Page 29 of The Billionaire's Wife

I wanted to rush from the store. Why? I couldn’t put my finger on it, but the urge to flee was real. Generally, I didn’t ignore a gut feeling like that, and my mind raced trying to figure out how I could gracefully excuse myself without it looking like I was running away.

“Faith, this is my husband, Cody. Cody, Faith.” Megan reclaimed her seat.

“Nice to meet you.” I offered a tight smile. “I should go and let you two have some time together.”

“Don’t be silly. He just comes and hangs out on nights I have to work, but it’s not like I’m not working.”

“Right. And that’s the other thing, you’re working. I don’t want to take up your time. But I appreciate this.” I lifted the paperback and gave it an awkward wave. I edged past Cody. “Nice to meet you both.”

Megan started to speak, then instead she got up and hurried past me to the cash register. “You really don’t have to leave.”

“I appreciate that, but it really is past time for me to be on the road.” I put the book down on the counter and dug into my bag for my wallet. Of course it was upside down and I hadn’t zipped it, so all the random slips of paper that I stuffed in it went spilling out. “Sorry.”

I scooped at the papers.

Megan bent down and collected the pieces that had floated behind the counter. She frowned slightly, her head tipping to the side. She put a business card down on the book. “You know Tristan? Cody and I have been friends with him forever. He’s so great.”

My mouth went dry. I glanced down at the card. Why had I grabbed that? I knew why, but sometimes decisions were dumb. This appeared to be one of them. “A little.”

“Is he who you came to visit? Or, I guess you could be a client. But I shouldn’t ask that, right? Because he’s a lawyer and everything, so it’s probably confidential.” Megan rang up the book.

I stuffed all the loose papers—including Tristan’s card—into my bag and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. Maybe if I ignored the question, she’d let it go.

That hadn’t been the case so far, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t eventually get the hint, did it? I didn’t want to outright lie—but I also didn’t want to get into the inevitable follow-on questions of how did I know him and why was I leaving and so on and so forth. If Megan and Cody were his friends, they probably knew all the sordid details, and I just…couldn’t go there.

“Here’s your change.” Megan held out the money.

I took it and dropped it into my wallet, taking care to zip the thing this time. “Thanks.”

“I hope you enjoy the book.” She looked like she wanted to say more.

“I’m sure I will.” I took the book and hugged it to my chest as I headed for the door. I wasn’t going to look over at Cody. His gaze was unnerving. And if they were good friends with Tristan, I needed to get out of the area before they called him and let him know they’d seen me.

Would he come looking?

No. That was dumb. Of course he wouldn’t. He hadn’t asked me to stay. He hadn’t chased me down at the elevator. He hadn’t taken any of the opportunities to change my mind either time I’d left.

I pushed through the door and, keeping my head down, started back toward where I’d left my car. It was time to get out of Virginia. Past time.

I covered the distance to my car in just under ten minutes. That was much faster than when I’d been meandering and window shopping earlier. Of course, since exercise wasn’t something I did a ton of, my shins were killing me from the fast walking. Or it could be my shoes. They were old and beat up. Maybe once I figured out where I was going to land, I’d—

“Oof.” I bounced off the solid mass of muscle-covered-denim. “I’m sorr—”

Strong fingers clamped around my arm. “Did you really think you’d get away?”

I jerked my arm, but Manny’s grip was steel. “Kinda hoped so, yeah. Any chance you’re going to let go and we can talk about this like civilized people?”

Manny shook his head.

“Figured.” I sighed and darted a glance around. Of course the residential street where I’d parked was devoid of the crowds that had been on the main shopping street. Which was why there’d been parking. I was maybe twenty feet from my car. But I couldn’t remember if Manny could run or not. Some of the Ortega boys were fast. Others weren’t.

“Faith!”

I recognized Tristan’s voice. Dang it.

Manny’s fingers tightened, but he looked toward the sound.

I put everything I could into swinging my left fist into his gut, then stomping forward. Manny’s cowboy boots meant that didn’t do much damage, but the movement was enough for me to get good leverage with my other knee as it came up between his legs.

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