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Without warning, Kit shot the car into a space at the curb and shoved the gear into Park. Turning to her, he grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a hard kiss.
Crazy. He was definitely crazy, she thought. He drove like a lunatic and kissed like a god. Her heart was racing so fast that one beat blurred into the next. Soon the ache would begin to build. She wanted that. She wanted Kit.
The men chasing them weren’t far behind. But all rational thought was being pushed aside by what her body wanted. Needed.
Instead of shoving him away, she grabbed fistfuls of his T-shirt and held on. It was Kit who finally drew back. She had to concentrate on unclenching her hands and letting him go.
“A sense of humor and nerves of steel. I’m beginning to think you’re the girl of my dreams. Tell me you like baseball.”
She stared at him as she tried to marshal her thoughts together. “Baseball?”
“If you’re a Giants fan, I’ll ask you to marry me.”
She stared at him. “I don’t know if I like baseball.”
“Well, we’ll just have to find out. It’s a real sticking point with me. I couldn’t marry a woman who didn’t like the Giants.”
And with that, he kissed her again, quick and hard, and got out of the car.
9
DREW’S HEAD WAS SPINNING and her knees were still weak when he opened the passenger door and helped her out. Ari bounded to the pavement behind her. She had enough wits about her to note that Kit was handing the car keys to a young man she guessed to be no more than seventeen or eighteen with dark hair pulled back into a short ponytail.
“Park the car in the usual place, Cato,” Kit was saying.
Park the car? Drew reached into the backseat to retrieve the wedding dress and the tote. She didn’t intend to let either out of her sight.
“If a van pulls up,” Kit continued, “tell them that valet parking is full. Take a good look at them, and if they show up at the door, send Georgy in to let me know.”
“Sure thing, Mister Kit.” The young man turned to a boy of about ten or eleven. “You got that, Georgy?”
The kid flashed him a grin. “Sure thing.”
Drew spotted the van inching its way down the street toward them, and the panic that had been pushed aside by the kiss firmly reasserted itself.
Then Kit’s hand was on the small of her back again, urging her forward through a revolving door. The Poseidon was scrolled in black letters on the glass about a foot from her nose. They stepped into a large airy entrance space that served as a bridge between a busy bar and restaurant on the lower level and what appeared to be an upscale dining room on the upper level. Both areas had redbrick walls, but that was where the resemblance between them ended.
She had a better view of the dining room, where candles flickered on tabletops of honey-colored wood and paintings of seascapes adorned the walls. On the lower level, fishnets swung from the brick and she could hear the sounds of laughter and music. The wall beyond the hostess’ desk was glass and offered a view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
When she could find her tongue, she said, “This is a restaurant.”
“My family’s.” She didn’t miss the pride in Kit’s voice as he guided her toward the hostess’ desk.
She felt as if she’d missed a step somewhere, so she dug in her heels. “Why are we here? We don’t have time. That van—”
“Relax. We didn’t come to eat. I told you I had an alternate strategy. Plan C. Instead of trying to outrun them, I’m going to try a little sleight of hand.”
“You’d better watch him. He’s good at that.” The young woman standing behind the hostess’ desk had a pixie face surrounded by short dark curls and the same incredible blue eyes as Kit. “You’re supposed to be at the cabin fishing with Nik and Theo.”
“Change of plans. Drew, this is my sister, Philly. Drew’s a client.”
“Uh-huh.” Philly didn’t sound convinced, and the look she gave Drew was both friendly and assessing.
“You’re going to drool over her shoes,” Kit warned.
Lifting her chin, Philly sent him a quelling look. “I don’t drool.” But she wiggled around the desk to get a better look. “Wow! I’m definitely envious.”
“Business looks good,” Kit said.
Philly rolled her eyes. “We have it on good authority that a restaurant critic will be visiting Helena’s restaurant tonight. Things are a bit tense in the kitchen.”
“Helena’s gotten nothing but rave reviews.”
