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Brett peered at her over the hood, and her heart somersaulted, the emotion swirling in those laser-sharp green eyes potent enough to offer hope he felt as strongly about her as she did him. “Things have a way of changing.”
“Yes, they do,” she murmured, starting the car and savoring the deep rumble of his gruff voice.
She was glad Celia had left earlier so she could bask in the glow of these “new to her” mushy feelings by herself until they didn’t seem so foreign. Everything about Brett was new to her. He was so unlike other men who had come and gone in her life without leaving an iota of soul-stirring impact, her emotional and physical responses to him so intoxicatingly different she couldn’t imagine anyone else filling the void if this relationship didn’t work out. Even though he’d wanted nothing to do with her from the moment she had approached him at Casey’s, he never hesitated to step in and put her safety first the moment the threats started, to put all of her needs before his.
Allie would be a fool to give him up without first fighting to keep him.
They were halfway to the city building when Allie realized she’d left her phone and ID badge on her dresser. Swearing at the added delay, she signaled at the next corner then swiveled to look out the side window, making sure Brett was still with her and noticed her detouring move. She cursed again, seeing he’d ended up three cars behind her before she made the turn onto the one-way street that didn’t allow for her to wheel around. “Well, hell, I’ll just have to be fast.” He still should have seen her make the turn and was confident he would catch up. She continued back to the apartment, keeping her fingers crossed she didn’t get ticketed for pushing the speed limit in her haste.
Brett still wasn’t behind her when she reached the complex and noticed Ricky hadn’t left yet. She parked, hesitating to get out until Tim and Tony came rolling around the corner of her building, riding their skateboards on the walkway, something they weren’t supposed to do of course. She wasn’t worried about another incident with the twins right there and took advantage of their presence to question them and decide for herself if they’d told the manager the truth about having nothing to do with the gross dead flowers and barred laundry door.
“Hey, I want a word with you two,” she stated, getting out of the car and crooking a finger at them.
The boys cast her an uneasy look but complied, hopping off their boards and meeting her at her door. “What’s up, Ms. Sauer?” Tim asked with an innocent expression, his green eyes reminding her of Brett’s, his tousled red hair the same vibrant shade as their mother’s.
She put as much stern rebuke in her tone as she could muster when she scolded them. “The disgusting bugs crawling all over the dead flowers were bad enough, but barricading me in the dark laundry is inexcusable, not to mention a very dangerous prank. Come clean now, and I’ll let them pass if you promise to behave.”
Tony, the more brazen of the two, scowled and thrust out his chin. “We didn’t do those things and got proof from our mom we were at home with her when you got the flowers.”
Jim Abrams had omitted that tidbit when she had spoken with him last. “What about –”
Tim shook his head, interrupting her. “No way, we wouldn’t scare someone like that, ’specially not you. You give outthe bestHalloween candy.”
His brother nodded in agreement.
“Point taken. I do get the good stuff. Okay, off you go, and get those skateboards off the walkway.” They took off with loud whoops, and Allie unlocked her door, dashing to the bedroom to grab her phone and ID.
Hearing a sound behind her, she whirled and came up against a hard body that wasn’t Brett’s, her heart lodging in her throat as instant fear slithered down her spine. Before she could register who it was, white-hot pain blossomed across her jaw, the blow jarring her to her toes. Allie’s last thought before everything went black centered on Brett and how mad he would be at her miscalculation.
Allie slumped in his arms, and Ricky allowed himself a few seconds to panic before making a quick decision and scooping her up. Carrying her to the door, he peeked out, making sure no one was around then hightailed it to his car and laid her on the back seat. Wasting no time, he took off, his only choice to take her to his accomplice’s place. He didn’t breathe easy until he cleared the complex without her watchdog showing up, ruining weeks of trying to earn her trust again.
Damn both Kincaid and Allie. If only she had cooperated and run to him when they first threatened her, everything would have worked out perfect. Instead, he’d seen firsthand how enamored she was of the rich bastard when she introduced them. To make matters worse, today he spotted her talking to the boys, his palms going clammy imagining them mentioning he’d run over that fucking cat. He wasn’t positive they’d witnessed his fit of temper when the nasty critter had drawn blood with its claws when he used his foot to shove it out of his way then hadn’t ensured the cat’s safety before backing out. He didn’t even notice the kids until he was driving out of the lot and happened to glance in the mirror. A ball of dread tightened his gut every time he saw those boys and chased them away from his and Allie’s building.
At the next light, he swiveled to check on Allie, her shifting and low moan worrying him. Hitting her was a first, and he regretted the action, but, in his defense, he hadn’t thought straight since seeing her with Kincaid. His roiling anger when listening to his partner’s eyewitness accounts of them together was bad enough to deal with. But witnessing them together, seeing Allie gaze at Kincaid with all the love he’d craved from her since the moment he clapped eyes on his neighbor had consumed him with rage that muddled his thinking.
At least luck was now with Ricky, and he arrived at his destination before Allie roused.
****
“Fuck!” Brett hit thegas once he maneuvered the one-way streets and figured out Allie was heading back the way they’d come. First, he’d gotten separated from her by traffic, which didn’t bother him as long as he could keep her bright orange car in sight, but then she’d veered off the route they were driving to downtown. By the time he made the same turn, her car was nowhere in sight until he’d already driven past the next side street and caught her heading in the direction of her apartment. “Damn one-way streets,” he growled, hoping he was right, punching the gas and heading toward her complex.
Turning into the parking lot, he noticed both her car and apartment doors were wide open and a cold knot formed in his chest. Slamming to a stop, he flung open his door and ran inside calling her name. “Allie!” His voice echoed in the silence, and he dashed outside, scanning the surrounding buildings for a sign of her. Ricky, the ex and neighbor, appeared to have left, the car parked in front of his place when Brett and Allie had taken off earlier now gone. The cold knot changed to a ball of icy rage. That was too coincidental to ignore.
Pulling out his phone, Brett punched Reed’s number, relieved when he answered the first ring.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Allie’s missing.” No sense beating around the bush when time could be of the essence. Brett gave Reed the rundown then asked, “Can you get someone on her ex’s ass?”
“Heading your way now, and I’ll call my friend who took the accident report and opened a case. I’m guessing it’s not enough to haul him in, but someone can stop by his work to question him on the last time he saw her. She didn’t happen to mention where this guy was employed, did she? That would save time.”
“He’s in real estate; that’s the only thing Allie passed on.” Brett cursed for giving in to Allie’s reluctance to go into much detail about their past relationship and not pushing for more information.
Twin red-headed boys rounded the corner of the building carrying skateboards, both of them frowning when they noticed him standing between his truck and Allie’s car. “I’ll call you back,” he told Reed and hung up before the kids took off. “You two. Come here.”
Both shook their heads. “We don’t know you, mister,” the one on the right said, his voice laced with accusation.
Brett swore at his stupidity, his worry for Allie clouding his thinking. When this was over, she wouldn’t sit for a week. Well, maybe after he held her close for a few days and drilled into her he wasn’t letting her go. She wanted him and now she had him.
