Page 148 of Without a Trace
Scarlett
The sky burned gold above the water, everything slick with heat and salt. I walked ahead barefoot, the hem of my dress brushing my knees, clinging as I moved.
Behind me, Trace didn’t speak. His steps followed mine with quiet purpose, steady and close. Too close to ignore.
“You’re watching me,” I said without turning.
“Hard not to,” he said. “You wreck everything.”
“That’s the plan.”
We reached the beach path, where low flames flickered beside an open table. Kane lounged in a chair, half-drunk already. Rhett lined up bottles and poured generously into whatever glass he could find. Zeke sat farther off, flipping a knife between his fingers with no real interest in the conversation.
Alden stood alone near the edge of the table, sleeves rolled, shirt slightly rumpled, his hazel eyes locked on the flames. He looked... unfairly good. The kind of hot that made my stomach flip—and pissed me off just a little.
As we stepped into the glow, heads turned. Rhett was the first to speak.
“Scarlett, are you trying to commit murder by dress?”
I dropped into a chair without hesitation and stole the shot from his hand. “If I was aiming to kill, you’d already be bleeding.”
“That’s hot,” Kane muttered, lifting his drink.
Trace sat beside me, saying nothing. His thigh pressed into mine under the table, anchoring me without demanding anything. I didn’t lean in. Didn’t pull away.
“Someone hand me another,” I said, setting down the empty glass. “Today sucked.”
Alden looked at me, expression unreadable. “You sure?”
“Wasn’t asking.”
Rhett chuckled and poured again. “To survival, then?”
“To escalation,” I said, raising my glass.
“To not thinking too hard about it,” Kane added.
We drank. Cheap liquor, warm from the sun, but it settled low and slow in my ribs.
“You look good,” Alden said after a beat.
I didn’t break his stare. “I feel worse.”
Trace’s fingers tapped once against the bench.
Zeke finally spoke. “You shouldn’t be this calm.”
I faced him. “Would panicking change anything?”
He didn’t answer.
Rhett leaned forward. “This—this right here is why she scares me. In a good way.”
“She’s always been scary,” Kane said. “We’re just catching up.”
I reached for another drink and let the burn clear the edge from my voice. “If I’m going to be hunted or haunted or whatever, I’d rather do it in heels.”
“Barefoot counts,” Trace murmured beside me, just loud enough for me to hear.
