Page 33 of The Angel and the Agent

“I’m leaving,” she said.

“I’ll walk you out.” He slipped out of the pool and she handed him a towel.

“I’m watching Shimmer and Jordan’s baby in a couple of days so she can get a break. I thought maybe you could pick up dinner and eat with us, thereby saving her the trouble of making a meal.”

“Good plan,” he said, toweling his hair as they walked. They reached her car, coincidentally parked beside his motorcycle. She leaned on her vehicle while he leaned on his.

“Ethan Becket, Becket Ethan, I hope you understand that my decision to pull back on our relationship has nothing to do with you. It’s more of a self-preservation thing.”

He was growing weary of the alternating viewpoints that he was either a charity case or an ogre. Sure, he’d broken a few hearts in his past, but he wasn’t a monster. He gave a harsh laugh. “I wouldn’t exactly call it a relationship, Amelia. I mean, we’ve had a few laughs and a couple of good kisses, but we barely know each other. I’ve had a longer and more meaningful relationship with my dry cleaner.”

By her wounded expression, he knew he’d cut her.This is why people think you can’t be trusted with women’s hearts—because you can’t.Before he could try to make amends, another car pulled up beside them and Piedmont Bonvoy emerged, smiling at Amelia like she was the winning Powerball lottery ticket that was going to change his life forever.

“I made it,” he announced, stating the obvious. Ignoring Ethan as if he weren’t there, he reached for her and kissed her neck. It was a blatantly possessive gesture that signaled he was possibly more cognizant of Ethan than he let on.

Amelia closed her eyes and hugged him, as if his presence was a relief to her because it provided a reprieve from him, Ethan, and his hurtful comment. “I was just leaving,” she said, keeping her eyes closed.

“But I didn’t get to see the puppy,” Piedmont protested.

“You don’t like puppies,” she reminded him.

“You do, and I know it’s important to you. Besides, it’s not like I hate puppies. I’m not psychotic. I just prefer cats. And I was hoping to talk with your sister and brother-in-law.”

“Really? After a long day of work you want to spend time with my family?” she asked.

“I want to do anything that matters to you,” he said.

Ethan felt like he should be taking notes on, “How to impress a woman and her family,” because he was getting a master class in it. “Well, I’m going to take off,” he said. Jutting his hand out, he added, “Bonvoy, nice to see you again.” Piedmont shook his hand with zero recognition. “Melly, see you Tuesday.” He didn’t wait around to see the effect of his words or hear Amelia try to explain who he was or why she’d be seeing him again on Tuesday. Instead he got on his bike and drove away, trying hard not to think of anything at all.

Chapter 11

I’ve made a huge mistake.It was all Ethan could think while his date chattered endlessly over supper. Her voice was like what donkeys must sound like if they could talk—overly loud and braying.This is what happens when you pick up women at the gym.She’d seemed so perfect when he’d caught sight of her lifting massive weights beside him. But it turned out she was a health nut who had spent the last forty minutes talking about the amazing benefits of whey and protein powders.

“How about chocolate cupcakes? Do you ever eat those?” he blurted, interrupting a fascinating comparison of peanut butter and almond powders.

“I don’t eat refined sugars,” she replied, her lip curling in distaste.

“Huh,” he said, purposely tearing open a sugar packet and dumping it into his iced tea. His head hurt, and he was exhausted. On a date with Shrek’s sidekick was the very last place he wanted to be. Yes, she was very pretty and, yes, she could probably beat him in an arm wrestling contest, but he didn’t care. She was fundamentally lacking in…something. Maybe everything.

She’s not Amelia,the annoying little voice whispered in the back of his head. It had been doing it all night, hence the headache. He’d tried to make up to Amelia last week at Shimmer’s house, but she had been oh-so-polite, distant, and cool. He missed her warmth, her laughter, her orneriness, the way she looked at him with such tenderness that it made his insides ache with longing to be worthy of such emotion. Amelia made him want to be a better man. His date made him want to shove breadsticks in his ears to drown out the sound of her incessant bleating.

When at last the painful meal was over, she suggested they go back to his place. What he wanted to say was that he would invite her into his inner sanctum over his cold dead body. What he said instead was that he had an early morning. He had no desire to kiss her goodnight, but she took the decision out of his hands by standing on her toes and shoving her tongue down his throat in what had to be his grossest, worst kiss since fifth grade when he was still learning how. Even worse was the fact that she tasted like the beets she’d eaten for supper. His mouth felt like he’d licked an anthill.

Once home, he plopped into bed and stared at the ceiling, wishing for sleep. He hadn’t been doing much of that the last few days, not since his spat with Amelia. Had it been a spat? That word implied they’d both been at fault, but Amelia had done nothing wrong. It was he who made a cutting remark and hurt her feelings, his usual M/O. He couldn’t seem to get close to a woman without pushing her away, not even a friend, as Amelia had been.Was,as Amelia stillwas.They were still friends because she had said so. Just because he had created a rift between them didn’t mean it had to be permanent. He would charm her out of her hurt; he was good at that.

When his phone rang and he saw her name, he wondered if he was dreaming. Had he conjured her by the power of wanting?Whatever the reason, he wasn’t about to waste the call. He pressed the button to connect, but before he could utter a word, he heard her scream.

He sat up. “Amelia?”

“Ethan, help me.”

He could hear the sounds of a struggle in the background, and he gripped the phone tighter. “Amelia, I’m really not in the mood for a prank right now.”

“Help me, two men are taking me. They’re Russian…” she said, and the line went dead. Ethan tried to call her back, but there was no answer. He tapped his fingers on his knee, trying to decide what to do. Obviously she was pranking him again. He shouldn’t fall for it. It would teach her a lesson if he refused. But on the teeny, tiny off chance something had actually happened to her, he would never forgive himself.

He came to this decision approximately ten minutes after he holstered his gun, hopped on his bike, and started to drive. Even if it was another prank, which it undoubtedly was, it was a foot in the door, a way to talk to her and make amends.

Traffic was blessedly light as he wound his way to her house, speeding like all demon fire was behind him. He reached for his phone, intending to text Maggie and Ridge to see if they knew what was up, but then he remembered they were in France on assignment and Amelia was watching their new puppy. She’d been incredibly excited about it, had spent a long time talking to Jordan about it on Tuesday as she carefully avoided him.

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