Page 31 of Perfect Pursuit

I back away and hold out a hand. “Have we met? I’ve never been a ‘nice’ girl.”

He jerks my hand and wraps me in an enormous hug. “It’s good to see you, Fal.”

“You too, Jess,” I tell him honestly. We chat back and forth for a few minutes before he mentions his assigned role is to get pictures for Austyn. He leans over the bar and yells, “Hey, Louie. You mind?”

“You mean since there’s a no photo rule except the one your family persistently breaks?” Louie growls.

Jess and I laugh. Wrapping an arm around my waist, Jess tugs me firmly against his body. I grin until the flash goes off, after which Jess promptly lets me go. “You have to send me a copy of that,” I tell him.

He gives me a quick one arm hug before offering his excuses. “Will do. Now, I need to go say hey to a few people.”

I wink. “We’ll catch up at later.”

Reaching for my glass still on the bar, I take a sip, letting the chilled vodka slide down the back of my throat. A few seconds later, a blond dashes up before introducing herself as Leanne Miles. After we each make our connection to Austyn known, I fascinate her when I let her know I’m about to start my fourth year of an accelerated master’s degree program to become a museum curator. “How did you fall into that?”

I admit, “I wanted to jump Riley from National Treasure.”

She hoots before lifting her finger to order a drink. “Going for the hot hacker. I like you.”

When Louie hands her a glass of wine, I tap my glass to hers. “Same goes.”

Leanne notes, “Your handbag is sending out strobe signals. Someone trying to get in touch with you?”

I frown. “That’s not a good sign.” Quickly, sliding my empty glass on the bar, I whip out my cell phone, hoping everything is okay with my mother. But it’s not her frantically trying to reach me.

It’s Ethan.

Ethan:

What the hell?

Ethan:

Why the fuck is my brother holding you?

My eyes bug out at what I’m reading. A wave of emotions washes over me, the most prominent one being confusion. How in the hell does Ethan know anything about me talking to Jess? Finally, I type back.

Fallon:

Excuse me?

Ethan:

Come on, Fal.

I then receive the picture of me and Jess that Louie had taken earlier. I take a deep breath and decide to take the high road.

Fallon:

Cool. Jess was going to send that to me later.

Ethan:

YOU TEXT WITH HIM TOO?

Fallon:

Are you kidding right now?

---