“No problem. We’ve got this. Now, let’s see if we can finish our side of the list before Grant and Rayne.”
Elias gripped the handle and pushed the cart into motion. This way, he could help Iona and perhaps encourage her silently to speed up. His skin was crawling. Even though he’d scanned the store when they entered and saw nothing suspicious, something was off. “Lead the way.”
Iona flashed him a grin and moved ahead of him. He took a second to appreciate the view, then yanked his mind back to the business at hand.
For the next fifteen minutes, he and Iona added several items to the cart. Although he was no kitchen expert, the ingredients she gathered looked as though they belonged in potato salad and baked beans. “I thought you were going to buy the sides.”
She glanced at him, pity in her eyes. “I refuse to eat potato salad of questionable age.”
“Uh huh.”
“It’s a matter of food safety.”
Right. He didn’t believe a word of that but didn’t call her on it. Elias knew better than to challenge his woman’s honesty and integrity. Besides, he had a feeling this sudden desire to prepare potato salad and baked beans had more to do with one-upping Trish than food safety. “Of course.”
She stopped in the middle of the aisle and looked at him.
Elias held up his hands and backed up a step. “Food safety is important.”
With a snort, she spun on her heel, consulted her list, and headed for the next aisle. She reminded him of a heat-seekingmissile intent on reaching its destination, and no, he wouldn’t admit that to her in a million years. He didn’t have a death wish.
Two minutes later, Iona dropped a last item into the cart. “That’s it.”
He perked up. “We’re finished?” When she nodded, he steered the cart toward the checkout area. A smile curved his mouth when he noticed Rayne and Grant were still scouring the store for items on their list. “We beat them.”
Iona laughed. “We did.” She unloaded the cart with one-handed help from Elias. “Hurting?”
“Some.” Ha. Understatement, that. His shoulder once again throbbed like a bad toothache.
She handed the clerk Elias’ card, then turned to study him. “You’re pale again. Violet will be angry with me.”
“Why?”
“She’ll say I’m not taking good care of you, and she’d be right. I’m sorry. I should have paid more attention to you instead of being so focused on checking off items on our list.”
He shrugged his good shoulder. “We finished faster than I expected, so I’ll take that as a win.”
Rayne and Grant got in line behind them and checked out.
“Grant, you and Elias have already done your duty by pushing the cart all over the store. Rayne and I can push the carts to the truck. You can unload for us.”
Her teammate picked up the hint. “We’ll make sure no one tampered with the vehicle while you follow us with the food.”
Grant released the cart. “Sounds like a bargain to me. Come on, Elias. Let’s scan the truck for GPS tags or bombs.”
As he and Grant approached the vehicle, Elias scanned the nearly deserted parking lot. He still felt eyes on him. Who was watching them and where were they hiding that he couldn’t spot them? “Do you feel that?”
“Oh, yeah,” Grant murmured. “Can’t see him, though. You?”
“Nope.” He held out his hand to stop Elias from walking closer to the truck. “Stop here for a second.” Grant pulled the key fob from his pocket and started the engine remotely.
Nothing blew up, always a good sign in Elias’ book. “Let’s scan the truck and get out of here. I don’t like the way this feels.”
“Same.”
Elias turned and caught Iona’s attention. Using hand signals, he told her they were under surveillance and to stay alert while they waited for him and Grant to clear the truck.
They split up, pulled out their electronic signal detectors, and slowly circled the vehicle. By the time the men met at the nose of the truck, an almost overwhelming desire to whisk Iona away from this parking lot filled Elias. “Get Rayne, and let’s go.”
