The Unforgettable Ex (Captured by Love Book 5) (Volume 5) (6 page)

How unfortunate that Austin had witnessed parts of his altercation with Leo a week ago. Worse, the man would have surely noticed him caressing Natasha’s cheek. If only he’d had the opportunity to put a spin on his affectionate gesture then and there. But Austin had finished his cigarette and had gone back to work, and justifying his actions to the man he’d just met would have been too suspicious.

He was still beating himself up for having done something so stupid. Not that stroking any part of Tash was ever stupid, but how the hell could he have forgotten they were out in public?

Because she was looking at you like she used to when you were still together.

His heart expanded at the memory as warmth and desire travelled throughout his body. Ah, the Natasha Effect. It was still as potent as ever.

But why had she looked at him like that? He’d been mulling over that question for days and couldn’t decide on an answer. Was she just grateful that he’d been around to help her get rid of Leo? It seemed to be more than that, but maybe that was just his heart being foolish.

He shook his head surreptitiously, ordering himself to focus on the task at hand. If he wanted Natasha to remain outside of Biggs’ radar, right now he had to concentrate on Molly, who was grinning happily at him behind the bar. Austin wasn’t far away, and had also noticed his arrival.

Showtime again.

“Hi, babe,” he said. “Are you ready to go?”

“Only if those are for me,” Molly said, indicating the flowers.

“Who else would they be for?”

Molly let out a little giggle. “Can you give me a few minutes? I want to get out of this uniform first.”

“Sure. Then you can give me a hello kiss when you come back.”

“Of course, handsome.”

He made sure he had on an adoring look as he watched Molly disappear through a door at the far side of the bar.

“Nice touch,” Austin said as he wiped the counter.

“What, these?” he asked with a grin as he smelled the roses.

Austin winked. “Making up for something, are you?”

He exhaled heavily. “I hope you haven’t mentioned to Molly what you saw outside last week.”

“Hey, it’s none of my business. I have to say, though, that you have very good taste in women. Two beautiful ones.”

He smiled dryly. “The girl from last week is just a friend who was trying to extricate herself from a bad date. She asked me to pretend that we liked each other so the other guy would give up on her.”

“Oh, really? You guys played it well. Your eye-to-eye contact was smokin’ and you looked so in love with each other. Even I was fooled.”

His heart lurched and he could feel his face turn red. Damn it. “That’s good, then,” he said with nonchalance he didn’t feel. “Hopefully my friend’s date was fooled. But I still don’t want Molly to know in case she gets too jealous. You know how it is.”

“No problem. My lips are sealed,” Austin said with a half-smirk. “Hey, maybe you can introduce me to that stunning friend of yours. She was very attractive.”

Hell no!
“I think she’s giving up men for a while,” he said with a genuine-sounding laugh. “But I’ll ask her if she’d be interested in a blind date.”

“Yeah, that would be good,” Austin said, looking pleased.

Fuck. There was no way he’d let Austin get his grubby hands on his Tash.

“So where are you and Molly off to tonight?”

“Just going back to my place,” he said with a grin. “Next weekend, though, we’re having a romantic getaway at this cottage in Berry.”

“Wow. You two are getting serious, hey?”

“Yup. I actually rented the cottage from next Friday for Molly’s day off. She’s been working two jobs for a while now and I thought she could use one day all to herself to recharge her batteries. So she’ll go there before me next Friday, then I’ll join her on Saturday. And I’ve booked a massage, manicure, pedicure, facial and a couple of other things for her because I have to sneak out and to do some work for a couple of hours on both Saturday and Sunday. I thought she’d get mad when I told her I’ll need to work on our romantic weekend, but she was ecstatic at what I’d planned.”

“So you’re totally back in her good books, I see.”

“Yeah,” he said with a laugh.

“So where exactly is this cottage?” Austin asked casually. “It’s always good to have an idea where to go for romantic getaways.”

He was more than happy to give Austin the details, and painted a picture of how out of sight the cottage was from the road and how far it was to its nearest neighbour. Hopefully, those would be enough for the perps to act on whatever criminal activity they’d planned against Molly. The authorities would be watching them every step of the way.

