Kissed Blind (Hot Pursuit #2)(16)

I needed to unload my points, but the problem was I couldn’t. My palms started to sweat, and I tucked my hair behind my ear.

“What’s going on, getting nervous over there?”

“Shush. I’m thinking.” I drew my card from the deck and kept reorganizing my hand, looking for some kind of miracle. The best I came up with was to lay four cards down, but I was still stuck with three after discarding, and they would be enough to give him the win.

“That the best you got in there?” Vance said with a smug smile.

“You know, sometimes I want to throw things at your face. Your arrogance can be extremely annoying sometimes.”

“I know. Gets under your skin, doesn’t it?” He twitched his brows.

He drew a card, and I knew almost instantly he’d won by his expression. He threw a card over into the run of cards I had in front of me and slapped his last card face down into the discard pile.

“In your face, queen!” He laughed.

“No, in yours.” I threw my remaining cards directly at his smug nose, and his smug eyes, and his smug smile. I got up from the table and walked into the kitchen. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I couldn’t stand to look at him. I opened the fridge and searched for some food. Or something to drink. Or anything at all so I didn’t have to listen to him gloat. I rifled through the deli drawer, which was practically empty anyway.

“Hey,” he said from behind me.

“I’m a sore loser. I know it. You know it. But I swear if you rub it in my face anymore I’m going to hurt you.”

“You’re so competitive. Lighten up.” He put his hands on my hips and slowly turned me around to face him. Standing in the frigid air, I closed my eyes and waited for him to lay it on thick. His hands left my hips. “Good game,” he said.

I opened my eyes to his hand held out in front of me. I cocked my head to the side and gave him a sideways glance. “That’s it?” I took his hand but waited for him to drop the bomb that would release my inner rage monster.

He nodded. “Thanks for playing Nonna’s game. With all the stuff going on with Pop, this helped me feel better.”

“Well shoot, now I feel guilty for being mad at you for winning.” I held up a finger. “And before you say anything, I realize how irrational that sounds.”

He chuckled. “It’s who you are. Who cares about rational and irrational?” Taking a few steps back from me, he leaned against the row of cabinets and palmed the counter. “It’s been too long since we’ve played cards. This was fun.”

“Yeah, it was.” I shut the fridge behind me and took a step toward him.

“I should get going.” He pushed off the counter and walked to the door.

“Want to grab a bite real quick before you go home? My food selection is thin.”

He shook his head and gave me a smile. “Nah, I wanna check in with Pop and rest up for tomorrow.”

He opened the door and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. After he was gone, I found myself standing alone in my kitchen with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that had no name.





Six





I woke up early and trained hard. I was prepared for anything and anyone. After getting cleaned up, I checked out my cheek; it had seen better days. It was swollen but not as terrible as I’d expected. A purple bruise had appeared on my hip that looked worse than it felt.

I’d gotten a text from Vance after I’d fixed my hair. He was picking me up a little later than usual. Oliver didn’t need to be on set until early afternoon to begin filming and wanted to give us extra time to recoup from the walk in the park. I grabbed a coffee and sat down on my couch to watch Good Morning America.

I flipped on the television as someone knocked on my door. Becca, my neighbor, stood on the other side of my peephole. She was new to the area and had taken a job at the local university working in one of the research labs. Since we’d met, she and I had hit it off. She also had the best collection of t-shirts ever that always made me laugh. With anything from eighties big hair bands to nineties grunge to current pop, she represented all styles of music. Today was no exception with Taylor Swift splashed across her chest.

“Hey, what’s up?” I squinted. It was odd to see her so bright and early. “Love your—” I didn’t get the words out before she barged past me and shut my door. Her damp, wavy chestnut hair smelled of something light and fruity.

“Oh thank God, you’re still here! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” She spun around with huge eyes.

“Tell you what?”

“Tell me what? Tell me that you’re working for Oliver Pierce. The Oliver Pierce! I would have that man’s baby in a heartbeat if he asked me. Do you think you can arrange for me to meet him?” She crossed her hands over her chest and sighed. “I’ll die. I’ll just die!”

“I, um, might be able to get you on set or something. I could ask after I see what he’s like a little more. Yesterday was the first time I worked with him, so I don’t know him all that well yet.” I peered at her. “How’d you know I was working with him?”

“Only because your face is all over television this morning! Have you seen Channel 9 News?”

My heart dropped into my stomach. “What? No, I just sat down.”