The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [48]
Honey slammed her purse down on the counter and stalked over to face Morgan from the other side of the bar. Hands flat on the bar top, she leaned over until she was practically nose to nose with him. “Actually,” she growled, forcing the words through her teeth, “I told him to stick his damn money where the sun doesn’t shine.”
Morgan pulled back, and astonishment flickered briefly in his cobalt eyes, mixed with a comical wariness. “Uh, you said that, did you?”
“Yes, I did. My father and I have never gotten along, and money won’t change that.”
Jordan applauded. “Good for you!”
She whipped about and pointed a commanding finger at Jordan. “You be quiet! All of you have done your best to bulldoze me, and I’m getting sick and tired of it. I don’t take well to threats, and I couldn’t care less about my father’s money.”
Jordan chuckled, not at all put off by her vehemence. “So what happened?”
Deflated by their eternal good humor, Honey sighed. Men in general were hard enough to understand, but these men were absolutely impossible. “He threatened to cut off my sister, instead, and though she reacted about the same as I did, I can’t be responsible for that. I had no choice except to leave.”
Sawyer spoke quietly from behind her. “Except that you got sick, so you didn’t make it very far. At least, not far enough to feel safe.”
She didn’t turn to face him. Her gaze locked onto Gabe’s, and he smiled in encouragement. As long as she didn’t see the disappointment and resentment in Sawyer’s eyes, she thought she’d be all right.
“Someone had been following me for two days. I wasn’t imagining it. I know I wasn’t.” She spoke in the flatest monotone she could manage. She didn’t want them to hear her fear, her worry. It left her feeling too exposed. “The first day I managed to dodge them.”
“You say ‘them.’ Was there more than one person?”
She glanced at Morgan. “It’s just a figure of speech. I never saw inside the car. It was a black Mustang, and the windows were darkened. I noticed it the day after I ended things with Alden. When I left the bank where I worked, the car was in the parking lot, and it followed me. I’d promised my sister to stop at the grocery, so I did, and it was there when I came out. It spooked me, so I drove around a little and managed to lose it by jumping on the expressway into the heavy traffic, then taking an exit that I never take.”
Morgan rubbed his chin. “Must not have been a professional if you lost ’em that easy.”
“I don’t know if they’re professional or not. I don’t know anything about them.”
Gabe leaned against the countertop, ankles crossed, eating cookies. “You know, I hate to say this, but you could have just been spooked. If that’s all that happened—”
“That’s not all! I’m not an idiot.”
He held up both hands, one with a cookie in it, and mumbled, “I wasn’t suggesting you are.”
Totally ruffled, she glared at him a moment longer, then continued. “The car was there again the next day. And that’s too much of a coincidence for me.”
They each made various gestures of agreement, all but Sawyer, who merely continued to watch her through dark, narrowed eyes.
“This time it followed me right up until I pulled into my sister’s house. The car slowed, waited, and I practically ran to get inside. Then it just drove away.”
“I still think it’s your ex,” Jordan said. “If you left him, he probably wanted to know where you’d gone. I would have.”
“Me, too,” Gabe concurred.
“I thought it might be Alden at first. But it just doesn’t fit.” Honey watched Casey come back in with jeans and toss them to Morgan. Casual as you please, Morgan stood to put them on, and she quickly turned her back, but she could already feel the heat climbing up her neck to her cheeks. The man could improve with just an ounce of true modesty!
“So what changed your mind?”
Sawyer didn’t look so angry now. Or rather, he didn’t look so angry at her. He still seemed furious over the circumstances.
“I talked to Alden. He kicked up a fuss about me breaking things off, yelling about how humiliated he’d be since so many