t even know who you are!”
That makes one of us.
Amelia Quinn, you are a dangerous woman.