Free Miranda Vaughn Mystery 01.00 - Chasing the Dollar by Ellie Ashe Page B

unzipped his jacket and slid the clutch inside, securing it against his chest. I exhaled and put the helmet on. Then I turned to the bike and paused. I was wearing a knit wrap dress and three-inch heels. There was no way to mount this machine without getting indecent about it.
    He must have sensed my horror, because he looked away while I threw a leg over the leather seat. I wasn't even seated when he reached back and grabbed my thigh, pulling me snug against him, and gunned the engine. I clutched at his back and closed my eyes.
    " I hate this. I hate this. I hate this," I chanted. This would be a good time to pray, but God and I were not on speaking terms presently, so I settled for voicing my discontent.
    " Just hang on," Jake said, and the bike surged forward and shot out of the alley like it was fired from a cannon.
    He didn 't have to tell me twice. I wrapped my arms around him and opened my eyes to see where we were going. The last thing I saw was the front door of the office building opening and a half-dozen blue-shirted security guards running out before I squeezed my eyes shut.
    The bike weaved in and out of the stalled traffic, and the warm air brushed across my bare legs. I opened one eye and saw the blur of cars we were passing. I quickly shut my eye again and tried not to think about the fact that my last few minutes on earth were apparently going to be spent in abject terror.
    Jake leaned into a curve and, as I was glued to him, I did, too. Sarah was never going to believe me when I told her I rode on a motorcycle. She'd been trying to get me to ride with her since we met. But I was sure the two-wheel contraptions would result in certain death.
    I was more convinced than ever of that.
    The bike leaned the other direction, and the driver and I moved like one. I tried to go to a happy place, but perhaps it had been too long. I tried to recall the warm kitchen at the Sugar Plum Bakery, Aunt Marie's family room with the plush loveseat under a bay window where I used to curl up with a book when I was a kid. Anything. Any place other than where I was.
    " Where are you staying?"
    Between the helmet and the fact that my head was pressed tight against his back, I could barely hear Jake 's question.
    " What?"
    " Your hotel. Which one are you staying at?" he yelled back.
    " The Mandarin, by the harbor."
    The bike turned, and we were on a frontage road that looked over a stretch of water. The air was cooler and cleaner here, with a breeze coming off the harbor. I realized that I had opened my eyes at some point and was enjoying the view. Except the part where the bike zipped in and out of traffic. That part was making me pretty nauseated.
    "Keep an eye out for anyone following us."
    The bike leapt forward, and I turned my head to look behind us, unsure of what I was supposed to look for. There was heavy traffic, but nothing that looked like a car full of private security officers hired by an investment bank.
    If there was a threat out there, I didn't see it. Unless it was the one I was snuggled up against on a bike racing through Macau.

CHAPTER NINE
     
    Jake parked the bike in an alley at a casino parking garage a couple blocks from the Mandarin Hotel. I climbed off and tried to compose myself, pulling off the helmet and reaching up to feel the damage to my hair. My carefully coiffed hair was now suffering the effects of helmet head—smashed flat and matted. I peered into the side-view mirror of the bike and let out a yelp of horror.
    "It's not that bad," Jake said, his voice amused.
    " I have to walk back through that lobby like this. How is this not bad?"
    " A little vain, are we?" He cocked an eyebrow.
    I glared at him. "Trying not to attract too much attention."
    There was no way the desk clerk wasn 't going to remember me now. I'd tried to keep a low profile, but this just wasn't part of the plan. Not that I had a great plan, but I did have a rudimentary scheme that I was determined to follow. Of course, that plan