Page 63 of No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding

“I know there are no coincidences, but it would seem a bit cruel for us to be involved in back-to-back murder plots.”

“At least we’re not the target this time?”

He smiles. “You mean you’re not.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I loop my arms around his neck. “Watching you pick that lock was kind of hot.”

“What are you two doing in here?”

We spring apart.

José is standing in the doorway with his hands on his hips, a look of fury on his face.

“The door was open,” I say.

“It wasnot.”

“We’ll just be on our way,” Oliver says.

“I’m calling management.” José takes his radio off his hip.

“There’s no need to do that,” I say. “We haven’t done anything. We promise. We just wanted to see the keys for ourselves.”

He holds the radio to his ear, his eyes narrowed.

“What if I make it worth your while to forget you ever saw us in here?” Oliver says, reaching into his pocket. He takes out his wallet and removes a couple of hundreds.

José eyes them.

Oliver takes out a third.

José nods, and Oliver passes him the money, then grabs me by the arm and leads me back out into the sunlight.

When we hit the path, we start running, the palm fronds slapping our faces as we push them out of the way. The effort hurts my lungs and my calves, but it feels safer to run than to stop.

Life is like that sometimes.

You run away from danger.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t monsters up ahead.

CHAPTER 11

Can You Do a Dress Rehearsal for Murder?

“Can you zip me up?” I ask Oliver, turning my back to him and gathering my hair up.

He steps toward me and takes the zipper in his hands. He pulls it up gently, then plants a kiss on my bare shoulder. “You know this is a romance trope, yes?”

“It is?”

“Mmmm-hmmm.” His breath is warm on my neck. “Usually deployed when things are still platonic between the two main characters, but about to get spicy.”

I turn around. He’s wearing a light gray suit and matching tie with a white dress shirt. His hair is curling in the right way, and his freckles are popping because of the sun we got today on the boat and walking around Avalon after our near miss with José. “Are things about to get spicy?”

“Do we have time?”

I sigh. “No.”

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