However, Kathryn didn’t seem to care or to be currently struggling with his internal dilemma. She took advantage of his pause to untangle her hand from his.
“Come on, Mr. Bodyguard, let’s see if you can multitask.”
Then she darted toward the back corner of the store and was at the common area doors before he’d even had time to process how the absence of her hand left his cold.
* * *
KATE WASN’T SURE what had come over her. Maybe it was belated excitement at being so close to the convention, a giant step toward realizing a goal she’d striven toward for as long as she could remember. Or maybe it was years of being cooped up in a lab finally catching up to her that had created the sudden desire to be playful. Or maybe it was the handsome, dark-haired man who had a backstory that tugged at her heartstrings, taking him from a man who was annoying to surprisingly human. Like his picture, the man definitely wasn’t of the stock variety.
Kate pushed into the common area of the minimall with a grin from ear to ear. Whatever had made this mood crop up, she was still enjoying it.
“Kathryn,” Jonathan called from behind. She cast him a quick glance, noting he wasn’t sharing in her mirth, but kept going.
The common area had a good number of people bustling down the hall before turning into different chain stores. Kate passed a shoe store and an electronics boutique before hitting a pocket of air that smelled so delicious it grabbed her full attention. She whipped her head upward to look at the second story. Her full stomach batted the thoughts of cookies out of her head, but the escalator leading up to them made her turn on the spot. She gave her bodyguard another grin that she felt in her bones was as mischievous as she could muster and didn’t stop as she walked up the escalator.
“Kathryn,” he said again, warning her. But, really, what was he going to do? He wasn’t her father. He wasn’t her boss. He wasn’t her funder.
He definitely wasn’t her husband or boyfriend.
With another weird thrill of amusement, she let out a giggle that carried her along to the second story. Heavy footfalls sounded against the metal behind her as she hit the tile. Jonathan was now quickening his pace. So, what was a girl to do?
Kate matched and then added some speed of her own. Walking fast turned into sprinting, weaving through the shoppers with nothing more than a few nasty faces and words thrown her way. She didn’t care. Now she had a mission. She was going to lose her bodyguard to prove to him that, even if his intentions were good, they weren’t needed.
She could lose her imaginary tail.
She could outsmart a man trained in surveillance.
She could take care of herself.
The humor she’d been feeling hardened into determination.
Kate spotted an opportunity to slip out of Jonathan’s view when a group of laughing teen girls exited a coffee shop. She cut to the right of them and immediately ducked behind their group, moving toward the second escalator that led to the first floor. When she righted herself, already descending downward, she looked over her shoulder at the bodyguard.
It worked!
Jonathan kept going straight, slowing but not stopping as he tried to get his eyes on her. The flush of success at evading her guard narrowed her focus as she hurried down the last of the escalator. Sure, she’d just proven she could get away, but how far could she go?
Instead of hurrying to the first-floor main entrance that deposited shoppers back to the sidewalk, Kate saw a second opportunity she couldn’t pass up. Past the public bathrooms at the end of a short hall at the corner of the building were two large metal doors that must have been primarily used for bringing in merchandise. A rubber doorstop kept the door ajar. Beyond that she could see a strip of daylight. Kate booked it as fast as she could without her shoes slapping the tile too loudly, straight to and through the door.
It was the end of the mall, the building and the one next to it separated by the small walkway that ran the width of both. A set of industrial Dumpsters and their stench filled the small space, making her escape less ideal than she’d hoped it would be. But, then again, Kate didn’t much care.
She’d just outsmarted her bodyguard and his tailored knowledge of keeping tabs on people.
Kate finally slowed and walked at a leisurely pace down the small alley and back to the sidewalk that ran in front of the mall’s entrance. She half expected to see Jonathan blocking her path, huffing and ready to call her father, but as she scanned the faces she didn’t find his.
Kate froze.
Her muscles seized, her breath held.
While she’d expected to see the bodyguard, she hadn’t expected to see another face she recognized. In fact, two faces she recognized.
The couple that had originally spooked Jonathan, starting Kate’s fun little exercise, were not only walking out of the mall, but doing so quickly. Like they too were in a hurry. This need seemed to intensify as the man looked to the left and the woman looked to the right, also seemingly scanning faces in the crowd.
And then the woman stopped when she locked on to a familiar face.
Hers.
Suddenly Kate cursed her game of cat and mouse with the bodyguard. The woman turned back to the man, but Kate didn’t wait to see what happened next. She backtracked in record time to the alley and hurried down its length as the sound of pounding drew nearer.
Was the couple really running after her?
Why?
Was she just overreacting?
Or had Jonathan been right about the couple all along?
Kate reached the metal door that led back into the mall and started to second-guess herself. It was a coincidence. That was all. It was perfectly normal for a couple to eat and then go shopping. It was New York City, after all. She nodded to herself, trying to ignore the fear that had cropped up. She took a step back and looked toward the mouth of the alley.
Seconds later the woman and her green jacket came into view. Kate’s blood ran cold but her feet stayed warm. She grabbed the door handle, ready to fling it open and make a mad dash inside, when it swung wide so fast that she gave a little scream.
“Whoa, it’s me,” said Jonathan. He grabbed her shoulders, steadying her. Relief didn’t just pool within her, it flooded. “What’s wrong?”
Kate turned back to the mouth of the alley. The woman and her counterpart were nowhere to be seen.
“She was just there,” Kate whispered.
“Who?” Jonathan’s grip tightened. He moved her around behind him, looking where she had.
Maybe Kate had imagined it.
“Who?” he asked again. “Kathryn?”
“Call me Kate,” she whispered. She shook her head and looked up at him. Embarrassment at acting like such a carefree child washed over her. While trying to avoid the bodyguard and what she believed to be a service she didn’t need, she’d just managed to convince herself that she was in some kind of danger. She was creating fictional scenarios and problems for herself, most likely seeing more in the couple’s actions than was there. Still, the fear wasn’t fully leaving, either. Fear often led to loss of control.
And Kate didn’t like losing what little control she had.
She cleared her throat before continuing with a much stronger voice. “I never liked being called Kathryn.”
“Okay, Kate,” he started, brows pulling together. “Who did you see?”
“Never mind,” she said. She straightened her back and took a deep breath. There was no way she was going to let the bodyguard’s paranoia and her fear make