Dancing With Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 10)

by Olivia Jaymes

  "I know you don't snore. It was just thinking that as much as I'd like to stay here with you tonight, it might be rude to leave Mallory on her own at Dizzy's. I'm supposed to be the maid of honor, remember? It's not very honorable to leave the bride because the sex is out of this world."

  Clearing his throat, Noah stroked his chin. "Sorry, I didn't hear anything but that the sex is out of this world. Did you say anything else?"

  Liz rolled her eyes. "You are such a goofball."

  "Guilty as charged. You make a good point, though," he conceded. "You are supposed to be here for Mallory and it would probably be rude to leave her on her own at the house tonight. I know she didn't mind about this evening because she and Carter are spending it together, but I don't want to hog all of your time. I guess I'll have to take you back to Dizzy's later."

  Liz stared down at her hands. "With the other ladies coming into town tomorrow morning, I'm going to be very busy until after the wedding."

  He'd been thinking about that.

  "I’ve been thinking about that too, Liz. I'll build you a pottery studio with my own two hands if you'll stay on after the wedding for awhile."

  She looked up and he could see tears sparkling in her eyes. He wanted to reach out and tell her it was all going to be okay but he didn't know that for sure. They were both flying blind here, hoping for the best.

  "How long is awhile?"

  He wanted to say forever but it was too soon for that. As skittish as she was, he didn't want to scare her to death.

  "I know you have a life back in Denver," he replied carefully. He needed to use the right wording here. They'd come to an important juncture. "And I respect that. But I'm hoping that you will give us a chance. A real chance. We didn't want to do long distance before, but of course now we know that the connection between us is the kind that isn't going to fade away easily. I'd be willing to do long distance with you but I was hoping that you might stick around here in the beginning. If you can't do that then I'd talk to my family and possibly take a leave of absence. Come visit you."

  Her eyes went wide. "You'd come with me to Denver? For real?"

  She wasn't getting it. She was that important. He wasn't about to let her slip through his fingers again.

  "I would. It wouldn't be easy as there's always work to do around this place, but I want us to have the best chance."

  She didn't answer right away, as if digesting his reply.

  "What do you know about pottery studios?"

  "Not a thing," he answered promptly. "You'd have to tell me what you need, but I promise you I'd build the best damn pottery studio this side of the Mississippi if it would mean that you'd spend more time here. I can put in right in the backyard with electricity and running water. I can get started the day after the wedding. The family owns a construction business if I can't handle it myself."

  "It might be a bigger job than you imagine," she warned. "There's more to it than you would think."

  "I'm not afraid of a little hard work." Noah's throat was tight with emotion. He wasn't going to beat around the bush or play games. This was far too important. "What I'm afraid of is losing you again. I can't let that happen."

  She was already shaking her head before he finished. "It wouldn't happen because I wouldn't let it happen."

  His fingers laced with hers. "I'm glad to hear that. You're the first person I've met that made me want to make compromises."

  A few tears slid down her creamy cheeks. "I want to make compromises for you, too."

  "Then let's do it," he urged, his heart slamming against his ribs. "We have time before I have to take you back to Dizzy's. Let's make a plan for how we're going to do this. Let's make promises we intend to keep."

  This was their second chance.

  "Kenneth McGuire is dead."

  Noah was sitting in his cousin Jason's kitchen the next morning. He'd asked Jason to check into the bank robbery in case there were important details that Liz was leaving out. He couldn't help her over her fears if she wasn't honest with him.

  He hadn't, however, expected this news.

  "He's dead?"

  "Dead," Jason confirmed, refilling his own coffee cup and then Noah's. "Two months ago. He was in a fight with another inmate and was stabbed. The other guy was pretty messed up as well, but he pulled through apparently and was immediately transferred to another prison in case any of McGuire's friends wanted revenge."

  "Why didn't anyone tell Liz?"

