Page 79 of Montana Heat

I blinked, trying to refocus on being awake again after being forced to sleep. Fuzziness filled my mind, and my mouth felt dry and desperate for water after whatever they’d injected me with twice now. I definitely wasn’t functioning at one hundred percent.

All I could do was rock with the motion of the car in the dark. No lights around, no moon’s reflection anymore, just darkness.

I narrowed my eyes at the back of the woman’s head, stilltrying to place her exactly from her hair and the slim rectangle view of her face that I could see in the rearview mirror.

She’d been to one of my workshops. But why would I remember her? I met literally hundreds of people who’d attended my workshops.

The woman sighed, an, annoyed sound, and it hit me.

This woman hadn’t been to just one of my workshops; she’d been to at leasttwo. That’s why I remembered her. She’d asked questions—always tagging that sigh to the end of them.

Jennifer?

Janelle?

That was close, but not right. I grimaced, racking my tired brain to dig deep and think hard.

Jada?

Jada. Yes, her name was Jada something.

Her eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. “You’re awake.”

That same damned sigh was attached to the end of her statement.

“I remember you.” My words came out rough and mushy. My mouth wasn’t working right. “You’ve come to a couple of my workshops. Your name is Jada, right?”

“You do remember. I’m a little impressed. I’ve actually been to four of your precious workshops.” Another annoying sigh.

“What the hell is going on, Jada?”

“Now, now. No need for that tone. There’s no reason we can’t be civilized.”

I squirmed, testing to see if my hands were any looser in the bindings. They weren’t. “Civilized? You hire thugs to kidnap me, and you want to talk about being friendly?”

She shook her head. “You’re not usually this snarky.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’ll have to excuse me if being drugged and kidnapped makes me a little testy.”

She shrugged. “Couldn’t be helped.”

“What is going on?” I hated the anxiety that snuck into my tone. I didn’t want this woman to hear my fear.

But she still picked up on it. “There’s no need to be afraid.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Forgive me for not believing you on that claim.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“That would be more convincing if you hadn’t hired thugs to kidnap me and knock me out.”

And Jensen. I had to cling to the hope that he was okay. I wouldn’t be able to function otherwise.

“Seriously, I don’t have any intention of hurting you.” She sighed again. “I just want you out of the way. I need you to be far, far away. Everything I’ve done has been working toward that.”

Holy shit. “You’re my stalker?”

She shrugged. “Let’s just say I’m the one who organized the stalking events. You’re not the only person who’s good at multitasking.”

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