"Have you been waiting long?" a silky masculine voice asked behind me. I slid my phone into the purse I had just purchased from the hotel's gift shop and turned around; relief flowed through me when I realized I hadn't missed him.

"No, I just got here. I was worried you might have left me," I answered as I met Robert's intense blue eyes. I couldn't help but take in how immaculate he looked. Everything about us contrasted horribly. He looked sharp and put together, nothing like a man who had just jumped into an icy pool to rescue a damsel in distress. His crisp shirt was perfectly pressed, and his trousers looked like they had just come out of the dry cleaners. He must have had a team of people curate his style and groom him to perfection in the time I had thrown myself together. I, on the other hand, wore ill-fitting yoga pants matched with an expensive but oversized sweater. And my shoes, I didn't want to think about how awful they must seem. Lisa's feet were smaller than mine, and I didn't want to put on my wet sneakers, so I bought some disposable sandals at the gift shop.

At least the hotel's complimentary shower products were surprisingly good. My naturally wavy hair required some finesse to look well-groomed, so I twisted it into a decent-looking bun with a black scrunchie Lisa donated. While fixing my hair, I tried to persuade Lisa that it made sense for me to catch a ride with a man I had just met to meet a friend at the airport. Lisa didn't question why I hadn't mentioned it earlier or why she couldn't take me herself. Her only concern was that I was going to spend alone time with Robert before she could make her move on him. During the Discussion, Lisa received a call that abruptly ended her resistance. As I watched her hurriedly leave the room, I decided Tim had caused the interruption. Robert was still unknown, and Tim was her bird in hand. So, she allowed me a private ride with Robert to take the time to smooth things over with Tim.

After she left, I had to plead with a hotel employee to retrieve my purse from the pool since it had fallen in with me. Unfortunately, most of the contents didn't survive the chlorine bath. So, I had to stop at the store to replace my wallet and bag and find a better sweater to conceal Lisa's intentionally too-tight clothes. I doubted she had done any actual yoga in them. At least my phone survived, thanks to the waterproof case that my best friend, Beth, gave me during our last beach trip.

Insecurity crashed over me as all these thoughts trickled through my brain, and I took a step away from Robert. What was I doing? This man was Tim's uncle. Though sexy, competent, and my hero, he was also a Lamb. Tim would have railed about how inappropriate I looked, how ill-fitted we were together, and stormed angrily ahead of me. Though I didn't see any judgment in his eyes, Robert was hard to read, and part of me wanted to crawl under the closest brocade armchair and hide.

"I got caught up in some business, so we are getting a late start. Shall we go then?" Robert stepped closer to me and pointed to the rotating door. Once I turned to look at the goal, he let his other hand hover over the small of my back but didn't touch me. His passive expression made it seem he was oblivious to my internal struggle. Robert hadn't chosen to separate from me. Instead, he was being almost possessive. It felt like an unconscious acceptance.

"Sure," I answered as his step matched mine. The heat of his hand still seemed to reach my skin, even without touching it.

He didn't step into the same space at the rotating doors as I did. It would have been weird, but part of me regretted the loss of his warmth. When he arrived next to me on the sidewalk, he waved off a valet and escorted me to a black Mercedes that pulled up in front of us.

We stood silently while the driver exited the car and opened the rear passenger seat door. The driver looked vaguely familiar but was somewhat nondescript: blonde hair, brown eyes, medium height, and build with a bland European complexion. He was almost the opposite of Robert, whose blue eyes and stark black hair complemented his gold-hued skin.

"Can I ask why you are picking up your father? Can't you just send a car?" I queried once he settled next to me in the backseat of the luxury sedan. Immediately, I realized it had been inappropriate to ask Robert such a personal question. For someone I just met, I felt strangely comfortable around him. It was too bad I hadn't met him in my first life; maybe things would have turned out differently. I wriggled in my seat when a flash of phantom pain bolted through the area under my left rib. I had to keep Robert alive, and now that I was with him, I needed to figure out how to save us both from a head-on collision.