*****

“
Nice digs.”

“Thanks,” Gavin said as he showed Molly around his penthouse in the Sydney harbourside suburb of McMahons Point.

“Maybe I should quit my police job and set up a private investigation agency,” Molly joked.

“Would you think less of me if I said that I bought this place using my inheritance money from my grandfather?”

“Drats,” Molly said, making a face. “And I thought I’d found the best career path to take.”

He laughed. While he’d only been able to afford this apartment because of the substantial sum his grandfather had willed to him six years ago, he was making more than enough now to buy another one of these if he wanted to. But he loved this place, just like he loved his work, even though he could close his company and still be comfortable just from his investment income. He had a knack for investing—and he was lucky to have had the capital.

Molly’s phone chimed with a text message. “My brother’s annoyed at me for only texting him a few minutes ago that he can now come and pick me up. I hope he doesn’t get grumpier when I meet him downstairs and he doesn’t recognise me instantly. He hasn’t seen me wear the new wig and eyeglasses I’ll be putting on before I leave here.”

“Well, we can’t have the perps catching my so-called girlfriend leaving my apartment and getting in a car with another man,” he quipped.

“I should just have called for a cab,” Molly said with a sigh. “Then Ryan wouldn’t have to leave Dad’s birthday party just to pick me up. But my mother has insisted on it to make sure I get to celebrate with them even for just a few hours—well, an hour at most, I guess, considering the time now.”

He gave her a wry smile. “Thanks for doing this, Molly. Sorry you missed a good chunk of your dad’s birthday celebrations.”

Molly shrugged. “It’s my job. Anyway, as you know, I’m going back to uniform soon. This kind of undercover work just puts too much strain on my personal relationships. I’m sick of not being able to keep a boyfriend because I can’t tell them everything they want to know.”

“Yeah,” he said with sympathy just as his work mobile phone rang. “Sorry, I have to get this. It’s one of my investigators working on an important case. I might take a few minutes, so feel free to turn the TV on and grab whatever you want from the fridge.” He went to his home office to take the call in private.

The news from his employee was good and he was finished with the conversation in five minutes. He left his study and heard Molly talking to someone through the intercom security video.

“Are you sure? He won’t be too long,” Molly was saying.

“Yes, thanks. I’ll catch him later,” was the response.

Tash!

He hurried to the intercom, but Molly had already said goodbye.

“What did she say?” he asked, his heart galloping in his chest.

“So that was really Carter’s sister? I told her you were on the phone in your study and wouldn’t be long. I didn’t want to invite her in, in case she wasn’t who she said she was. Anyway, she said she was in the vicinity and wanted to say hello to you. She seemed surprised to see me here, but I didn’t explain who I was.”

His heart stopped for a beat before racing faster. Damn it. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled Natasha’s number.

“Everything okay?” Molly asked with concern.

“The friend I told you about that Austin saw me being sweet with last week? That was her.”

Molly’s eyes rounded. “Carter’s sister?”

He nodded.
Pick up, Tash.

“Hello,” Natasha said.

He let out his breath. “Hi. Sorry I missed you.”

“No worries. I was just passing by.”

He heard the flatness in her voice and it tugged at his heart, just as hope flared. Was she jealous?

“I should have called first,” she added.

“Are you by yourself?”

“Yes. I had dinner at Marilyn’s place and since I’m in the area, I thought I’d say hello. But I see you have company, so... have a goodnight.”

“Hey, Tash—” He paused, not knowing how to explain Molly to her. Well, even if he did, he couldn’t. Not until Biggs was caught.

“Yes?” Natasha responded.

“Are you in your car already?”

“Just getting in. Why?”

“Be careful.”

She snickered dryly. “I don’t see any sign of Leo. I’ll be fine. Bye.”

He squeezed his eyes shut as the line went dead. Tash obviously wasn’t happy. And he’d have to call her in fifteen minutes to make sure she got home safe or he’d worry all night.

“You couldn’t tell her,” Molly said softly.

He shook his head sadly.

