Catnapped! (A Matchmaker Mystery Book 3) (2 page)

She snatched it away and scrawled her signature on the bottom line without bothering to read it.

“The ladies locker room is there.” Mauricio jutted his chin in the direction of a door as she handed the paper and pen back to him.

Nodding curtly, she spun on her heel and stalked out of the gym.

“I don’t understand what Jane sees in that woman.” Mauricio headed back toward his office.

“I do,” Pete murmured to himself.

Alyssa slammed her trunk closed as hard as she could, but the resounding
thunk
didn’t leave her feeling satisfied.

“Right door,” she muttered. What the hell had she been thinking, listening to that crazy woman, Armani?

Putting her gym bag on top of her trunk, she took a slow, steadying breath. She needed a minute to get her thoughts in order, unsure if it was Armani’s uncanny discussion about doors, or the revelation that Tom Hanlon’s friends knew her business that had left her feeling so unsettled.

She wanted to blame how she was feeling on those two things, but deep down she knew what had really thrown her off-kilter was Pete Hanlon. The way he looked at her, like he didn’t even see the hard-assed persona she worked hard to project. The way it had felt when he’d held her hand, like the briefest physical contact could send her up in flames.

Even now her skin felt singed, like he’d somehow branded her.

It had been a long time since anyone had looked at her like that.

She wasn’t sure if anyone had ever touched her like that.

And all he’d done was shake her hand.

An aching heat settled in her core as she imagined him doing more than taking her hand.

Dropping her chin to her chest, she exhaled slowly, needing to regain control of her mind and body.

He wasn’t even her type, despite his lean, muscular frame. His mussed hair, ragged, sweat-stained T-shirt, and gym shorts were a turnoff. At least that’s what she tried to tell herself.

Part of her wanted to jump in the car and drive away, but she knew she couldn’t do that. They were expecting her to return. What would they think if she disappeared? What would they tell their friends?

“Friends and family,” she grumbled aloud.

The very idea seemed like a slap in the face. There’d been a time when she’d thought the police force were her friends and family, but then she’d made a mistake, and ended up an unemployed outcast.

Which is how she’d ended up working a protection detail for the cat-obsessed Mildred Michelman. Not that Alyssa had anything against cats; in fact, she admired their self-sufficiency, but Mrs. M. thought the sun rose and set on her feline, Mr. Burberry.

The thought of Mrs. M. ratcheted up the tension she’d been experiencing before her encounter with Armani.  She needed to blow off some steam. She needed this workout.

Grabbing her bag, she marched back toward the gym, determined to ignore Pete Hanlon.

She didn’t see him or Mauricio when she re-entered, so she made her way straight to the locker room. Glancing around, she could understand why Mauricio was proud of his establishment. Everything was new, top-of-the-line, and as clean as could be.

The locker room even
smelled
clean, the faint odor of a lemon-scented cleaner hanging in the air.

She changed out of her usual “uniform” of black pants, white top, and black blazer into black workout pants and an oversized black T-shirt over her sports bra. In the midst of lacing up her sneakers, she heard someone enter the room, so she looked up.

A short, older woman, who looked like she’d be more comfortable in a mumu than on a treadmill, walked in. Despite her age, she had a spring in her step, a twinkle in her eye, and a welcoming smile. “Hello.”

“Hi.” Alyssa finished tying her shoe and stood.

“I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Juana.”

“Alyssa.”

The woman glanced down at Alyssa’s hands. “Single?”

She nodded.

“I should introduce you to my son.”

Alyssa shook her head. “I’m really not—””

“He owns this place,” Juana interrupted with fierce pride.

“Mauricio?”

“You know him?”

Alyssa nodded.

“Would you like me to set up a date between the two of you? He’s a good catch, a good husband, but he does not have the luck in love.”

Alyssa might have been annoyed by how pushy the woman was, but she sensed a desperate sadness in the older woman’s tone. “I’m sure he is,” she said gently. “But he’s not for me.”

Juana sighed, shoulders slumping. “Well if you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

Alyssa walked past her and into the gym.

Pete was now running on one of the treadmills, his stride even and fluid. Wearing ear buds, he seemed to be zoning out with his music, unaware of her presence.

