Page 47 of Hurry Up And Wait

She ducked her head in embarrassment, biting her lip. “I’m sorry. I just assumed…I had no idea it was all a trick.”

“That’s the senator for you,” I sighed, letting the paper fall to the desk. “What else did he promise you?”

“Just what’s in the contract,” she murmured. “I thought…I don’t know what I thought,” she chuckled. “I was hoping to start over.”

“Why?”

She shrugged helplessly. “I can’t go home and?—”

Whatever it was, she wasn’t ready to tell me yet. I felt bad for her. The senator had a charming way of pulling people in and getting them to do exactly what he wanted. She didn’t stand a chance. There was obviously something else going on that she wasn’t ready to share, and until she told me, I couldn’t help her.

“You know what? I think I will have that drink.”

I stood from the desk and walked over to where she shifted in the doorway. “Okay.”

Her shy smile had me shaking myself internally. I was a sucker for a woman like this. Shy, intimidated, but still sexy as hell. It’s not that I wanted to date her, but I wanted to protect her from whatever my father had up his sleeve. She was clearly overwhelmed by what was going on.

“Wine?” she asked, walking over to the bar.

I winced. “Don’t you have anything more manly?”

A slight chuckle left her lips as she poured a glass of wine. “And what is more manly?”

“Whiskey, vodka…beer.”

“We don’t have beer, but I think we have some whiskey.”

She bent over, digging through the lower part of the cabinet. I averted my gaze from staring at her ass. As nice as she seemed to be, the Jackie O look really didn’t do it for me.

“Here,” she smiled, holding up the bottle triumphantly. “I don’t know how you take it.”

“In a glass is the best way,” I grinned, walking over to her. She poured and handed me the glass, then picked up her own.

“What shall we drink to?”

“How about being railroaded by the senator?”

Her smile faltered, but she clinked her glass against mine and took a sip. I was just raising my glass to my lips when my phone went off. It was Red.

“Hey, you guys on your way?”

“We’re just getting on the road. We should be there by morning.”

“What the fuck is taking you so long?”

Silence met me for a beat. “There was an explosion.”

“Yeah? Did Edu blow up another building?”

“No, it was at Isla’s house.”

I tensed at his words, the whole room spinning around me for just a second, then crashing to a halt. “What happened?” I asked, immediately going into work mode.

“There was a bomb in her fridge. She was there with Fox when it happened. Luckily, he wasn’t injured.”

“He wasn’t injured,” I repeated. “What happened to Isla?”

“The fridge door was blocking her, so it took the brunt of the explosion, but she was banged up quite a bit.”