“Well, hopefully Austin took the bait and reported to Biggs that I’d be at a particular location on Friday all by myself. We might be close to capturing Biggs and some of his cohorts.”

“That’s what we’ve been saying for the last five years,” he said with a heavy exhale.

“So what happens if it takes another five years before we catch Biggs? You’re gonna keep on pushing Natasha away?”

He rubbed his face with his hands. “Do I have a choice? I won’t risk her safety just to see if Biggs makes good on his threat. Besides, Carter would never let me, and rightly so.”

“Oh, Gavin. Let’s hope that this weekend is the end of the line for Biggs.”

“Yeah.”

He didn’t know how it had happened, but all of a sudden, the coping mechanisms he’d developed to keep his feelings for Natasha at bay had snapped. Now, more than ever, he was having a hard time hiding his emotions. Maybe because he was indeed excited about the real possibility that Biggs would be caught soon. But he should rein in his heart. He couldn’t afford to slip up now when he’d done so well for so long.

But, damn, he couldn’t wait for the time when he’d be free to show Tash how much he still cared, especially when her recent actions had given life to the hope that he’d been smothering for years.

N
atasha shut the car door with a bang and stared straight ahead, wiping away the tears that she couldn’t hold back.

She’d been wrong and Cassie had been wrong. Gavin cared, but not in the way she’d hoped. How could that be disputed when his new girlfriend was with him right this moment? What was her name again? Molly? She was pretty.

“Don’t think!” she muttered, another tear falling despite her best efforts. With angry movements, she started the engine and drove off.

Would Molly stay the night at Gavin’s? Considering it was past eleven, she probably would.

Was Gavin already in love with that woman?

“For heaven’s sake, Natasha! Stop it!”

She turned on the radio. One of her favourite tunes was playing and she sang along, pushing all thoughts from her head apart from focusing on her driving. Then the next song played and she quickly switched off the music, preferring the silence to listening to words of love and loss. But her eyes kept misting anyway. Damn it!

Suddenly, she couldn’t bear the thought of going home to an empty apartment. Not when she knew Gavin was not alone tonight.

Would Marilyn mind if she took more of her time? She’d really love a shoulder to cry on.

She made an abrupt left turn to drive back to Marilyn’s place, checking her mirrors belatedly. Fortunately, being in a residential area, the streets were practically empty at this time of the night. She only noticed one pair of headlights and, if she wasn’t mistaken, it was from a car that had been driving behind her for some time now.

Hearing a mild screech behind her, she glanced at her rear-view mirror. Was that same car going this way too? What a coincidence.

She frowned as the car lagged behind again at a certain distance. After being in a hurry to turn, it was strange that the driver would slow down to her speed, which was slower than the limit considering she’d been busy sniffing and wiping away her tears.

She made a right turn, instinct making her watch to see if the other car would turn too. Her heart thumped hard in her chest when it did. Was the driver following her?

Keeping her speed constant, she made a random turn as if she was leisurely driving home. And there it was again, the same pair of headlights. What were the chances that this car was indeed going the same way as her? She turned again, heading back to a street she was previously on.

Darn. It did look like she was being followed. But why?

What if this man—or woman—was somehow involved in whatever case Gavin was working on and had tailed her after she’d tried to call on Gavin? She’d heard enough safety warnings from Carter and Gavin over the years to not take this lightly.

She grabbed her phone from the passenger seat and hovered her thumb on Carter’s number. Her brother would know what to do.

But... if whoever was following her was doing it because they thought she was Gavin’s friend, then it was Gavin who had to know.

She exhaled in a gush and dialled Gavin’s number, her breathing shallowing.

“Tash!” Gavin sounded pleasantly surprised.

“Hi, listen, I’m sorry to be bothering you, and I could be totally wrong about this, but I thought you should know in case it’s something really important,” she said in one breath.

“What’s wrong?”

“I think I’m being followed from when I left your place.”

“What?” he asked in alarm.

“I was driving slowly and I was turning and turning and the car’s still there behind me. Should I speed up? But I don’t know if I can drive fast enough to lose him.” She was trying not to sound freaked out, but her voice still came out high-pitched.