“It’s a ball gown,” she muttered under her breath.
Marilyn leaned closer. “What was that, dear?”
“Oh, nothing.” Verbally arguing with people about their assumed future conversations was probably a good indication of a nervous breakdown. Perfect. “Now what do we do?”
“There he is. Come on.”
“There who is?”
Trent grabbed Alyssa’s hand and led their foursome over to a gorgeous blond. The sleeves of his polo shirt hugged his muscular biceps, and the security badge dangling from a lanyard around his neck drew attention to the defined pecs underneath. Add in the not-a-hair-out-of-place cut, evenly tanned skin, and ice-blue eyes and the guy looked like Barbie’s other half.
“Alyssa, this is Will. If anyone can get us where we need to go in this airport, it’s him. He’s the most manipulative man I know.” Will arched a brow in Trent’s direction as if to say And…? Trent released a resigned sigh and finished with, “He’s also my ex-boyfriend.”
Alyssa blinked her surprise. O-kayyyy. Big, hunky dude was apparently Trent’s other half. Or used to be, anyway.
“Guilty as charged on all counts,” Will stated with a quick wink, then cut a look over to Trent. “Though I’d rather the ‘ex’ part was left off that last one.”
Trent shot him a warning with narrowed eyes. “Don’t start.”
A smile and deep chuckle transformed Will’s stunning good looks to downright panty-melting. Or brief-melting, as it were. He turned and held Alyssa by the shoulders, his hands as large as Dillon’s, but missing the rough calluses that caused her skin to tingle. “You, my dear, are absolutely stunning. Come on. Let’s get you to your Prince Charming.”
She exhaled in relief. “Thank you.”
As apparently everyone was wont to do with her tonight, Will grasped her hand and led her through the throng of travelers milling in the airport. “If I’d known a damsel in distress would get me a phone call, I would’ve sent one your way weeks ago, Trenton.”
“Seriously?” Trent pressed a hand to his chest and gave Will a look of disbelief. “I’m the one who got a Dear Trent letter with a P.S. I’m taking the cat. Which, BTW, was total BS because I picked out Sinatra in the first place.”
Will smiled over at the rest of them. “I named him, though. He has the most beautiful blue eyes.” Then back to Trent said, “You can’t deny you didn’t think living together wasn’t working out.”
The small group clipped along, rounding a corner and just barely sidestepping an old couple toddling along the windows of a gift shop.
“All I said was stop drinking all the damn Grey Goose. You’re the one who blew it out of proportion.”
“Maybe I wanted you to stop me.”
Trent whipped his gaze over, clearly shocked by his ex’s statement. He opened his mouth to respond, but Alyssa jumped in with a question of her own before things got too heavy. “How do we get through security?”
Will nodded at a Salma Hayek look-alike. “Connie Garcia.”
“She’s going to let us through?”
The woman winked in response and began winding her way toward a human version of Oscar the Grouch in a TSA uniform shirt that strained at the buttons. “No, she’s going to work her magic on Henry Rivers.”
“And then he’s going to let us through?” she asked hopeful.
“No, once he’s distracted we can sneak past to get to Pat.”
“Never mind,” she said with a sigh. “I’ll just try to go with the flow.”
He smiled. “Good idea.”
They watched as Connie reached her target. She struck up a conversation and expertly drew his attention to her ample cleavage with a seemingly innocent scratch with her French-manicured nail. Then she laughed and flipped her hair over her shoulder.
“That’s our cue,” Will said. “Everybody act normal and follow me.”
Knots tied and retied themselves in Alyssa’s stomach. She’d always been a rule follower, and this wasn’t like parking in a handicapped spot. The government didn’t mess around when it came to airport security, not these days. Images of them being dragged into a remote room for interrogation and body-cavity probing flooded her mind.
Grabbing Will’s arm with both hands, Alyssa prevented him from going anywhere. “I don’t want to go to jail. I’m thinking maybe this is a bad idea. And by ‘maybe’ I mean definitely.”
Will gently pried her fingers from his biceps as he spoke low enough for only her to hear. “I might still be crazy about Trent, but that doesn’t make me crazy in the head. I wouldn’t do this for him if I thought my job, much less my freedom, was at stake. You just have to trust me, and we’ll be on the other side in no time. Okay?”