The Wedding Trap (Second Service #1)(28)
Author: Adrienne Bell

Beth rolled to the other side of the bed and stood. He didn’t make any move to stop her.

"Blinded by my affections?" she said. "The only person that I seem to be blinded by is you. I’ve known Isobel since I was six years old. She would never do anything to hurt me."

Alex sat up. The sheet fell to his lap, leaving his chest exposed. Beth didn’t want to gape at him. Really, she didn’t. She was working on building up a good head of righteous rage, and the sight of his well-defined torso was dousing the flames.

But she was only human, and his hair was all ruffled from…well, she remembered all too well what had caused that ruffling. His eyes were turning dark again, narrowing with fever-inducing intensity.

It might have had something to do with her standing buck naked in the center of the room. Her cheeks started to burn again. She reached down and snatched his discarded button-down shirt from the floor. She pulled her arms through the sleeves and wrapped the front around her as quickly as she could.

His expression didn’t soften. Not one little bit.

"I don’t think that is having the effect you were hoping for." He patted the mattress next to him. "Why don’t you come back over here?"

Beth shook her head, resisting the answering smile that pulled at the corners of her mouth. "I don’t think so."

He arched his brows. "I could make it worth your while."

"No way."

"Oh, I can think of lots of ways."

Her blush burned. "Not while you still think that Isobel is trying to kill me."

"I never said I thought that," he said. "I sure as hell hope that it’s not true. I just said that your safety is my main concern. Until this is over I will suspect everyone."

Beth scrunched her nose. When he put it like that, it sounded so reasonable. She sat down on the edge of the bed. "Okay, there. Happy now?"

He crooked his finger at her. "A little closer."

She shook her head. "Nope." A girl had to have some backbone, after all. No matter how misguided it was.

"All right then," he said. “If that’s how you want to play."

He was on her in less than a second. Before she could react, she was on her back, her hands locked above her head, his hips positioned between her legs.

"Much better," he said. His mouth was so close to hers, so close that his breath washed across her lips, kissing her before he did.

The phone rang.

That was it. She was going to make it her life mission to smash every phone she saw. She would be doing the world a favor.

Except it was his phone this time. With great reluctance, he pulled away. "Sorry, duty calls."

She groaned out loud as he sprung from the bed. He grabbed the phone and went into the sitting room. Beth crawled reluctantly from the bed. She could barely hear him in the other room. His answers were terse. One word, maybe two. He was on the call for less than a minute before he hung up.

"Munoz is on the move," he said, heading for the bathroom. He flicked on the lights and a moment later, Beth heard the shower start up. A half second later, he poked his head out. "The guys in the van just intercepted a text message from a burner phone."

Beth felt a lump forming in her throat. Her stomach dropped. She didn’t want to ask. She didn’t need to. The serious look on his face told her that whatever the message was, it wasn’t any good.

"What did it say?"

"That if Munoz couldn’t handle the situation, he would take care of it himself."

Beth blinked. She sank back down on the edge of the bed, her knees threatening to give out underneath her.

“I’m the situation, aren’t I?”

Alex stopped mid-stride. "Yes," he said. It was a simple answer to a simple question. But Beth felt like she had taken a swift blow to the gut.

“Does that mean he’s coming back to the hotel to shoot me himself?”

“I doubt it.”

“But we’re still going to go downstairs and wait for something to happen?” Her voice sounded small, even to her own ears.

“Yes.”

He didn’t rush to comfort her this time. But he didn’t lie to her either. He treated her like an adult. One who could handle the burden she’d taken on.

And she could, she reminded herself. She might not like it. Hell, the fact that she didn’t was probably a good indicator of her sanity. But she could handle it. She would handle it. The only other choice was giving up, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to do that.

"We have to,” he said. “You’re an easy target up here."

Beth nodded. She understood. Everyone knew where she was. Hell, even Isobel had told her to stay in bed all day.

Had she known?

Beth immediately felt a traitorous shame at the fleeting thought. There was no way that her best friend was setting her up for an assassin to find.

No way in hell.

Still Beth didn’t waste anytime showering and dressing before making her way down to the lobby.

***

The day was a bizarre combination of constant anxiety and crushing boredom.

Beth had been out of the room for six hours and she hadn’t left the hotel once, not even for a walk around the parking lot. It was too open, Alex said. There were too many variables. Too many ways for things could go wrong. She guessed that what he really meant were there were too many hiding places for a sniper to hide and take her out with a single shot.

She might never get over how strange it was to think about her life in those terms. She only hoped that she lived long enough to get used to it.

Alex was true to his word and stayed by her side. He sat with her in the lobby. Stood next to her in the coffee shop line. Then back to the lobby. Walked with her down to the spa store. Ate lunch with her at the restaurant. Then back to the lobby. Walked down the hallway with her. Then back to the lobby again.

The problem wasn’t with the monotony of the day. It might have actually been relaxing to have a whole day with nothing planned, nowhere to go, nothing to do. It was that she couldn’t relax, not even for a second.

People came and went. Beth watched them all. Some she knew. Most she didn’t. Every now and again someone from the wedding would stop by and say hello, and Beth would worry about their motives for doing so. But even that was a welcome distraction from obsessing over the intentions of strangers who just happened to glance her way.

It was exhausting, this ever-vigilant existence. Beth wondered how in the world Alex managed it. He hadn’t complained once since they’d stepped out of their room. He’d taken up his position by her side today and settled in. He’d chatted with her, keeping it light. He lounged on the couches as though there wasn’t a worry on his mind.