“Because you feel like you’re being watched?”
“Yes.”
Nick did, too. Maybe it was paranoia. No one seemed to be paying them any particular mind. A few stragglers loitered, some packing up lawn chairs since the day didn’t look as promising as it had earlier. Joggers picked up pace to escape the wind as it kicked harder. More mothers with strollers disappeared to the parking lot. A photographer with a model wearing a decidedly springlike dress twirled in the wind, her teeth beginning to chatter. After another few shots, he tucked his equipment away and they left.
Sasha huddled close to Nick for warmth. “What do we do?”
They approached the bandstand. He wrapped an arm around her. To anyone else, he would appear a concerned lover shielding his woman from the cold. He took advantage of the pose and bent to her ear. “We look around for anything that might fit the key Mike left you.”
She peered up as if glimpsing the bandstand for the first time. “I don’t see anything at the top or bottom of the columns with a lock. Nothing in the roof structure. But they run electrical here.”
He nodded. “At the bottom of the dome. It lights up at night.”
“So there’s an electrical box somewhere.”
“Yep. I also see metal trash cans around the perimeter. And a bench over there.”
“Yes. Mike could also have hidden something in the bushes. Or like you said, buried it.”
True. “Any of those possibilities seem more likely to you? Some choice Mike might have gravitated to more than another?”
Sasha paused, studying the area again. “If he was protecting something under lock and key, I’m going to guess he was also shielding it from the elements and prying eyes. The bench is too open from beneath. Anyone picnicking or lying on the grass to dream up cloud formations could look over and see the underside.”
“Yeah. And the trash cans get too much attention.”
“From people using and emptying them. I agree. And the bushes would probably get trimmed too often to hide anything.”
“Agreed. Katrina should have proven that burying anything in a swampy city below sea level is a bad idea,” he drawled.
“When you put it like that, Mike wouldn’t have buried whatever it is. I wasn’t here when the hurricane hit, but Mike was devastated by all the damage. He loved this city.”
“He did.”
Mike had grown up in the best parts of the Big Easy. Nick had been intimately familiar with the worst, and he’d hated it at times. But he couldn’t deny it had given him good friends and a colorful adolescence. It had beat the hell out of spending every winter in the Jersey chill.
A passing jogger slowed as he approached the bandstand, seemingly to catch his breath. As he braced on his knees and dragged in air, he clapped eyes on them. Nick didn’t know if the guy was simply staring at Sasha or up to no good. Either way, he wasn’t taking chances. He lifted her chin and smiled her way. “We’re being watched. Act like I’ve said something that makes you happy.”
She lifted her lashes and met his stare. A grin flirted with her lips, but her gaze looked so somber. “Do you think there’s any chance we’re going to succeed?”
“I’m betting my life on it.” Yours and Harper’s, too.
Her grin lifted into a warm smile, transforming her. Yeah, she was acting. But when the sun broke from the clouds to slant golden rays across her face, lighting her with a glow, her goodness shined through. She was a good mother. She’d been a good wife. She worked hard to be a good person. He’d bet she prided herself on that. Any man would be lucky to have Sasha. Hell, he’d count himself the most blessed man on the planet to spend even one night as her man.
He’d do anything to give her the chance to brighten the world for a lifetime.
Nick knew he shouldn’t…but he couldn’t resist the urge to dip his head and fit his lips across Sasha’s, kissing her softly. He breathed her in. Gentle, delicately floral…with a bit of something spicy. Just like her.
When she might have pulled away, he cradled her face in both hands and stilled her. “A couple in love.”
At his reminder, she stiffened. Ignoring that, he layered his mouth over hers again and caressed her face.
Little by little, she lost her starch, her posture softening, her lips gradually molding to his. Then he urged her open for him. Nick would have sworn he heard a soft female moan. Maybe it had been the wind. Or his wishful thinking. Either way, he swept inside and kissed her thoroughly until she clung to his shoulders and her breathing wasn’t quite steady.
Only then did he pull back. “That’s what I had in mind.”
Her cheeks were rosy. “That was more kiss than necessary.”
Nick checked the surrounding park. “Maybe not. The staring jogger is gone. So is most everyone else. Let’s work fast.”
