Page 6 of Crowe
I went over and opened the door, and sure enough, there was a decent selection of vases and urns. I selected a heavy, wide-mouthed urn. It wasn’t fancy, but I could disguise it. All I needed was something to hold the flowers. I filled the urn with floral foam and then added hydrangeas for size, peonies for drama, ranunculus for detail, and enough eucalyptus to make it look intentional instead of rushed.
It turned out lush and towering, exactly what the table needed. It would smell incredible, and I knew she’d appreciate the dramatic look of the bouquet. I chuckled to myself as I added a few more peonies to make the arrangement extra large, you know, because…ice sculpture.
I stepped back and looked at a piece that had taken me less than 10 minutes but looked like it had taken hours. “What’d you think?”
Carina looked up from the centerpiece she was working on and smiled. “That’s beautiful.”
“Great, I’ll get these out to Kim.” I put the flowers on a cart because they were too big and heavy to carry, and pushed it down the hallway. I rolled the cart through the door into the vestibule, the flowers just about completely blocking my view. “What do you think?” I called out. “Impressive enough to replace an ice sculpture?”
“I don’t know. Ice sculptures are pretty awesome, but those are nice,” a deep voice said.
I peeked around the bouquet and froze.Shit. If Jackson Crowe was here, something really bad must have happened.
He towered over me, with broad shoulders, his face grim. Just like the first time I’d seen him—when he’d helped rescue me from a group of sex traffickers.
When I saw him, standing there in the event foyer, I wanted to run. But to him or away from him? Both impulses struck at once, leaving me rooted to the spot.
Crowe
Damn, Noah looked good. Not that he didn’t look good when he left Vesper, he did, but now he looked healthy. He’d bulked up a little, and his hair had grown out. He was wearing it in one of those messy styles that took forever but was designed to look like you hadn’t bothered with it. He’d sounded so cheerful and so happy before he’d realized it was me and not whoever was here for the flowers.
I was glad to see that he was doing so well. Unfortunately, I wasn’t here for a social visit; I was here to destroy whatever peace he’d managed to find, albeit hopefully only temporarily.
“What are you doing here, Jackson?”
I could tell by the tone that he was less than happy to see me. I got that, though. It wasn’t about me; it was about his past showing up for a visit.
“You should answer your phone,” I pointed out.
“What?” He reached for his pocket and then wrinkled his brow as he patted all his pockets. “Shit. Must have left it in the van.”
“Wolfe’s been trying to call you all day.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, seriously. Now, is there somewhere we can talk so I can catch you up on why I’m here? Plus, we’re going to need to call Wolfe.”
He opened his mouth to reply when the door opened, and a woman rushed in. “Sorry, the cake was delivered to the wrong room, and we couldn’t find it.” She stopped when she saw the flowers, and her face lit up. “Oh, Noah, they’re perfect.”
“Thank you. Hopefully, they’re pretty enough that no one will notice the missing ice sculpture.”
“Oh, they’ll notice, they paid a fortune for it, but these are a wonderful replacement.”
“Do you need help getting them on the table? That’s a big bouquet,” I said.
“I have it,” Noah said, and I watched as he carefully lifted the flowers off the cart and placed them on the table.
“Thank you so much. Tell Carina y’all saved my ass with that one. Now, off to see what disasters await.” She turned and hurried off.
I waited until she was gone before I turned to Noah. “So, a place we can talk?”
“Can it wait? We’re in the middle of setting up a wedding.” He motioned around dramatically like I didn’t already realize what this was. “How did you find me, anyway?”
“We tracked your phone. And no, it can’t wait; we need to call Wolfe.”
He sighed. “Okay. Let’s go talk to my boss and let her know I’ll be out of commission for a bit.”
I followed him down the hall and through a door and walked into a sea of flowers. They were everywhere. On the tables, on the counters, on the shelves. The scent was thick, sweet, and edged with something cool and clean. It hit me before I’d taken two steps in.
