“No thank you. I’m not much of a drinker.”
That’s when Linda saves the day. “Hi,” she says, joining us.
Eager to shift the attention away from me, I say, “Kirk, this is my best friend, Linda. Linda, this is Kirk, the money behind a big project I’m doing.”
Kirk, reluctantly it seems, glances at Linda. Linda is a beauty, worthy of anyone’s attention. Yet he barely blinks at her. “Nice to meet you, Linda.” He doesn’t even offer her his hand. He turns back to me. “You’re sure on that drink?”
I manage not to bristle. “I am,” I say. “Tonight I need to go home to my soon-to-be husband.” I link my arm with Linda’s and add, “Right?”
“Right,” she says. “He’s a big bear of a man who wants his woman with him.”
Oh God, what just came out of her mouth? I almost laugh and I would if I wasn’t so creeped out by Kirk being here right now. “Safe travels, Kirk, and I can’t wait to get started on the museum.” And with that, I nudge Linda, and the two of us start walking.
“What was that about?” she whispers.
“I don’t know,” I say. “I just—I don’t know.”
“How can you not know? You were acting like he was a bee buzzing about and considering which part of you to sting.”
It’s an interesting analogy. That’s exactly how I feel with Kirk, and I can’t get in the back of the SUV Smith is driving for us tonight fast enough. Once we’re inside, he glances back at us. “How was it?”
“Smith, Kirk, that investor from the museum was just in the hotel. He told me he was leaving last night and then he was here.”
He twists around to face us, and he doesn’t dismiss Linda. His gaze goes to her and then to me. “Did he say why?”
“I mean, it was a good explanation—last-minute business—but it feels off. I’m going to call Rick.”
“I’ll get you out of here and call Blake,” he replies, shifting back behind the wheel and setting us in motion.
“What is going on?” Linda asks urgently.
“He just creeps me out,” I say. “Didn’t you feel it?”
“I felt your nervous energy around him,” she replies. “He seemed interested in you, inappropriately so considering he knows you’re getting married tomorrow. But nothing else.”
But my gut says otherwise. I dial Rick. He answers instantly. “Miss me already?”
“I missed you the minute you walked out the door. Something weird happened.”
“Tell me,” he says, his tone instantly serious.
I run down the entire encounter with him. “What do you think?”
“Hold on,” he says, and I can hear him talking in the background, and the low rumbles of male voices. Then there are fingers tapping on keyboards.
Rick returns to the line. “He’s registered at the hotel you were at,” he says. “And he’s due to checkout tomorrow. Blake is going to have him monitored and make sure he really leaves and gets on a plane tomorrow.”
“I won’t argue against that plan,” I reply, relieved by the answers he’s given me. “And the fact that he’s registered in the hotel is comforting.” I laugh. “Maybe he thinks I’m stalking him, not the opposite.”
He jumps right on that. “You think he’s stalking you?”
“No,” I say. “But I’d rather not see him again anytime soon.”
“I’m coming home.”
“You’re not coming home, Rick Savage,” I chide.
“This is about your safety,” he argues.
“I’ll stay over,” Smith calls out over his shoulder, obviously overhearing what was said or just figuring out the context of our conversation.
I barely control a smile. I’ve caught him watching Linda. I do believe Smith would like a little more time with my best friend, and so I say, “Smith is staying the night.”
Rick growls, literally growls, and says, “This rule of yours about us being apart—”
“Will make being together tomorrow all the better. Good night, love of my life.”
“Candace,” he pleads softly.
“Good night.” I hang up and realize that was the last time I will talk to him until tomorrow when we stand before God and our guests, and he becomes my husband, and me his wife.
***
Savage
I slide my phone back into my pocket and glance between Blake and Adam, and do so over the top of several bags of burgers, a deck of cards, poker chips, and at least a half dozen empty beer bottles. “This would be a good time to talk me out of going to that hotel.”
“I’m not going to talk you out of it,” Blake says. “I’ll go with you.”
Adam throws down his cards. “I’m in.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Savage
Fifteen minutes later, I’m in the backseat of an SUV with Blake, while Asher and Adam are in the front. Asher is our driver. In the short drive to the hotel, Blake has hacked into the hotel footage, found out the room number assigned to Kirk, and then used the cameras to confirm he’s presently in said room. At present, we’re parked in the hotel visitor lot, eyes on the front door, and I’m watching the recorded exchange from inside the hotel between Candace and Kirk, minus sound.