The Beautiful Thief (Stolen Hearts #2)(42)

She knew it was a lie. Toni was the best at finding people who didn’t want to be found, but Melody knew that someone with Adam’s skills could fall off the radar so far that not even the most advanced computer hacker could locate him. Which meant he was going to Huntsville for her, which was.... Nope. She would think about that later.

For now, she had more important things to worry about. Namely, what the hell she was going to tell all her friends when she showed up in town with Adam Smith as her bodyguard.





Adam put the car in park and looked out the window. So this was Melody’s home. Well, her old home. She’d been mostly quiet on the drive out of Chicago, but he’d managed to get a little bit of information out of her.

The divorce had been quick, and one of the reasons it had been so quick was because she’d given her cheating ex pretty much everything he asked for. He wanted the house? Got it. The brand-new truck? His. Furniture? His. She said it was because she wanted to just rip it off like a Band-Aid, no matter how much skin went with it, but Adam kept his own ideas to himself.

Why would Melody want the house or furniture? She grew up as a nomad, wandering from city to city, and her mother had taught her how to land on her feet. Even though she’d told herself she wanted her idea of normal, if she really wanted that, the divorce would’ve gone differently.

And now that he was here, he could see what her definition of normal really was. The house was cute. The bushes were overgrown and the garden was a mixture of weeds and dead flowers, but he had a feeling that it would never look like this back when Melody lived here.

People who wanted to be normal put a lot of emphasis on what other people thought of them.

Melody stepped out of the car and her expression was unreadable. Hard, as if she were trying to keep things from the surface. “Why don’t you hold back for a second?” She started down the front path that led to the door.

She didn’t wait for him to answer, which was good because he had no intention of “hanging back.”

The house was a beige brick ranch with a two-car garage. He couldn’t tell how old it was, but it didn’t seem to be new construction. He kept on looking to Melody, who was so stoic and expressionless and thinking how different things had been. She’d bought this place to be happy. To escape from a life she didn’t think she wanted.

When she knocked on the door, Adam was just a few feet behind her. He knew she didn’t want him to pull out his intimidation tactics, but the second her ex opened the front door, Adam almost subconsciously squared his shoulders and stood up taller. He was down one step from Melody, but he still managed to be as tall as her.

Her ex, Ben’s, face was a mask of annoyance when he saw Melody—one mark against him immediately. But the second he saw Adam, that annoyance fell right away. “Who is he?”

Melody gave Adam a warning glance over her shoulder, but he didn’t change a thing.

“He doesn’t matter. You said someone came here for me last night. Is she still here?”

Ben gave Adam a wary glance. “He can’t come in my house.”

“Your house?” Adam took a step up onto the porch.

Melody put a hand on his chest. “Ben, we don’t need to go inside. Is she still here?”

Most of Ben’s focus was still on Adam, and Adam had to fight the urge to put a hand over the handgun. Not because he wanted to shoot Ben—well, he did want to shoot Ben—but mostly because the guy looked spooked enough to do something stupid.

“Melody?” said a voice from behind Ben. The girl stepped forward and sure enough, it was the same dumb ass who had messed everything up for them.

“Yep,” said Melody. “Get your stuff. Let’s go somewhere more... accommodating.”

Ben gave Melody an angry look and Adam let out a low growl. Ben’s eyes widened and he stepped back. “You two stay out there.”

“I’ll be right out,” shouted Willa right before he closed the door.

Adam leaned closer to Mel’s ear. “I don’t like your ex.”

“I’m sure the feeling’s mutual.” Melody crossed her arms over her chest.

Soon Willa was bouncing out of the front door. “I can’t believe I found you,” she said as the words just started gushing out of her mouth. “I saw in your file that this was your last known address but with my luck, I thought the place would be demolished or something, you know?”

Adam shot Mel a quick look of exasperation before he turned and walked back to the car. But he could still hear every word Willa said.

“Who’s the hottie? I saw him with you outside the club, but he wasn’t in Jadon’s office with you. Are you friends? Does he hate Jadon too? What exactly happened at Ace of Spades? One second, I thought I was going to die and the next—”

“Why don’t we get out of here,” said Melody.

Probably a good idea considering Ben was surely listening to the entire conversation.

Adam stood by the driver’s door as Melody and Willa came down the steps. Willa was small, even compared to Melody. Not height wise. She was just a bit shorter than Melody, so probably five foot six. But her cheekbones and collarbones stood out a bit too far. Considering the clothes she was wearing even though she was supposedly on the run, he pegged her as coming from old money.

But the bags under her eyes told a different story. She might come from old money, but she was dealing with some kind of stress. The kind of stress that would lead to her begging Forbes for help with something. The kind of stress that would lead her to show up in some strange town and spend the night at some stranger’s door.