She hopped on the nearest stationary bike and began to pedal. She’d barely raised her heartbeat when Mauricio appeared beside her.

“I’m sorry,” he said sincerely.

“For what?”

“I’m guessing my mother tried to get you to go on a date with me.”

“It’s okay.”

“I should have warned you that she’d do that. You’re a beautiful woman. She hates seeing me alone…” He trailed off, shaking his head sadly.

Alyssa seemed to remember Jane telling her something about Mauricio being a widower. That might explain why his mother was so desperate to set him up. “It’s no big deal.”

“You’re not mad?”

“If I was, I would’ve given her Armani’s number,” she teased lightly.

Mauricio stared at her for a moment as though processing the fact she’d made a joke. Then he roared with laughter. “Now I get it.”

“Get what?”

“What everyone sees in you.”

Before she could ask him who
everyone
was, he moved away to help a customer adjust a weight stack.

She kept pedaling, getting into a groove, and feeling her tension lessen as her legs pumped against the resistance. But the flow of endorphins wasn’t enough. She still wanted to hit something.

Climbing off the bike, she windmilled her arms, loosening her shoulders, stretching her back as her heartbeat slowed and her breathing eased. She moved farther back into the gym, noting Pete still pounding away on the treadmill. She admired his form… and his butt… as she moved past him, into the weight area and through to where a section where both a speed bag and heavy bag hung.

Just seeing the boxing equipment eased some of the tightness in her chest. She knew hitting them could make most of it go away.

She pushed on the heavy bag, testing its weight and give. She smiled as it swung back at her. This would do.

She delivered an easy roundhouse kick, reveling at the sensation of contact that zinged up her leg.

Bobbing and weaving, she executed a combination of jabs and hooks, followed by another kick. The safety of Mrs. M. and Mr. Burberry faded to the background as she lost herself in the rhythm of blows.

When she paused to catch her breath, a voice asked, “Attacking anyone in particular?”

Wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her arm, she glanced at Pete, who leaned against the wall, watching her. “No one in particular.”

“Good. You had me worried there.”

“Because you thought I was imagining you?” she asked flippantly.

“Actually I worried you were pissed with Juana.” He stepped nearer so she could hear him when he lowered his voice and said, “Somehow I think when you imagine me, you don’t think about hitting.”

Her mouth went dry and warmth flared in her core. A need for self-preservation made her step back. She managed to choke out, “Don’t flatter yourself.”

He grinned impishly. “You’re right. I shouldn’t speak for you.  I should only speak for myself. When I imagine you, it’s certainly not hitting I’m thinking of.”

Heat prickled her cheeks.

“You’re doing it again,” he murmured softly, moving closer, negating the distance she’d tried to put between them.

She frowned, taking another step back. “Doing what?”

“Blushing. Don’t you remember how I told you how charming I thought it was at the wedding?”

Instead of responding, she pivoted back toward the bag, hitting it with a hard right hook that reverberated up to her shoulder. She didn’t want to remember it. They’d shared one dance. She’d only agreed to one dance to be polite. He was Jane’s brother-in-law, after all. But there was something about Pete that had started a fire inside her. An inferno that had made her cheeks warm that day, and the rest of her body burn every night since.

She delivered a left hook to the bag, hoping he’d take the hint and leave.

Instead of being rebuffed by her aggression, he asked, “Have dinner with me?”

“No.” She sped up her combination of punches.

“No to tonight? Or no to ever?”

If she’d had an ounce of sense she would have replied, “ever.” Instead, she said, “I’m working.”

“You don’t eat while you’re working?”

“No. I don’t have time.”

“And yet you’re here.”

She stopped punching the bag to glare at him. “And you think I came here looking for you.”

He raised his hands defensively. “My ego isn’t
that
huge. All I meant was that you had the time to work out. But
if
you came here looking for me…” He trailed off, letting the flirtatious laughter in his tone fill in the blanks for her.

Before she could respond, Mauricio ran up to them, waving a cordless phone. “You need to take this. Brady’s calling from Ireland for you.”

