Though Brayden’s expression remained neutral, Reggie felt the sudden shift in his attention. Automatically, she scanned the spot in the room that seemed to hold his focus, but she couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. So she lifted up to her toes and spoke quietly into his ear.
“What’s wrong? Is it Garibaldi?”
Brayden tipped his face down, just enough that she could hear his murmured response. “No. Not him. Well. Always him, actually. But not him specifically right this second.”
Something in his tone made Reggie’s pulse skitter nervously. “What, then?”
“Nothing.”
“I can tell the difference between nothing and something.”
“Stubborn.”
“And?” she challenged.
He nudged her. “And it’s almost our turn.”
She looked up. He was right. Only two people stood between them and the sign-in table. They inched forward again, and she tried to tell herself that everything was all right. Brayden was the cop, after all. The one with the gun and the know-how. It was his job to know if things were okay or not. But reminding herself of all those things didn’t change the fact that she was worried about whatever it was that made him tense up. And she had to factor in that he seemed to feel compelled to keep her safe. So if something was wrong, he might err on the side of not telling her.
But he wouldn’t actually put you in harm’s way, she reminded herself.
With that in mind, Reggie forced her attention to the person behind the table. Thankfully, it was a woman she didn’t know—someone from the outside catering company.
She let out a breath and issued a greeting. “Hi, there. Reggie Frost. The Frost Family Diner.”
The woman’s manicured nail slid down the guestbook, and when she looked up, she was frowning. “I see you here. But no mention of a plus-one?”
She made herself smile. “I wasn’t expecting to have company. I was hoping we could sneak him in somehow. He’s thinking about making Whispering Woods his permanent home, and I know Mr. Garibaldi would appreciate having a businessman like him in town.”
The woman pursed her lips, made a few notes in her book, then looked up and smiled back. “Okay. I’ve got it taken care of. By the time you get to your seats at table eight, it’ll be like we expected him all along.”
“Thank you.”
Slinging her hand through Brayden’s crooked elbow, Reggie faced the room and searched for their seats. But her gaze didn’t get past table two. Chuck Delta stood there, one hand resting on the back of a chair, the other clasped in a handshake with their host. Jesse Garibaldi. Neither of the men were looking their way, but when the latter bent to say something near the former’s ear, Reggie’s instinct told her she didn’t want to attract their attention. At all.
Brayden seemed to concur. The moment they were out of earshot of the sign-in table, he dragged her close to a quiet space directly away from the two men and the rest of the crowd.
“I want to ask you something, but I don’t want you to panic,” he said.
“You saying that makes me want to panic,” Reggie replied.
“Sorry, sweetheart. Not trying to scare you. I just want to know if there’s an alternate way out of the building.”
“Yes. Behind the stage, there’s—”
“Not there, either.”
Reggie’s heart twisted unpleasantly. “Okay. Well. Do you see the brown door frame at the other end of the room? The one with the black curtain hanging over top?”
He nodded. “Yep.”
“It’s used as a storage space for all the tables and chairs, but it’s actually a long hallway with an emergency exit at the end. I can’t guarantee it’s not alarmed, though.”
“It’ll have to do. Come on.”
Pushing his hand to the small of her back, he guided her across the room quickly—but not so quickly that they would attract unwanted attention—to the door she’d pointed out. When they reached it, he paused, looked around, then dragged her inside. As he dropped the curtain and darkness engulfed them, Reggie turned to ask exactly what was going on. But she didn’t even manage to say a single word.
Brayden’s arms shot out. One hand landed on her mouth, the other clasped her stomach and he flattened himself against the wall, taking her with him. And before she could react, someone else came sliding into the dark space.
Reggie froze, afraid even to breathe. She could feel her pulse thudding through her veins. Throbbing in her neck. Pounding in her head. She thought it was a miracle that their shadow-cloaked guest couldn’t hear it. But the sweatshirt-clad figure—whom she was 99.9 percent sure was the same person she’d seen leap from her balcony—seemed more concerned with something happening on the other side of the curtain. He stopped. He faced the way back into the main hall for a moment, head cocked to the side like he was listening for something. But silence reigned, and after just a few moments, he bolted toward the emergency exit.
