Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The cart wheel squeaked unapologetically across the painted concrete floor and I gave a grimace.
“I think we got the worst cart,” I sighed to my husband who walked behind me. I watched as yet another woman turned to ogle him, her chin nearly on the floor. But I couldn’t blame her. At nearly seven feet he was hard to miss, and despite the tailored pants and button down shirt it was obvious he was well muscled.
I felt a little bit like a slob next to him, despite being in a decent pair of jeans and a clean white tee shirt I’d cuffed to jazz it up. The bracelets on my wrist clinked as I reached for a jumbo pack of hamburger buns.
“You didn’t have to come today. I’m just grabbing a few things for the cookout at mom’s.”
“I love coming out with you,” his deep voice murmured over my shoulder and then suddenly his arm snaked around my waist, spinning me around, crushing his lips against mine. I squealed against him for a minute and then parted my lips as his tongue ran possessively over mine. He pulled back, his dark brown eyes roaming over my body.
I giggled and put the squished hamburger buns back on the shelf and pulled down a new pack, dropping them in the cart.
“You’ve been so busy with work lately, it was just a surprise that you were nearby. I’m sorry this is your lunch break. We really could have gone to a restaurant or grabbed coffee.”
“But then I couldn’t watch your perfect ass as you push the grocery cart. This is better.”
I laughed and tried not to be self conscious about every step as he playfully growled behind me.
“Are you going to make it to your mom’s cookout?” I asked, heading for condiments in the giant warehouse club store. Thank goodness it wasn’t as crowded as normal today. I’d die if a friend saw me making out with my husband in the isles like a school girl.
“Unfortunately it looks like I’ll be detained with work related things.”
“I know she understands. I’m going over early to help her set up and cook the burgers. Do you want to sign the card for your nephew’s graduation party? I’m putting in a hundred dollars.”
“That sounds fine.”
I turned around and saw he was mildly distracted. He was so handsome it almost hurt to look at him. The last three months had been absolute bliss since our tiny courthouse wedding. I couldn’t believe this was my life now, and all because my car had broken down in the middle of nowhere.
I stood on my tip toes and kissed his cheek. He turned back to me and grabbed my waist with his hands, leaning me against boxes of olive oil as he once again pressed his mouth against mine, one hand wandering higher over my tee shirt as the other slid into the back pocket of my jeans. I gave a squeak and pulled back, breathless.
“You’re going to get us kicked out!” I whispered fiercely.
“There are other grocery stores.” He pulled me closer, and I could feel the sexual tension growing between us.
“But this one has the best prices and your mom is always throwing those big barbecues.” I wriggled against his grasp, but I could tell he was only getting more excited.
He chuckled and kissed me again, his hands in my auburn hair, until I was breathless again.
“I hate to interrupt,” a gruff voice called from behind us.
“Oh sorry,” I pushed my husband away, blushing, “did you need the olive oil?”
“Actually no.” He glanced towards my husband. “I’m here for him.”
That’s when I noticed he was wearing a gun in a holster.
And his hand was resting on it.
More men approached from the other end of the isle until both exits were blocked.
“I heard you were on your way, but I didn’t think you’d be that stupid to be honest.” My husband’s voice was even, his arm sliding around my waist, pulling me against his side as he turned to face the man.
“What’s going on?” my voice trembled.
A badge flashed in my face. “Detective Harper. We’re here to take your husband in.”
“Take him in for what?” I gasped in disbelief.
“Yes, do tell,” my husband chuckled and I looked up at him in shock. He seemed completely unfazed, almost humored.
“Murder.”
“You can’t be serious!” I could feel my knees shaking. The arm around me tightened.
“And it takes 8 men to bring me in while I’m grocery shopping with my wife?” An eyebrow raised in incredulity on my husband’s face. His jaw tightened, which only made him appear like a perfectly carved statue.
“Yes, well your reputation precedes you. We would have done this at the office but,” the officer gestured around the isle, “this public scenario works just as well.”
“I don’t understand. Who has he supposedly murdered?” My voice sounded foreign in my ears, and a buzzing was increasing in volume.
You’re making a mistake,” my husband’s voice threatened,” and you’re scaring my wife,” I heard him say as I fumbled to grab the handle of the grocery cart for extra support.
Somehow he seemed completely unconcerned with the several guns that were now pointed at him.
“Darling, pay for the groceries and head to your car. Stay there. I’ll have someone come to drive you to mom’s. Stay there until I’m back. I don’t want you alone.”
“Oh you won’t be back. Not this time. Your husband is practically a serial killer ma’am. He’s got stacks of bodies around this city. And this time we have evidence to put him away for the rest of his life.”
Again my husband chuckled, but then he brushed my face with his gentle hand and gave me another kiss. “I’ll just be gone a short while to deal with this situation.” He gave me a tender squeeze.
I nodded up at him and turned at the sound of metal clinking.
The detective was holding a pair of cuffs in the hand that wasn’t on the holstered gun.
My husband snorted and simply walked past him, and the detective turned to follow. The isle suddenly emptied as the remaining plain clothed officers followed behind.
I held on to the cart, legs trembling, staring absent mindlessly at the six pounds of ground beef in my cart beside the other groceries.
What the hell just happened?
I took a few minutes to calm myself. My husband would need me. I had to pay for the groceries and get to his mom’s. She was expecting me. She’d be so distraught. I should get to her before she heard about it from someone else.
I pushed the cart towards the cash registers, my body moving in some out of body auto pilot. I felt as though everyone was staring at me. I lifted the groceries out of the cart with deadened arms on to the conveyer belt and listened to the beep of every scanned item and the rustle of paper as the bags were placed in to my cart for me.
I pushed my way through the automatic doors, the sun blinding me for just a moment. I wobbled towards the car and fumbled with my purse for the keys, cursing as I dropped them.
I bent down to pick them up as a black SUV suddenly pulled alongside of me, blocking my car between it and the parking lot median I’d pulled up to.
The door opened, and a man in a suit stepped from the passenger door.
“Keira. Your husband Alaric sent us to take you to his mother’s house.” He began to load the groceries from the cart into the back of the SUV.
“I don’t know who you are. How do I know my husband sent you?”
“Oh goddess, you’re going to make me say it. Uh, he said you call him sexy lover boy and uh, you have a tiny heart tattoo on your ass that you got as a dare when you were overseas for college.
My face flamed at the incredibly accurate information. “What do I do with my car?”
“We’ll drive it over for you. I’ll be right behind you.” The man loaded the last bags in the trunk and shut the door before opening the rear passenger door for me.
I bit my lip indecisively, and then handed the man the keys before climbing in to the SUV.
“Hi, Luna,” the driver turned to face me, giving a soft smile.
“It’s Kiera,” I corrected him.
“Right. Kiera. We’re taking you to your mother-in-laws house. Bryan will drive your car over so you have it there. The Alph, um, Alaric don’t want you driving in a distressed state. I’m Conrad.”
“Where is he? Is he okay? Why did they take my husband? Can we go to the police station?”
“He’s fine. They had some questions for him, that’s all. Humans tend to get a little tightly wound sometimes. He’ll probably be home tonight.”
I didn’t understand what he meant. But maybe everything would be okay. Maybe I was overthinking the situation.
“Okay. We can go to Beth’s,” I clutched my purse on my lap as the car pulled away, turning to look back to see my car was right behind us.
I only hoped I hadn’t just gotten into some killer’s car and all evidence of my existence was being removed from the public parking lot.