"I could, but I want to talk to him about something before the reception tonight." Robert tapped on the back of the chair in front of him. "We're dropping her off at the airport before we pick up my father."

"Yes, sir," the driver answered. "Do you want the window up between us?"

"No, that won't be-."

"Oh wow, there is a window? Can you show me that?" I interrupted lamely. The driver's voice had sparked a memory, and I knew where I had seen him before. It was in my last life.

"Of course, miss." A tinted window lifted from a small slit behind the driver and passenger seats.

"Have you never seen a privacy window before?" Robert asked with an amused smile.

"I have." How did I tell him that the driver who was supposed to have died with him today survived and had become Tim's driver? He had taken me to and from stores and work more times than I could remember and never said more than 'Yes, madam."

"Well then, why-"

"How long have you known this driver?" I interrupted him, my head still spinning.

"Just today, why?"

"Did your nephew recommend him?"

"No, well, actually, maybe, I'm not sure who hired him. He is a family driver. Why?" Robert's eyes narrowed, and his smile faded.

"I've seen him before." Finally, a good lie formed in my brain.

"Where?"

"Near the pool, talking to your nephew. I had to return to rescue my bag, and I saw them talking near the exit."

"Oh?" Robert glanced forward, his frown deepening. He opened his phone and sent a quick text. "Did you know, Ms. Mason, that some modern cars can be controlled remotely?"

"I had heard that," I answered warily. Why was Robert bringing up new technology at this moment?

"I had my security team install several safety measures in all the cars I ride in, including this one."

"Oh," I answered, looking around like I would see one of these safety measures. Robert's phone vibrated, attracting my attention back to him.

"Well, this is unfortunate. Will your friend be disappointed if you don't see her off today?" Robert sent a flurry of texts while he calmly talked to me.

"Yes, she'll be disappointed, but she will have other friends with her." My heart sped up. Robert was so hard to read.

"You should probably contact that friend. I don't think we will make it to the airport today." Robert leaned back and closed his eyes.

"I don't understand." My heart thudded heavily in my chest. Was he resigning himself to death?

"Someone has disabled several of my safety mechanisms. Someone doesn't want me to talk to my father today."

"Are we going to be okay?" Panic raised my voice an octave, and my legs bounced nervously. I had already died once, so I shouldn't have been so afraid, but I couldn't stop myself.

"Don't worry; my engineer is working on disabling this car now. Hopefully, she'll get it stopped before we get on the freeway. Fortunately, you recognized the driver after such a brief interaction."

"Oh, but wouldn't the driver get hurt if something happened to the car?"

"Not necessarily, not if it was well planned." The car began to slow and then stopped in the middle of the road. "Ah, she got it."

Robert sat up straighter and pressed a button on the armrest between us. The dark window slid slowly, revealing a confused driver and a dead console. Horns began sounding behind us.

"Is something wrong?" Robert asked the driver after he lowered the privacy glass. His deceptively curious tone frightened me. This man could lie very convincingly. Maybe he wasn't as different from Tim as I had hoped.

"The car just died," the driver responded, turning the key again in the ignition.

"Ah, let me call another car then," Robert picked up his phone.

"No, sir. Let me see if I can fix it." The driver exited the car immediately after popping the hood.

"I'm going to get out of the car and bring you to the sidewalk. Please be careful as you exit. We are in the middle of some busy traffic," Robert instructed me. He acted like this sort of thing happened daily, and maybe it did. His family was old money. One that had spent generations expanding in size and becoming more prosperous, which often led to infighting among relatives.

My grandfather was the first in our family to become successful in business, and my mother pushed our position further with her leadership. Our estate rapidly approached the value of the Lamb empire, but we didn't have the same animosity. Or maybe we did. Lisa had helped plan my death and had brought Tim into my life. Perhaps her mother wasn't as satisfied with being on the sidelines as she appeared. Grandfather had two daughters and only named one of them heir. The other daughter, while given a substantial amount in the will, had been cut out of the business almost entirely. My mother had felt guilty and given her some shares, enough to sit on the board, but had no real voting power. Maybe Grandpa had seen something treacherous in Rebecca Mason-Riley that we hadn't.

