Page 41 of Hot Pursuit

She needed to talk to Thad.

She needed answers.

For once in her life, she needed to know.

Jo reached into her purse and pulled out her burner phone. Thad had bought them each one and had slipped hers into the purse she picked up at coat check the day before. The number of his burner was the only one saved into her contacts. Jo flipped the phone open, but paused, hovering her fingers over the buttons, unsure.

Only for emergencies.

He said only for emergencies.

Clearly, this wasn’t one.

But at the same time, she knew Thad. And this seemed like something he’d want to know—the mysterious tail, yes, but also the fact that Nate had pulled a one-eighty switch and spent the entire morning with her off the record.

Strawberry Shortcake in the park.

Jo hit send.

He’d know what it meant.

There was an area of the park dedicated to John Lennon calledStrawberry Fields. And though Jo had always been partial to viewing Pippi Longstocking as her redheaded icon, Thad used to tease her with Strawberry Shortcake instead.

He’d understand.

Jo put the phone back in her purse and took a compact out instead, under the guise of reapplying her red lipstick. But she angled the mirror just so, using it to glance behind and study the man still discreetly watching her. Tall. Dark hair. Hooded eyes. Frown across his lips. Wearing jeans and a black blazer.

She snapped the compact shut—if she held it up for too long he’d notice—and then she continued on her merry way. The man followed. Jo let him, even as the hairs on the back of her neck stood, and made for the meeting spot. Twenty minutes later, Thad found her.

They made eye contact briefly. He walked right past her and Jo trailed him at a distance, until he found a bench to his liking in a crowded part of the park. Thad sat. Jo took the empty spot at the other end of the bench.

“Someone’s following me,” she murmured, pretending to look for something in her purse. “Not a Fed.”

“How do you know?” he muttered.

“Nate told me.”

There was a pause. “Nate?”

Jo closed her eyes tight, squeezing.Idiot. “Agent Parker.”

“When exactly did he becomeNate?” Thad asked, voice tight.

“I’ll get to that,” she sidestepped and then leaned back, dropping her head against the bench, pretending to bask in the sunlight so Thad had a view behind her. She let her head fall in his direction so the tail couldn’t see her lips move. “Do you see the guy in jeans and a blazer? Tall? Black hair? Medium scruff? He’s been following me all day.”

If Jo had blinked, she would’ve missed the way Thad’s lips curled or the storm clouds that gathered in his gray eyes, there and gone in a flash, covered with practiced control. But she saw. And what she saw made her stomach drop.

Annoyance.

Frustration.

But most of all—recognition.

He knew who her tail was. Somehow, he knew.

“Who, Thad? Who is it?”

He broke his own rule and looked directly at her. “Forget it, Jo.”