Page 12 of The Spy Who Ghosted Me

“No,” I lied, sounding like a squeaky wheel. I wasn’t generally a liar, but what was I supposed to say? My intuition and my ghost of an ex think you give off bad vibes? “It’s just been a long day, and you startled me.”

He pressed his lips together, mulling over my words, while his eyes bored into me as if he were some sort of human lie detector. If I hadn’t been uncomfortable before, I certainly was now. Why was he so suspicious of me? I found that people who were suspicious of others were often suspect themselves. You know, unless you were suspicious about the man you’d once believed to be the love of your life disappearing and reappearing. That was totally normal and not in the same category. At. All. Although I was the one suspicious of my brother-in-law-to-be, so maybe my theory was ridiculous.

Soren flipped a switch and shifted from eyeing me creepily to smiling brightly, highlighting the crinkles around his eyes. “Of course. Traveling can be so tiring. I hope we will be good friends.”

I nodded, not knowing what else to say.

Soren smiled, but in a placating manner. “Tell me about Cash,” he casually asked. “You met in France?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“And he just disappeared?” Apparently, Mama had spread that tidbit of information. One would think that would be off-putting to a mother.

“Something like that.”

“Hmm. Where has he been all this time?”

I shrugged, feeling more unsettled around Soren. Why did he care about Cash?

Thankfully, the photographer showed up with a big camera in front of her face. “There’s the groom. Smile.”

Soren held up his hand. “No pictures for me tonight. Tonight is all about my bride.”

Huh? Did that seem weird? And was Lexi okay with this? Come to think of it, she’d never posted any pictures of them together on social media, even though I knew she had hundreds of him, judging by how many she’d sent me over the last few months. Now that I thought about it, she’d instructed me not to post anything about the two of them. I’d just assumed she’d been waiting for some professional pictures of them together and didn’t want me sharing any of her spotlight. But now ... I didn’t know ... something didn’t feel right.

The photographer lowered her camera. “Sorry, I forgot. Lexi said you’re camera shy.”

Soren laughed, and while it sounded mostly good natured, there was a hint of dark humor swirling in there.

When the photographer walked away, Soren leaned toward me and whispered conspiratorially. “In my line of work with such high-profile clients, I feel it best to stay as inconspicuous as possible.”

“That makes sense.” No, it didn’t. Not to say I knew a lot about hedge fund managers, but there were some pretty high-profile ones. Hello? Warren Buffett.

Soren took my hand without warning and kissed it. Another unwelcome chill ran down my spine. And ... Cash appeared, holding up a cupcake made to look like a white delphinium. “Here’s the cupcake you asked me to bring you.”

I opened my mouth to tell him I would never ask him for anything, but something in his imploring eyes asked me to play along. Was he saving me from Soren? Did he truly think I needed saving? Not that I wanted or needed Cash to save me, but I did welcome an excuse to get away from Soren. So, against my better judgment, I took the out Cash offered me.

I ripped my hand away from Soren’s and took the cupcake. “Thank you. What took you so long?” I teased, trying to make the lie sound real.

Soren looked between the two of us, not sure what was going on. He wasn’t the only one. “So, you two are together?”

“Working on it.” Cash flashed me a dazzling smile.

“Um ... I wouldn’t say that.” Like, ever. “I just really like cupcakes.” Oh. My. Gosh. That sounded ridiculous. I mean, I did love a good cupcake. Cakes and pastries were kind of my thing.

“I remember,” Cash said intimately. “I’ll never forget that night you taught me how to make Biscoff cupcakes with buttercream frosting.”

Oh baby. That had been quite the night. The way the man could lick frosting off a finger was magical. Even more magical was how it tasted on his lips. I needed to stop thinking about it before I lost my head and decided to find out if the frosting on the cupcake I held was finger-licking good. “Anyway,” I sang like a soprano. “I should probably go do ... something.” I couldn’t think of anything.

Cash grinned, knowing he was getting to me. Dang man.

I wasn’t sure if Soren had actually bought this show, but he made his excuses to leave. “I should go to Lexi.”

“Good idea,” I replied. “I’m sure she’s missing you.”

He strode off without a word and made his way to Lexi, who was now in the middle of the dance floor getting low, low, low to Flo Rida and T-Pain’s song with all her girlfriends. Several men stood to the side, ogling the scene that was getting exponentially louder and rowdier. It looked more like a bachelorette party than a bridal shower. Mama stood with Daddy, watching in horror as the classy event spiraled into a night at the club. My bet was Lexi hadn’t given Mama all the details. Mama bit her lip, trying to pretend all was well, while Daddy held her hand, probably keeping her from running out on the dance floor and telling Lexi and her friends this wasn’t proper bridal shower etiquette. I’m sure they didn’t love it one bit, watching Soren run his hands down Lexi like they were trying out for a part in Step Up. Yikes. There was some major curve fondling going on. I couldn’t continue to watch.

Meanwhile, I had my own crisis as Cash perched himself next to me. “You’re welcome, by the way,” he had the audacity to say.

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