The Wedding Trap (Second Service #1)(4)
Author: Adrienne Bell

Alex’s role in the mission was clear. He was here to find the CIA leak, plain and simple. The Agency didn’t mind sharing information and helping out the Department of Homeland Security in taking down Munoz, but when it came to double agents, the Agency insisted on taking care of those on their own.

He took one more quick glance around the car. He wasn’t expecting to see any familiar names on the Munoz-Masterson invite list, but he wasn’t ruling anything out. Besides, he had a feeling that this was as close to exciting as this assignment was going to get. Without a cover to insert himself into the wedding preparations, he would be spending the next three days sitting in the lobby doing some very basic recon work.

It wouldn’t be the most thrilling weekend that he’d ever spent, but—

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

Alex snapped his head up and looked out of the windshield. The woman who had been strolling through the garden was now standing in front of the car. It wasn’t just any woman. It was the one from the stairwell. Beth Bradley. Isobel Munoz’s maid of honor.

She stood with her legs braced, fists on her hips, brows pulled together. Alex knew she was trying her best to be threatening with the aggressive posture, but there was nothing menacing in the woman. She was all round curves, from her flushed cheeks to the swell of her hips. A long chestnut-brown ponytail bobbed behind her.

He could tell the instant that she recognized him. Her shoulders fell. Her expression softened, though there were still more than a few suspicious crinkles around the edges of her big brown eyes.

“Hello, again.” Alex gave her a smile as he slid back out onto the pavement. “I just needed to get something out of my car.”

“This isn’t your car,” she said. There was no quiver in her voice now.

Damn.

Her eyes were still focused on his mouth, and her tongue snaked out to wet her bottom lip. She felt an attraction to him, but she wasn’t blinded by it. Still, it was worth a shot to use it against her.

He widened his smile. A few more of those tension lines disappeared.

“Of course it is,” he said with practiced authority.

“No, it’s not.” She was more sure. “Not unless there are two bright red Beemers with TOO HOTT vanity plates. This is Spencer Masterson’s car.”

Alex kept his body loose as he shut the car door. He crossed his arms and leaned his back against the BMW.

“That would explain why I didn’t find what I was looking for,” he said.

She held his gaze for a brief second before a look of real concern came over her face. She looked down at her feet and took a step away from the car. He could see the path of her thoughts clear enough. If he wasn’t the owner of this car, then what did that make him?

Alex didn’t try to guide her decision either way. It was a damn pain in the ass being caught breaking into a car, but he’d been in worse situations. Much worse. He could deal with one neurotic bridesmaid.

“Listen,” she said, holding up her hands. “I don’t care what you were doing with Spencer’s car. I really don’t. Whatever it was, you couldn’t have picked a more deserving jerk to do it to. Hell, I was imagining keying the damned thing as I was walking over here.”

“Is that right?”

She glanced up at him, a hint of a guilty smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

She was cute. Not a bombshell, not long-legs-and-short-skirt gorgeous. But a certain vulnerability combined with all of her soft features in a strangely attractive way.

“I wouldn’t really have done it,” she said.

“Of course not.”

Silence fell between them as it became obvious that she wasn’t going to scream her head off for the police, and he wasn’t going to pull a weapon. Her shoulders relaxed even more as a calculating look appeared in her eyes. At first, it was barely a glimmer of an idea, but Alex watched it grow until she was staring as boldly at him as he was at her.

She bit her lower lip, and teased it back and forth between her teeth. It was obvious that she wanted to say something, was damned near desperate to say it, but she needed to build up the courage to get it out first. Alex waited; he didn’t have to be anywhere for an hour, and he was starting to find this woman more than a little amusing.

It took her another half minute before she’d gathered enough courage to open her mouth. "I was wondering if you might consider doing me a favor."

"A favor?"

"Yeah. It’s not a big thing. Well, not unless you consider lying a big thing. But I figured that since you’re a…" She waved her hand in a lazy circle in the direction of the car instead of saying the words.

Alex changed his mind. She was damned amusing.

“Well, anyway, I figured you might not mind," she continued.

“What did you have in mind?”

"It would only take five minutes of your time.” She glanced back toward the entrance to the hotel, before risking a step closer to him. “Ten, tops."

A smile threatened to pull at the corner of Alex’s mouth, but he held it back.

"Go on," he said.

"I’ve gotten myself into a little bit of trouble. Just a little, nothing major. Not like…" She waved her hand at him and the car again. "But still. And I might be able to use you to help me get out of it."

“Use me? How’s that?"

"I just need you to pretend to be a guy named Charlie."

"Charlie?"

"For five minutes. All you have to do is walk into the hotel with me, hold my hand a little, introduce yourself to my mother and a few other people, and say that you’re terribly sorry, but you’re going out of town on business for the rest of the weekend. That’s it."

She smiled at him expectantly, her eyes wide as she waited for his answer.

Alex pushed off the car.

"You want me to pretend to be your boyfriend in front of your mother?"

"And my ex-boyfriend, Spencer.”

“This Spencer?” he asked, inclining his head toward the Beemer.

She scrunched up her nose and two little lines creased the space between her brows. “Like I said, I’ve gotten myself in a little bit of trouble."

"And you think they’ll believe it."

"Of course, they’ll believe it. You make a perfect Charlie. You’re tall. In that suit you look like you’re incredibly successful. And you’re every bit as gorgeous as I’ve described him."

Alex arched a brow.

She didn’t blush. She didn’t even bat an eye. She was too lost in her plan.