by Em Petrova
He probably thought her a twit after she’d blanked on those steps while the instructor was looming over her. But he’d helped her out by giving her a hint. After class, she’d be sure to thank him.
He gave her a smile as he positioned his hands over the rescue dummy’s chest. When he delivered compressions, it was impossible for Avery not to soak in the appearance of those hands.
Long fingers, broad palms. His fingertips roughened by calluses, and veins snaked over the backs of his hands and up his forearms. Following one, she found it disappeared into a bulging biceps muscle.
Watching him mindlessly perform CPR on their victim, she realized this class was difficult for her after what she’d done the other night.
Get yourself together, she told herself for the hundredth time since she’d shot that man.
Sure, she’d shot people before—the job called for it. Most people she’d apprehended had thrown down weapons or given themselves up, and things hadn’t gone that far. Then this one wasn’t even armed…
She pushed out a heavy sigh.
Jess’s gaze fell over her. “You okay?”
She nodded. But she wasn’t, not really. Damn the counselor from her youth who had given her such an awareness of her feelings, of owning them. Now when she wanted to forget and shove them all down into a locked vault, she couldn’t.
No, she wasn’t okay. She felt like a hot mess and was sure Jess must think her an idiot. She had to focus and get through the certification so she could go off and be alone. Later, she’d attend another kickboxing class. While it left her sore, she had worked out some of her anger.
The instructor interrupted the activity in the room and halted Avery’s thoughts. “All right, since everybody’s had ample time for practice, are you ready for the testing?”
Jess sat back on his haunches again, attention fixed on the front of the room where the instructor stood. When he turned his head to look at Avery, he caught her staring at him.
He offered a smile that tipped up on one side more than the other. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s go first and get it over with so we can get outta here.”
She nodded.
In seconds, Jess had the instructor convinced to start the testing at the back of the room. Several people at the front groaned in response, and his eyes twinkled when he threw Avery another smile.
“Let’s see what you can do,” the instructor said, standing over them.
“Ladies first.” Jess waved a hand.
She engaged her brain and began the rescue. After the first two steps, her mind blanked out once more.
Dammit. Think!
Jess made a slight movement, and it came rushing back.
Fingers tingling with relief, she proceeded through the rest of the rescue without fault. Then it was Jess’s turn. She moved aside to watch.
Each movement was sure and confident. When he bent to demonstrate mouth-to-mouth breathing, he actually threw her a cocky side grin before closing his lips over the protective barrier they used on the dummies.
Next, he had to show the instructor how to bag the victim instead of using mouth-to-mouth, and Avery found herself looking at his hands again… wondering if they were as capable and rough as they looked.
She swallowed and shoved the thought down. The minute she got out of here, she was going to grab a giant-sized espresso and try to get some kind of focus. She wasn’t one to struggle with scattered thoughts or actions, and today of all days, it wasn’t welcome.
The instructor gave a nod. “Both of you go to the front, and Shelly will fill out your certification cards. You’re free to leave after that, but make sure to grab some snacks before you go.”
“Thanks,” Jess tossed out, gaining his feet.
Avery pushed to a stand as well and blinked up at Jess. While she was a tall woman, she only reached his shoulders, something quite unusual for her.
The man’s a beast.
Turning before she let some stupid words slip out, she led the way to the front. Shelly got their cards to them quickly, and then Avery bypassed the snack table and walked out the door. The hot breeze hit her face. She inhaled deeply.
Jess stepped out beside her. To her surprise, he didn’t throw her a wave and a word of goodbye. He hitched a thumb in his front pocket and smiled down at her.
Avery plastered a hand over her face and peeked up at him through her splayed fingers. She groaned. “I’m sorry about that. Today probably wasn’t the best day to take the refresher course, but I was signed up for it and didn’t want to back out.”
He chuckled. “You were fine.”
She lowered her hand. “Thank you for saving me on those steps. I just… blanked.”
“Been there. Thing is, we don’t ever blank when it comes to the real deal.”
“That’s true.” She hesitated. Should she ask him out for coffee? It wasn’t any different from having coffee with her partner, right?
He didn’t speak for a long moment, and she waited to see if he’d make the first overture. When he didn’t, she spoke up.
“I was thinking about a big espresso to wake me up. Would you like to come along with me?”
His brows pinched, and then smoothed just as quickly. “Coffee sounds good.”
“There’s a little joint down this way. They’ve got sandwiches too.”
“Great—I’m hungry.”
She thought a man of his size probably never got filled up and a little sandwich wouldn’t do the trick, but having somebody to share lunch with might take her mind off things.
She started down the sidewalk with him at her side. “So what do you do?”
He smiled. “I’m in law enforcement.”
Shit—not a cop here in Austin but perhaps a state trooper. She should have known. It also meant he knew about her situation.
“Where are you based?”
“It’s a little broader than city law enforcement,” he said.
“Oh.” She picked up on his don’t-ask tone and let it go. Thankfully, the coffee shop was within sight, and she didn’t have to say more. When they reached the building with the brown and tan striped awning over the entrance, Jess opened the door for her. She stepped inside to the heavenly scent of freshly ground coffee beans.