As the door at the end of the hall flung open, Reggie braced herself for an alarm. Instead, the only thing that came blasting through the air was a gust of wind. Then the door shuddered to a close, and everything went still again. But the quiet only lasted for a second. It was interrupted first by the clatter of footsteps just outside—slow but heavy—and second by the abrupt call of a woman’s voice.
“Whoa! Where’s the fire, Officer?” Whoever she was let out a laugh. “Oh, wait. I guess that’s not your department.”
And there was no mistaking that it was Chuck who answered, his reply light, but laced with tension. “Nope. I’ll leave the fires for the fire department and keep the mayhem and troublemakers for myself, thanks.”
“We won’t find either of those things here, I hope. Should I be keeping an eye out for trouble?”
“I’m here to make sure you don’t have to,” Chuck said. “Of course. If you did happen to see something—or someone—that looked out of place, I’d definitely be the man to call.”
“I think everything is pretty copacetic, Officer. Well. Unless you count the fact that Reggie Frost has a new boyfriend as out of place.”
“Reggie Frost?”
At Chuck’s suddenly sharp tone, Reggie felt Brayden draw in the smallest of breaths. And she couldn’t blame him. Her own heart rate—which had just barely settled—jumped yet again. Why, oh, why, did small-town gossip have to include her love life? Especially right that second.
But the unknown woman didn’t seem to sense the tension in the way Chuck had repeated her name, and she just let out a second laugh. “You didn’t hear? She brought some hotshot businessman as her date tonight. Spent the day with him at the fair, too.”
“Oh, I heard. Met him, in fact.” Now Chuck sounded too casual.
The woman, though, took his words another way. “Do I detect a hint of jealousy, Officer?”
The corrupt cop seemed to be content to go with it. “What can I say? She’s a pretty girl. And now that you’ve brought it up, I actually couldn’t help but notice that she’s not around. She was supposed to be at table two, but I was just there a few minutes ago and saw that her name tag’s been removed. You happen to have seen her?”
“You really gonna cut in? Tell the other guy it’s illegal to date an out of towner now?”
“Wouldn’t be too far from what people around here believe,” Chuck replied drily. “An awful lot of Whispering Woods residents seem to have that opinion already.”
“True enough,” said the woman. “Oh. Sorry, Officer, but there’s Mary from the deli. Mind if I go catch up with her? She’s supposed to order me some cheese this week, and I think she’ll forget—again—if I don’t mention it now.”
“By all means.”
“Enjoy the party. And if you’re really looking for Reggie, I’d say she and that cute date of hers probably sneaked away for some privacy. Might want to check all the nooks and crannies.”
“Thanks for the tip.” There was a long pause, then Chuck muttered, “Privacy.”
And instinctively, Reggie knew his eyes were roaming the main hall in search of aforementioned nooks and crannies. She could picture him taking a little step back. Spying the curtain-covered doorway that was right in front of his eyes. Then moving toward it.
“We need to get out of here,” she whispered.
“Too late,” Brayden murmured back.
He was right. The sound of feet nearing the hallway carried in. And a thump, then a muffled curse confirmed that it was Chuck.
Reggie’s heart seized, and her muscles tensed, preparing for a confrontation. But before the concern could come to fruition, Brayden took ahold of her shoulders. He pushed her back against the line of coats and pressed his body flush against hers. He stared down at her for just a single moment. Then he slammed his mouth to her mouth, and fear dropped away, desire blocking out all else.
* * *
In the back of his mind, Brayden knew it was an excuse. He could’ve come up with some other way to get them out of the situation. Create a distraction himself. Divert attention away from the fact that Reggie was there at all.
Maybe just start a conversation with Chuck?
Except he didn’t want to do any of that.
What he did want was to explore her mouth with his own. He wanted to hold her sweet curves against him. He wanted to do exactly what he was doing right that second. So he embraced the opportunity with enthusiasm, sliding his hand down her arm, then slipping it to her hip. He tugged her impossibly closer, eliciting a pleasant little gasp from her lips. It spurred him on. He dropped a palm to her bare knee, and Reggie lifted her leg easily, curling it around his calf.
Vaguely, Brayden was aware that Chuck had actually entered the hall. He heard the awkward shuffle, then the throat clear and the muttered apology, followed by the man’s somewhat-noisy exit. Really, though, most of his awareness was centered on the woman in his arms. On her soft, yielding kiss and the sweet cinnamon scent she still managed to exude, even though she’d been off shift for over a day. On the way she curved against him like she was meant to be there.
