Page 90 of Xavier

She looks around the parking lot. Her face blushes with embarrassment. “Oh my God, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Come on. Everything seems to be fine. The sooner we get back to the house, the sooner we can relax.”

It seems too easy, though. If the guys know we are here, why aren’t they here waiting for us? Why aren’t they making themselves known?

Did they fly to Jacksonville to catch another flight?

Maybe they just wanted to get out of Scarlett Island.

Brianna’s voice brings me out of my thoughts. “Can we go to the farmer’s market on the way home? I think we deserve dessert after the morning we just had.”

“We still have your birthday cupcakes at the house.”

I glance at her, and she pouts. “Yeah, I know we still have my cupcakes, but they aren’t chocolate, and having to deal with this type of situation this early calls for chocolate.”

Relenting, I say, “Sure, but we have to make it quick because we don’t want them catching us off guard.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard because we know where the good dessert table is, and we can head straight there.”

“In and out, and then we will head home.”

A grin forms on her face as she leans her head back against the headrest and closes her eyes.

Home.

I love the way that sounds. Not that I think of the safe house as home, but the idea of going grocery shopping with Brianna and then heading to our house sounds nice.

Almost too nice. I can already picture life with her and that’s going to be an issue when this is over and she gets back to her life.

I put the car in drive and leave the hotel parking lot, turning right onto the main road to head toward the farmer’s market.

A white pickup truck also leaves the hotel parking lot, making my nerves stand on edge. It could be a coincidence, but given our situation, I’m not counting this out.

“I think we are being followed.” I say before turning right onto a side street.

Brianna sits up and turns around to look out the rear window. “Which car? The white truck that just turned?”

Looking in the rear-view mirror, I sigh. “That’s the one.”

Brianna slumps back in her seat, sounding defeated once again. “They found us.”

Chapter Twenty-One

BRIANNA

Growing up, Mom always told me there were two fixes to almost every problem or issue women would encounter in life: pie and chocolate.

Pie ended up being a horrible decision the last time I sought a Mom-approved life fix.

Hopefully, chocolate won’t turn out to be the same.

“In and out, and then we will head home.” Xavier says, finally conceding.

Leaning my head back against the headrest and closing my eyes, I grin.

I love the way Xavier gives in when I want something, like he always wants to make me happy no matter what it is.

I love the way he calls the safe house our home, like he’s trying to make the most of our unfortunate situation.

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