Noah snuck a glance at the cousin in question who was quietly playing poker at a table in the corner. He didn't look like some major Casanova. Sure, he was good-looking but he wasn't a movie star or anything. He was a numbers dude, just like Noah's twin Easton. Justin was a good guy and everyone loved him, but Noah didn't see a babe magnet when he looked at his cousin.
But I'm not a female.
"Justin? I guess I don't see it."
"It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for. They sneak under the radar."
"You're not holding a grudge, right?"
Jason's face split into a grin. "Are you kidding? He saved my ass. When I look back, that girl was nothing but misery. I should be thanking him."
"How did we even start talking about this?"
"You were complaining about losing your ass to Ace."
Right.
"I don't think I'm going to be lucky in cards tonight."
"Better to be lucky in love. If you ask me, that is."
Jason was a wise man. Poker was fine, but Liz? She was better than anyone he'd ever known.
20
Since Leann was local, Liz, Celia, and Dani had been happy to hand over the reins of the bachelorette party. There had only been one caveat from Mallory...
No strippers. She and Carter had made an agreement.
Which was fine by the other women in the group, especially Liz. She'd attended a few bachelorette parties in the past and she hadn't found the male strippers all that attractive, nor did she want one gyrating in her face. She wasn't a prude by any stretch but it simply wasn't her thing. If other women wanted to shake their booty with a guy in a g-string? Go for it and more power to them.
Life was short and a person should do whatever they wanted as long as they didn't hurt anyone else. If her friends wanted to stick dollar bills in a guy's junk, she'd be sitting right beside them, cheering them on. Hell, she might even pass them a handful of Washingtons, but the dancer needed to keep a decent distance from her.
Now if Noah wanted to give her a little dance as he tugged off his clothes... that would a completely different situation. She'd stomp, catcall, and generally be all in favor of that. She might even toss away a few articles of her own clothing.
Did that make her a hypocrite? Probably.
The group hadn't a clue what Leann had in mind for tonight. The original plan had been a movie night but Leann had said they needed to do something bigger and more special. She'd mentioned good food, music, and dancing which they were all excited for. What she hadn't told them was that she was going to use the atrium at Anderson Industries for the festivities. The building was deserted, save for a few security guards, there was plenty of parking, and lots of space. Because the office was in a downtown area there were also no nearby residents to hear them if the party got rowdy later on.
The dinner had been catered by the best steakhouse in Montana and they'd all sat down to a perfectly prepared meal and amazing service by white-gloved waiters. The tablescapes were beautiful with white linen tablecloths, gleaming china and crystal, and pink baby roses for the centerpieces. Lit candles were on every surface, reflecting off the glass walls that overlooked the leafy green courtyard. This was a bachelorette party with class. right down to the chocolate mousse for dessert.
"Leann, you did a wonderful job putting this together," Liz said, taking her last bite of mousse. She should have stopped eight or nine bites ago but it was simply too good to not eat the whole thing. She was going to have to be rolled out the front doors later. "Everything is so delicious. I shouldn't have eaten so much."
"You can burn it off later when the tables are put away and the music comes on." Leann pointed up to the ceiling. "Did you see that I bought a giant disco ball? I wanted this party to be over the top."
"You've succeeded."
"I just wanted to welcome Mallory to our crazy family and thank her for making me part of the wedding without actually having to be a bridesmaid." Leann's hand flew to her mouth. "Wait, that didn't come out right. I would have been happy to be a bridesmaid, but it's just that I think that at a certain point a female should retire from it after being in a certain amount of weddings."
Liz had a vision of that movie...what was it called? Something about a bunch of dresses?
"How many weddings have you been in?"
"I lost count after twenty. At that point, I donated the dresses to charity and never looked back."
"I don't have near that many friends. That's a lot of dresses and matching shoes."
Leann rolled her eyes. "And all the pink. I actually like pink but I wore a lot of it. And pastels. So many pastels. My second closet looked like a unicorn exploded in there."
"Were you in Dizzy's wedding?"
"I was, but believe me when I say that the dress I wore wasn't traditional in any sense. Nor was the wedding.”
"Mallory let us pick our own dresses as long as we stayed in the color scheme."
"And that's just one of the ways that Mallory is fantastic. How did you meet?"
Smiling at the memory, Liz recounted that first day of college.
"All four of us were assigned to the same dorm suite. It was one of those with two bedrooms with two people in each bedroom, a living room area and a bathroom. We were all freshman and very nervous. Well, three of us were nervous. Dani wasn't nervous because she's never nervous. But anyway, we were assigned to live together and I guess we didn't have to become best friends, but we did. From almost the first moment I felt super comfortable with them and we just started doing everything together. Now I can't imagine my life without them. They're the kind of friends who will drop their own lives to be there for you when you need them, and I hope that they feel the same about me because I've tried to do the same. We've all said that when we get old, we want to be four gray-haired women rocking on the front porch of some big old house."