  Jason shrugged. "Prosecutors move on. Staff changes. Whoever is in charge now probably didn't tell anybody. It might have been in the local papers, especially if there was a slow news day. It's sad to say, but if he'd been paroled from prison they might not have told her. Did McGuire make threats against her?"

  "No, but Liz said that he gave her a look when he was led out after sentencing. I know that sounds vague, but she said that he grinned at her and it wasn't because he was happy about the outcome. He specifically did it to shake her up. He singled her out and she wasn't the only one to testify."

  "She wasn't. I have a transcript of the trial, if you're interested. I'm guessing he singled her out because she's extremely attractive. She also did a hell of a job on the stand. I didn't have time to read the whole transcript but I did read through her testimony. She was poised and well-prepared. Kept her cool and answered the questions directly and simply. He was going to be found guilty anyway, but she certainly did the job the prosecution asked of her."

  "I do want to see the transcript," Noah decided. "I want to be able to help Liz through this and I think I'll be better equipped if I know the case details well."

  Jason reached over and retrieved a thumb drive from the counter. "It's all here, but I warn you some of the details are stomach-queasy stuff. I've heard and seen much worse but you're a civilian."

  Noah accepted it, tucking it in the front pocket of his jeans. "I'd like to think that I can take it, cousin. Is it grisly? Because according to Liz no one was killed."

  "They weren't, but McGuire and his crew knocked around the security guard and a few other of the males in the group. Mostly it was a case of psychological terror for the hostages. They were threatened with death several times and they never knew whether they were going to live or die until the thieves were in custody. I did a little checking and Liz wasn't the only one with trauma. I don't know if she knows this, but pretty much every one of the employees in that branch have either quit or been transferred out of state in the last two years. At their request. She was just one of the first."

  Noah doubted Liz knew any of that because by her own omission she'd kept her distance from her former co-workers. It might help her to know that she wasn't the only one as she'd made it sound when she'd told him the story.

  "Is there anything else I need to know about that robbery?"

  "I don't think so," Jason replied, sipping his coffee. "McGuire was a career criminal who had moved up from knocking over liquor stores and gas stations to robbing banks over the years. He'd done time before and even if he hadn't been caught that day, he was going to do time again. From what I could see in his file he wasn't interested in rehabilitation. His brother and father were the same. Both career criminals. You could say that robbery was the family business."

  If only Liz had stayed with Noah that day in Chicago.

  "Did you say something?" Jason asked, his brows pulled together. "I didn't hear you."

  "I said that she wouldn't have been there if she'd stayed with me in Chicago. That's where I met her. I was on a business trip there and we were staying in the same hotel."

  Jason gave him a shrewd look, almost as if he could tell that Noah was leaving out some damn important details. Important, but private.

  "I see. I kind of understood that you knew her from sometime in the past but I wasn't sure how."

  "You can tell the family, if you want. It's not a secret."

  "It's not mine to tell."

  "As I said, it's not a secret. We hit it off in Chica
go and I asked her to stay another day so we could spend more time together. She said she had to hurry back to Denver for a meeting at work. So she went back and they were robbed the same day. I didn't know any of that happened until I saw her again a few days ago."

  Jason looked like he had a bunch more questions but to his credit he didn't ask any of them.

  "It's good that you two ran into each other again. You look almost happy. The family was getting worried about you."

  "Were you worried?"

  Jason chuckled and shook his head. "Fuck, no. I knew you'd be fine. You're an Anderson. We're survivors."

  So was Liz. Maybe that's why she and Noah were so good together.

  16

  The other two maids of honor showed up mid-morning, wearing huge smiles and ready to have some fun. Celia was tall and blonde, quite athletic and incredibly smart. She was currently a researcher at a biomedical firm. Dani was petite and curvy, with the most gorgeous thick and lustrous auburn hair. Her family owned a small independent cosmetics company and she was now the CFO.