My door opened, Robert's hand reached in, and I grasped it tightly as I exited the car.

"I'm taking her to the sidewalk," he yelled to the driver, who looked around nervously. Had he called the truck to come here? I glanced from side to side but saw no semi-trucks barreling down the city road. Robert pulled me quickly across two lanes of traffic stopped at an accommodating red light.

"What are we going to do?" I panted as the adrenaline pushed my heart and lungs to their extreme.

"I've called another car. It will take you home."

"What about you?" My stomach clenched, and I grabbed his arm. "You can't stay here with him."

Robert glanced down at my hands on his jacket sleeve and laid one of his on top. "I will come with you, of course."

I didn't think that had been his original plan. Maybe the panic in my voice was enough to convince him to bring me home safely. He lifted the arm I clung to and tapped on the phone in that hand. Feeling sheepish, I released him and grasped my empty hands together. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blur of movement approaching us.

"Shit, they aren't giving up," I cursed, then pushed Robert toward the wall of the shopping center behind us. Robert put his arms around me as I pressed him against the wall, shielding me from the truck that had jumped the sidewalk, and removed the trash can and light pole where we had just been standing. His hand pressed the back of my head so my forehead tucked under his chin, and he flipped us around so his back was to the truck. I thought it would crash into us, but the objects in its path had slowed the truck's momentum, and it came to a halt just a few feet from where Robert protected me.

"Are you okay?" Robert's voice reverberated through my chest as he murmured into my ear.

"No, I am not okay," I insisted, my body convulsing with nervous energy. "This is the second time I have almost died today."

Robert said nothing, but I felt his hand lightly rubbing my back as my shaking slowed.

"Mr. Lamb, are you okay?" A new voice called from further up the hill. I peeked over his shoulder and watched a man wearing a black suit running towards us from a car illegally parked behind the semi-truck.

"Joe, someone is determined to prevent me from talking to my father today. Send a car to pick him up and bring him to the hotel. I'll talk with him there. I've already sent him a text. He'll see it when he lands."

"Done," Joe answered as he typed into his phone. Once he put his phone down again, his eyes lingered on Robert's arms, which still held me firmly against his chest. I began to wriggle out, but he tightened them to prevent my movement before looking around him again.

"Where's the other driver?" Robert asked as we watched the police, who had just arrived, take the truck driver into custody.

"We have him in the back of Roland's car. We'll take care of him." Joe pointed to a black SUV parked at the corner with two burly men standing outside. "Dave will drive the Mercedes back and get it inspected."

"Good, you drive us to Ms. Mason's house. I need to drop her off. She's had quite a day."

"Ms. Mason?" Joe's emphasis on my last name almost sounded like he knew who I was.

"Yes, I am Nicole Mason," I answered while inspecting the well-dressed stranger. He didn't look familiar but seemed to know who I was. I tried to remember where I met him. He was of average height, around 5'7", and had tawny skin a shade or two darker than mine. His facial structure was striking, with chiseled features that could have been from either Latin America or the Middle East. But his brown hair and eyes revealed nothing about his background. As my eyes traveled up toward his collar, I saw the hint of a tattoo that swayed me toward the possibility that he might be Latino, though I couldn't be sure. If he was Latino, that opened the possibility that I had met him at one of my father's community events.

I shook my head in frustration. Even though it didn't matter, my anxious mind couldn't help but try to categorize everything to bring a sense of order and calm to my life amidst all the chaos. What did it matter who this man was? I had finished my task and was unlikely ever to see him or Robert again. My heart squeezed at the thought. Robert's arms felt so good around me, but I had to face reality.

"Joe Ramirez," Joe responded, his name confirming my suspicions as it interrupted my thoughts. Robert shifted his hold so we faced Joe, though his arm still held me tight across the shoulders. Joe offered his hand, and I responded with the one that wasn't shoved between Robert's muscular chest and my body. Joe smiled broadly and enthusiastically grasped it with both of his hands. "It's great to meet you, finally."

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