Page 50 of Alluring

Alexis swallowed, hard. Yikes. What did she say to that! Nothing to say. Time to change the subject, fast. "So what do you think the chances are for the Pursuers this year?"

Jack did a slow blink then tipped his head back and laughed.

Alexis awoke the next morning to the smell of breakfast. She walked downstairs in one of Jack's T-shirts and found him in the kitchen making French toast. It looked yummy. He looked yummier with bare feet in low-rise blue jeans and no shirt.

She walked up behind him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and peeked around his arm. "What did I do to deserve this?" He hadn't cooked since making her dinner that one time.

Jack did one last flip with the spatula then turned off the heat. He turned resting his butt again the stove and drew Alexis between his legs. "No reason. Just woke up and felt like cooking for you. I was going to bring you breakfast in bed, but I guess that idea's shot."

Alexis smiled up at him. "I can always go climb back in."

"You climb back in bed, I don't think a whole lot of eating will be going on." He gave her grin. "Of French toast at least."

Alexis stepped out of his embrace and took down some plates. "Then I guess we'd better eat down here." She set the plates on the breakfast bar and grabbed some forks from a drawer.

Jack got the syrup from the pantry and the warming, plate of French toast from the oven.

Eating commenced and when Alexis was too full to take another bite she set her fork down on her plate. "I'm stuffed, but it was delicious."

Jack put down his fork. "So I thought we'd go off-roading today. What do you think?"

"I think that sounds fun. I'll do the dishes then pack us a lunch."

"Okay, I just have a few phone calls to make then we can hit the road."

Alexis checked the weather app on her phone before deciding what to wear. Unfortunately, when you lived in a hotel, you couldn't open the front door to check the weather. The app said 80 degrees with a breeze. She changed into jean shorts and a yellow tank with sneakers in case they went hiking. She grabbed a yellow hoodie (that had mysteriously appeared in the closet) and went in search of Jack.

He was in the living room, sitting on the couch, finishing a call. "Okay, call me if you learn anything." He stood and put the phone in his back pocket. "Ready?"

"Yep. Who was that?" Alexis asked, pointing to his butt.

"Private investigator I hired to look into that note you received."

Alexis was taken aback by his response. "Do you really think it warrants all that?"

"I don't know, but I'm not taking any chances."

Jack kept his SUV parked in an area accessed from a side exit in the lobby. Alexis started parking there, as well, when she moved in with Jack. She liked that it wasn't as long of a walk as from the employee parking area. They'd stepped off the elevator and were about to cross the lobby when a clerk flagged them down.

"Miss Taft had a package delivered," the woman said, holding out a manila envelope.

Alexis looked at Jack and frowned. "On a Sunday?"

Jack took the envelope. "Did you see who dropped it off?"

The clerk (her name tag read Cathy) shook her head. "No, sir, it was just laying on the counter. I saw it and picked it up."

Alexis nodded, "Thank you, Cathy."

"You're welcome." She walked away to go help a patron.

"Are you going to open it?" Alexis asked.

Jack flipped the envelope over and pinched the metal doohickey to open the flap. He pulled out a square piece of newspaper. He scanned, noticed nothing of interest and turned the paper over. Alexis sucked in a deep breath as what she looked at started to make sense. A picture of them at the woman charity gala, but there was a big red bulls-eye covering her face. At the bottom of the picture was the single word 'MINE' written in the same red, block letters as the previous note.

Alexis felt Jack tense beside her. "Change of plans. We need to give this to Stan."

Alexis was still in a daze. "Stan?" she asked, not totally comprehending Jack's words.

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