Leann nodded knowingly. "That's the kind of friendship that I have with Dizzy. She can practically read my mind. We even finish each other's sentences."
"It's great to have that kind of connection with–"
Liz's attention was captured by one of the waiters clearing a nearby table. Her heart stuttered in her chest and it was suddenly difficult to take a breath. He looked like...
Kenneth McGuire.
"Are you okay?" Leann asked, her tone filled with concern. Her gaze followed Liz's. "Is everything alright? Do you know him?"
The man, dressed in a catering uniform and his arms filled with dirty dessert dishes, disappeared into the Anderson Industries cafeteria kitchen. Staring at the closed door, Liz shook her head and blinked a few times trying to clear her vision.
What the actual fuck?
"No, I don't know him. He just...looked like someone I used to know."
Leann frowned. "Are you sure it's not him? The lighting in here isn't great."
McGuire was dead so it couldn't be him. This was her brain playing tricks on her. For a few months after the robbery, she'd thought she saw him all over Denver but of course it never was him. He'd been in jail and now he was gone.
She hadn't had these visions though for over a year and a half. Why now?
"It can't be him. He's...passed on. It just looked a lot like him, that's all. I was just surprised for a moment."
"They say everyone has a twin. Maybe you found his."
That was possible. It was also possible that her imagination was having a field day with her.
But why now? Just when she was making progress? Was she the kind of person that had to create drama where there wasn't any? And if she was, what did that say about her? Nothing good, that was for sure.
Kenneth McGuire was dead. He couldn't hurt her anymore.
She needed to get herself under control because frankly, if she kept doing this...she was only hurting herself.
Liz was doing it again.
Looking over her shoulder. Assessing the room for possible dangers. Eyeing any strangers, studying the faces and the way people m
oved. Looking for...something. At this point, she wasn't even sure what the hell she thought she would find, but she was back there in the abyss once more and hating every single second of it. What had happened to her tonight? She'd been so happy only a few hours ago.
She'd even pulled her handbag closer, so that her weapon of choice would only be inches away if she needed it.
Why would I even need it? I'm at a party with friends and there's security guards at the door.
There was a security guard at the bank, too.
"Come dancing," Mallory called from the dance floor, waving her arms in the air. Celia and Dani were dancing as well. That disco ball was spinning, sending shots of light all over the large room. "Come on. You know you love this song."
Liz did love this song but...
What do I say? That I'm scared again? Shit.
Dani leaned over to say something in Mallory's ear and then came to sit next to Liz at the table. "What's going on? Your trick knee acting up?"
"I don't have a trick knee."
Dani knew it, too.
"Then I can't imagine why you wouldn't want to join us on the dance floor where we are acting like complete fools. I promise you it will be fun."
Liz couldn't help it. Her gaze darted to her purse on the table before returning to her friend. Dani, of course, immediately picked up on it.
"You don't want to leave your purse? Is that it?"
Her tone was neutral, not judging in any way, but Liz felt the burn of shame. Tears burned the backs of her eyes and her fingers tightened on the leather strap.
"Why don't you tell me what's wrong and then we can try and work on this."
This was the worst. She hated herself right now because she was tired of being scared all the damn time. She wanted to have fun and be free.
What's wrong with me?
"I thought I saw him."
Liz's voice sounded rusty, as if she hadn't used her vocal cords in a long time.
Dani patted her hand, leaning closer so that Liz wouldn't have to speak up.
"Saw who, hon?"
"Him. Kenneth McGuire." The words had to be pushed by force out of her mouth. "I thought one of the waiters was him but of course it can't be. He's dead. It's my fucking mind playing tricks on me and not letting me be happy. Why can't I let myself be happy?"
A few tears did fall and Liz brushed them away quickly, not wanting anyone else to know that she was crying. Again. Tears hadn't helped much in the past and they wouldn't tonight, either.
Dani squeezed Liz's hand, her expression one of sympathy and love. "Sweetie, it's going to take some time before your brain believes that he's really gone. You only learned this a few days ago. You've been scared for so long that I think feeling this way might even be a habit for you. That isn't going to be easy to break."
Liz wanted to throw up her hands in despair. "I was fine just a few hours ago and now I'm a mess again. I hate this. I just want to be normal."
Dani's eyes widened comically and she shook her head frantically. "Don't ever let me hear that you want to be normal ever again. I can't think of anything more horrid than to be normal. How incredibly boring. Our quirks and flaws are what make us interesting."
"Then I must be one of the most interesting people that you know," Liz replied dryly. "I'm fucking fascinating."
"You are," Dani agreed. "Stop being so hard on yourself. You've made so much progress and you're mad because you're not perfect yet. You need to give yourself a break. We're proud of you and how hard you've worked to overcome what happened, but I think that it's sad that you can't be proud of yourself. You should be."
"How can you be proud of me when I can't leave my purse?"
"Because a year ago you wouldn't have realized that it was even an issue."
Such a simple statement but there was a load of truth in it.
