Page 30 of Escape Girl

He broke away and leaned his forehead against mine. “Marry me?”

This was insane. In my wildest dreams of Bobby—and there had been plenty of those in the last few weeks—I’d never imagined a proposal. I knew this was too fast. The connection between us was real. So, so real. But were we actually ready for marriage? A tiny, minuscule flare of panic burst through my chest. Did Bobby really know me well enough to love me?

“Believe me, I know this is crazy,” Bobby whispered, his forehead still pressed to mine. “But for once in my life, I don’t want to wait for things to happen. I can’t be passive when it comes to you. Ilikeyou, Iwantyou, Iloveyou. I will love you forever. Maybe that’s all that matters. We can figure out the rest as we go. Together.”

My doubts rose in the air and vanished, just like the steam from the pool. Yeah, this was too fast—and so the hell what? Because I loved him too. I’d probably started the minute he switched the place cards. I couldn’t imagine not loving him. I couldn’t imagine anything better than figuring out the rest of life with him by my side.

“Yes.”

*

Now

I glared atthe text box on the Indian Springs escape room, the blinking cursor waiting for an answer to the puzzle. The answer was clearly “marry me” or “yes.”

Instead of answering, I slammed the laptop shut. I’d been wrong to be weak. I was done with the escape rooms. Bobby could send me one every day until he worked through his closure exercise, but I wasn’t opening any more of the emails. They were axe blows to my heart, and I needed to stop aiding and abetting while he tried to break down my fragile walls.

I pushed away from my desk. This stupid studio was stifling me. I couldn’t breathe. I needed somewhere to go and burn some of this desperate energy. But the rain outside fell in sideways sheets, so I couldn’t go for a walk. Pressure was building inside me, so painful. I felt like I was about to erupt. What if I had a full-on panic attack, like I almost did on the street last week?

I did a desperate half twirl in the tiny space of my apartment. If I couldn’t move, I was going to scream and scream and scream. Which would freak the hell out of my neighbors; they’d probably call the cops. Regardless, a scream built up in my throat, ready to tear out of my mouth and through the walls and floors.

But then:What was your mom’s favorite song to sing?

Oh.Oh, that might just work. Hands shaking, I connected my phone to a portable speaker, cranked the volume as loud as it could go, and found “Piece of My Heart.” The neighbors were just going to have to deal with scream-singing instead of scream-screaming.

“Come on! Come on! Come on!” I shrieked along with Janis as loud as I could.

Chapter Nine

Under my pillow,my phone buzzed with an incoming call. Automatically, I cleared my throat a few times and reached to the nightstand for my glasses. What time was it? 8:03. I would definitely be late to work, but at least I’d managed to grab a few hours of sleep after my 3:00 a.m. insomnia.

I blinked sleep away until I could read the name on the phone screen. “Morning, Bella.”

“Hey, Emily. Sorry to call so early.” There was a note of determination in her voice, and I pushed myself into a seated position.

“No worries.” I grabbed the pad of paper and pen always next to the bed. “What’s up?”

Wind whistled through our connection. I could hear the sound of a rolling bag on pavement, of horns and muted conversations. Bella must have left her hotel, on her way to the airport. “I made a decision. I want to go on the offensive with Taggert. I don’t want to just wait for him to come at me again. I want to be more aggressive. That intellectual property ismine.”

A shiver of adrenaline started at my spine and sizzled me more awake with every inch it spread through my body. Going on the aggressive with only my shaky theory was a risky approach, but I wanted to do it too.

Throwing myself entirely into this absorbing case was exactly what I needed right now. Work had saved me when I couldn’t function all those years ago, and it would save me now. I could focus on the various puzzles in Bella’s situation instead of these nightly emotional puzzles I was simply not equipped to solve. Itwould be OK to take some personal time to make some traction on this. Surely, the partners wouldn’t begrudge me two or three days off after my strong performance the past few months.

I pushed myself out of bed and went to my laptop. “What flight are you on?”

“Grande skim vanilla latte with an extra shot of espresso,” Bella said, apparently grabbing a Starbucks for the road. “Sorry,” she said to me. “I’m on the 11:00 a.m. United to O’Hare out of LaGuardia. Do you want me to switch to a later one? I could come to your office if you want to discuss more strategy before I leave.”

“Nope.” I went to United’s website and easily found her flight. There were several open seats and I grabbed one. “I’m coming to Chicago with you.”

“Really?” she squeaked. She sounded so happy it made my lips turn up at the corners.

“Oh yeah.” I needed logistics, paperwork, a different city, travel, and to help my new friend. I needed the exact opposite of crying in my sad apartment after wandering through ridiculous virtual rooms.

Besides, the aggressive approach Bella wanted would necessitate a meeting with Taggert and his lawyer sooner rather than later. I could theoretically join via video conferencing software, but there were so many things to be learned by being in a physical room with someone rather than seeing a square video of their face on a screen. Our case didn’t need a single additional disadvantage.

Also, if I was in Chicago, I could figure out whatever was going on with Jo Harper. I hadn’t gotten far in my research last night. I’d been too wrecked by the escape room to dive too deep. But I had found one interesting thing: Jo Harper had formed a new LLC, just two months ago. Poise, LLC was headquartered inChicago and classified as a fundraising business. So either this was a front for a con or she’d recently gone straight.

Suddenly full of energy, I yanked my carry-on suitcase out from under my bed and pulled three of my favorite suits off hangers in my closet. “I’ll meet you at the gate!”

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