She’d be a seriously A-list client…if she wanted them to work for her. And the way their accidental meeting had gone the day before, he wasn’t sure about that in the least.
He’d been thinking about her ever since.
Something had been missing yesterday. Like she was a puzzle and he only saw some of the pieces.
Which made sense, because he didn’t really know anything about her. Of course the town whispered, but he didn’t pay any attention to gossip.
Most of the time.
So yeah, he’d heard things. People could be mean, and her ex-fiancé was a superstar. In their break-up, she’d gotten the blame, apparently.
All of that was hard to reconcile with the woman who’d looked at him, eyes wide and face pale, like she was scared—and maybe needed a bodyguard.
Another puzzle piece, maybe.
“So Hope has hired us?” He re-focused his attention on Zander. His partner looked like Dean felt—ready for this. “What’s the plan?”
“She wants us to meet with Liana.”
“Okay. I can do that.”Tomorrow, he told himself. He lifted the beer again and tipped it against his mouth. Boundaries needed to be maintained so he didn’t burn out of this career like he had the last one.
Zander snatched it out of his hand. “Can’t wait. She needs to be on a plane tomorrow. Day after at the very latest. She’s got a concert in Washington, D.C. on the fourth of July, and a dress rehearsal for it on the third.”
Well, that sounded like a problem. And she was reluctant…yeah, this would take some time.
Dean took a deep breath. He never could say no to someone needing his help.
Even if that someone was distractingly gorgeous and he’d had an awkward encounter with her that nobody else knew about.
It didn’t matter. He was in. “Where will I find our new client?”
“She’s hiding at Hope’s house.”
— —
On the eight-minute drive out of town to the Howard-Creswell home, Dean tried to think of all the possible ways this meeting could go. None of the ways it played out in his mind went that well, to be honest. They all stumbled around the point in the conversation where they either acknowledged or ignored the elephant in the room of her having invited him inside for an entirely different reason.
But that was off the table now, so he needed to focus on why she needed security consultants.
Did she just need muscle? It wasn’t the long-term business vision he had, but he was tall and wide and knew how to look menacing. He could work with that.
Maybe she’d been threatened. He certainly knew how to run an investigation. But so did others…why come all the way up here if that was the case? And she shouldn’t be traveling alone if she was in danger.
He frowned.
Whyhadshe come up here?
He hopped out of his truck and walked up to the front door and knocked. Only one way to find out.
The front curtain shifted, and he stepped back, letting her get a good look at him. He might not be wearing his uniform, but the same instincts kicked in.
It took her long enough to open the door that he figured she’d givennotopening it a solid consideration. The handle turned, slowly, and then his client stepped into view.
“You again,” she said softly.
“Yes.”
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” He didn’t miss that her foot had nudged behind the door so he couldn’t push it open.
