It Takes Two (13 page)

He had no idea what to say to that.

She was right. There were lots of other girls out there. Girls like Candy, his stripper ex-girlfriend. And a month or two into their relationship, finding another girl might have been his solution if he’d known about this. Not that he wasn’t sympathetic to her condition, but the idea of them making this work long term when comparing their lifestyles seemed ridiculous.

But by month three he’d been in love.

He’d never been in love before.

Candy had been a lot of fun. So had Tracie and Steph and Lila. Tracie had never met a dare she wouldn’t take, Steph had never met a situation that could intimidate her and Lila had never met a rule she wasn’t willing to break.

But he hadn’t fallen for any of them.

He’d fallen for Isabelle.

And the things he liked to do, the way he liked to live with the noise and the people and the constant activity were the things that triggered her symptoms.

Of course, he wasn’t always going to be the guy closing down the bar. He didn’t
want
to always be the guy closing down the bar. He knew that someday the parties at the bar would transition to barbecues at home and he was fine with that. While Conner and Cody manned the grill, Shane would be on the Slip ’N Slide with the kids.

But even when he settled down, there wouldn’t be much settling. He wanted a ton of kids. He fully intended to adopt a bunch. He intended to learn to skydive and to own a jet ski. He knew he would always want a high-energy, active, crazy, loud, full life.

But he wanted it with a woman who needed a lot less of…all of that.

Fuck.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Shane said, sliding out of the booth. He started toward the restrooms, then turned back, leaned in and kissed her. “Thank you for telling me.”

Chapter Five

Isabelle sighed as he walked away. It felt good that he knew. Right that he knew, somehow. They’d known each other for eight months. She’d been in love with him for almost four of those. She’d known pretty early on that he was exactly the kind of guy she should avoid. She needed someone more laid back, someone who didn’t go full steam ahead twenty-four-seven. But she hadn’t been able to resist. And then it was too late—she’d fallen for him. It had felt like it was overnight. One day she was thinking that he was fun and funny and a ball of energy that she enjoyed being around and the next she’d realized she was in love with who he was and the things he did and how he made her feel.

She’d cried that day.

Not the reaction a woman was supposed to have to falling in love, for sure. But she’d known she wasn’t the girl Shane needed long term.

Her family doctor had confirmed that she wasn’t bipolar. It wasn’t a psychological condition. It was physical. The doctor had suspected fibromyalgia, but had recommended she talk to a rheumatologist about how to best manage it. When she’d finally gotten to the day of her appointment with the specialist, she’d almost called to cancel. After months of frustration with the highs and lows of her condition and the limitations she was starting to feel more and more, she’d sat in the parking lot to Dr. Raymond’s office, scared to go in. Because once he confirmed that she had
something
that was causing her to feel like this she was going to have to admit to herself that the limitations were real and chronic.

After he’d told her that yes, it was fibromyalgia, she’d cried again. Not so much about the pain. That she was going to do everything she could to manage. But because it meant she’d never be able to completely keep up with Emma or Shane. She’d hold them back from their fun, she’d have to bow out of trips at times, she’d have to call it an early night more often than not.

They’d either cut back with her or they’d go on without her.

Both options sucked.

Isabelle trailed her fork through the now-cold enchilada sauce on her plate.

“Harris is in the maroon SUV over your left shoulder.”

Her head came up, her thoughts about her fibro and all the things it had ruined fled as she realized that a strange man sat across from her in the booth.

“Excuse me?” she asked.

He was dressed in a light blue button-up shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He was blond and looked to be in his mid-forties. He had kind eyes.

“Harris is here, but he’s following me. He doesn’t know I’m handing the pendant off to you.”

He handed her a small package wrapped in white tissue paper.

“The pendant?” The
pendant
? Now? The spy adventure was going to start now? How did they know she and Shane were at this restaurant? She looked around but didn’t recognize anyone else in the place.

Of course… The realization came to her and she groaned inwardly. She’d left a list of the stops next to her computer at home. Where Emma could easily find it. And give it to some strange people who ran a spy adventure company. If she and Shane were going to be given missions along the way, surely the people orchestrating the adventure had to know where they were going to be and when. The people from Big Time must have followed her and Shane from the Corn Palace.

That wasn’t creepy at all.

“What do I do now?” she asked.

The man looked around then leaned in. “You’re Isabelle Dixon, right?”

“Yes.”

“Did you get the text?”

“The…” She pulled her phone out of the outside pocket on her purse. “I had the sound turned down.” She touched the message icon. Sure enough, she had another mission message.
You’ll receive the package from a man in blue. He’ll give you further instructions.

She looked up at him. “Guess I did. Sorry.”

The guy smiled. “I was supposed to give it to you at the Corn Palace, but then you made that big mess and I didn’t have a chance to pull you aside.”

Isabelle grimaced. “Sorry. So now what?”

“We have to deliver that to the drop site by midnight.” He pointed to the package she held. “And keep it away from Harris.”

Isabelle leaned in closer and whispered, “Are you a player in the spy game too or do you work for the company?” Maybe he’d signed up for an adventure too and they were somehow teamed up.

He grinned and shook his head. “I can’t tell you that,” he whispered.

She sat back and regarded him. “All right. I’m in. Where’s the drop site?”

“You’ll get directions later. But remember, Harris’s objective is to take it from you. If he gets to the drop site with it first, you lose.”

Isabelle couldn’t help her grin. This sounded like more fun than spending the drive listening to audiobooks.

“Who’s Harris?”

“That guy.” He pointed out the window. “The woman is his handler.”