As they waited in line to place their orders, Avery tried to think up some mundane conversation that wouldn’t put him on edge or herself in the spotlight. She was beginning to regret her rash decision to ask him out.
At her side, he seemed completely at ease, though, his body language relaxed. Maybe she was the one on edge.
When they reached the head of the line, she placed her order of an espresso and chicken salad on a croissant. She started to reach for her purse to pay, when he placed a hand on her arm.
“This is on me,” he told the clerk. “I could use a pick-me-up. I’ll have an espresso too, and one of those Italian whattayacallits on focaccia bread.”
The clerk’s smile spread, and Avery felt her own stomach warm in reaction to the man’s drawl.
He took out some bills and paid for the meals. As they moved down the line to the pickup area, Avery said, “Thank you. You didn’t have to pay.”
“Wanted to.” His voice was rougher than it had been, leaving her feeling even more out of her comfort zone.
They took their trays and carried them away. The tables were mostly taken, all but one toward the back.
Jess stepped up to one near the windows where they could look out on the street. “Excuse me, were you about to leave? It’s a great table for people-watching.”
“Actually, yes, we were finished.” A man and woman stood and gathered their trash and trays, evacuating the table.
Jess swooped in and snagged it, and Avery sank to the seat across from him. She stared at him. “How did you do that?”
He looked up into her eyes. “Do what?”
“Charm those people into leaving?”
He chuckled. “They were
on their way out anyway. I just prompted them along.”
She shook her head. The man was a surprise, a refreshing one.
Looking out the window at the pedestrians on the street, she said, “It is a great seat for people-watching.”
“Yup.” He raised his coffee to his lips and moaned around the brew before swallowing. “Mmm. I’ll have to remember this place. Best coffee I’ve had in a long time.”
“Yes, I’m not usually in this section of town, but whenever I am, I come here.”
He set aside his cup and settled his gaze on her. “Avery…”
Oh no, here it comes.
“I can’t start out false with you. I know about the altercation at the grocery store and what you’re facing.”
She swallowed hard, the espresso she’d wanted so badly minutes before now tasteless on her tongue.
“I was sorry to hear it, and even more sorry now that I know you in person.”
“Thank you.” She looked up into his stare. The genuine concern in his eyes left her floundering for something else to say.
He nodded. “This is stretching our fledgling friendship, but if you’d allow me, I could maybe see what I can find out for you.”
“No, it’s okay,” she said at once.
He compressed his lips. “I don’t mean to overstep. I’m just in the business of helping people.”
She tipped her head to the side. “If we’re moving along this friendship quickly, then maybe it’s already time for me to ask what it is you do. Because you’re not a beat cop.”
“No.” He sipped.
“Investigator?”
“You could say that. Sometimes.”
A laugh escaped her. “What does that mean?”
“Sometimes I know how to look for things.”
She sat back in her chair, staring at him. “Very secretive.” Picking up her sandwich, she bit into the flaky croissant and perfect chicken salad.
With a quirk of his lips, he bit into his Italian. “I’m sorry—I don’t mean to be secretive. I’m just not allowed to say.”
She smiled. “Then don’t let me drag it out of you.”
* * * * *
Damn, he liked this one.
Which was the problem.
Any of the women he went after ended up unhappy, unsatisfied and out of his life. If he didn’t admit he actually enjoyed Avery’s company—even to himself—then maybe he could keep talking to her.
Lunch flew by quickly, with the topics ranging all over the place once they started eating. He loved her ideas on offering some CPR classes to middle-schoolers, though he resisted volunteering, which was his urge.
Good food and good company. What more could he ask for today? He also liked the way she tipped her head when in thought.
And he loved watching her lips. Damn, they could stir a man enough to keep him seated for a while.
Yeah, it was best to keep this woman friend-zoned and refrain from asking her out for dinner. Not that his evenings were free. The phone calls between Moreno and his terrorist buddies were now Jess’s social life and entertainment.
Too soon their lunch was finished, and they were relinquishing the best table in the coffeeshop to another couple.
“We didn’t do much people-watching,” she said with a hint of regret as they made their way out of the coffeeshop.
He held back from saying, Maybe next time.
On the sidewalk, they faced each other. “I’m parked back by the station,” he said.
“So am I.”
Good—they could walk together and this strangely comfortable moment didn’t need to come to an end quite yet.
After several letdowns and past women troubles, he’d withdrawn himself more and more. Rejection was damn hard to swallow, and the thought of getting the same old excuses from Avery wasn’t something he was up for today, or any day, for that matter.
He kept the talk light as they returned to their vehicles. As he walked beside her to an economy car, she placed a hand on his arm.
A jolt of heat clawed through muscle and flesh.
He stared into her eyes. How easy it would be to fall into those brown depths and see what really made Avery tick. And hear more about her true feelings on the event that had gotten her suspended.
“Thanks again for lunch and for saving me at the class,” she said. Though she moved her hand away, her touch remained, a warm brand on his skin. He half expected to see a print on his flesh where her fingers had rested for so brief a moment.
