“It’s time for your mani/pedi, Mrs. Ward,” the spa attendant said, poking her head into the eucalyptus-scented lounge where Ally was waiting.
Ally’s lips pulled down into a frown. She knew she had no right to be unhappy. Carter may have sent her down there for all the wrong reasons, but at least he hadn’t been stingy.
On one hand, her body had never felt so relaxed in her life. She’d had a massage and a facial. Add to that the time that she’d spent in the sauna and the spa and Ally was pretty sure someone was going to have to roll her back up to her room.
But on the other, her mind refused to slow down. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d already wasted too much time. It wasn’t like she could spend the rest of the day sipping herbal tea and wearing an oversized bathrobe. She had things to do.
Okay, maybe that wasn’t exactly true. She’d accepted Carter’s explanation as to why she shouldn’t reach out to anyone in her life, but that didn’t stop her from being haunted by the feeling that she should be doing something. She should be up there helping, putting together the plans to put Fuller away…anything besides being rubbed and rolled out and pampered.
“You know what,” Ally said, standing up from the overstuffed chair. “I think I’m going to skip it.”
The woman’s brows arched up. “Are you sure, Mrs. Ward? Your husband has already paid for the service.”
Her husband. All day, Ally had struggled to get used to people calling her a name that wasn’t hers. It wasn’t Carter’s either. And he certainly wasn’t her husband.
“I’ll just have to get a rain check then,” Ally said.
The woman sputtered for a moment, before starting to follow Ally toward the locker room. “W-we don’t really do that,” she said.
Ally shrugged her shoulders and kept going, passing through the door before the woman could catch up with her. She figured that the attendant must have taken the hint because she didn’t follow her.
Ally switched out of her robe and into her own clothes as quick as she could. The idea of what secret plans he might be making up there without her was starting to make her brain itch. She needed to be upstairs.
As she walked out of the locker room and past the front counter, Ally spotted the attendant on the phone. The moment their eyes met, the woman cupped her hand over the receiver and turned away.
Maybe it was her clothes. It was one thing fitting in when everyone in the spa were all sitting around in the same fluffy bathrobes sipping tea. It was another when she was walking around the hotel in a ten-year-old sweatshirt with holes in the neckline.
Yeah, she was either going to have to hide out in the hotel room for the rest of her stay here or pick up a T-shirt from the hotel gift shop the next time she poked her head out. But right now, all she wanted to do was get back to the hotel room.
Ally blinked a couple of times when she caught sight of the clock near the bank of elevators. She’d been in the spa for over three hours.
Carter certainly had her number. All he’d had to do was dangle the carrot of relaxation in front of her and she had disappeared for the whole afternoon. Just like he’d wanted her to.
So much for journalistic integrity.
Ally took in a deep breath as she stepped inside the elevator. She was being too hard on herself. Carter wasn’t the focus of her investigation. He was the only thing keeping her alive during it.
It was only natural that her feelings toward him would be complicated.
Except they didn’t feel all that complicated. If anything, they were painfully simple. She was drawn to him. There was no denying it. It was as if there was some invisible force pulling her toward him.
And the name of that force was hormones.
Of course, it didn’t matter how she felt. She was running for her life. She didn’t have the time to worry about jumping a man’s bones.
No matter how hot those bones might be.
Ally had almost convinced herself of that when the elevator doors opened and she stepped into the hallway. Her stride slowed halfway down.
The door of their room was open. It was just a crack, but it was enough to sound every alarm bell in Ally’s head. There was no housekeeping cart outside, no room service trolley, nothing that would account for hotel staff in the room.
Carter had said that he needed to plan with members of his team, but what if something had gone wrong? What if Fuller had discovered their location, or Carter had a mole in his company that had sold them out. Her mind spun with terrible possibilities.
Ally’s heart kicked up. She inched forward, keeping close to the wall, and strained to listen for any sounds coming from inside the room—the faint sound of footsteps or the squeak of metal wheels.
She leaned in closer, but she didn’t hear a sound.
The door flew open before Ally could right herself. She stumbled forward in her shock… right into Carter’s hard chest.
His arms wrapped around her body, steadying her. Red-faced, she looked up.
“If you wanted to cuddle, you just had to say so,” he said.
Ally instantly straightened up. “I saw the door was open. I was…concerned.”
“Understandable.” Carter smiled, slow to release her. “But all is well. I was just coming out to see where you were. The spa said you’d left a few minutes ago.”
Ally’s brows pulled together. “They were reporting my movements to you?”
“That surprises you?”
“So much for trusting me,” she said.
He shook his head. “You, I trust. Others, not so much.”
A metallic clink sounded from inside the hotel room, and Ally’s head snapped to it. “Who’s inside?” she asked. “Is it your team?”
“You could say that.” Carter put his arm around her shoulder. “We were just waiting on you. You’re the missing piece.”
He swung open the door, but instead of finding a welcoming committee comprised of the terrifying men from his office, Ally found herself face to face with a rolling rack of clothes. Dresses, more specifically. The expensive looking kind.
A proud-looking woman was standing next to them. Her eyes widened the moment she caught sight of Ally.
Ally tried giving her a smile, but the woman’s gaze only narrowed as her lips pulled together tighter. So much for first impressions. Maybe she should have stopped in for that T-shirt after all.
She turned to Carter.
“Um…what’s all this?”
He looked down at her. “This is where you get ready for dinner.”
Dinner?
“It’s not even four in the afternoon.”
He shrugged. “I’m told this takes some time.”
Now it was Ally’s turn to be confused. “I’m sorry. What does?”
“Being fitted for a dress,” he said. “Then someone is going to come up and do your hair and makeup.”
Ally’s brows pulled together. “Really?”
“Really.”
“I’m guessing that we’re not ordering room service then?”
A slow smile spread across Carter’s face. “No. We’re not.”
Ally leaned in closer, and dropped her voice down to a whisper. “Is that a good idea?”
“It’ll be fine,” Carter said, laying a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
If he only knew that his touch wasn’t doing anything to calm all those pesky hormones.
Ally turned back to the rack of dresses. They certainly looked nice. And pricey. She was starting to become uncomfortable with how much Carter was spending on her—even if it was under an assumed name. It was far more than Ally could ever hope to pay back.
“Are you sure?” she asked one more time.
“Absolutely,” he said, coming up close behind her. “Don’t you like nice dinners?”
Ally shrugged. The truth was, she did…not that she could remember the last time she’d been in a fancy restaurant. Lately, most of her dinners had been delivered by a guy in an Alfonzo’s Pizza truck.
 
; It wouldn’t hurt to mix it up a little, especially if Carter thought it was safe.
Ally started to flick through the hangers. They were pretty dresses. She looked over at the woman who was standing sentinel next to the rack.
“Who knew you could order a dress from your hotel room?” Ally joked.
The woman let out a small huff as she rolled her eyes.
Everyone but her, apparently.
***