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Becca spooned up the last bit of hollandaise sauce from her eggs Benedict and tried both numbers again, for the tenth time. Carrie, then Josh. Both numbers, still turned off. Very unlike them. All three of the Cattrell siblings had strong feelings about the importance of being connected. The niggling pinch of fear in her belly eroded even her sweet glow of euphoria from that amazing night with Nick.
And guilt, too. That she hadn’t tried harder the day before.
“What’s wrong, babe?”
Nick had paused in shoveling the last scraps of what was left of his enormous ham, cheese and vegetable omelette. He was frowning.
“My brother and sister,” she said. “I can’t reach them.”
He swallowed a big bite of toast, and glanced at his watch. “It’s 10:40 on a Sunday morning,” he offered. “I’d have my phone turned off too, if I were them. Try them when we’re back in town.”
She nodded and sipped coffee, trying to dismiss this full blown case of the heebie-jeebies. It was probably just a function of the extreme stress she was under. Not some psychic premonition of disaster.
Of course not. Nothing so woo-woo. She wasn’t that kind of girl.
She’d already tried Carrie’s dorm, but no one had seen her in days. Same with Josh. None of the guys at his bachelor pad, known affectionately as the HellHole, remembered seeing him that weekend. Damn, she was going to be glad when she spoke to them, and could feel embarrassed about these creepy crawlies. In fact, she could hardly wait for the crushing embarrassment to descend. Bring it on. Anytime.
“What’s on your agenda for today?” she asked him.
“I’ve got Alex Aaro to cover for me for another few hours,” Nick said. “I’m going to go see Diana Evans.” He tapped his finger on a manila file folder that lay next to his plate. “Davy found her for me. Mathes, too, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to interview him.”
She blinked at him. “Wow. Can I…maybe not. She’d probably recognize me. I passed her in the hotel and the parking lot both.”
“Yeah. That’s exactly why you should hang out in the hotel. Better yet, I’ll leave you at the SafeGuard headquarters. That’s the best place.”
She sighed and shook her head. She and Nick had already had this argument this morning, more than once. Heartfelt declarations of love and marriage proposals were great and romantic, but they did not soften the guy up, or make him any more manageable. On the contrary, he seemed more protective and prickly about her safety than ever.
But since she had no idea how long this stressful state of alarm was going to continue, she was reluctant to give in to his bossing and set a dangerous precedent. She had no intention of living her life in an airless box, Zhoglo or no Zhoglo. She would grit her teeth, lift her chin, stick her tits out and go about her business like normal.
At least until she had clear and obvious reason to hide.
“I have my own errands to run,” she told him. “I need to take back my rental car, I need to get money from my account, I need some fresh clothes from my apartment—”
“So I’ll take you to do all that stuff when I get back,” he said. “And then we can go out and shop for the ring.”
His eagerness gave her a warm, fuzzy glow. She reached up and touched his cheek, smoothing his spiky brush of hair. “We can wait on the ring,” she told him. “There’s no rush. If you’re low on money—”
“I want to see it on you,” he said. “I can’t wait.”
They grinned at each other. A couple of giddy fools in love.
The groom, Sean McCloud, sauntered by, looking tousled, sleepy and very pleased with himself. He winked at Becca, and slapped Nick on the back. “Marriage is excellent,” he informed them. “You’re next, man.”
“Damn straight,” Nick said. “Get ready.”
Sean’s eyes widened. So did Nick’s grin. “Whoa,” Sean breathed. “Uh, you mean, like, you two—you’ve already, uh—”
“Yeah. Done deal,” Nick said. “Go ahead. Congratulate me.”
Sean blinked and ran his hands through his blond hair, making it stick straight up into the air. “Wait, wait. Didn’t you just pull this chick out of a swimming pool, what, just a couple of days ago?”
“Like Venus rising from the foam,” Seth said with a snicker, as he passed by, bearing a tray heaped with food. “Dripping wet, and a gun to her head. I’m telling you, gets ’em every time.”
“Hot damn!” Sean’s grin was incandescent. “That’s great news!” He leaned over Becca and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “And she’s so cute, too. She adds to the scenery, big-time. I gotta tell Liv.”
He bounded off to the table where his bride was still eating breakfast, and within seconds, smiles and thumbs-up and sentimental glances were flashing their way from every side.
Becca clutched her coffee, and tried to breathe. Whew. She hadn’t been quite ready for a big announcement. It was so new, and she’d have preferred to treasure the secret for a while, but it wasn’t as if she’d communicated that preference to Nick. She hadn’t had time.
