He reentered the throng behind her.
She quickly turned back. Did she sense him? Within a minute, she ducked into a perfume store. He combed the crowd for possible suspects who had heightened her awareness. No one stood out.
Was this part of her strategy—to make shopping stops to make sure she wasn’t followed? And who did she think might follow her? And was that why she was in the ridiculously sexy as hell disguise?
He gave her credit for her forethought, but he couldn’t get past the fact that she came alone to look for an obsessed whack job.
He purchased a smoothie from the stand across from the perfume store to give him a perfect view of the door. She came out empty-handed. He scanned the crowd again. No one set off his radar.
She made her way to the end of the alley and crossed the streets to the T-Shirt and Sports Emporium. He had to duck behind another food kiosk since she did a quick turnaround at the crosswalk. She was dogged and smart.
She searched the store’s window before entering. Now that she was in the store, he was able to get into position behind a parked tour bus across from the entrance.
He couldn’t see into the window since the displays hampered the view. He checked his phone. He’d give her five minutes, and then he’d have to decide a course of action. The risks to her while in the shop were low, and he had a perfect sight line on the door. He’d see everyone who entered and exited the store.
He had time to call Reeves.
“Is she okay?”
“Yes, but she’s alone. I thought she was coming with Hardy.”
There was an audible intake of breath over the cell. “She let me believe Hardy and his security would be with her. Thank God you’re there.”
Lars couldn’t pretend to himself that she was in actual danger and needed his skills guarding her. He just wanted to be close to her, and he used Reeves’s worry as an excuse.
“Why is she dressed in a BDSM outfit?”
The image of Danni bending over the car flashed in neon-bright light across his brain as his heated blood thrummed through him.
“What?” A usually verbose Reeves was awful quiet.
“I’ve never seen her in anything like this outfit. She has her hair covered in a black wig and hat, and I swear she has a nose piercing since I saw her last night.”
“She didn’t say a word. Why would she need to be in disguise? Do you think there’s been some sort of threat against Danni that she needed a disguise?”
“She’s acting pretty paranoid as if she thinks someone might be following her. The only person who potentially may be following her would be the woman who’s obsessed with Hardy. She didn’t tell you anything?”
“Nothing.”
One word answers from Reeves were disturbing. “You don’t have to worry. I can see if anyone goes into the store.” Lars’s skin prickled with a heightened sense of caution. Was he allowing Reeves’s anxiety to get to him? “She’s not in danger, but I’ll go into the store in five if she’s not out. And look, man, I’m going to have to tell her that you gave me the info about what she was up to.”
“I don’t care. She lied to me by omission. I’m mad too.”
The store door flew open as Danni ran out.
“What the hell?”
Chapter Seven
Danni climbed out of the shared car at the entrance to Santee Alley. Her crappy mood began to lighten with the prospect of shopping. Nothing like a bit of retail therapy to ease the pain of Sophie’s departure. Her mood had nothing to do with the fact that Lars hadn’t tried to see her last night or this morning despite the blaring fact that she had been clear that she didn’t want him to. She had dodged a bullet and needed to celebrate her singledom. Once she was done with crime-fighting, she’d do serious damage to her credit card.
She stared down the long alley brimming with crowds of shoppers enjoying the Sunday sunshine and the prospect of hunting down a deal. Danni usually liked to arrive early since the alley was always jammed on the weekends when the designers put their clothes at wholesale prices.
The T-shirt store wasn’t in the actual alley but across two streets at the south end of the street. The T-Shirt and Sports Emporium was one of the shops on the edge of the alley that paid less than prime retail price. Wishing she could avoid the people-to-people throng, she wouldn’t take the circuitous street route even without Reeves’s warning. She already knew not to walk alone on the surrounding streets among the drug dealers and homeless encampments.
Without warning, someone slammed Danni from behind. She tottered on her high platform boots, able to right herself before doing a header. She spun to see what asshole felt it was necessary to push. The perpetrator was a gray-haired woman half Danni’s size. The woman plowed past, oblivious of Danni’s “don’t mess with me” stare.
Danni had made the right decision to spare Alex this chaos. He’d be immediately recognized and barraged with fans wanting to take selfies with him. His security would be a nightmare. Chills ran down her spine despite the LA sun baking her in the leather Goth costume. Was it possible that the stalker wanted to draw Alex out into public by taunting him with the T-shirt?
Paranoid much? Only someone with Reeves’s skills could have found the link between the T-shirt and the store.
Danni plowed her way forward, murmuring half-hearted apologies, her excitement rapidly fading. After twenty minutes of body pressing with strangers, she was hot and frustrated. The smell of hot dogs and onions from the sidewalk stands wasn’t helping her already iffy stomach.
Right when she was considering an escape to a side street, she
