Kissed Blind (Hot Pursuit #2)(6)

“Totally up to you. It’s just an extra precaution. We try to cover all our bases, especially with higher profile clients. We like to offer everything we can.”

Oliver flipped it over in his hand a few more times. “It looks like a credit card.”

“It’s designed to blend in. You can put it in your wallet and forget it’s there.”

He contemplated it for a half a second. “Ah, what the hell. It can’t hurt, right?” He took his wallet from his back pocket and slipped it behind another card. He glanced up the staircase. “Cici! You coming down with the papers?”

“Yes! Be right there,” she answered.

“Before we go over all my ins and outs, I need you both to sign something for me.” Vance and I glanced at each other. “When people are behind the scenes, they’re privy to seeing and hearing things most people wouldn’t. I live in the public eye, but try to keep my private life private. I have everyone who works for me sign a nondisclosure agreement that bars them from repeating, or more specifically, selling anything they see or hear behind closed doors to the media.”

Vance gave a quick nod. “Of course, that’s no problem.”

He peered up the steps as Cici came down. “There she is. Finally.”

“Oh, stop.” Cici laughed and waved him off. “Here they are. Sorry, the fax machine was taking forever. I would have brought these with us if I’d known we were hiring extra staff this trip.”

Vance and I took the papers as they were handed to us. Vance sat in the chair and reviewed his documents, and I walked to a small wet bar off to the side of the balcony doors to review mine. It was pretty straight forward. Whatever I saw or heard, I didn’t see or hear. I signed the papers, and Vance did the same. Cici took Vance’s first and walked over to take mine.

“Here you go.” I handed them to her.

“Great. Thanks,” she said and leaned close to my ear. “I’m twenty-four, by the way, and completely legal.” My mouth fell open, but she held up her hand and smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Happens all the time. I have pretty thick skin. You have to in this biz.” As she passed Oliver on her way back up, she added, “Breakfast should be here any second. I’ll get out and grab some groceries sometime today too.”

“Thanks,” Oliver said. A phone rang in another room. “Can you get that, Cici?”

“Already on it.” She scampered away.

“So,” he said, dropping his voice. “I need to discuss something with you both.”

“Okay.” I laced my fingers together.

“Last night, as you know, I was in an accident. I was driving along after having checked out some of the sights and took a bend on the highway when my brakes went out.”

I drew in a quick breath; that detail hadn’t been mentioned on the news. “That had to be terrifying.”

“Yes, very.” He rubbed his hands up and down his thighs. “I found something else out that’s more disturbing though.”

I sat up straight, and Vance leaned forward.

“The police said someone may have tampered with my brakes.”

“Oh…” I said.

“Yeah.” He stroked his neck and tried to remove a crick. “For as long as I’ve been in this business, I thought I’d seen it all. I’ve had a few stark raving fans in my past and some probably teetering on obsessive, but I’ve never had anyone try to take me out of the game before.”

“You think someone really tried to kill you?” Vance asked.

“I’m not sure at this point. I’m having a hard time believing it. My wife has had her fair share of stalkers, but I’ve never experienced anything like this.”

“Was it your car?” Vance raised his brows.

“No, a rental. Cici had it delivered yesterday and she parked it in the garage. I’m just glad the brakes didn’t go out when she was driving it.”

“It would have been less dangerous if they’d gone out in the garage than on the highway,” I added.

His head teetered from side to side. “Probably, but at least Cici was spared the scare I had. Anyway, I gave the police a list of some superfans, but honestly, I can’t see any of them doing this. They’re supposed to be by some time this morning to ask us more questions.”

“Well, rest assured you won’t find yourself in that situation again,” Vance said.

“God, I hope not.” He continued to work his stiff neck.

“From personal experience, the day after is usually the worst. How’re you feeling?” I asked.

He blew out a big breath and dropped his arms. “My neck is a little sore, even after a massage, but that’s about it. My trainer and I worked through some exercises this morning and it loosened things up a bit. But like I said, I don’t have any time to be slowed down by something like this.”

Someone knocked at the door. Oliver looked around for Cici, but when he didn’t see her, he got to his feet and began walking toward the door.

Vance placed his hand on Oliver’s shoulder. “Why don’t I get that?” He glanced at me to back him up.

“That’s not necessary. The building is secure,” Oliver added, following behind us.

“After what you just told us, I don’t think we can be too cautious.” I smiled.