Chapter 4
Elijah
Outside the front of the building, I swung my gaze left and right, hunting the fleeing woman. I glimpsed her down the street and took off in pursuit.
She was fast, but I was faster.
The thrill of the chase boosted me, and in two blocks, I’d caught up with her, a glance back showing the security guard nowhere in sight.
“Wait,” I called.
Miss Braveheart peeked around then slowed, checking behind me before turning a bitter expression my way. “Oh hey, friend of Douglas Tucker. What do you want?”
“I saw what happened.”
“Fantastic. Throw a parade. Excuse me if I don’t come.”
She moved out again, crossing a street. I sprinted after, this time passing to block the path and stop her escape.
The woman glowered at me. She’d stuffed her bras back into the broken bag and had it in a death grip. “Get out of my way.”
“No. Tell me what happened. Why did they accuse you like that? And how do you know Tucker?”
I added the last question as a throwaway, though her expression when I’d said his name bothered me. If she had an axe to grind with my potential business partner, I wanted that information.
The anger radiating from her deepened, and instead of trying to get past me, Miss Braveheart stilled and stared me dead in the eye. “Why, so you can call him back and have a laugh? If you value your skin, you’ll leave me the hell alone.”
Excitement and fresh energy zipped along my veins. I took a deep breath, as if the exertion of chasing her had been far harder. Every cell in my body was switched on, magnetised, and pointing in her direction. “What if I don’t want to?”
She worked her jaw, challenge mixing with a flare of lust in her eyes. I couldn’t miss it. In minutes of this stranger’s company, I’d become attuned to very specific reactions in her. I liked them. A lot.
“Why did you chase me?”
I could’ve lied. But my lips gave up the first reason anyway. “I wanted you from the first second I saw you.”
“Ten minutes ago? Are you crazy?”
“Last night outside the party.”
Her lips parted. I leaned in to hear whatever she had to tell me. I needed to know why her insta-lust had turned to insta-hate.
Then her eyes widened and focused on something over my shoulder. “Shit.”
I spun around to face the danger. There was nothing there but an empty sidewalk. In the second it took to reset my focus, she’d gone. I swung around in a circle. The door of an adjacent store lay open. I darted inside.
I hunted every aisle. Checked the bathrooms. The exits.
She’d vanished.
But the fire inside me didn’t extinguish. For the first time in forever, I was fucking thrilled and needing more. Fine, Miss Braveheart. I knew enough to track her down, and a tech team who could run a trace faster than she could run.
But first, I retraced my steps to Crowley’s Department Store.
And the two women who’d run off my new favourite distraction.