  Liz couldn't help but be amazed by how they'd all managed to stay friends. There had been a myriad of boyfriends, engagements, marriages, a few kids, several jobs, a cancer scare, and of course Liz's own encounter with violent crime. For all of it, they'd been there for each other far more than their own families. They were like sisters. And for the first time in over a year they were all in the same room. Dizzy's living room, to be exact.

  They'd ordered barbecue takeout for lunch and everyone was sitting around the coffee table, eating and talking at the same time, catching up about how awful air travel was and how amazing the upcoming wedding was going to be. Celia showed off pictures of her two kids that she'd taken right before getting dropped off at the airport. Dani showed off pictures of her animals, two adorable dogs and a sweet little cat. Her husband was taking care of them and was also planning to plant some flowers in the front yard while she was gone. She'd chosen red begonias.

  There was the usual moaning and groaning about jobs and politics, bad drivers and demanding in-laws, but for the most part the conversation was upbeat. They were together and that was far more important than any petty complaints they might have.

  "Thank you so much for letting us choose our own dresses," Celia said. "I was in my brother's wedding a few months ago and I swear the dresses were so ugly all the guests needed dark glasses just to look at them."

  "How bad were they?" Mallory asked. "On a scale of one to butt ugly?"

  "A thousand," Celia pronounced with a grin. "My sister-in-law's colors were pale yellow and pale blue but somehow the dresses were almost neon. I swear they glowed in the dark. I looked like a giant neon banana. I was at least six inches taller than the other bridesmaids, too. The wedding photos are hilarious. I really like her though, and she seemed happy. That's all that's important."

  Dani coughed delicately into her paper napkin. "My three siblings have all married and I haven't been in one wedding party. Believe me, I'm not complaining in the least about it, either. I think that my resting bitch face discourages them from asking me. That, and my total disdain for the modern wedding industry that encourages young couples to go into tens of thousands of dollars in debt."

  Dani and her husband Charlie had been married on the beach in Hawaii, wearing bathing suits and leis. Just the two of them and the officiant. She'd invited all her friends to a fantastic party about a month later.

  "Then I feel very special that you agreed to be in my wedding," Mallory said. "Very special, indeed."

  Dani lifted her glass toward her friend. "Your wedding is different and I'm happy to be in it. You're not doing all that garter and bouquet stuff. So sexist, but they wrap it up as tradition. Shit, families used to sell brides. That was a tradition, too. Doesn't mean that we should keep doing it."

  Celia leaned back against the bottom of the couch. "So now that Mallory is getting married that just leaves our Liz, who I believe after Dani's wedding reception said that she couldn't see herself getting married for at least ten more years. That was five years ago."

  Did I really say that? It kind of does sound like me.

  "I stand by my statement. I'm in no hurry to tie the knot."

  Dani frowned. "Are we such a bad example of marital bliss that we're scaring you away?"

  Liz laughed and shook her head. "Not in the least. I'm just not in any hurry, that's all. Marriage has never been all that important to me."

  "It wasn't to me either until I met Charlie," Dani pointed out. "I truly didn't care about getting married but once I met him it didn't seem like such a terrible idea anymore. Not that I think that everyone should get married. I don't. Frankly, I was surprised by my own reaction."

  They'd all been surprised.

  "Liz might be closer to marriage than she thinks."

  That remark was from Mallory who was grinning like a loon. No one had ever accused her of being subtle with her friends.

  Celia's brows rose. "Is there a man in the picture? Spill all the details. Us old married women live vicariously through the single friends in our life, so have some mercy."

  Liz gave Mallory a mean look. "I would have said something eventually. I'm sort of seeing Carter's older brother Noah. It turns out we'd met before in Chicago a few years ago."

  Dani sucked in a breath, her eyes round. "Are you talking about the Chicago guy? Him?"

  Liz had told Dani about Noah. It had been a tear-filled night a few months after the bank robbery. She hadn't been able to get any sleep because she kept checking the doors and windows and pacing the floors. In desperation, she'd called Dani who was a notorious night owl, hoping she'd be awake. The entire story had tumbled out of her, including a few salacious details about the night she and Noah had shared together. She'd been blaming herself for not staying with him, saying over and over that she'd made a huge mistake.

