“From what I saw, I don’t think he cares.” She laughed.

The door chimed and Owen walked back into the shop. I almost melted in relief. He was carrying a small black bag slung over his shoulder and his hair was a little windblown.

“Sorry, love.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and nodded his head at my personal shopper. “Ran into an old friend who wanted to catch up. Couldn’t get away.”

“That’s okay. I’ve had fun shopping.” God, that made me sound like an airhead. And was he speaking in code? Should I be ducking behind something heavy and covering my head? “Did you invite them to dinner?”

“They had plans.” He nuzzled my cheek and I tried to not whimper as his stubble rubbed across my skin. “Looks like it will just be the two of us.”

“Good.” My voice came out in a husky whisper as I stared up at him and I watched his pupils dilate.

“Well, let’s get your things and head back.” He barely noticed the giant pile of things I had collected while I waited, but he did smile at the Christmas book.

“In case I have time to read.” I shrugged.

“Hm. We’ll see about that.” His voice all but purred and I was tempted to check and see if my panties had spontaneously combusted.

Helpful Heather was staring at him with her mouth slightly ajar and I felt a flash of jealousy and the need to reassert my fictional claim on him. I leaned against his chest and stroked my hand across his midsection.

Whoa. Those were some nice abs. Owen the Assassin was ripped.

Mentally I took inventory to make sure that I wasn’t drooling on his button up shirt and that I was still completely dressed. I had this wild desire to rip all of my clothes off when I was this close to him. Helpful Heather’s expression turned a little less helpful as she watched my hand.

I looked up at Owen and male pride smiled down at me. I really couldn’t fault him. My hand was still stroking along those hard lines and I had to force it to be still. His smile widened but he didn’t say anything. Which was good. I was embarrassed as it was, and I wasn’t sure I could keep up the charade if he called me out for groping him so shamelessly.

Charade? Who was I kidding? On some level I was eating the attention up.

Jealous Heather told us the total and quickly bagged up my new clothes. Her eyes were glued to Owen’s backside as we left the store. I turned around and waved bye.

“Thanks for all the help!”

Her head jerked up in embarrassment. I should have felt bad, but I didn’t.

“Any more errands?” I was developing a blister on my left foot from walking all day in the heels, and I mentally congratulated myself for the sensible new shoes I’d just picked out.

“I dropped off some food at the car before I came back to the shop.” He put his arm around me, but I could tell his mind was elsewhere. His eyes swept back and forth across the street, waiting.

“Are we looking for something in particular or just letting paranoia reign?”

“I really did run into someone. Or rather, saw them and followed them.” A frown pulled at the corners of his mouth. “We need to get back to the house.”

“Followed them where?” I shivered.

“A store.” He looked down at me and I could see the hesitation in his eyes as he wrestled with saying something.

“What is it?” He had promised to not lie. Of course, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t just refuse to answer.

“They had your picture.”

I stumbled and looked around in fear. I spun in a circle like a puppy chasing its tail. The bad guys could be anywhere. I thought I might actually pass out.

“Ava.” Owen said my name softly, but I started forward, intent on getting to our car, to temporary safety. He gently pushed me back against a nearby vehicle and put a hand on either side of my face. “Breathe, Ava. I need you to keep it together. You can do this.”

“My picture. There are people here trying to kill me and I still don’t know why.” My breath was ragged. I felt like there was a flashing target over my head. How was I going to survive with all of these people out to collect some bounty?

“It’s okay, Ava. They didn’t know your name, just that you were American. There are a ton of ex-pats in Oxford.” He lifted my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. “Breathe, Ava, you have to breathe.”

The only problem was that it was just as hard to breathe when he looked at me. All of that intense scrutiny made me want to wiggle against him.

“Take that shit somewhere else,” a drunken man called from a group of guys meandering down the sidewalk. I froze, my heart speeding into a panic. Were these people here to kill us?

“Get a room!” another man called.

“Nah, I wanna watch.” He stopped and leered in our direction.

“Mind your business.” Owen turned to look at the men and they sped up, pulling their drunken brother with them. I couldn’t see his face as he looked at them, but it must’ve been menacing. When he turned to look back at me, he had already managed to school his features back to normal.

“I’m scared.” I whispered the words. I’d never felt so alone and frightened. “For just a little while I’d let myself forget. Forget that everyone wanted me dead for some reason. I picked out a book to read.”

“I’m not going to let them hurt you.” He leaned closer, his eyes intense. “Do you trust me?”