Because she is meant to be here.
The firm voice in his head made him forget that the kiss had had another motivation; Brayden brought up his free hand—the one that wasn’t clasping her thigh like a lifeline—and dug his fingers into the thick tresses that hung down the back of her neck. He tugged, and her head dropped back, leaving his mouth momentarily bereft. The feeling didn’t last long.
He dropped his lips to her bared throat and drew them over the tender skin, tasting every exposed inch. Her skin was firm and silken, and grew hotter under his attention. Had he really just met this woman twenty-four hours earlier? It seemed impossible. Already, he was sure what was between them was going to lead to so much more.
If you can keep her safe long enough for it to happen.
The thought forced him to pull away. “We should get out of here.”
Reggie drew in a breath. “It won’t look weird if we don’t stick around?”
Brayden shook his head. “At this point, I think it’s more important to figure out what’s going on with our friend in the hood.”
“Now he’s our friend?”
“Sure doesn’t seem to be fond of Chuck. Maybe it doesn’t really make him our ally, but you know what they say about the enemy of your enemy...”
“So we’re going to try to do what...work with him? He broke into my apartment. And hit you on the head.”
“I know.”
“But you still want to do it, don’t you?”
“Yep.” He gave her a light kiss. “C’mon, sweetheart. We can fight about it later. For now, let’s slip out the front exit in case he’s still out back. When I do talk to him, I want it to be on my terms.”
Tucking her in under his arm and turning so that anyone who looked their way would see only him, he eased out of the hall and into the main area. No one glanced their way, but before they got quite halfway across the room, he caught sight of Chuck Delta. He and Jesse Garibaldi stood close together, and they were all but clocking the main exit. As Brayden watched, Garibaldi gestured without looking toward the spot they’d just left. He had a sneaking suspicion that the crook was about to send his sidekick back their way.
Reggie seemed to reach the same conclusion. “What now?”
He quickly weighed their options. “Back to plan A.”
“Out the emergency exit?”
“It’s not ideal, but we already know that Mr. Hoodie doesn’t want a fight. He wants to run. Can’t say I’m as sure about Garibaldi and Chuck.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t look up and don’t stop. We don’t want to give anyone an excuse to talk to us. We’re not going to hurry, but we’re going to walk with purpose. Once we’re back in the hallway, we’ll duck out and head straight for the car.”
“Got it.”
Holding Reggie close and heeding his own instructions, Brayden strode swiftly to their destination. They made it about three feet from their escape route before he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He didn’t have to look to be sure that Chuck had spotted them. Moving even more purposefully now, he put his hand on the curtain and pushed. As they slid through, he was sure he heard the corrupt cop call out Reggie’s name. He ignored it in favor of dragging the pretty waitress through the hallway, then straight to the emergency exit. He tugged her outside and pressed the door shut behind them. With his mind in overdrive, he debated just straight up tearing back to the car. First, though, he glanced around in search of the hooded stranger. The man was nowhere to be seen, but Brayden’s hurried search did yield a means of buying a bit more time. He spotted a discarded umbrella a couple of feet away and decided to take advantage of the idea that sprang to mind.
Quickly, he released Reggie. The weather had worsened in the last few minutes, and as he darted out to grab the umbrella, he got pummeled by heavy drops.
Reggie gave him an incredulous look as he came hurrying back. “You’re worried about getting wet? Now?”
He shook his head. “Not exactly.”
Flipping the umbrella to a horizontal position, he slid it into the external side-by-side door handles. Just in time, too. The doors pushed out. Then stopped. A muffled curse carried through the one-inch crack. The trick bought them a minute or two, but they still needed to move.
Wordlessly, Brayden threaded his fingers through Reggie’s and pulled her along the pavement at a run. Their feet smacked the ground hard, sending splashes of water up. Above them, the sky cracked once, illuminating the parking lot as they reached the gravel overflow area. Reggie jumped, then let out a cry and twisted out of his grip. A concerned glance her way told him why. One of her high-heeled shoes had snapped. She took two limping steps. Then a third. On the fourth, lightning sparked overhead again, clearly showing off the pained wince on her face as her foot hit the ground.
