Free Twisted Arrangement 2 by Mora Early Page B

in a return wave and then she spun and hurried into the building.
     
    Josh pulled away from Picture Perfect and turned the car toward home. His chest felt as if it were full of frost-covered rocks, rolling around his ribcage and pressing on his lungs. He’d made a deal with Eugenie Markham to help build a dormitory that would provide housing for a lot of women in need. He was one step closer to getting what he wanted, Ransler’s name on the dotted line, with the help of Ransler’s own wife, thanks to Emma. He’d even managed not to alienate Emma, despite his asinine assumption that she’d welcome his advances.
     
    And yet, for all that he’d gained today, he felt like he’d made a huge mistake when he’d promised Emma he wouldn’t try to kiss her ever again.
     
     

Chapter 7 ~ Magnus & the Rita
     
     
    This idea was Todd-Ness-level crazy. Emma knew it. But she had no choice. She had to know what Josh had meant when he said Ben was bringing in the ‘big gun’. The phrase sent a rush of cold panic through her. She clenched her hands tighter on the steering wheel of the Saab. Todd had convinced Jimmy to loan her the car for the day. She didn’t want Ben to recognize her car. If he even knew what kind of car she drove. But she wasn’t willing to take that chance.
     
    More than just her relationship with Josh was on the line. Not that they had anything more than a business relationship. And yet. Emma remembered the look in his eyes as he’d gazed at her in his car, soaking wet. She’d been plain old party planner Emma, who had invented a new way to spreadsheet inventory at Picture Perfect so they could monitor seasonal use and order accordingly. Yet Josh had stared at her as if she were a Siren and he Odysseus, bound to the mast. He’d stared at her . Not Madame Butterfly.
     
    “She’s you, idiot,” Emma murmured, weaving through the traffic ahead of her. And that was true. Madame Butterfly was her, after a fashion. Or part of her, anyway. A small, outrageous, flamboyant part of her. But the majority of her was monthly expenditure reports, not masquerade balls. Emma had never gone to bed with a man she’d just met. She’d hardly even gone to bed with the men she knew well. She’d had exactly two serious relationships in her entire life.
     
    She shoved the wayward thoughts away. Her prior romantic relationships and the almost kiss with Josh were not important. Keeping their secret safe was. She had to know if Ben and his big gun were getting close. That was the whole point of her insane plan today.
     
    “Come on, Ness. You can do it.”
     
    Emma had been repeating that over and over since she’d arrived at Ben’s apartment in San Rafael this morning. She’d left orders at work that she was only to be contacted in the event of an emergency. She’d laid out what needed to be done for the press luncheon, and Dag could handle the preparations for one day.
     
    Now, here she was, tailing Ben as he drove... somewhere. She still didn’t know yet. As determined as Josh seemed, Emma was positive he’d have Ben working full-time on finding Carla Fiorentino. Which meant that wherever he went today would tell Emma just how much Ben knew. And tell her what, or who , the big guns were. She hoped, anyway. Otherwise she was wasting a vacation day for nothing.
     
    She’d been worried he’d head toward Napa. It would be harder for her to pull off her spy routine there. But luckily for her, he’d driven toward San Francisco instead. She kept two cars back in her borrowed black Saab. Ben’s car had a distinct broken taillight and an ‘I brake for Sasquatch’ bumper sticker. When he parked in front of a psychic healer’s and crossed the street to a diner, Emma pulled around the corner onto 15th street and found her own parking space.
     
    She checked the rearview mirror before getting out of the car, situating the red fedora at an angle on her head. She slicked on an equally shocking red coat of lipstick.