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I raised an eyebrow, highly amused by her expression. “Done?”
She shot me what was likely the dirtiest look in her arsenal before crossing her hands over her chest. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“We’ll see about that,” I responded easily, but internally, I was still trying to figure out how she was here, in front of me. And how Audrey and Kayla were one and the same.
Of course, she looked different. Her hair had been a shock of blue when I last saw her, and she’d had a row of earrings on her right earlobe and also a nose ring. Her hair had now been changed to a more sedate purple, and the earrings were gone. Shame, they had left quite the impression. Now, I usually didn’t like women who looked so punk rock, but there was something about the way her hair brought out the tan complexion of her skin and those dark, fathomless eyes that had drawn me that night like a moth to a flame.
Audrey/Kayla wasn’t a conventionally attractive woman. Her features were too discordant to be called beautiful, her eyes were too wide-set, her nose a bit too long, and her lips a touch too big. But somehow, her features worked together to give an unmistakeably intriguing aura, and it was difficult to pinpoint exactly why. Something like the whole was much better than the sum of its parts. Or whatever it was. I wasn’t a poetic man, but when I saw her across the bar that night with that inexplicable wariness surrounding her, combined with the daring gaze in her eyes, I was hooked. I had to go to her, no questions asked.
I’d had many one-night stands in my lifetime, but never like what I had with her. That night had featured in many a dream, and I had been admittedly tipsy for most of it, but I didn’t think I could blame it on the alcohol. The feeling of her soft skin under my hands, her hot lips under mine, that sinfully spicy scent, her long, lean frame with legs that looked like they went on forever, legs that had wrapped around me as I thrust torturously slowly and then more desperately at the end…
She had disappeared in the morning, and that should have been the end of it.
But here she was, with me again, looking not at all pleased to see me.
“So,” I said to break the silence that had developed. “This is an interesting turn of events, isn’t it?”
She glared at me. “You mean, you kidnapping me? Yeah, I would say that. I certainly didn’t expect to be kidnapped today.”
“I’m not kidnapping you,” I said.
“Oh yeah? So what do you call it when you grab someone against their will and force them into a car?”
I shrugged. “Convenient. You weren’t likely to listen to me or stop fighting me if we had remained there.”
“Because I didn’t want to be stalked and taken.”
“Again, I wasn’t stalking you.”
“You followed me around all day, watching me. I’m pretty sure that’s stalker behavior.”
“I wouldn't say ‘all day’ per se, but you might have a point there.” More than angry at the insult, I was pretty impressed that she had managed to note all that down today. As a PI, I tended to follow my subjects closely before approaching them, and most of the time, they had no idea they were being followed until I revealed myself—if I did. My training made me pretty good at shielding myself, so the fact that she had already noticed my presence from that early on was pretty unusual.
But then again, the woman had been unusual from the beginning. It was probably why she had stuck in my head like glue.
“So, what does he want this time?” she said suddenly, snapping me back into the conversation.
“What does who want? Vinny?”
She scrunched up her face in confusion. “Who’s Vinny?”
“Vinny is—” I trailed off as her earlier statements started to come back to me.“Wait, who do you think sent me?”
She shook her head and then jabbed her chin at me. “You first. Who is Vinny?”
“Are you in some kind of trouble?” I asked. While Vinny had been vague, there was nothing to suggest that Kayla would be on the run. He had mentioned someone in the past who might have had it out for her, but the person was now dead. Plus, she spoke as if she’d already had experience being attacked.
Of course. She wouldn’t be hiding away if everything was all hunky-dory.
I wanted to ask questions, but she didn’t look like she was about to give up any information without a fight, so I volunteered my information.
“Vinny is one of my best buddies. His wife, Faith, hired me to find a friend of hers, Kayla. Which I’m guessing is you.”
Her expression shifted, confusion mixing with disbelief, a deep sorrow, and a hint of hesitant hope before suspicion reared its ugly head.
“Wait, Faith.” Her voice sounded slightly shaky. “Faith sent you to get me?”
“Yeah,” I responded.
