“I was so nervous meeting you in person at the mall. I thought for sure you’d recognize my voice the minute we started talking.”
“Well, you took me by surprise the way you barged in on me when I was half-naked.”
“I purposely went into your dressing room so we could meet.” A smile touches her lips. “But I didn’t know you would becompletelyundressed.”
“I’ve got to hand it to you.” A slight blush tints my face—but let’s just pretend the redness is from the cold weather. “You played the part of a flustered, shy woman pretty convincingly.”
“Who says I was playing the part?”
“Weren’t you?”
“When my cheek smashed into your bare chest and then when I saw the whole hot-body thing you had going on, I was flustered. I wasn’t expecting Park Bradshaw to be so…so…”
“Handsome?” My lips quirk into a cocky smile.
“Something like that.”
“What about the escalator and the kiss? Was that planned?”
“No.” She looks around as she talks to me. “I didn’t know Nicholas was going to be at the mall for the microchip exchange. I genuinely was embarrassed and didn’t want to look like the fool in front of him again. So you really did save me at that moment.”
I tear my eyes away from her even though I don’t want to and make the rounds again, probing the area for Todd.
“You fell right into my trap with my apartment.” There’s a playfulness behind her voice.
“What trap?” A man in a business suit with the exact build as Todd exits a taxi. I pause until I see his face and rule him out.
“I left my window cracked open on purpose.”
“Why?” I shift the binoculars back to Lacee.
“Just to make things easier on you. And I knew you were behind my closet door when I got out of the shower.”
My mouth spreads into a smile. “No, you didn’t.”
“Why do you think I kept hitting the door while dancing? I had to make you sweat just a little bit.”
“Very funny,” I mutter.
“No, funny was watching you panic when I took you to the assisted living center to meet Mary.”
“I still can’t believe the coincidence of all of that.”
“It was highly entertaining. So was watching you try to keep me calm while you were fighting people.”
“I don’t think you were acting. I think you really were scared.”
She looks in the direction where I’m standing, playfully narrowing her eyes. “And I don’t think you would’ve figured out all of Sienna’s clues if I hadn’t helped you.”
“I would’ve…eventually.”
“Yeah, right!” Lacee calls my bluff. She tilts her head as if she knows I must be watching her. “It was painful watching you stumble through the hints I left. It’s like playing the game of Clue with someone who doesn't know how to strategically use their cards and the process of elimination to find out the murderer, weapon, and room.”
“I've never heard of that strategy.”
“Clearly.”
“I’m sorry about blowing up your house in Exuma.”