"I might have realized it but I wouldn't have admitted it."
"See? Progress. Now how about coming out onto the dance floor with us? Tomorrow you'll be sad that you sat here all night while everyone else had a good time." Dani let go of her hand and pointed to the purse. "Sling that bad boy over your shoulder and come join us."
"I can't do that," Liz protested, her cheeks burning with new embarrassment. It was bad enough that her close friends knew she had problems. She didn't need Mallory's new family and friends to know too. "Everyone will–"
"What?" Dani cut in. "They'll do what? They aren't going to do shit because most of us are too drunk, to be honest. Anyone else can go pound sand as far as I am concerned. If you want to bring that purse out onto the dance floor then you should do it. No judgments. Screw anyone else."
With all the strength that Liz could muster, she slowly and deliberately unfurled her fingers where they were gripping the soft leather strap, letting it dangle off the edge of the round table.
"I can leave it here. It's okay."
"Hon, you don't have to do that."
Dani understood a lot but she couldn't possibly understand this. Liz barely understood it.
"I do have to do it."
Dani nodded to a small table by the dance floor where a few candles burned. "Why don't you put it there? It will be right there for you if you need it."
Relief flooded Liz's body, and she almost sagged against the chair as she blew out a breath.
"That...that would be good."
"Then let's do that." Dani stood and held out her hand. "Ready to get down?"
Maybe, but Liz wasn't going to allow her fear to win. Not tonight. Not when she was with her friends. This one time she was going to be stronger.
Three steps forward, two steps back. It was still progress.
But did it have to be so damn slow?
21
Later that evening, Noah pulled open the glass doors of Anderson Industries and strode into the dimly lit lobby. The men at the bachelor party had found out the women were in the atrium dancing up a storm via a text from Dizzy to Easton. They'd immediately wrangled the designated drivers - Easton, Grant, and West - and headed straight over.
By the time they arrived, the whiskey and beer Noah had consumed earlier had worn off but it had left him a slightly sleepy. Holding Liz close on the dance floor while a slow ballad played sounded like the perfect way to end an evening out.
There was a disco ball. A disco ball. Loud music and lots of women on the dance floor. There were streamers and horns, as if it was New Year's Eve, and Mallory wore a sparkly tiara that continually caught the rotating lights. There was also a midnight dessert buffet and a huge bucket full of ice and champagne bottles.
When Mallory saw Carter, she raised her arms and grinned with glee. "It's my future lawfully wedded husband."
Carter lifted her up and spun her around. "I couldn't stay away from you, baby."
His bride giggled and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Naturally. Come dance with me."
The ladies didn't seem a bit perturbed that their party had been crashed by a bunch of guys. If anything, they were welcomed with open arms and a rousing cheer. A few of the men took straight to the dance floor including Carter and Trey, showing off whatever moves they had while Easton and Ace went straight for the food.
Liz emerged from the crowded dance floor and linked her arm with his. "I didn't expect to see you here tonight. Did you and the guys get lonely?"
"We did. It's pathetic, I know, but frankly we got tired of playing poker and smoking cigars."
Her cute little nose wrinkled and she gave his shirt a sniff. "I hate the smell of cigars."
"I didn't smoke any but a few of the others did. To be honest, I'm not fond of them, either." He glanced around at the party still in full swing. "Are you having a good time, honey? It looks like Leann pulled out all the stops for this one."
He'd meant it as an idle question but it was easy to see that Liz wasn't comfortable with it. She avoided meeting his gaze, looking everywhere but at him. "She did a great job. The meal was catered and it was excellent. Are you hungry?
There's a dessert buffet. Or I could get you some champagne. Or there's other drinks, too. Are you thirsty?"
He wouldn't have minded a glass of water but now all he wanted was to find out why Liz was acting so strangely. Those few sentences had been spoken so fast it was like they were shot out of cannon.
"Is everything okay? You seem a little out of sorts, honey."
Liz sort of curled in on herself, her handbag pressed against her body. It was then that he realized what was going on. Had she been carrying it around all night?
"Why don't we go somewhere quieter and you can tell me about it, okay?"
She nodded, and he led her down the hall and into a large conference room. The music from the atrium could still be heard along with voices and laughter but they'd at least be able to hear themselves think.
He pulled out a brown leather chair and urged her to sit down, while he did the same, scooting close so their knees were touching. Leaning forward, he captured her hands and tangled their fingers together.
"I see that you've got your purse."
He kept any judgment out of his tone, not wanting her to think that he thought badly of her for doing it. He was simply surprised. Since the news of McGuire's death, she'd seemed so much more carefree and far less nervous and suspicious.
Liz cast a glance down at the purse which was tucked next to her on the chair. "I can explain."
"You don't have to explain anything to me if you don't want to. I'm just concerned, that's all."
Sighing, she let her head fall back against the high-back cushion. "I thought I saw him tonight. It sort of sent me into a tailspin."
Dancing With Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 10) Page 14