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Me? I prefer a balance of both, but who’s asking.
I meet her gaze with a warm smile.
“You go right ahead. Take all that sexiness for yourself. Who am I to stop a romance in the making?” I throw her a wink, and she turns to leave, but stops.
“Hey.”
Warm blue eyes consider me.
“Wait till you see what I have planned for your birthday. You’re gonna love it.”
I groan. “Please tell me it’s not another private striptease like last year.”
Alice gives a wicked laugh that says it’s going to be so much more. With another wink, she waves and I’m alone again with my thoughts and now the fear of what she’s going to do next to make sure I don’t think aboutthemon my birthday.
“Five minutes. That’s all I need.”
Tucked away from the street, the blast of horns and traffic is nothing more than a faint muffle to my ears. I drop my head back, close my eyes and enjoy no stares on me for the first time in hours. This week’s charity galas are the first events sincethatnight and I’m still not sure I’m ready for all the attention.
My mind trips back to the past. At an event like this, I’d usually have my three bodyguards around me at all times. Regrets wells inside me, and the dull pain in my chest returns. Not having them near hurts.
“They’re gone, Honor.”
Once in a while, I have to remind myself they are the ones who left. Not me. They turned in their resignations the next morning and left without a word.
Not me.
That’s on them. Last I heard they were down in D.C. But I can’t bring myself to dig any deeper. What if they’ve found someone else?
My moment of solitude is shattered when heavy metal crashes against the side of the building. Startled, I jerk my head up and nearly jump out of my heels.
What the heck?
A black van with some sort of gold emblem on the side screeches to a loud halt outside the door several feet down from me. At this angle, I can’t make out what it says. Seconds later a girl in a red satin evening gown is shoved out the door. My eyes immediately shoot to the white hood covering a thick head of black curls by two massive creeps seconds before she disappears into the van with a hard shove.
I don’t have to see the woman, or hair, to know who it is under the hood. Everyone already does. She’s the governor’s daughter. Only one woman wore that color tonight, and she stood out like a beautiful siren in a crowd of black bowties and white dresses.
I turn and try the door behind me, keeping my eyes on the van and the thugs flanking the girl.
I still and squint into the night.
No, not thugs. I take another hard look to make sure I’m seeing what I’m seeing. Cops? What the heck? The two men who shoved the girl in the van are decked out top to bottom in New York’s finest blues.
That’s not right.
“Hey, what the hell are you doing?” one of the dudes yells my way, making my heart lurch.
“Oh shit!” Help. I need to get help.
I reach for the door handle and give it a hard pull but nothing happens.
No. No.Noooo.
It’s locked? What the hell? Who rigs these things? I ball my hand into a tight fist and bang but nada. I try to undo the fastening holding my purse around my wrist but my fingers are shaking.
High beams hit me in a burst of white light. With my shoulders straight and chin held high, I turn to look directly into the eyes of the kidnappers stalking toward me.
Something dark flashes over their harsh expressions. I’m so screwed. I go stiff, my knees locking with fear as my heart chokes the air from my lungs.
