Her Three Wilde Champion Men (Wilde, Nevada 2)

Brandon stayed and paid the bill.

Once again, she saw his dark eyes lock on her. She slammed her stare back to her book, but the words didn’t have any meaning to her. At the moment, they were just scribblings on a page. Her mind was fixed on something else besides the sexy story Oak had written. All she could think of was how to get out of the diner without looking back at Brandon.

“Shelby?”

She peered over the top of her book and saw Brandon standing right at the edge of her table. “Yes,” she squeaked out, feeling her heart start to thud hard in her chest.

“You have a dollar?” he asked.

“You need money?” She got her purse off the seat beside her and began rifling through it, glad for the chance to look away from his mesmerizing eyes.

“No. You need an attorney.”

She snapped her head up, keeping her fingers inside her bag. “What do you mean?”

“The dollar,” he ordered. “Then we can talk.”

“I don’t understand, Mr. Champion.”

“You will…after the dollar,” he said even more firmly than before. That kind of tone was something she could never resist no matter how hard she tried.

More images of her being with all three Champion brothers spun in her head. Stop it, Shelby. Something is troubling him. What?

Had Sheriff Byrd said something to put him in this mood? What did it have to do with her?

Shelby found a five-dollar bill and brought it out. “This is the smallest I have. Will this work?” she asked, handing it to him.

“Perfect,” he said, sliding into the booth opposite her. “You just hired yourself an attorney, Shelby.”

“Okay…”

“You saw Sheriff Byrd over at my booth, didn’t you?”

She nodded.

“He was looking for you and Alex. Seems you’re on his hit list.”

Hit list? “Why? What does he want with us?”

“There’s a woman in the hospital over in Elko who was shot. The staff there isn’t sure she’ll survive another day. She’s in critical condition. You and Alex were seen talking to her Saturday night.”

Shocked that another attempted murder had occurred in Northern Nevada, Shelby set her book down. In less than a year, the whole area had been turned upside down. Samantha had killed several people and had tried to kill Jessie. Charly’s half brother was a killer with blood in his eye for her. She wondered if this was more of the Mexican cartel’s retribution for Malcolm’s death, the psychopath who had kept Mackenzie’s brother locked up in a basement as his prisoner with the intent of killing him eventually. “What’s her name?”

“Lucille Barnhart,” Brandon informed. “She has red hair. Do you remember her?”

Her heart skipped a beat. “Yes, I do remember her.”

Shelby looked into Brandon’s dark eyes. She wanted to trust him, but her instincts with outsiders weren’t good. She’d already proven that with Kenneth, her ex. But she had to trust Brandon, didn’t she? He was her attorney now, like it or not.

“Alex and I went on a date Saturday night to Elko. I met her there.”

“Tell me about the date. Tell me everything, Shelby,” he commanded.

A shiver went up and down her spine, clearly for the unfamiliar territory she found herself in. She didn’t care for Lucille or her friend Trixie one bit, but she didn’t want anyone to be killed.

“What do you want to know? It was a date. We ate Chinese there. That’s when I met Lucille and Trixie. Do you know them?” she asked. “Being from Elko, I would think you do.”

“I know them. I also know what bitches they can be.” His unblinking eyes were making her extremely nervous. “The truth, Shelby. All of it. What happened when you met them?”