He glanced at it quickly before turning it over.
“You don’t want to get that?” Andi asked.
“It’s nothing important,” he murmured.
Andi wasn’t so sure about that.
Because right before he’d turned over the phone, she thought for sure she’d seen Celeste’s name . . . Celeste, his former fiancée.
Why would she be texting him?
CHAPTER
TEN
Duke’s heartraced just enough to irritate him.
Not fear. Not panic. Something more insidious.
Anticipation mixed with guilt.
He’d seen the name light up his phone the moment it buzzed.
Celeste.
He hadn’t meant to react at all. But his body had betrayed him, fingers tightening just a fraction as he glanced at the phone. One missed call. One unread message.
He’d turned the phone face down on the console.
“It’s nothing important,” he’d murmured.
The lie tasted sour.
He didn’t want to hide things from Andi. That wasn’t who he was. Besides, Celeste was . . . complicated. An old chapter that had never fully closed. He knew that Andi seeing a text between him and his former fiancée would feel like an intrusion. He’d fought hard to rebuild his life after things fell apart with Celeste.
He’d tell Andi the truth.
Eventually.
He just couldn’t do it now.
Not when they were already walking a razor’s edge. Not when danger had a way of magnifying stress.
But Andi was sharp.
Too sharp to miss the way he’d reacted. Too perceptive not to sense when something didn’t line up.
For now, though, there were other things to think about.
He forced his focus back to the present, jaw tightening as he watched the parking lot ahead.
A car pulled into the space directly in front of them, cutting off any further conversation.
A small silver sedan. Older. Well cared for.
Pam.
Duke straightened, the lingering tension shoved aside as instinct took over.
