Which was where they were headed after he took care of a few things that he hoped would send anyone tracking her in the wrong direction.
It was a quick walk to the airport from the hotel, but her large wheelie suitcase slowed them down a bit. Finally, he grew impatient with her bumping over curbs and picked it up by the carry handle.
“Christ, what do you have in here, rocks?”
She rolled her eyes. “Said every guy everywhere. I wanted to be prepared for all kinds of weather.” She looked him up and down in the darkness. “I guess you aren’t as strong as you look.”
He gave her a wicked grin. “Strong enough for whatever you have in mind, sweetheart.”
She laughed, totally impervious to any suggestiveness. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Five years ago she used to blush when he said things like that to her. She’d grown up. But that wasn’t all. He had the distinct feeling she’d outgrown him as well, and that didn’t sit well.
“Pack mule is good enough for now,” she said.
“I’ll remember that,” he said dryly.
But this pack mule was about to go on strike.
She wasn’t happy when they arrived at the airport and he told her what he wanted to do. “I can’t fit what I need in a backpack and a small duffel!”
“It was the biggest bag they had,” he said patiently. TheVaernes airport shop didn’t exactly have a broad selection of travel gear. He’d been lucky to find the packable nylon duffel. They could be talking plastic shopping bag. “We need to move around fast, and this”—he indicated the large suitcase—“isn’t going to cut it. Besides, sending your bag back home will keep them off our tracks.”
“But what am I supposed to wear? I don’t even know where we are going.”
“Keep it casual and comfortable. You can always layer things.” He grinned and tried not to laugh at her expression. She seemed more upset at the idea of getting rid of her luggage than she had been at the news of her apartment being ransacked. Maybe she was a little more girlie than he realized, although he didn’t think she’d appreciate him pointing that out right now. “I have a few extra shirts you can borrow if you need them.”
She scoffed sharply. “Not a chance. I’ve seen your shirts. I don’t do hideous Hawaiian.”
He grinned. He missed his shirts. But they did tend to attract attention. He shrugged. “Not everyone can pull it off.”
“John, not evenyoucan pull off garish bright orange sunsets, turquoise oceans, and lime green palm trees.”
He chuckled and was relieved to see her bend down and open the suitcase to start moving a few things into the new duffel. He could hear her mumbling under her breath the whole time and was pretty sure he didn’t want to know what she was saying.
After about five minutes of her putting something in only to take it out and exchange it for something else a few minutes later, he said, “How much longer is this going to take?”
And how many pairs of jeans did one person need? The ones she was wearing were fine.
More than fine.
She gave him a good death glare that didn’t quite killthe surge of lust at thinking about her ass in those jeans again—or out of those jeans, for that matter.
“A few more minutes. It took me more than two hours to pack to come here. You can’t expect me to do this in a few minutes. I don’t want to forget anything.”
“We can always buy something if you need it.”
“My credit cards are already maxed out after the last-minute trip to get here.”
Which meant he was pretty damned sure she wasn’t going to like what he wanted her to do before they went to the freight office to send her bag to her apartment.
“Change my ticket to the next flight?” she repeated, aghast. “Do you have any idea how expensive that is going to be?”
“I’d pay with cash, but I don’t want to draw attention to anything.” He had a clean credit card in the name of his fake passport, but he avoided using it unless he had to. “We want anyone tracking you to think you and your bag hightailed it home.” He paused. “And your phone, too.”
If he thought downsizing the luggage or the five hundred dollars to change to the next flight were bad, her reaction at the thought of sending her phone in her luggage was even worse.
Millennials and their attachments to their devices. John didn’t get it. He wasn’t into smartphones or “i” anything. He probably wouldn’t have a cell phone at all if it weren’t necessary.
He didn’t like being so... accessible.
