He waited for a sarcastic comment from Chase.
None came.
“Thank you,” Evie said once more. She picked up a cinnamon roll. Took a bite.
He hurried to her side. “Don’t make yourself eat it.” Okay, looking at things from this angle, it did look like he’d made some sort of hotel-size buffet. “The food doesn’t matter. If you’re not hungry, just forget it.”
Her eyes grew wider. “This is delicious.”
It was? She thought it was?
She took another bite. Moaned.
His body tensed.
There was a little bit of icing on her upper lip. He should help her by licking it away. He leaned toward her.
“I asked the question because Gia flat out told me last night that Harrison had broken up with her because of you,” Chase said with his usual bad timing. “She said that there wasn’t room for any other women in his life. Only you.”
Well, he’d certainly gotten the woman to be chatty.
Cole had a quick flash of Gia coming out of the bathroom. Trying to pull him away from Evie. The fact that she’d been the last one in the ladies’ room with Evie, right before the abduction?
Suspect.
“You’ll be interviewing her again, ASAP,” Cole ordered.
“You know it’s already on my To-Do list.” Chase saluted him and grabbed a pancake. “Chocolate chips are my favorite. Did you make these for me?”
“You know I didn’t.”
Evie had finished the cinnamon roll. As he watched, she licked away the icing.
Sweet mother of…
“So, are you going to tell us?” Chase pushed.
Cole blinked.
“Tell you—what?” Evie’s eyebrows shot up.
“You and your step-brother. Just how close are you?”
And Cole realized just what Chase was doing. An old technique. Distract and question. Keep pushing until you got what you wanted. Chase was throwing out bits of info, Evie was off balance, and Chase obviously thought she might slip up and reveal something useful.
Only Evie wasn’t a suspect. She was the victim. Chase shouldn’t be using any interrogation techniques on her.
Cole stalked around the bar. Snatched the pancake from Chase.
“Hey!”
“You don’t interrogate her.” He glowered at his friend. “You don’t play mind games with her. You don’t do anything to upset her. Not now. Not ever. Are you hearing me? You getting this message?”
Chase searched his eyes. “Don’t you want to know?”
“I already do.” So take that shit. Evie had told him last night that there hadn’t been anyone else since they’d been together. He believed her. He trusted her.
End of story.
“Ahem.”
Cole glanced over his shoulder.
Evie had scooped up some bacon. And gobbled down a pancake.
He smiled at her.
“You’re a really good cook,” she told him. “I had no idea that you possessed these, ah, skills.”
Oh, baby, I can show you some skills.
“And the answer is no. For the record. To be as clear as possible.” She lifted a glass of orange juice. Took a long gulp. When she put the glass back down, her hand lingered—and tightened—around it. “I’m not involved with my step-brother. Never have been. Know why? Because that’s gross. He’s my brother. Consider Gia Eastman misinformed.” Her chin notched up.
She was so beautiful. “I will consider her both misinformed,” Cole assured her, “and a chief suspect.”
“Gia?” Evie let go of the glass.
Definitely Gia. “She was the one closest to the bathroom. The last one to see you in there. And she tried to get me to leave. Wanted to pull me away with her.”
Evie’s gaze hardened as her head tilted. “Exactly how did she try to get you to leave?”
Ah…
“Did she flirt with you? Is that it? While I was being shoved in a trunk, she was flirting with you?”
Gia had actually been telling him that Evie was a boring lover, but there was no way he’d mention that detail. And, sweetheart, you are never, ever boring.
“All three of our main suspects were there when the abduction went down.” Cole had spoken to the cops about them all during his very lengthy interrogation. “The NYPD will have their chance to run at them, but Wilde will be up next. We’ll be investigating them all.” A pause. “Those three, and our other chief suspect.”
He saw Evie’s shoulders stiffen. “Just who is your chief suspect?”
In light of the news about her mother and step-father… “We need to pay a visit to Harrison.”
Evie reached for her napkin. Cole saw that her fingers trembled slightly. She quickly patted her lips. “I-I will get my bag and be ready in a moment.”
“Evie—”
But she’d hurried away.
He watched her go.
“So…out of curiosity, I just have to ask…”
Chase was still there. Chase was still talking. Cole swung toward him with a growl.
“Did you think cooking breakfast would make her forget that you killed a man last night?”
Cole’s shoulders squared.
“Because that’s not going to happen.” Chase rose. His face appeared oddly solemn. “You can’t wave a wand and act like someone else just because you’re trying to charm the woman you want.”
“You don’t know anything about me and Evie.”
“I think I do. I’m not blind.” His lips twisted as sympathy flashed on his face. “She has to accept you for who you really are. Not who you pretend to be.”
“I don’t remember asking for advice.”
“At Wilde, we’re often undercover. Often pretending to be someone else entirely. It’s easy for us to lose sight of who we truly are.”
“I know exactly who I am.”
“But does she?”
***
Evie shut the bedroom door, muting their voices, and she realized that her hands were still shaking. She lifted them up and balled them into fists.
She’d tried to act in control out there. Tried to act as if each new detail didn’t batter away at her.
My mother didn’t die in an accident? If that was true, if her mother had been murdered…
Evie had to blink away tears. Her temples throbbed as pain cut through her.
And Harrison…they actually thought Harrison could be behind all of this? Impossible. Harrison had been the only one there for her after Quint and Evie’s mother died. He’d taken care of her. Had given her everything that she could possibly need. There was no way—no way—he would ever do anything to hurt her.
Right?
I have to be right.
Her eyes squeezed closed.
***
“Something is wrong,” Cole said. His gaze had moved to the closed bedroom door. Unease slithered through him. When she’d walked away, Evie’s shoulders had been so straight. So stiff.
“There are lots of things wrong. Like the fact that your girlfriend was thrown into the trunk of a car last night. I’d call that super wrong.”
“She’s not my—” He stopped. He wanted Evie to be his girlfriend, lover, partner—whatever the word. I want her. “Evie was too stiff when she walked away. Normally, she walks like she’s flowing. Freaking grace in motion. A sexy dancer thing.”