Meryl Sawyer - Better Off Dead

“All right,” she agreed, but Chad heard a note of reluctance in her voice. “What time do you open?”

“Nine,” Eddie replied. “Since we work weekends, you have Monday and Tuesday off.”

Chad watched the knockout blonde as she filled out the employment forms Eddie had given her. He was standing close enough to get a whiff of some faint lemony scent. Perfume or perhaps shampoo.

What was her story? No wedding ring, but she was a heartbreaker. Chad could spot one a mile off.

Why had she come to Hawaii? In his experience people who relocated to Hawaii were looking for something or wanted to get away from something. They usually went home within the year.

Watching Devon Summers, Chad wondered why she hadn’t applied to one of the big resort hotels or one of the larger wedding coordinators. With her credentials and looks, Devon could land a job anywhere. Why was she applying for a job with a small firm that wouldn’t pay as well as one of the upscale companies?

A thought niggled at the back of his mind. Something about this woman seemed…off. What? Okay, okay, maybe it was visceral warning signals or simply his protective instincts where Eddie was concerned.

“How long have you been in Honolulu?” Chad asked.

“Less than a month.” Devon didn’t dare look up from the form she was filling out, fearing this man would see she was lying.

“Why did you move here?” Eddie asked.

“I’ve always wanted to live here.” She handed Eddie the forms. “Tomorrow, I’ll come a little before nine.”

“Maikai.”

“That means good,” Chad told her.

She gazed at him for a moment, her eyes as unreadable as stone. Man, oh, man. She was one sexy lady and didn’t even seem to realize it.

“What do you do here?” she asked.

“I’m Chad Langston. I don’t work for Eddie.” He offered his hand.

Devon’s instincts told her physical contact with this man was out of the question. She mustered a businesslike smile, but didn’t shake his hand.

“My office is across the courtyard. I—”

“See you tomorrow,” she abruptly told Eddie and headed for the door.

Chad was right behind her. “Later,” he said to Eddie.

“Do you need a ride?” he asked Devon.

“No.” She wanted to get away from his disturbing presence. That’s what she needed.

“I’ll drop by tomorrow to see how you’re doing.”

Devon didn’t dare reply. She walked through the courtyard to the entrance of the building. A shiver of anticipation coursed through her. Why? It must be a reaction to Tyler’s betrayal, she decided. Her subconscious wanted to know if men still found her attractive.

An ice queen, Chad thought. Just his luck. At one point anything in panties had captured his attention.

Must be getting old.

The first woman who’d interested him in a long time was frigid. Give Devon a break. Maybe she’d moved here to put a bad relationship behind her. She could be temporarily off men—or have a boyfriend.

Thanks to three sisters, Chad had a good understanding of how a woman’s mind worked. He got along with women and enjoyed them. He was even willing to go shopping, although that was a stretch.

He watched Devon disappear. He wanted to kiss her until she was breathless and begging for more. Hell, what he really wanted was to whisk her away to his place and peel that sundress off her.

Heat pooled in his groin. Chad silently cursed himself for thinking with his dick. Like a siren, Devon called to him, urging him to come closer…and be destroyed.

DEVON RUSHED OUT of the building, anxious to escape Chad Langston, but she paused to check the street. There were a few people, but none of them looked familiar. She hadn’t been followed.

She should have turned down the job because she found Chad attractive, but she quite literally couldn’t afford to. She’d been offered lots of jobs, but none of them met her requirements should she need to escape.

Chad Langston. Quite a hunk. Tall, sun-streaked chestnut-brown hair, blue eyes and a body to die for. No man had the right to possess so much masculine virility. He seemed to know it, she decided, remembering the aggressive boldness in his gaze.

She would just have to give him the deep freeze until he got the message. No matter how sexy the ripped bod or how adorable his smile, Devon did not need a man in her life. But she had to admit his long sensual look, as close to a caress as you could get without touching, had triggered a bittersweet sensation.

She hadn’t experienced anything like it for well over a year, when she’d been forced to leave Tyler behind in Houston. She’d immediately recognized the telltale gleam in Chad’s eyes for what it was—lust.

What had stunned her was her own reaction. She had been too long without a man, but she couldn’t afford to get too close to anyone. The last man to help her had paid with his life.

Over and over at odd, unexpected times, she kept seeing herself closing Romero’s eyes. Until we meet again, may God keep you in the palm of His hand.

The weight of the loss, realizing she would never see Romero again swept through her. Where would she be if not for him? Even more lost and lonely than she’d been.

Guilt had a stranglehold on her emotions. The hit team had killed something vital inside her when they’d murdered Romero. Problem was, she hadn’t died yet.

Death was terrifyingly final. Knowing she’d caused his murder brought the blur of unfallen tears to her eyes. No more star-filled nights for Romero, no more artists to discover, no more walks through the historic plaza. No more anything.

She forced herself to hit the speed dial on her cell phone and called Warren. “I got the job. I don’t think they checked my references.”

“Doesn’t matter. They’re backstopped.”

From her first relocation, she knew phony credentials and references were fixed so that if they were checked, they would appear to be legitimate.

“Problem is I need to become an expert at planning a wedding by tomorrow morning.”

“Try the Internet.”

“I plan to.” She hesitated a moment before asking, “Has Masterson given the okay to call my sister yet?”

“No. I’ll let you know when he does.”

“Any word on selling my condo or the gallery?”

“Like I’ve told you before, Lindsey Wallace is wanted for murder. WITSEC can’t just quietly sell your assets without attracting attention.” He hung up without saying goodbye.

Warren was not a warm fuzzy guy. When Derek had been her handler, he had been much more helpful. She supposed Warren thought she knew the ropes since she’d already been relocated once.

This time she had to take the WITSEC stipend until her assets in Santa Fe could be sold and the money transferred. Meanwhile, like most other WITSEC witnesses, she had to live on the cash her handler doled out and establish credit on her own. Until she had an income stream, she had to live in an apartment the size of a broom closet.

The need for cash and the office’s setup with a back door and two escape routes made Devon take the job at Aloha. Otherwise, she told herself, she would have steered clear of pushy Chad Langston. For a moment she wondered if she should have told her handler about him. No way, she decided. Warren would have made her look for another job. Except for Chad, this office was perfect.

She climbed into the temperamental Toyota that Warren had helped her buy. The rattletrap car was rusted, a common occurrence in Hawaii, and probably wouldn’t last another year, but for now it was all she could afford.

Chad Langston drifted into her mind. His office was just across the courtyard. I’ll drop by tomorrow to see how you’re doing.

Oh, no, you won’t.