Page 124 of Unseen Danger

But they weren’t dating. Caution waved a flag at the back of her mind as the elevator traveled down. She’d better not get ahead of herself. She should see how things went with her family first. Then the wedding.

“You’re awfully quiet.” Branson’s voice curled around her along with the heat from his closeness in the elevator. The compartment seemed so small with his muscular body taking up half the space. But it didn’t scare her a bit. She had to resist the urge to lean into him instead. To feel his strong arm around her shoulders like that time on the sofa.

“He didn’t bother you, did he?”

“Bartie Boy? Not a chance.”

“Bartie Boy?” Branson lifted one eyebrow higher than the other as his mouth curved up at the corners.

“Fits him, don’t you think?”

Branson chuckled and shook his head. “Only you.”

“What? Like I’m going to sit there and be able to call him ‘Bartlemay’ with a straight face.”

Alvarez stood up and wagged his tail.

“See? Al agrees.”

Branson laughed. “Al is right. I really wish you would’ve called him that to his face.”

The elevator doors slid open, and she stepped off with Al, glancing over her shoulder as Branson followed. “Let’s go back up, and I will. I just didn’t want to mess with your interrogation techniques.”

“Right.” His smile dimmed as they headed through the small lobby to the glass doors. “I wish it’d been a little more successful.”

“I think it was. We got him to admit he knew Kim, and he practically lawyered up the moment you challenged him on his fib about not talking to her for weeks.”

Branson pushed open the door and held it for her. “So you think he was lying?”

She stepped through the opening, not bothered in the least when her arm brushed his sweater. “For sure. He’s hiding something.”

“Exactly what I thought.” Branson angled toward her as they paused on the sidewalk outside the apartment building. “I wonder if we should—”

Alvarez growled loudly between them. His body went rigid, as he stared up the sidewalk where another high-rise was followed by some stores.

“What is it, bud?” Nevaeh stepped closer to him.

Pop-pop-pop.

“Get down!” Arms of steel grabbed her as she identified the sound. Gunshots.

Thirty-Four

Branson held Nevaeh against his chest, wrapping his body around hers as they ducked behind a black sedan parked on the street in front of the apartment building.

More shots punctured the air.

The sound of glass shattering followed the gunfire. Close. The rear window of the car that shielded them.

Alvarez barked, stinging Branson’s ears.

“Let me go.” Nevaeh lifted her head and pushed back against his hold.

He instantly dropped his arms, though his heart screamed he shouldn’t let her go. Not until the danger passed. Maybe never.

“We have to stop the shooter before he kills somebody.”

Like Nevaeh. She could’ve already been hit. A vise squeezed his chest.

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