“She wants everything to be perfect.” Philly stretched out a hand to take the dress bag from Drew. “Let me hang that up for you.”
Drew tightened her grip on the bag. “Thanks, but I want to keep it with me.”
Ari seized that moment to insert himself between Philly and Drew, and Philly dropped down to one knee to allow the dog to lick her face. “No need to be jealous, boy. I still—” She broke off suddenly and glanced up at Kit. “You’ve had some excitement. Ari’s worried—” She frowned. “Something about driving too fast?”
Eyes wide, Drew shifted her gaze to Kit, but he kept his attention on his sister. “I told you Drew was a client. Someone’s after her, and I need your help.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” Still keeping a hand on Ari, Philly rose to her feet.
“Drew needs your clothes.”
Philly’s eyebrows shot up. “You want me to hostess in my underwear?”
Kit grinned. “I’m sure it would double Dad’s business.”
“And Helena would have a fit.”
“Relax. I’m not asking you to strip. I figured Drew could borrow the clothes you came to work in. The two of you are about the same size.”
Philly gave Drew an assessing glance. “We are. But I don’t have anything fancy enough to go with those shoes—just jeans, a T-shirt and sneakers. They’re in the storeroom off the kitchen.”
“Thanks, sweetie.” Kit leaned down to kiss her cheek. “And I need to leave Ari with you.”
“No problem. I don’t think he wants to go with you right now. He has a very placid nature, and you’ve frightened him.”
“I frightened myself,” Kit said.
When Drew found herself being dragged toward the stairs leading down to the bar, she dug in her heels, then stepped out of them and walked back to hand them to Philly. “Turnabout’s fair play. Why don’t you try these out? We’re probably the same shoe size, too.”
“Thanks!”
Drew had the satisfaction of seeing Philly’s whole face brighten before Kit once more pulled her away.
“I may drool after all,” she called after them.
Kit closed his hand firmly around Drew’s upper arm and pulled her down the stairs. “You’re a sweet person, Drew. You’ve made her day.”
“How did your sister know about the fast car ride?”
“It’s complicated. The short version is that Philly can talk to animals. As I mentioned, my aunt Cass—you’ll meet her when I get you to the house—believes that my brothers, Philly, and I have all inherited some psychic ability from our mother. She died shortly after Philly was born. And Philly seems to have gotten the lion’s share.”
“Then you really do have psychic abilities?”
“Just the tingling sensation at the back of my neck when something important is going to happen.”
“Like when you saw the van?”
“Yeah.” He shot her look as they reached the bottom of the stairs. “Earlier, I had a kind of premonition that you were coming, too.”
Drew didn’t have to reply to that because for a short time they were too occupied with making their way through the crowd. While Kit ran interference, Drew was bombarded by a myriad of impressions. There were tables and booths, all of which were filled. Glass doors on one of the walls opened onto a brick, paved patio where more tables were filled with people.
The clientele appeared to be a mix of locals and tourists. She figured the tourists were the ones with the guidebooks and the cameras. And everyone seemed to be having a good time. A small band played at the edge of a dance floor where a group of people moved in a semicircle. Their laughter could be heard above the music, and she felt a pang of envy at the pure fun they were having.
Then she mentally shook herself. She wasn’t feeling sorry for herself, was she? She sincerely hoped that she wasn’t that kind of person. She was going to remember who she was and get her life back on track. She hoped.
Suddenly they were at the bar, and her gaze riveted itself on the tall, broad-shouldered man who stood behind it. His hair was white, his face was lined, but he had the same blue eyes as Kit and Philly. When he threw back his head and roared at something one of his customers had said, Drew realized that he also had Kit’s laugh.
Kit had reminded her of the images artists had captured of Greek gods; this man reminded her of Zeus himself.
The moment he caught a glimpse of Kit, he stepped out from behind the bar and wrapped him in a hard embrace. Then his gaze met hers and he winked. Something inside of her eased at the warmth of that gesture.
“Dad, this is Drew, my latest client. Drew, this is my father, Spiro Angelis.”
