“Positive. I want to tie up a few loose ends before I head out anyway. I’ll order takeout instead and bring home the leftovers for you in case you’re hungry when you get in.”
“Thank you.” Carys pulled her into a quick, warm hug. “I’ll see you later, then. And when we do go out to celebrate, it’s my treat. Deal?”
Jordana nodded. “Okay. It’s a deal.”
She went back to work as Carys gathered her things and left the museum. Two hours later, Jordana had finished the signage map for the exhibit and eaten half a container of veggie pad Thai, stowing the rest in the department refrigerator down the hall. The museum was quiet, everyone but her and the twenty-four-hour security guard on post in the lobby having long since left the building.
Jordana saved the signage map on her computer and sent a copy to Carys’s tablet for the morning. She got up to stretch her legs and walk to the restroom before she would have to make the drive home across town. When she returned to her desk, she had a voicemail from Elliott.
He didn’t sound happy that she was working late again. “Apparently, I’ve missed you most of the day, darling. Did you get the message I left on your mobile a few hours ago?”
Shit. She’d been so busy, she hadn’t bothered to check the damn thing.
“I want you to call me as soon as you get home tonight, Jordana. I want to know that you’re safe.” He cleared his throat, and she thought she heard irritation in his tone. “When I didn’t hear from you today, I called your building and spoke with Seamus. Maybe you can tell me how it is that I had to find out from your doorman that Carys Chase has moved into your apart—”
Jordana disconnected from the message on a furious curse. What the hell was Elliott doing checking up on her behind her back?
She was half tempted to return his call right now and ask him that herself. But she knew if she did, she might also say something she could never take back.
Angry now, she deleted the voicemail and closed up her office for the night.
She took the elevator down to the lobby, said good-bye to Lou behind the reception desk, and walked out to the parking lot.
Hers was the only vehicle there, the pale silver compact car gleaming under the overhead lamps at the far end of the pavement. Jordana got halfway across the lot before she remembered the Thai food in the refrigerator upstairs.
“Dammit.”
She turned to go back and froze. A pair of eyes was trained on her in the dark; she could feel it.
There—a shadow near the building.
It skulked away quickly when she peered in its direction, though not soon enough to escape her notice. Someone was there, watching her. Waiting for her?
The hairs on her nape rose in a wave. Fear shot down her spine like a cold electrical current. Her heart raced, palms going damp.
Someone was there.
Hiding, but not gone.
Watching her, even now.
Who was it?
What did they want?
She wasn’t about to go back to the building and find out. Carys’s leftovers weren’t going anywhere tonight.
As for Jordana, the idea of going home alone to an empty apartment while her pulse was still jackhammering in fear didn’t sound very appealing. Of course, she could always call Elliott. He’d come over in a moment’s notice if she asked it of him. But she didn’t want Elliott.
The sad fact was, she never had wanted him.
And he deserved to know that.
But that was a problem she’d have to deal with soon enough.
Right now, Jordana just wanted to make it to her vehicle in one piece. She needed to go somewhere public, somewhere she knew she’d be safe among friends.
She hurried across the dark pavement and hopped in her car, then peeled out of the parking lot.