Dark Prison: Dark Falls, CO Romantic Thriller Book 9

by Ryan, Lori

  John stopped in the aisle between the cubicles. “Come again?”

  Eric held up his hands and squeezed the air like an inept teenager might squeeze a woman’s breasts. “I was thinking, that stress ball Nate’s always got. It’s like he’s looking for a substitute woman. Thought we should give her a name. I’m trying Dahlia out.”

  John rolled his eyes, but had to admit, the look on Nate’s face when he heard that one would be funny.

  They settled into John’s cubicle, John in his desk chair, Eric in the corner in the single guest chair that rarely had anyone other than one of the other cops in it.

  “Tell Uncle Eric all about it. What has your panties in a bunch this morning?”

  “My panties aren’t in a bunch.” They were, but he wasn’t about to open up to Eric about that.

  “You need to get laid. I thought you were seeing that woman. What’s her name? Lily? Lacy? Lola?”

  It was Laura, but John wasn’t going to give Eric the satisfaction of correcting him. His partner was able to remember the smallest details in a case. He knew damned well the woman John sometimes slept with when she wasn’t in a relationship was Laura. He also knew damned well Laura had met someone a few months ago and hadn’t been in John’s bed since.

  Eric wasn’t exactly good at hiding his strategy. He wanted John to get annoyed enough to tell him off and then start talking. The two were close, but that didn’t mean he was going to go all psychiatrist’s couch with the guy.

  John stood, grabbing his wallet and keys. “Got an errand to run, then I’ll swing by and grab us lunch. Back in an hour.”

  Eric raised a brow but didn’t say anything as John walked out. With the best partners, a look was enough to get the message across, and Eric’s message was clear. He knew good and well John was off his game. And a cop off his game was a danger to them all.

  * * *

  Ava McNair smiled as she watched the couple leave her store. She loved seeing couples find the perfect engagement ring to start their lives together. These two were young, but she could see the devotion in the way they looked at each other.

  He’d come in ahead of time to choose a ring, then told his girlfriend he needed to swing by and pick up a watch his mom left to be repaired. The look on her face was priceless when he dropped to one knee after Ava passed him the ring box.

  “Nice,” Kirsten James said, winking at Ava from her spot by the door. The woman might look harsh in her guard uniform, but she was as much of a softy when it came to that kind of thing as Ava was.

  Ava grinned and turned to go to the back to check on her sister, but the door chimed again. What she saw when she looked back was anything but expected.

  The man entering her family’s jewelry store had filled out. His face was different, worn in a way, but in a good way. At least, she thought it looked good on him. His eyes were the same, though.

  John Sevier’s eyes trapped and held her, his light brown gaze doing things to her just like they had years before when she’d been stupid enough to walk away from him.

  To say he was the one who got away was an understatement. She’d been so naïve and focused on all the wrong things at that time in her life. She never realized what she was losing until it was far too late for her to do anything about it.

  Not that she would have been able to hold on to him anyway. Halfway through college, her life had changed drastically, and she’d had to drop out to help her dad and sister. She would have lost John then, anyway. Still, an eighties rock ballad was playing in the back of her head somewhere as she thought about not knowing what you had ’til it was gone.

  Kirsten stiffened and looked ready to move into action if Ava didn’t say anything. It was no wonder. A six-foot-one man who looked like he could eat glass for breakfast if he got the craving, was standing frozen in their showroom. And Ava probably looked like a deer in headlights.

  “John.” Ava breathed the word out, then shook herself to clear the fog. She waved a hand at Kirsten. “It’s all right. John’s an old friend.”

  She thought she saw something flicker in his eyes at the words, but if it had been anything more than her imagination, it was gone.

  “Um…” Ava looked around the showroom. One of her salespeople was on the other side of the store helping an older gentleman pick out a bracelet for his granddaughter. Kirsten was still staring at her and John.

  Ava swung a hand in the direction of the workshop and offices at the back of the store. “We could, um…”

  Thankfully, John nodded, seemingly unconcerned at the fact she couldn’t seem to get a sentence out that didn’t include “um.” Scratch that, she hadn’t actually gotten a complete sentence out, period.

  She went to the back, hoping to pass right through the workshop where her sister, Janna, designed most of the jewelry they carried. They had other artisans who worked for them, repairing jewelry and watches and such, but Janna was their only bench jeweler. Anything in their cases that her sister didn’t make was ordered from jewelry wholesalers or outside artisans.

  Janna stood at her bench, the spotlights that surrounded her all aimed at a four-inch square space in front of her as her hands worked with small samplings of metals and gems. Janna had a habit of getting lost in her work, but today when Ava hoped she might do just that, her sister looked up.

  Janna’s eyes went from Ava to John and back to Ava in a comic demonstration of her surprise at seeing a man with Ava.

  Yeah, it was somewhat of a shock to Ava, too.

  “John, this is my sister, Janna. Janna, John and I were friends in college.” Ava watched as Janna’s eyes went wide.

  John smiled and nodded. Whether he remembered Ava mentioning Janna’s issues with anxiety when they dated, or he just read people really well, she didn’t know. But for whatever reason, he didn’t offer his hand to Janna to shake. That was good. It was what Janna was more comfortable with.

  Janna looked to Ava. “Big John?”

  Oh Lord.

  Ava’s cheeks flamed hot, and she knew they must be red. She and Janna shared everything, which meant Janna knew all about the John Ava had dated in college. She just hadn’t expected Janna to put the man standing before her together with their conversations about John in college. And yes, Janna had truly nicknamed him Big John in college, but it wasn’t for the reasons one might think.

