“Nice?”
“Yes, nice. We haven’t really gotten along before, but tonight you’re being really nice. Too nice.”
“You seemed kind of vulnerable. I figured being an asshole could wait. Are you all right to drive? Or do you want me to?”
“Drive my car? Not a chance.”
He laughs. “Oh, come on, you’ve never seen me drive.” His gaze lingers. Then it’s gone, and he slips into his professional mode again.
“It’s not you. I’m fine. But thank you. Besides, you don’t fit in it.”
He nods.
I slip off his jacket and hand it back to him. “Thanks again.”
Headlights head our way, and I panic, pressing myself into Hunter’s chest as the vehicle passes. I’m tense, waiting. His arms don’t move, but I feel safer against him.
“It wasn’t Bob,” he says.
I step back, relieved.
“Okay, I should go,” I say.
I slide into the driver’s seat and pull away before he can try to take over. When I walk into Maria’s place, she’s working on her laptop while sitting on the couch.
She jumps up and closes her front curtains. “Hunter called and told me you were the target of that explosion. I can’t imagine how scared you must be.”
“I am.”
“Why are you wearing a wig?”
I take off my coat and the wig. “I needed to see if my boss was really selling guns.”
“You risked him seeing you? Why? I thought you already knew the answer to that question.”
I nod. “I had hoped I was wrong. Don’t worry, Bob didn’t see me. But your brother did.”
She frowns. “He mentioned in the call you were the target, and you need to stay here for a while. Nothing else.”
I tell her everything that happened. “So yeah, I guess I literally walked into the middle of one of his assignments. And now here I am.”
“Okay, did you tell anyone you are staying here?”
“Hunter and the two people he was working with,” I say.
Maria turns on her security system. “We are locked in now.” She turns to me. “What are you going to do about your job? Can you keep not showing up?”
I grab a pillow and hug it as I sit on the couch. “I can’t exactly serve myself up on a platter to Bob now, can I?”
She sits on the other end of the couch. “No, I don’t mean that. What about your clients?”
“I might lose them. I’ll call Maggie tomorrow to see if she can help me out.”
She curls her feet under her. “But Maggie is Bob’s assistant. She might be working with him.”
“I don’t think so. Besides, I wouldn’t tell her where I am. I’ll tell her I’m having horrible headaches from the explosion and ask if she can let my clients know.”
“Will she?”
