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Edward laughs a low laugh. “You think I can’t kill you first?”
“You want to try me?” Aaron challenges, his voice low, lethal.
Silence follows, stretching long and wide, and I think they’ve left the room. Or, someone is dead. That idea scares me, and I peer around the corner long enough to find the other man standing in profile with Aaron as the two men stare each other down. I step back behind the wall as a memory comes back to me. It was a Sunday, a few months after I started dating Aaron. I all but lived with him in his fancy River Oaks apartment. We had woken up to make love, take a jog, shower, and eat. By the afternoon, we were in the coffee shop on the lower level of his building. Me doing work for my boss and him working on something for a client.
Finally, I’ve finished the contract my boss, Cole, needs for the Monday morning meeting, finishing my coffee in celebration, with the knowledge that Noah just ordered us refills. I blink, suddenly aware of him staring at me. “What?” I ask, setting my cup down.
He strokes my cheek. “You’re beautiful,” he murmurs softly, his eyes warm with sincerity, and now I feel warm and special in a way that I’ve never known before this man.
“Thank you,” I whisper, feeling a bit shy when shy isn’t my thing.
He leans in and brushes his lips over mine. “Thank you.”
I pull back to look at him. “Thank me? For what?”
“So many things you can’t understand right now, but, one day, you will.”
I open my mouth to ask for more details, wanting to understand now, but his cell phone rings. He grimaces and looks at the number. “My client and he’s an ass. I’m going to step into the lobby and take this.” He doesn’t wait for a reply. He kisses me again and then stands up, the faded jeans he’s wearing hugging his perfect ass and strong thighs as he walks away.
I sigh and smile, easing back into my seat and thinking about how much this man has changed my life. “Noah! Drinks up!”
I stand up and walk to the counter, grab our drinks, and then return to the table. I set mine down and decide to take Noah his while it’s hot. He can fight and talk while enjoying his coffee, and he does love his coffee. I leave our things behind but motion to the lady behind the counter, who knows us, to watch over it. Once she confirms, I hurry into the lobby, but I don’t see Noah anywhere. I frown and decide that because it’s a pretty fall day outside, he may have gone out to the street to avoid prying ears.
I step outside, a cool, perfect breeze lifting my red hair from my shoulders, but I still don’t see Noah. I look left and right and back left, as Noah and a tall, fit man, about ten years his senior, step around the corner and face off. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but they look like they’re about to throw punches. I don’t know what to do, but as I stand there like a doe in the headlights, the stranger with Noah suddenly turns and looks at me, his eyes hard and sharp.
Noah does the same, but a moment later, both men are focused on each other again, but something has shifted. Noah is calmer, but, somehow, almost lethal in his quieter anger. He says something to the man, and the man turns and walks away. Noah immediately walks toward me, his strides long and urgent and then he’s standing in front of me, his hand under my hair at my neck. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“I thought you might want your coffee and—who was that? What was that?”
“My client knows where I live. I’ve met him at the coffee shop. He’s pissed off because I pulled him from a packaging deal I was doing on a financial deal. I’m sorry that happened.” He takes the coffee. “Thank you for my coffee.” He kisses me. “Let’s go back inside.” He takes my hand and leads me back to our spot in the coffee shop.
Once we sit down, I turn to him. “Why do I feel like there’s more to what just happened than you told me?”
“Because there is, baby. Just nothing worth hearing. He’s a dick. I’ll make sure he doesn’t come around again.” He cups my face. “Let’s go upstairs and get naked.”
“Noah—”
He kisses me. “Let’s go upstairs and get naked.”
I blink back to the present, hating the part of that memory that’s a lie. He was never packaging a deal for anyone. Nevertheless, we’d gone upstairs and gotten naked, but I’d still felt funny about that man, and that man was the same man standing in the living with Aaron now.
It’s then that I become aware of the empty space in the room beyond the hallway. There’s no sound. I ease around the wall again, and oh God, the man sees me. He not only sees me, he starts charging toward me.
Chapter ten
Ashley
Everything seems to move in slow motion. The gun shakes in my hand as I tell myself to pull the trigger, but I never get the chance. All of a sudden, the man running toward me is on the ground, and Aaron has him face down, tying up his hands. “He’s not dead, right?” I ask urgently. “You’re tying him up because he’s not dead?” It seems logical, but I just need to know.
Aaron straightens and closes the space between me and him. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” I catch his wrists. “Is he alive?”
“He’s asleep, and that’s because I want answers. Otherwise, he’d be dead right now after charging at you like that.”
“Why would he charge at me?” I ask. “Why? He knew you were right there. He knew. He could have shot me.”
He takes the gun from me and shoves it in the back of his pants. “He wanted you to shoot him.”
