“Are you saying one of us should go to Utah?”
“One of us already did.”
“We dropped a friend of Jerry’s in Salt Lake City on the way,” Brax said, eliciting a groan from Justin.“The two of them offered to help.”
“This gets worse and worse.”
“Chill out,” Alexa said, finally putting her feet on the floor while keeping a wary eye on Shiro.He wouldn’t hurt her; I was certain of that.“If anyone can get answers, then Barbie can.”
“Barbie?”
“Don’t worry; she’s more like GI Jane.”
“Yeah?That’s what I’m afraid of.”
CHAPTER20
JESSALYN
The knock on the door came late, but I was still awake.How could I sleep?Once again, my life had descended into an unholy mess, although this time it was a different type of upheaval.I was scared for Amie, her fate still a mystery, and I was scared for Justin, because the police seemed determined to blame him for something that wasn’t his fault.
When I opened the door, I found him standing there with a bottle of wine and two long-stemmed glasses in one hand and a steaming mug in the other.
“You couldn’t sleep either?”I asked.
He shook his head.“I figured you might like a drink.I sure need one.But I also don’t want you to think I’mthatguy, the one who tries to get a woman drunk and takes advantage, so…” He held out the mug.“Hot chocolate.”
That was perhaps the sweetest thing a man had ever done for me, although I couldn’t say I’d mind if Justin Norquist wanted to take advantage.And wasn’t that the revelation?Even though I’d mentally checked out of my marriage years ago, I’d only been free of Ridge for a week.
Could I really move on so quickly?
Saylor would say, “Hell no,” but my pulse fluttered frantically.Do it, do it, do it.
Not that Justin had given the slightest hint of being ready to move on himself.I had to remember that I wasn’t the only person who’d experienced a difficult breakup recently, so I forced a smile and kept a respectable distance between us.There was a time and a place to consider dating again, and this wasn’t it.First, I’d need to strengthen the barricade around my vulnerabilities, and second, we needed to find out what had happened to Amie Carlson.Those were the priorities right now.
I accepted the mug.“That’s real kind of you.”
“And I also wanted to apologise,” Justin said.“This isn’t what you signed up for.”
“This isn’t what you signed up for either,” I pointed out.“Not the unexpected houseguests, not your assistant going missing, not the criminal investigation.Should I make breakfast for everyone in the morning?”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t mind.”
And in a weird way, it was nice that Justin’s friends had swept into town with the firm belief that he was innocent.They were good people.Okay, so Alexa was a little abrasive, but if I was in trouble—more trouble—she was the person I’d want fighting in my corner.Although the biggest surprise was Violet Miller.Not just the fact that she was here at all, but also that she seemed so sweet and down to earth.She’d even ignored my protests and helped to load the dishwasher after dinner.
After we ate, Brax had left for his Washington, DC, townhouse along with Alexa, who’d begun complaining that Justin’s Wi-Fi wasn’t fast enough and how could anyone be expected to live in these conditions?Chase had gone with her, a faithful shadow who carried her bags and bore her complaints without a murmur.I figured she must pay him a lot of money.
“I don’t expect you to take on extra work,” Justin said.“That wasn’t part of our arrangement.”
“I enjoy cooking, and it’s only Violet, Dawson, and Ari here now.”
“I’ll be honest—I don’t like you being stuck in the middle of this.You’ve been through enough already.”He hesitated for a long moment before adding, “But I do likeyou.”
My heart skipped.“Uh… When you say ‘like’…”
“I’d never pull any sleazy moves, I swear, but if we were both in a better place, I might try my luck and ask if you wanted to have dinner with me someday.”He sighed.“Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything, but… Keeping quiet would have felt too much like a lie.”
