Page 137 of Run and Hide

Jules pressed her mouth against his ear, cupping her hands around it. “Don’t rain on my first official day as a spy.”

He snorted. “You know, people don’t usually say that.”

“Scarlett sent me flowers with a card that said that.”

“The hell she did.”

Jules laughed as their group coalesced again, with Yasmin leading the way and Wes bringing up the rear. “Well, if she could have, she would have. Tell me what’s going on with Wes.”

“I can still hear you,” he snapped.

Jules glanced over her shoulder. “Then tell me what’s going on.”

“No.”

“God, you’re no fun.”

“No fun? You should talk to Viv about no fun,” Wes muttered.

Now she was getting somewhere. “Maybe I will. What will she say?”

“Wes has an assignment he doesn’t want,” Rhys volunteered.

“The client ruined my life. And no matter what I say, Viv’s dead set that I’m going to help the lady. No. Fucking. Thank. You.”

Jules raised her eyebrows. “Well, that sucks.”

“The client is in trouble, and no one knows the situation better than Wes. Not that it necessarily means Wes is the best guy for the situation,” Rhys muttered, half defending Vivian, half acting like he needed to stand for the bro code.

Her lips rounded with the delicious tidbit of gossip. These guys never gave her anything good, and this had the potential to be great. “Tell me more.”

“Ignore it,” Rhys said.

“Absolutely not.”

“I just… She won’t… I don’t want anything to do with any of it.” Wes sawed his jaw back and forth. “Let’s get you to your seats. I can’t deal with this right now.”

Rhys leaned in close. “Wes lost a job because of our new client.”

“Lost a job? That’s being awfully generous.” Wes nodded for them to continue. “You look awfully pretty, by the way. You look good, too, Jules.”

“Fuck you very much,” Rhys replied as he escorted Jules to their seats.

“You do look awfully pretty,” she said.

The rest of the day flowed. The premiere attendees gave Jules and her costars a standing ovation. Press junkets ran nonstop. She had three wardrobe changes in the span of eight hours, and when they finally reached the hotel suite, Jules walked in the door and kicked off her shoes.

“Last time I saw you do that, you’d had a pretty shitty day,” Rhys said, shrugging out of his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt.

“Are you going to order me a hundred types of ice cream?”

“Do you need a hundred types of ice cream?”

“No, but we need to celebrate.” She twirled. The dress flared around her. “As far as I’m concerned, I started a new job today and nailed it.”

His shoulders shook with laughter, and pulling her close, he ran his hands up and down her biceps. “I’m excited for you to use your powers for good.” He spun her around and slid the zipper down her back, and the dress landed in a pile on the floor. “This day will end so much better than the last time you kicked off your shoes and demanded ice cream.”

“We should celebrate that day. The day I almost screwed up everything but didn’t.”

“Nah. We’ll just celebrate our big day.”

Their wedding wouldn’t have a carpet of flower petals. There wouldn’t be six hundred and seven people that they kinda, sorta knew. Just them, their family—blood and found—and friends. Clyde would wear a bow tie.

Vivian had even offered to officiate—though that had been more of a joke. Try as Vivian might, she hadn’t convinced Jules that she minded her carefully curated team of unattached protectors pairing up.

If she weren’t careful, she might end up with an entire team of sexy, over-the-top men who worshipped their women. Jules and Grace were certain of it. Maybe even certain enough thatone day, even Vivian Maddox would fall. But not today. Not tomorrow.

For now, Rhys and Jules’s attention was solely focused on each other. Who would have thought that she would relocate her entire life to Granite Creek?

She couldn’t wait for life’s next adventure.