Isabelle turned to look. There was a maroon SUV parked at the curb across the street from the restaurant. The people inside were barely visible, but it looked like a man behind the wheel and a woman in the passenger seat.

“What’s a handler?”

He grinned again. “It’s what I am for you. I’ve got your back if anything happens.”

She smiled back. “And who are you?”

He winked. “Call me Bradley.”

Before she could ask him anything further, he slid out of the booth and headed for the front door.

Shane appeared back at the table as Bradley pushed the front glass door open.

All right, she’d told Shane about the fibro. They’d started that conversation. And he was clearly as shaken by it as Emma had been. Isabelle realized that she should take Emma’s advice here—she and Shane were a lot alike. If Emma thought this spy game would make this trip easier on Shane, Isabelle would sell it. Her acting job over the past few months had been harder than acting like she believed this whole pendant thing.

“Oh my god!” she told Shane. “You just missed it.”

“What?” he asked as he slid into the booth.

“This guy was just here,” she said, not needing to try to infuse her voice with enthusiasm. The excitement was real. “His name is Bradley and he gave me this package.” She held up the tissue-wrapped pendant. “He said I’m supposed to take it to a drop site by midnight. Then he got up and ran out.”

Shane just stared at her.

“Shane?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

She shook the package. “This. He just gave it to me, told me. He’s going to send further instructions later. And we have to keep it away from that guy.” She pointed out the window at the SUV.

“That makes no sense,” Shane said with a frown.

Bradley appeared at the street corner. “There!” Isabelle exclaimed. “That’s him.”

“Maybe I’ll go—”

But before Shane could complete his sentence, the man in the SUV got out and started toward Bradley. Bradley turned and started running down the sidewalk that ran beside the restaurant. The man, dressed in blue jeans, a T-shirt and a cap—like every other citizen and tourist in Mitchell, South Dakota—ran after him.

They thundered past the window and Isabelle turned to Shane. “We should get out of here. We have to get it to the drop site by midnight.”

“No!” He was looking at her like she was nuts. “Absolutely not.”

“But—” She thought fast. He was right, it was nuts. “I have it now. What am I going to do with it?”

“The guy’s a complete stranger, Isabelle. We’re not going to do anything with it.” Shane shook his head, clearly baffled. “Why would this guy give it to
you
? He must have mistaken you for someone else.”

That was a good question for him to ask. Dammit. “To throw the guys chasing him off?” she suggested.

“That doesn’t make any sense. These guys could be dangerous.”

Isabelle thought fast. “Maybe he knows you’re a cop.”

Shane frowned, obviously not convinced. “Let’s see this thing.”

She unwrapped the tissue paper and held up the necklace.

The silver dragon swung from a silver chain. It was about two inches tall and an inch wide with glittering jewels for eyes and a trail of gems running from the top of its head to the tip of the tail that curled up next to its back haunch.

Shane reached out and took the pendant from her fingers. He snapped two photos with his phone, then handed it back to her. “I’m going to send this to Michael. See if he can find anything about it being stolen or how much it’s worth or even where it belongs.”

She watched him type in a message. “Michael works for the Omaha PD?” That could ruin the whole thing. The police would figure out this was an adventure game and fill Shane in before they really had any fun with it.

He shook his head as he hit send. “Michael Sullivan.”

“Nate’s son?” Oh, that was different. Maybe.

Shane nodded. “Yeah. He helps me out with research once in a while.”

“No kidding.” Michael was seventeen and a great kid. Nate had raised him as a single father and they were very close. But Nate was pretty protective. “Does Nate know?”

Shane shrugged. “It’s all online research and it’s always unofficial. He finds stuff for me that helps fill in holes or that gives me some needed knowledge when I’m going after something. He’s a computer and research whiz. He loves it.”

Isabelle tipped her head to the side. “That doesn’t answer my question. Does Nate know?”

Shane smiled. “Well,
I
haven’t told him. I don’t know if Michael’s shared anything with his dad or not. Not my business.”

“It’s nothing that could get traced back to him or get him into trouble?”

Shane sighed. “Iz, he plugs stuff into the internet. Period. He’s not hacking high-level government sites.” Shane frowned slightly. “I don’t think.”

“Shane,” Isabelle started.

He chuckled. “Geez, give me some credit. I wouldn’t use the kid if it was somehow going to be bad for him.”

“Yeah, okay, I know.”

Shane glanced at his phone. “Michael says it’s going to take him a little time.”

“Okay, well, let’s head out. We have to keep this away from Harris until we know more.” She started to slide out of the booth.

Shane clamped a hand on her wrist. “Are you crazy?”

“What?”

“We don’t know this Bradley guy. He probably stole that thing. If you carry it for him, that makes you an accomplice. We’re taking this to the police.”

Okay, well that wasn’t exactly according to plan.

Their attention was pulled to the window as a figure walked by. It was the man from the SUV. Harris. He stopped just past the window, then turned to look more fully at them. And right at the dragon pendant Isabelle still held in her hand.

The guy was big. And…brawny. That was the best word. He reminded her of a lumberjack in his blue jeans and plaid shirt. He was hairy, wide through the chest, as tall as Shane and only a few pounds lighter. It wasn’t all muscle in Harris’s case, but there was definitely something intimidating about him. Especially when he frowned, pointed a thick finger at her and mouthed
Don’t move
.

Harris started for the front of the restaurant.

“Shit,” Shane muttered before he sprang to his feet, tossed money onto the table and yanked on Isabelle’s arm. “I’m not in the mood to make a new friend. Let’s go.”