“You’re not taking this seriously,” Cole snapped.
Her brows climbed. “That’s what you think?” Her shoulders squared. “I will never forget what it was like to be held in that closet.” Most people didn’t know about that part of her abduction. Certain details had deliberately been kept from the media.
People didn’t know that she’d been trapped in that old broom closet for so long that she’d gone hoarse from screaming. That her wrists had bled and bruised as she’d fought the ropes that had bound her. Cole had found her because she’d been weakly banging her bound hands against the locked door.
His lashes flickered. “Evie—”
“Evangeline. You can call me Evangeline.” Hearing the shortened version of her name—the name that friends and family called her—hearing that name come from his lips hurt her. No, he was the one hurting her. Just seeing Cole had made an ache bloom in her heart. “I thought I would die. Every moment of my kidnapping is etched into my memory.”
“And the moments after? The moments with me? What about them?”
A car horn honked. She jumped. “Do not try going there with me right now.” She stormed away from him. The light had changed. Evie power-marched across the street, her legs kicking it hard. He kept perfect pace with her, of course, because…wasn’t that what action heroes did? Never faltered? Were always strong and seemingly perfect?
Not perfect. Not perfect at all.
When they reached the sidewalk on the other side of the road, she immediately turned left as she focused on her destination. “If you must know, then yes, I remember the moments with you perfectly. And I also remember exactly what it was like when I turned around and found you gone.”
“The job was done.”
She stopped. Caught her reflection in the glass of a nearby shop’s illuminated window. Saw her own rage staring back. “If you say that to me again, I will not be responsible for my actions.”
He cleared his throat.
She strode onward. A quick glance at her watch showed Evie that she was running late, because of Cole. His surprise visit. His reappearance that had just thrown everything in her life off balance. She hustled down the block, and told him, “I take my safety seriously, but I think Harrison is wrong about the current situation. I don’t think I’m being targeted. After my abduction, he became hyper vigilant. He didn’t even want me leaving the penthouse.” She’d been suffocating. “I…couldn’t live that way.” He’d wanted to keep her sheltered all the time. “I moved out, and he hated it. But I can take care of myself.”
“I have a team checking out the near hit from the mystery car.”
“Of course, you have a team,” she mumbled. “Don’t you always?” His team was probably somewhere in the shadows, watching them at that very moment.
“If it turns out to be a case of some jackass who wasn’t paying enough attention and almost hit you, I’ll tell your brother that news immediately. I’ll also make sure the jackass in question is never so careless again.”
She could finally see the small Italian restaurant. Soft lighting drifted through the windows. Leopold was inside—he liked to sit right in front of the window near the door. He was a people watcher. He'd told her before that the table there gave him the best show.
“If you don’t need me, I’ll convince Harrison to terminate the contract.”
She reached for the door. Pulled in a deep breath. Turned her head to stare at Cole. “Be very clear on this.” She waited for his gaze to meet hers, and when it did, Evie crisply informed him, “I don’t need you.”
She hauled open the door, hurried past the hostess, and went straight to Leopold. He rose as she approached.
His blond hair was perfectly styled in his signature tousled look. His artfully ragged jeans fit his long legs. The designer shirt he wore showed off the muscles he carved on the Broadway stage. He opened his arms to her even as a broad grin split his handsome face. “I was starting to think you’d stood me up.”
She sank into his embrace. Felt secure. “Never.” Her racing heart slowed. She was with Leo. She was safe.
“Um…Eves…”
She didn’t move.
“Eves, there is a very angry-looking man stomping this way.” Leo’s voice was a high stage whisper. “Should I be concerned? You know I’m a lover, not really a fighter. Got to keep the package safe from injury.”
She sniffed. Let him go. Shot a glare at Cole.
Cole stopped in his tracks.
A flushed, young hostess was behind him.
“I’ll sit here,” Cole snarled as he took the table a few feet away from Evie and Leopold. He threw himself into the chair and snatched up a menu.
Evie nodded curtly toward him, then she sank into her own chair. She reached for her menu just to give her shaking hands something to do.
“Ahem.”
Leopold. Crap.
He tugged at the top of her menu, pulling it down so that he could see her. Worry darkened his eyes. “Are you in trouble?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.” Wait, was she suddenly becoming good at lying? What? Since when?
A nod. He glanced toward Cole’s table. Then back at her. “Who is he?”
“Someone I’d like to forget.” She closed the menu. Put it down and leaned toward Leopold. To outsiders, it would probably look like she was leaning in for some romantic talk. “He’s a bodyguard my brother hired, without my permission.”
Leopold pursed his full lips. “He can guard my body anytime.”
“Leo,” she warned.
“What? He’s got that whole dangerous edge—”
“He is off limits.”
“Dang, you just called dibs.”
She had—oh, God, had she? No, no, that was not what she’d meant to do. “He’s my ex. And it’s complicated. And I need you to act as if you think I am the most amazing woman you’ve ever met.” She bit her lip as she heard her own words playing back in her mind. “I am an asshole.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I feel like one, and I can’t believe I just said that stuff to you. I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was ever thinking to—”
He reached for her hand. Squeezed. “He broke your heart.”
She nodded.
“I can break him.”
A laugh sputtered from her. “You just told me that you were a lover, not a fighter.”
He smiled at her. His eyes twinkled. “I did, and I am, but for you, I can try to make an exception.” He leaned ever closer. “But you need to tell me he’s not nearly as tough as he looks. Like, the guy isn’t some Navy SEAL who is gonna beat me into next week, is he?”
Um…maybe? She actually wasn’t overly sure what Cole’s background was. He hadn’t shared a whole lot of specific details with her. But he definitely was as tough as he looked. The absolute last thing she wanted was for Leo to get hurt because of her. “How about no one gets anything broken? Let’s just have our meal, and we’ll pretend he isn’t there.”
Leo glanced over at Cole’s table. “That will be so hard. Especially with the way he glares. Bodyguards aren’t supposed to glare like that, are they? Must be the whole being-your-ex bit causing him to go all Hulk green with jealousy.”