Fool Me Once (First Wives #1)

“Which has put her in danger?”

Lori moved around a family who had stopped in the middle of the walk lane to discipline a child.

“Yes. But Blake has always had an exceptional security team.”

“The same guys that are at your place?”

“Yep. Neil, that’s the name of the man who runs the whole thing, he’s quite the roadblock. He served in the Marines.”

“Like Cooper.”

“Right. He recruits a lot of guys from the service. Men who didn’t want to make a career out of the service but still like the adrenaline of the job.”

“I would imagine babysitting adults would still get boring after a while,” Reed said.

They stepped onto a people mover and stopped walking. “Except Neil’s team has an impressive list of clients.”

Reed stepped aside as two people rushed by.

“How impressive?” Reed waited for the name-dropping.

“Movie stars, politicians. Eliza Billings is Sam’s best friend.”

“Billings . . . why does that sound familiar?”

“Carter Billings is Eliza’s husband.”

The skin on his arms prickled. “The former governor.”

“That would be him.”

All his time in front of the computer in the past week couldn’t trump the information he’d managed to obtain while walking through an airport.

They stepped off the people mover and continued toward their gate.

“I guess you can say Sam has witnessed enough crazy to assume that crazy always happens. And since Petrov is a wealthy man scorned and looking for a scapegoat, I’m saddled with bodyguards and alarm systems.”

Reed placed a hand on the small of her back and ushered her through the first-class lounge of the airline they were using. “It’s better to be safe than sorry, as they say.”

Lori found a table for two that looked out over the tarmac. “For what it’s worth. But look . . . here we are in an airport, and no one is trying to take me out.”

She made light of it, but Reed felt the weight of her words.

“Can you get me a glass of champagne?” she asked. “I need to make a quick call.”

He didn’t bother sitting, instead moved to the full-service bar free for members. “Two glasses of champagne, please.”

The bartender turned to fill the glasses.

Reed sensed eyes watching him.

He turned his head slowly, toward the heat.

Dark hair, dark skin, massive sunglasses, and red lips.

Sasha.




Lori didn’t expect Reed to take his position of stand-in bodyguard so seriously. But apparently he liked channeling his inner superhero. He looked over his shoulder more than Cooper had when he’d gone with her to the supermarket. Only Cooper had suggested she shop online and have her bread and milk delivered. Which she promptly refused to do.

She took the window seat in the first-class cabin, and still Reed scanned the crowd as they boarded the plane.

“If you ever get bored with that data processing thing, maybe Neil can use you,” Lori teased.

He lowered his voice, put his lips to her ear. “I have one job right now.”

She grinned. He sounded so serious. “There isn’t enough privacy on a commercial flight for that.”

There was his smile. “Careful . . . that sounds like a challenge.”

“Outside of my wheelhouse, Reed.”

“That sounds like a fun wheelhouse.”

Her body warmed at the thought of him doing anything intimate while on a crowded plane.

She crossed her legs, ignored the heat pooling in her belly. She leaned in, whispered in his ear, “I think sex on an airplane is a little more distracting than a glass of wine.”

“You on an airplane wiggling your tiny ass in that chair is distraction enough,” he told her.

She suddenly had a strong desire to request a blanket and see just how distracted she could make him.

Reed stared, eyes wide, as if reading her mind.

He leaned close to her ear, but instead of whispering, he bit the tender lobe.

Not meaning to, she crossed her legs a second time. Lori made a mental note to take Sam up on the use of her private jet at her earliest convenience. The man had a way of turning her hormones into overdrive.

She liked this part . . . when a man was still playful and easily turned on. Where the conversation flowed and discovering each other met with genuine concern.

The flight attendant returned with her wine, which she happily tipped back.

The relationship with Reed was working out well. Almost too well. At the risk of jinxing anything, she wondered how long things could last. Would he get tired of her lifestyle or playing bodyguard? Not that she’d need one for long.

“See, I didn’t need a bodyguard.”

Reed looked over his shoulder.

She followed his gaze but only saw the tops of passengers’ heads.

“You never know who is watching you,” he told her.

“Ruslan’s men are hard to miss.”

“He could have sent a woman after you,” he muttered.

Lori laughed, looked around again. She noticed a middle-aged housewifeish woman, another one in her seventies, and two women who looked like they were in college. That was the extent of the first-class passengers. Beyond the curtain that separated the cabins, Lori couldn’t see. “I think I’m safe.”

Reed’s expression shifted for a second. “I think your friends are right about keeping your guard up.”

“Oh? Why do you think that?”

“Because I looked up your dear friend Mr. Petrov, remember?”

“Ah, you do care.”

He leaned back, the line in his jaw hardened. “Did you think I didn’t?”

Oh, wow . . . she’d hurt him. “I was just teasing.”

“Of course I care, Lori.”

She reached over and clasped his palm in hers. “I kinda like you a little bit, too.”

He squeezed her hand, the expression on his face softened.





Chapter Twenty-One




Humidity hit them as soon as they exited the airport. “I could never live here,” Lori muttered as Reed placed their luggage in the back of the rental car.

“I spent a summer here when I was a kid, swore I’d never do it again,” he said, keeping small talk going while he kept an eye on the people walking around.

Sasha had walked right through first class before sneaking just out of the first cabin and settling two rows back in coach. The back of Reed’s head burned the entire flight.

Lori slid into the passenger seat, and he took one more look around before taking the wheel.

“If it wasn’t so hot, I wouldn’t mind traveling here more often. The people seem to take life a little easier.”

“Nothing slows down in LA.”

She pulled her shirt away from her chest a few times, and he twisted the fan on high. “Okay, copilot. Where am I going?” Reed asked.

“The hotel. I’ll touch base with Trina, and then we have dinner with Alice’s sisters. Tomorrow we face the board.”

Reed removed his phone and looked up the address of the hotel. “Might as well relax, it’s going to take us close to an hour to get there.”

Lori placed her purse in the back seat and relaxed. “Gotta love Texas.”