Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
She preferred the dressed down soldier at her side, and she always had. Since the day she’d met him, TJ had been the only boy in the world for her. Boy, guy, man. They were all TJ.
“Yeah, are we early?” Lou glanced into what appeared to be the pub-like bar. There were high-top tables and a dart board, TVs on the walls, though none were turned on.
Dennis frowned as he looked TJ over. “No, but I didn’t expect a we at all. I thought you were coming alone. Is that Taggart?”
TJ dropped her hand and stepped to her side. “Hello, Dennis. It’s good to see you again.”
“It’s unexpected to see you,” Dennis replied somewhat sourly.
“I’m just an escort,” TJ said, pulling his hand back when it was clear Dennis wasn’t going to shake it. “Lou’s job can lead to her needing bodyguard services from time to time. I can sit at the bar.”
She rolled her eyes because this was probably the time his alpha Dom should take over. They needed to work on his instincts. “Babe, there’s obviously something wrong here, and you’re not my bodyguard. You’re totally my boyfriend, and apparently Dennis didn’t take my whole let’s-be-friends thing seriously.”
This whole thing felt like a setup to get her alone.
“Boyfriend?” Dennis and TJ managed to say the word at the same time, though one said it with a satisfied smile and the other’s frown deepened.
Lou went on her toes so she could look TJ in the eyes. “Boyfriend, though I suspect that won’t last long. My mom really is hankering for a wedding.”
The smile on his face lit up the dark room. “Oh, I’ll give her a wedding. Am I off the leash?”
She sighed. It wasn’t how she’d planned to celebrate her almost engagement. “He didn’t know about you.”
TJ stepped in front of her, his shoulders suddenly straight. “No, but this isn’t some reunion, is it, Dennis?”
Dennis’s hands went to his hips, and he looked bereaved. “No. I thought it would be a nice way to get to know Louisa again.”
“This is supposed to be a date?” TJ seemed to need confirmation.
He was never going to let her live this down.
“Yes,” Dennis shot back. “Sue me. She’s hot and smart, and I wanted a chance with her.”
But Lou was getting a weird vibe.
She’d been kidnapped way too often lately, and it was starting to feel like that again.
“Why here?” Lou asked.
“It doesn’t matter where,” TJ argued. “He’s an asshole.”
Dennis ignored him. “A friend of a friend told me I could rent out this entire place for next to nothing. He’d heard I was looking for a cool date idea and gave me a call. I thought it would impress you.” He glanced around. “I’ll admit, I should have come to have a look at it before tonight. I thought it would be nicer than this.”
TJ reached for her hand. “So someone called you at the last minute and you didn’t think to question it? How well do you know this person?”
Dennis shrugged. “I don’t really. He’s a friend of a friend.”
“Lou, we’re leaving.”
Yes, it was time to get out of here and regroup.
But when they turned, the door was blocked.
“I’m afraid you won’t be going anywhere,” a deep voice said. “Schnappt sie euch!”
German. Take them.
Lou prepared to fight for their lives.
* * * *
TJ tried to put Lou behind him, but they were quickly surrounded.
“Stay calm,” he whispered.
They weren’t alone, and these men had no reason to want him dead. They wanted him talking, and he was about to start a new career in storytelling. It wouldn’t have to be long. Zach would show up. Though when they didn’t appear, he would likely walk into the freaking bar and potentially get caught, too.
Lou put her back against his, and he could feel her shifting against him.
“Don’t move, Ms. Ward. I know who you are now.” The obvious boss stepped out of the shadows. He was in all black, a middle-aged man who kept up a gym routine and looked like he shopped at paramilitary stores. “I’m afraid I’m more of an arms dealer than someone who traffics in information, and that was where I made my mistake. You’re an interesting partner for someone like the sergeant. I said don’t move.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just adjusting my glasses. I’ve got really bad eyes, and it’s a nervous habit,” she replied. “I’ll try to stop.”
Her glasses. She’d turned them on. She would have had to brush the right side to open the signal that would go to Kala’s phone. Hopefully his cousin wasn’t lost in Cooper’s eyes or something because she now had a direct line to everything that was happening.
“What is going on?” Dennis seemed to understand his day had taken a deep dive. “I’m not really with them, you know. I barely know her.”