  Dani, of course, had calmly and rationally talked her down and had made everything seem a hell of a lot better than it had looked mere hours before. She was good like that. She had a great voice, almost hypnotic and before she knew it, Liz had stopped crying and had actually slept a couple of hours that night.

  Mallory's mouth hung open. "Wait...you knew about Noah? How come I didn't know? Celia, did you know?"

  The other friend shook her head, her gaze darting around their circle. "I didn't know. I mean, I kind of knew. Liz had said she'd met a guy that she really liked but it didn't work out. I just didn't know his name or that it was on her trip to Chicago."

  Shit, this was going sideways quick.

  "I told Dani during a panicked middle of the night phone call when I was crying and couldn't sleep. I was not purposefully keeping any of this from you. Honestly, the whole thing with Noah was completely eclipsed by the robbery. The only reason I told her was because I was regretting not staying another day in Chicago like he asked me to."

  Mallory nodded. "I can imagine you would have a hell of a lot of second-guessing yourself. I did that, too. If I hadn't gone on that date. If I hadn't gone to the bathroom. All that stuff."

  "It doesn't help much, though," Liz admitted. "Eventually I had to tell myself that I couldn't think about him, if only for my own sanity."

  "But you didn't stop thinking about him, did you?" Celia queried softly.

  "I didn't, and from what he says, he didn't either."

  "That's so romantic," breathed Celia, a dreamy smile on her face. "It's like it was meant to be. Fate and the universe working together to give you and Noah a second chance."

  It was romantic. It was also sort of scary. Liz didn't want to mess this up.

  Dani took a sip of her soda and then placed the can on the coffee table. "How are you doing these days?"

  Celia scowled at her friend. "That's a shitty question."

  Dani sat up, her chin lifted. "How is it shitty? I asked a straightforward question. It's not like we have a bunch of secrets between us. We're all friends here and no one is going to judge the other. I as
ked Liz how she's doing. If she doesn't want to answer me–"

  "It's fine," Liz interrupted, not wanting any disagreements between them. They were supposed to be having fun and enjoying being together. "It's absolutely fine. I'm doing okay. Not fantastic, but okay. I'm here, aren't I? A year ago, I wouldn't have attempted the drive all by myself but I did it."

  From the expression Mallory was wearing, Liz could tell that she was thinking about the gun.

  "I do still carry a concealed weapon," Liz went on to say. "For good or bad, it makes me feel safer."

  Dani's lip curled in contempt. "Frankly, I don't blame you one bit. The world can be a dangerous place and you were making the trip from Denver all alone. Criminals and evil exist in this world. Do you remember the look on McGuire's face during the trial? So disdainful. He even tried to pretend that he was innocent and he was tricked into doing it by his friends."

  Celia wrinkled her nose. "He should have done what the others did—plead guilty for a lighter sentence. Arrogant shit."

  "Are they all still in prison?" Mallory asked. "They haven't gotten out for good behavior or shit like that?"

  "Last I heard they were still there and going to be for a long, long time. They used firearms during the commission of a crime and they made their sentences worse."

  Dani frowned. "You don't know if they're there?"

  Liz rubbed at her temples where a headache was beginning to bloom. She needed another glass of wine. "My therapist said that it wasn't healthy to fixate on them. That I needed to focus on myself and feeling more comfortable in the world."

  Celia pursed her lips and then blew out a breath. "I can see where they were coming from there. She wanted you to feel safe whether they were behind bars or not. Their incarceration shouldn't affect you one way or the other."

  "I've thought about leaving Denver," Liz confessed. These were her best friends, after all, and she didn't have any secrets from them. "I thought I might get a fresh start in a new place. But then I thought that it might be wimpy to leave, like I wasn't facing up to it."