“No comment?”
“To feed your old man ego? No.” Fiona snorted.
“Old man.”Vinceclutched his heart in mock pain before he started laughing. He forgot how easy it was to let loose with Fiona when she wasn’t being snarky. Her personality was one of the first things that drew him to her. Everything seemed to fade away when he was around her. He didn’t worry about the danger around every corner. They were just two normal people enjoying the mall.
“Charity seems interested in older men.”
“Chasity,” he corrected, realizing a second too late that Fiona had been testing him and he obviously failed by her hurt expression.
“Whatever her name is, she was interested in you.”
“The feeling isn’t mutual.”
“No? Who wouldn’t like a redhead with hair the size of Texas and boobs the size of watermelons.” She said venomously, sliding clothes over the rack, making a scratching sound.
Vince’s gaze fell down to Fiona’s chest. Her breasts were smaller but firm. He liked smaller boobs, personally. He didn’t need the overflowing handful. He was more of an ass man. His gaze drifted down to her derrière. Oh yeah, nice and tight. His palm twitched, wanting to smack it and watch it shake.
“They’re probably fake,” he said, trying to lighten the mood.
“You would know,” Fiona whispered under her breath.
That cooled his ardor.Vincehad had just about enough of her snarky comments about his sex life. She didn’t know shit about his sex life. “Don’t act like you know so much about me. Have I been with women, sure, but don’t act like you know everything. Jealousy doesn’t look good on you. You are a gorgeous woman who outshines women like Chasity. If anything, she is jealous of you.”
Fiona stopped aimlessly looking through the rack of clothes and looked up at him, speechless.
Shit, he’d said too much. Let his emotions show. That wasn’t good. “I mean, you’re good-looking,” he backtracked. Why had he tried defending himself? She wasn’t anything to him; he didn’t have to defend his actions to her or anyone. So what if he knew the difference between real boobs and fake? It didn’t take rocket science to figure it out. “Do you have enough clothes?” He sighed, giving up. Let her think whatever she wanted. Making her hate him seemed to be his specialty. If she hated him, it was easier to keep his distance from her. Please let Squeaker be quick with finding the perp.
“I just need a few other things and we can go.” Fiona blushed before walking away.
He didn’t know what she had to be shy about until he saw her walk over to the lingerie section. His first reaction was to help her pick out some sexy items, but he really didn’t want to imagine what she was wearing under her clothes. If she was wearing items he had suggested.Vinceopted to stay where he was, keeping an eye on her and anyone that might approach her. He sent a quick text to Squeaker, letting her know they’d be stopping by soon.
Knowing his luck, it would be another hour or two before Fiona was finished shopping. He looked back up to check on Fiona as he waited for a response and felt his stomach plummet when he didn’t see Fiona.
He turned his head left and right looking for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. With quick steps, he rushed over to where he last saw her. Every second she was missing sent him into a tailspin panic. Where could she have gone so quickly? He had only looked down at his phone for a second. That wasn’t long enough for someone to kidnap her and drag her off. Someone would have seen something or at least heard. Fiona had almost broken his nose to get away from him. She wouldn’t go docile with a kidnapper.
He went to dial her number, then realized she didn’t have her phone. He did. Fuck. He raked his fingers through his hair, wondering what to do next. He had to be calm and rational about this, but he was struggling. All sorts of what-ifs went through his head. He’d had similar fears when he found out Fiona was in the Congo a few weeks ago. He’d been just as worried as Ortiz, only he’d been better about hiding it.
Now he was on his own, entrusted with her care, and he lost her in a span of two seconds to send off a text.
“What are you doing?” Fiona asked from behind him.
Vincewhipped around so fast he almost knocked into Fiona. “Where the fuck were you?” he snapped.He hadn’t meant to sound so angry but she’d scared the living shit out of him.
“Paying for clothes,” she said, holding up the bags as if it should be obvious.
“Fuck,” he sighed. “You can’t take off like that. You gave me a fucking heart attack.” He felt his chest thundering under his shirt. The woman had scared ten years off his life.
“I bet you have a gray hair now, old man,” Fiona teased, butVincewasn’t in a teasing mood.
“I’m being serious. Someone is threatening you. You can’t just take off like that. I didn’t know where you were. You don’t have a phone to call for help.”
Fiona’s face fell. “I’m sorry, Vince. I saw you looking over at me before I went up and paid, I thought you saw me. I’ll keep you more informed next time.”
Knowing he’d gotten his point across,Vincenodded and dropped the issue. His heart was finally slowing to a regular pulse. Then smiled when he realized she said Vince instead of Vincent. No need in pointing that out to her. “We need to stop at the phone stand and get some burners.”
Fiona waited forVinceto lead the way and she fell in step. “I’m surprised you’re finished shopping already. Don’t women normally need like four hours to shop?”
“That’s my sisters.” She chuckled. “Me, I’m simple.”
