Page 30 of Just My Luck

He rapped on the door and Zara quickly opened it. She appeared to be packing for a trip, with an open suitcase overflowing with clothes on the living room floor.

“Are you going somewhere?”

“I might. I don’t know. I’m not sure what to do.” Her hair was in a messy ponytail and her honey eyes were dark with worry. “Someone just threatened me and they know where I live.”

“What?” Nightmare scenarios ran through his mind. Tanaka? One of his goons? Someone from his own team, whoever had been leaking to Tanaka?

“Who? Tell me exactly what happened,” he demanded.

Startled, she straightened up and put her hands on her hips. She wore loose drawstring sweatpants that clung to her slim hips. As usual, she was barefoot.“What are you, the FBI?”

“What? No, of course not.”

“Because that’s one of my theories, you know.”

“Theories?”

“Yeah, that you’re an FBI agent working undercover at the resort to bust the gardeners who sell weed to guests.”

“The gardeners sell weed?” His eyebrows lifted, since this was news to him. “They never looped me in on that.”

“Maybe because they knew you weren’t actually a gardener. They probably didn’t trust you.”

He hated seeing so much suspicion in her eyes. “I was just a gardener at the Royal Leilani. Not FBI, not undercover.”

“Are you also working at the Seaside Paradise?”

He couldn’t hide a start. “No. You think I could do two jobs like that? You think I’m Superman?”

“Lots of people work two jobs, or more.” Her forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Is that news to you?”

“No, of course not. I’m just saying that I’m not that capable. I’m new to the profession, which you have already figured out. But what does any of this have to do with whoever threatened you? Tell me what happened.”

Finally, she filled him in. “Someone came looking for you at the Royal Leilani. Benito told me about them. A couple in a Mercedes. I went to look for you at the Seaside Paradise, because Benito said he saw you there a few days ago. They didn’t know you, but when I was leaving I spotted a couple in a Mercedes. It didn’t seem like a coincidence, so I followed them.”

Goddamn it. She’d flung herself into danger…and for what? To find out more about him? If anything happened to her, he’d blame himself and all his secrets.

“Why would you do that?” His voice came out harsher than he intended. “You drive an orange Beetle, for God’s sake. What made you think they might not notice?”

“I knew they’d probably notice, but I pretended to be an airhead talking on my earbuds so they wouldn’t think twice about me. I couldn’t believe it when they turned the tables on me and blocked my way. I can’t believe you’re yelling at me about this.”

“I’m not yelling at you,” he yelled. He wrestled his emotions back under control, and lowered his voice. “I’m upset that you put yourself at risk.”

“How was I supposed to know it was a risk?”

That question made no sense to him. “Wouldn’t any normal person know that chasing after strangers in an unfamiliar car might be risky?”

Clearly stung, she glared at him. “Maybe I’m not normal. I never said I was. Are you, Jim Brennan the not-quite-a-gardener?”

As normal as any other billionaire pretending to work as a gardener while he searched for a missing piece of his intellectual property. That thought, which he couldn’t possibly express out loud, made his lips quirk.

“You think that’s funny?” She cocked her head, but it wasn’t in her nature to hold onto a glare—he knew that much about her. It melted away into a laugh. “I guess it is funny,” she said through her giggles. “I just have no idea why.”

That made him laugh, and the two of them surrendered to their chuckles. The tension between them eased. She squatted down next to her suitcase to continue her packing.

Looking around, he realized there was no sign of the kids. “Where are Mia and Eddie?”

“I took them to a friend’s house. I got freaked out when the people in the Mercedes knew my name and where I live. Whatever’s going on, the kids don’t need to be in the middle of it.”