Both Alyssa and Pete moved in Mauricio’s direction. “Pete,” he clarified. “He says he needs to talk to Pete.”

Pete snatched the phone and pressed it to his ear. “Brady?” Covering his other ear with his free hand, he moved away from them.

“Did he say whether it was about Mrs. Michelman?” Alyssa asked softly, not taking her eyes off Pete. Her chest tightened a little as she watched him tense. Something was definitely wrong.

“No,” Mauricio replied. “He just said he needed Pete’s help.”

“How’s he supposed to help half a world away?”

Mauricio shrugged. “I guess that’s why it’s called the worldwide web.”

Alyssa cocked her head to the side, not understanding what he meant.

“I take it Pete hasn’t told you what he does,” Mauricio deduced.

She shook her head, wondering if he would have during the dinner date she’d refused.

“He’s some sort of hotshot cyber sleuth.”

“Like his brother, Tom?”

“Tom does his thing out in the real world. Pete works his magic with a computer.”

“Sounds like a cushy job,” Alyssa sniffed dismissively.

Mauricio looked as though he was about to argue with her, but before he got the chance, his mother interrupted.

“There you are, mijo.” She beamed at Alyssa. “I see you two are getting to know each other better.”

“Stop, Mama. Just stop,” Mauricio growled, stalking away.

Juana shrugged helplessly at Alyssa. “He doesn’t appreciate my efforts. He says I’m interfering.”

“So why not stop?” Alyssa suggested. “Your son is a good-looking guy and he owns a business. Somehow I can’t imagine him not being able to get his own dates.”

Juana shook her head sadly. “He doesn’t want to date anyone. He is in mourning.”

“Maybe he just needs time. His wife dying so young could not have been easy.”

A strange expression crossed Juana’s face, intriguing Alyssa, but the older woman bit her lower lip, as though to prevent herself from voicing whatever thought she had. Then she shook her head, clearing her expression. “What about you, are you looking? Mauricio has some wonderful friends.”

Alyssa thought of Pete, her gaze darting in his direction.

Deeply engaged in his phone conversation, he didn’t notice her attention, but Juana did.

“Ahhh,” she murmured. “I see.”

Alyssa shook her head, denying what the other woman witnessed. “I’m not interested in dating. I don’t have time.”

Juana’s gaze twinkled. “Love can be like that. Popping up when you least expect it. Inconvenient.”

“What’s inconvenient?” Pete asked, walking up to them, the phone at his side.

Alyssa froze, holding her breath.

“Interfering mothers,” Juana lied smoothly. “How are you, handsome?”

Alyssa exhaled a sigh of relief, flashing the other woman a grateful grin.

“Better now that I’ve seen you, beautiful.” He pressed a quick kiss to her wrinkled cheek.  “Are you here to hassle your son?”

“Of course.” Juana winked at him. “Isn’t that what mothers do?”

Pete’s answering smile seemed strained to Alyssa. “Did you get Alyssa to agree to go out with him?”

Juana’s gaze slid over to Alyssa, who once again found herself holding her breath.

“I don’t think they’d make a good pair, do you?”

“No,” Pete answered quickly. “Definitely not.”

Juana chuckled. “Well I’ve got to go before my son kicks me out.”

“You know he’d never do that,” Pete chided.

Waving, Juana walked out.

Pete watched her go. “I love her dearly, but she’s a professional buttinsky. You know?”

“I know,” Alyssa agreed, thinking of how crazy Mrs. M. made her. “Everything okay with Brady?”

“Dunno.”

“You just talked to him.”

“Yeah, and until I find out the information he asked me for, I won’t know if he’s okay.”

“So I guess you have to go,” Alyssa said pointedly, not wanting to return to the conversation they’d been having before Mauricio’s interruption.

Pete threw back his head and laughed. “Subtle, Montgomery. Very subtle. Are you sure you don’t want to take me up on the dinner invite?”

Even though she wasn’t sure, she shook her head. “I told you, I’m working.”

“On what?” he asked curiously.

“None of your friends and family have told you yet?” she mocked coolly.

He held up a single finger. “Hang on a sec.” Raising the phone, he dialed a number.