Page 88 of Armed ’N’ Ready

“Nick!” Cox yelled from behind them.

Not waiting for the agent to catch up, he and Saxon took the next corner at top speed. He shoved a few paralegals out of his way. Others jumped aside, pressing their backs to the wall as they shot past. “Get in your offices and stay there!” he shouted.

His heart raced as he pounded down the hall. Christ, he should have seen this coming. His gut told him there was no Brian Argyle. Worse, he suspected Meera Devine was the brains behind Argyle Enterprises.

And she’d killed before.

Chapter Twenty

“I can’t believe Meera was part of this the entire time.” Andi stared out the window, watching the window washers on the opposite side of the U-shaped building. “How often has she come into the DPC and talked with us as if we were friends?”

It had been her intention to yell at Joe the minute they were alone, but she was too tired and overwhelmed. The chewing-out she had planned would have to wait until later, after she’d rested up and had more time to process everything.

“I’m sorry.” Before she could stop him, he cupped the side of her face. His hazel eyes were filled with concern, his expression one of utter misery. “Can you ever forgive me for involving you in this mess?”

“What’s done is done.” She tugged his hand from her face, and when he tried to thread his fingers with hers, she pulled away. Hearing about his gambling problem had sucked the wind from her anger, but definitely not eliminated it by any stretch. “I’m still mad as hell at you, but I understand that gambling is an addiction, and I want to help you. I’ll stay with you through this. As long as it takes.” And she meant it.

He reached for her again, but this time she held up her hand. “No, Joe. You misunderstand.” The look of confusion on his face about killed her. This was so not going the way she’d expected. “I only meant I want to help you. I’ll support you any way I can, but—”

“It’s the cop, isn’t it?” The elation on his face had fled. He turned and rested his forearms on the windowsill. “I picked up on it in the other room. Every time I touched you, Sgt. Houston looked like he wanted to rip my heart out. Even his dog doesn’t like me.”

“I’m sorry. I really am.” She laid her hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. “I don’t know what I said or did to make you think otherwise, but you know as well as I do that our romance was over a long time ago. I thought you were okay with that. What’s changed?”

His chest expanded as he took a deep breath. “Being on the run then learning you could have been killed made me rethink things. We were so good together, and I thought we could be again.”

She joined him at the window, nudging his hip with hers. “We were good together, and I have no regrets. But we made the right decision to break up years ago. I think it’s the stress of what’s happening that’s confusing things.”

He began massaging his forehead. “Maybe,” he admitted after a long moment.

“No maybes.” Nick’s handsome face shimmered before her eyes. Even though things were over with him, rekindling a romance with Joe wasn’t in the cards.

“So, what’s with the cop?” He faced her and rested his elbow on the sill.

Now it was her turn to stare out the window. She wasn’t quite sure how to answer his question. “We were…something. Now we’re not. It didn’t go anywhere.”

“You could have fooled me.” He playfully shoulder-bumped her. “There was definitely something sizzling between you two. Pissed me off, but I want you to be happy.”

“Thanks.” She squeezed his hand, giving him a forced smile. “If only that were poss—”

Her cell phone rang, and she dug it out of her purse on the table.

“Hi, Tess,” she said after taking the call. “What’s up?”

“You won’t believe this.” Tess paused, and Andi tensed for more bad news. “Someone just paid all the DPC’s outstanding bills.”

“What do you mean someone paid our bills?” Though Tess couldn’t see, she scrunched up her face. “I didn’t. That isn’t even possible. I don’t have the money.”

“Nick paid them.” Tess laughed. “Every single one.”

“What?” Her mouth fell open. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.” Her bubbly giggle sang through the phone. “I called the produce market to let them know we’d be late paying our tab, and they said it was already paid. A man called in yesterday afternoon and gave them his bank card information. I asked, ‘what man’ and they said Nicholas Houston. Then I called every other one of our vendors, including the dairy farm, the winery, the electrical company, and the water company, to name a few. They all said the same thing—Nick paid the bill.”

“Oh my God.” She stared at the wall as she absorbed Tess’s news.

“Andi?” Joe stood in front of her now, a concerned look on his face. “Is everything all right?”

“That’s over ten thousand dollars,” she whispered. “Why would he do that?”