“My pleasure. I wish you the best on your review, Avery.”
She pressed her lips together and released them, making him look harder at the perfect shape of her mouth.
“Thank you.” She looked up at him as if wanting to say more. In the end, she turned for her car door, and he glimpsed some towels covering her seat. Suddenly, she swung back to him. “Why don’t you give me your phone number? Then next time I’m near the coffeeshop, I’ll give you a call.”
Surprise hit him. But on the heels of that was a hefty dose of depression. She’d never call. Or if she did, she’d finally confide she had a fiancé, was making honeymoon plans in the Bahamas. Or giving him one of many other lines he’d heard over the years with chicks.
To think men got a bad rep for being noncommittal. He knew way more women who weren’t interested in more than a one-night stand.
Or maybe it was just him.
“I’d like that,” he said, instead of all the crap running through his mind. He recited his number, and she climbed into her car. He gave her a wave and smile.
As he walked back to his old Mustang that his brother had helped him rebuild, Jess scuffed his boot at a loose part of the asphalt.
Well… I’ll never hear from that one again.
Chapter Three
“Jess, can I talk to you?”
He pivoted from his locker to see his captain Nash Sullivan standing there. The grim-as-fuck look on his face didn’t bode well.
“Yeah, let me get outta this gear,” he said to Sully. As his commander went off toward the office, Jess first removed all the weapons he carried—rifle, sidearm, knife. Following that, he stowed away everything from Kevlar vest to boots and then dressed in his civvies of jeans, T-shirt and old boots.
He’d rub a hand over his face, but it would get the cut on his brow bleeding again, and he’d just gotten it to stop. The ride across the state had been a hell of a long one, and each and every Ranger Ops man was feeling the aftereffects of what they’d been through.
So many fucking radical militia types out there for anybody’s peace of mind. Texas was full o’ them. It took all of ten seconds for one of the asshole’s fuses to ignite and then the entire fucking country was at risk. What the common population didn’t know…
Lennon caught him by the shoulder. “Hey, Jess, good shot you made out there. Saved my ass. Thank you.”
He gave a hard nod. “Wasn’t in the mood to carry your heavy ass outta there, Reed.”
Lennon shot him a crooked smile and went about stashing his own gear in his locker. “See ya at the bowling alley tomorrow.”
Their hangout. It’d been a long time since Jess had joined the guys there, had a few games over beers.
“Sure.” If he wasn’t listening to Moreno tomorrow night.
He headed toward the office. Sully wasn’t seated at the desk. In fact, Jess had never seen his captain seated there, not being the desk-jockey type.
He turned from the window, where he was staring through the small chinks of light permeating the cracks in the blinds. Which really meant Sully had been staring at nothing at all.
Jess’s guts tensed. “What’s up?” he asked.
Sully eyed him. “Got some intel on Moreno.”
He and Jess were the only two people in Ranger Ops who knew what was going down, and the reason was the rest wouldn’t need to be briefed on it until the day they went after the spy.
Jess folded his arms and waited for it.
“Edgar O
rtiz is dead.”
The statement had Jess wide-eyed and staring at Sully. “What the fuck happened?”
“This happened.” He opened a file on his desk and tossed an eight-by-ten photo across the surface at Jess.
He scooped it up. His gut clenched at the sight of the twisted remains of Ortiz. Friend of Moreno.
He jerked his gaze up. “Who?” he grated out.
“Homeland says Fernandez.”
“Jesus Christ. Ortiz was this Fernandez’s friend. Night before last, he just told Moreno he and Fernandez were going to a soccer game next week.”
“Well, guess the new plan was to off his best friend.”
“Fuck. I can’t believe it. When?”
“News came in this morning. I just had a moment to finally examine it.”
Jess glanced down at the photo and then away. “Time of death?”
“They’re saying ten a.m. on Monday.”
“Fuck that. I don’t buy that it was by Fernandez’s own hand, not at that time of day.”
Sully folded his arms. “Why not?”
“The guy…” His mind reeled, thoughts out of order. “Moreno just attended religious services with Fernandez and his children, an early mass for some saint or other. He wasn’t anywhere near Ortiz.”
“Some people are good at keeping public appearances. Inside, they’re monsters. Besides, doesn’t mean Fernandez didn’t call out a hit on the guy. Or that Moreno wasn’t somehow involved.”
Jess shook his head. “I don’t know about that. Moreno sells intelligence—he doesn’t order hits. And Moreno and Ortiz were chummy on phone calls. Nothing off at all. Do you think he took his kid to church, prayed with him, and meanwhile he was blowing up his friend?”
“Maybe they weren’t that close of friends,” Sully said wryly.
Jess’s brows shot up.
“It’s a bad joke. I’m just tryin’ to lighten the mood. You okay, man? You’ve been burning the candles at both ends for weeks. I’ll tell the other analyst to look into this shit with Ortiz. You should go home and get some rest.”
“I’m fine.” His voice was gritty. He chalked it up to needing sleep, but Sully looked at him with those eagle-sharp eyes.
Jess scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Am I fucking missing something in these conversations? Tell me. You’ve heard them.”