To make their situation even worse, a barely distinguishable shout came from near the front of the hall. Their pursuer had exited the building. He’d probably try to head them off first, and move toward the spot they’d just abandoned next. A little belatedly, Brayden realized his little trick might backfire. When Chuck found the rigged door, he’d have even more questions and even more of a reason to come after them.
Too late to reconsider now.
He’d have to come up with a valid excuse later; it wouldn’t take more than a minute or two for the cop to catch up.
Reggie lifted her eyes to meet his, fear translating even through the dark.
Brayden stepped closer, bent to position her arm over his shoulders and lifted her off the ground.
“The first thing we do when we get somewhere safe is find you a decent pair of running shoes,” he said as he carried her over the ground. “No heels. No slip-on flats. Good, old-fashioned, lace-up sneakers.”
The wind picked up suddenly, then, stopping him from saying anything more. In addition to cutting his breath away, it worked against him physically, sending the sheets of rain up like an angled wall. He pushed forward through the resistance and ducked behind the nearest row of vehicles. There, he inched along as fast as he dared, thankful that at least the storm covered the sound of his boots hitting the ground. His stealthy moves got them to the edge of the lot without detection. Then he had to stop. His car was a row over, and there was a wide space between where they huddled and where it was parked.
“What now?” Reggie asked.
“I run. You pray.”
He waited until the sky lit up once more, then took advantage of the sudden darkness and rolling thunder that followed. Holding Reggie close, he crossed the exposed space in a few wide steps. He then crouched down even lower to hide behind the vehicle and set her on the ground. He dragged his key from his pocket. Then paused.
“What?” Reggie prodded urgently.
“Not sure how we’re gonna get out of here with any kind of subtlety,” he replied. “Even if Chuck didn’t get a good enough look at me to know that he should be searching for my car specifically, the second he sees us pulling out of the lot, he’ll make the connection.”
“There’s a back road. If you follow this gravel lot even farther back, there’s a narrow path at the end. It’s mostly used for people who want to bring dirt bikes or ATVs or whatever. But it’s definitely wide enough for your car.”
“And it’ll take us out?”
She nodded. “It might not be the smoothest ride. Or the shortest. It’ll probably add twenty minutes to the trip back to town. But it does lead to the main road.”
Brayden tapped his key on his soaked thigh. “Now all we need to do is get into the car without getting caught.”
“We can roll it back in Neutral,” Reggie suggested. “As long as the rain keeps pounding down like this, he won’t be able to hear us. And you can’t see the car from here because it’s sloped too much—which works in our favor too, actually—but once we get down there, we’ll be able to push it all the way to the trees before we even start it.”
It was a good plan. Except for one thing.
“The second we open the door, the interior light will come on,” he said.
Reggie held out her hand. “Give me the keys.”
“What?”
“Trust me.”
“All right.”
He held out the keys, and she took them. He watched as she held still and closed her eyes. She looked like she might be counting. He opened his mouth to ask her if she was, but lightning opened up the sky then, and Reggie came to life. She opened the driver’s-side door. She leaped into the car. She lifted a hand and flicked off the light. Then she dropped down beside him with the keys on her index finger.
“Done,” she gasped.
He stared at her for a second, then tugged her close and issued a swift kiss. “Genius.”
She smiled. “My brain works better than my body, apparently.”
Brayden couldn’t help but shake his head and grin back. “I’d argue against that.”
Even though he couldn’t see in the dark, he imagined a blush as she deflected his statement. “Are we going to do this, or just stand around flirting until we get caught?”
“I’ll assume the second part wasn’t a real offer,” he teased. “You want to guide me from the passenger side?”
“Sure.”
She scurried around the car, and when the other door inched open, Brayden got to work. He put the car into Neutral and positioned his upper body against the steering wheel while keeping his feet on the ground. His visibility was terrible, but there was no way to make it any better without attracting attention, so he worked by feel. It didn’t take much to get the vehicle moving. Reggie was right about the slope, and as soon as they hit it, the tires crunched along smoothly until they eased it to a stop near the trees she’d mentioned. It was pitch-black, though, and the roadway really was narrow.
It’ll have to do, he thought, climbing into the car.
“Ready?” he said to Reggie, who was already waiting in the passenger seat.
“If I say no, will another option magically appear in front of us?”
“Doubtful.”
“Then I guess I’m ready.”
“Okay. Let’s get this over with.”
He turned the engine over, left the light off and plunged them into the dark woods.