Page 30 of Fully Loaded

“Is she still there?”

“Let me check.” Brock dropped his mouth to her neck and kissed the column of her throat. Her hands clamped around his uninjured arm as the taste of vanilla and peppermint hit his tongue. He angled his head back and looked over her shoulder. The woman’s blonde head and black coat bobbed through the crowd. She had her phone pressed to her ear.

He lifted his head. “She just left.”

Dani’s cheeks were a vibrant red, which was accentuated by her dark hair. Her eyes had deepened to an indigo blue, a shade he’d never seen in her irises. Damn, he loved that he had that effect on her.

“We should wait,” he said.

She cleared her throat, moved her hands to his chest, and inched him away from hers. “No. We need to get out of here. The cops will be crawling all over the station in minutes.” She lifted her bag and accepted his elbow when he offered it.

“I suppose you’re right. We’ll need to hurry so we don’t miss our train. Strange the cops aren’t here already.”

“Maybe she wanted to be sure first.”

“Yeah, but I don’t like this. I also find it strange a woman is tailing us now.”

Dani furrowed her brow and braced her hand on her hip. “What are you saying, a woman can’t be a cop?”

He looked down at her. “Of course not. But maybe she’s not with the police. Maybe she was working with Sven’s killer. Up to this point, it’s been men after us. Doesn’t it strike you as weird that suddenly a woman pops up?” He scanned the crowd one more time then led her away from the vending machines and in the direction of their terminal. Boarding would start in ten minutes, so at least they wouldn’t need to hang around much longer.

“Yeah, I guess so. She could have been a concerned citizen and had nothing to do with either party.” A beat passed and Dani nodded. “Actually, I like that theory much better.”

He nudged her with his elbow. “Just because you like it better doesn’t make it true.”

She made a face and leaned forward as the train chugged to a stop. Once it cleared, they got in line to board. Four hours and two stops later, they disembarked in Paris. Dani had slept on his shoulder for the last ride, and now it was after 10:00 p.m. They got into a cab and rode to the hotel he’d arranged. At the last stop he’d called several hotels in Paris and with great difficulty had found one that would honor their stay with cash as a security deposit rather than a credit card. He’d made up a story about his card being compromised while on their trip. He still had to use his ID, but the odds of them tracing that without the use of a credit card were slim.

Even though he’d yet to hear his name on the news, it was possible the library had footage of his face and would make a connection. He’d been wearing a hat, so he hoped to god they hadn’t identified him, but he sure as hell wasn’t taking any chances.

Dani pretended to talk on the phone away from the front desk while he checked them in. He caught her arm and led her to the elevators and she dutifully kept her head down. She pocketed the phone when the elevator door closed.

“You okay?”

She nodded. “I should be exhausted, but I’m wired. And starving.”

He chuckled and took her bag from her shoulder then handed her their room key. “It was all that sleeping you did on the train. Must be nice. I was too busy investigating.”

“Ha. You investigated one photo. I was thinking with my eyes closed.” The elevator dinged and she pushed off the wall and into the hallway. He fell into step behind her and his eyes fell to her ass, wrapped nicely in denim, as she sashayed down the hall. Goddamn, she had the most perfect butt.

She stopped at their room, inserted the key, and bumped open the door with her hip. He set their bags by the door and followed her into the suite. A king-sized bed covered in a lush gold-trimmed duvet took up the center of the room, and a tufted cream-colored chaise sat near the window. He removed his weapon from his pants and set it on the dresser that held the TV. A pocket door opened to a sitting room beyond the bedroom. He dropped on the mattress and lay back on the bed. His body ached for a shower, sleep, and food.

“Wow, this is gorgeous.” Dani drifted to the window and parted the curtains. “And this is even better. Ah, I can’t believe we’re in Paris.” She laughed darkly. “I never imagined I’d be here fleeing for my life.”

“What did you imagine?” He tucked his hands beneath his head and shifted his gaze to her. She stood at the window, her dark locks trailing over her shoulder, her profile delicate and full of . . . regret? Something was softening the plains of her face.

“I don’t know. Paris is so . . . romantic. I always imagined coming here on my honeymoon.” Her voice grew distant and she exhaled.

His chest cramped. Had she envisioned their honeymoon? Guilt took hold of his heart and once again, he thought back to that day, that stupid, stupid day, where he’d let her go. He sat up and rolled his tongue along the backs of his teeth, searching for something to say.

“I’m going to order room service. What do you want?” She turned to the menu at the desk. The moment had passed, but he still ached to broach the subject. One day they had to talk about it—about the past. Maybe today. “Mmm, this sounds good,” she said. “You like chicken cordon bleu?”

“Sure. I’ll have what you’re having.”

She laughed. “Oh, I’m having everything.”

“Sounds good. I’ll be in the shower.” He needed space before he did something stupid—the only thing more dangerous than kissing her was talking about their past. He made his way to the marble-covered bathroom and stared at the glassed-in shower with jets jutting out from the wall. An image of Dani wet and naked under the spray flashed through his mind. Great. As if he weren’t bombarded with enough lewd fantasies about her.

Tension pushed at her temples and Dani massaged the tender areas. Food was on the way, and she’d ordered a ton of it, as promised. Now that she was in the hotel with copious amounts of food and sleep at her fingertips, the pressure on her chest should have dissolved. But it hadn’t. And it had nothing to do with the woman on the train and everything to do with the ripped gentle giant in the shower. The sporadic splashes of water in the basin amped up her blood pressure.