Page 8 of Unplanned Target

“You’re making an awful lot of assumptions about me.” Owen drives right by the coffee shop without even tapping the brakes.

I twist in my seat. “Well I was fucking wrong about you being a good driver, because you just passed the coffee shop.”

“Do you want to go in there without making sure there’s no one out here waiting to ambush us?” Owen’s amber eyes move steadily from the rearview, to the side mirrors, to the windshield. “Because we’ll be no good to Allie if we get ourselves in a bind.”

“What sort of bind are you talking about?” I start looking around too, wanting to be just as informed about what’s around us as Owen is. “Because if someone has her, they can absolutely take me too.” I peer out my window at a man walking down the street. “They’d for sure regret it, but it would speed this whole process up.”

“No one is taking you.” Owen’s tone is sharper than I’ve heard it before.

Sharp enough my head snaps his way.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Owen turns, taking us up a side street. “You know damn well your brother will try to kill me if something happens to you.”

“It doesn’t sound like he’s in the business of killing anyone right now.” I go back to scanning our surroundings. “And you said you were very good at killing people, so why are you worried?”

“I didn’t say I was worried. I just figured you wouldn’t want me to prove how good I am at my job on your brother.” Owen slows as a car in front of us decides to parallel park. “And if I kill him, Becca’s going to kill me.”

I turn back to Owen. “Who’s Becca?”

He stares straight ahead, the hand he has on the wheel gripped tight. “That’s something you should ask your brother.”

I scoff. “He doesn’t tell me shit about his life.” I assumed it was because there wasn’t shit to tell. I know Tony’s a good man, but he doesn’t seem like one to other people. As far as I know his dating roster is nonexistent.

So’s mine, probably for the same reason my brother’s is. I’m prickly, frigid, and I have a bad attitude. At least according to my ex-husband.

My eyes snag on something. “Hey.” I reach across the car without looking, grabbing at Owen. I manage to get a handful of arm and nearly lose my train of thought over how big and solid it is.

Thankfully, I’m not the kind of woman to lose her mind over a hot man, so I manage to keep my eyes on the dark sedan sitting at the back of the coffee shop.

Giving Owen’s arm a squeeze to get his attention, I point at the vehicle. “That looks weird.”

Owen keeps driving at the same speed as we pass, his eyes taking in the car. “What’s weird about it?”

“I don’t know.” I didn’t realize he was going to want specifics. “It’s just got a bad vibe.”

“A bad vibe?”

“You know what? Never fucking mind. I’ll just sit here and keep my mouth shut.”

I cross both arms over my chest. I should have known better than to try to help him. Even after years of dealing with shit like this, I still haven’t learned. Men can’t handle a woman who’s capable of holding her own. It drives them fucking nuts when⁠—

“Hey.” Owen’s hand lands on my thigh, gripping tight. “I was being serious. Explain what sort of a bad vibe to me. Intuition is a big part of shit like this.”

My eyes drop to where his palm rests on my body. “Oh.”

Something warm blooms in my stomach, and I’m not sure what’s causing it. But I’m a little afraid it might be Owen’s hand being so close to my⁠—

“I think your vibe radar is on point.” Owen’s grip tightens on my thigh, his eyes locking onto the rearview mirror. “I want you to listen to me very carefully, okay?”

“What?” I try to twist in my seat so I can look out the back window. “Why?”

Owen’s hand immediately moves from my leg to my chest, fingers spread wide as it pins me back against my seat. “I know you and I aren’t well acquainted, but I need you to trust me right now.”

I swallow hard at the tension in his voice. Owen’s been so calm up until this moment and seeing him concerned has me concerned.

But I don’t love the idea of trusting people. Especially men. I’ve been burned—badly—by more than a few. At a certain point, allowing myself to believe they’re anything more than liars who will do whatever they need to get whatever they want… it just becomes stupid.

And I stopped being stupid a long time ago.