  Not that he couldn’t have earned the nickname that way. Back in the day, one of Ava’s friends had described John’s body as “call him if you need your house moved over a few inches” kind of big. She wasn’t wrong.

  Ava put her hands to her cheeks, and a small semblance of a laugh slipped from her lips. She dodged John’s smiling eyes and Janna’s impish grin without answering and led the way back to her office.

  She could try to explain to John that Janna had given him the nickname because that was how he’d seemed to her at the time. Ava had talked about John so much when they were dating that Janna had labeled him “big” in Ava’s world.

  She didn’t know how to say all that without making the whole situation worse, though, so she clamped down on her lips, imprisoning them between her teeth as she shut the door behind them.

  The look he gave her told her he was enjoying this far too much.

  “For your information,” she said, crossing her arms, “Big John is another John. Not you. It’s…” she didn’t have any ideas… “someone else.”

  “Uh-huh.” He matched her crossed arms and let a smile cross his face.

  Ava deflated a little. It was good to see him. She’d known he moved to Dark Falls after college. He and his wife had made the city their home when he’d been offered a spot on the police force. She heard about him from time to time from old college friends, and they’d run into each other once at the farmer’s market downtown.

  She’d heard about his divorce, too.

  She leaned her hip on her desk and tried to get her heart to stop pounding and her hands to stop shaking. “It’s good to see you. You look good.�
��

  Oh hell. She should just shut up.

  It was true, though. He still wore his brown hair short in what she guessed was some kind of police regulation, above the collar kind of cut. His skin was tanned and scarred in some spots, making her want to trace the pattern of his history written there and ask him about every little mark. His jaw was the kind you read about being chiseled, and that mouth looked like it could do things no woman could refuse.

  What was she doing? She focused back on his eyes and tried to get her inner hussy to shut the hell up for a minute.

  “You, too. I should have stopped in and said hi before. I, uh…” He ran a hand over the back of his head, from the base of his neck up to the top of his head. It was something he’d done in the past, too.

  “I’m sure you’re busy,” she offered. “I heard you made detective.”

  He nodded. “That’s why I’m here.”

  Ava tilted her head.

  “I wanted to stop in and make sure you knew about the jewelry store robberies that have been happening.”

  She frowned. “I think I saw something in one of the papers about a store being robbed last week, but honestly, I don’t pay a lot of attention to the news when I get busy. There are others?”

  John was all business now. “Yes. There are details I can’t share, but what you need to know is that three stores have been hit. They’re all lower end stores that don’t have a guard posted. You have your guard out there all day, every day?”

  Ava was stunned. She didn’t think people really robbed jewelry stores anymore. There were guards in many of them and most of the other owners she networked with had high quality cameras and good security systems.

  She looked toward the front of the store where Kirsten was standing guard, even though there were several walls between them, and she couldn’t actually see the showroom from her office. “Yes, Kirsten works two days a week, and we have two others. Kirsten and one of the others are former military, and the other is a former campus officer from one of the out-of-state colleges. I don’t remember which school.”

  At the moment, all she could remember was that they all had families, loved ones. She brought her hand to the gemstone on her neck. Her birthstone, garnet. “Have there been injuries?”

  John looked grim. “Thankfully, only during this last robbery. One clerk was shoved into a glass case. No serious wounds, though. He’ll be fine.”

  Ava stared at a spot over his shoulder. She had to wonder how fine she or any of her people would be if they were held up at gunpoint. She assumed they had guns, or a weapon of some other sort.

  He went on. “They’re not hitting shops like yours yet, but I wanted to make sure you guys are on your toes. Your cameras and alarms are working?”

  “Of course.”

  “You’d be surprised how many times people let those go, thinking the alarm sticker in the window is enough of a deterrent. Until their insurance company forces them to get into compliance, they let things go.”

  Ava blinked. “Our cameras and alarms are all working. We put paste jewels in the window displays, but that’s the only fake thing around here.”

  John stepped closer, and Ava was overly aware of the small size of her office in that moment. The man had always taken her breath away, but now that he was more than a college boy, he was almost overwhelming.

  She’d long known she’d been an idiot to let him go. The point was no more obvious to her than it was right now as his eyes bore into hers. Still, he was here for business reasons. She needed to remember that, even if her body seemed to have other ideas at the moment.

  “Good,” he said. “I want you to be safe.”

  Ava swallowed. She opened her mouth to say something—she had no idea what that would be, since the sight of him in her office after all these years had her flustered beyond reason—but the intercom on her phone buzzed.

  “Ava, you’re needed in the showroom, please,” came the polite voice of her salesman. He probably had more than one customer. They knew from experience, if you let someone browse too long without helping them on the showroom floor, they’d walk out without making a purchase.

  John stepped back. “I’ll let you get back to work.”

  Ava nodded, trying to let the breath she’d been holding slip out slowly and quietly enough that he might not hear it.

  John led the way back to the showroom, pausing to turn to her when they were in the doorway between the front and back of the store.

  “You look good, Ava. Really good.”

  Ava nodded again, still struck mute, it seemed.

  “Stay safe,” he said as he turned away.

  “You, too, John.” She echoed his words in her head. Stay safe.

  Then she watched for a moment, not letting herself worry about customers and sales quite yet. She stood at the back of the showroom and watched as John Sevier walked away.

  To keep reading Dark Falls, click here!

  Also by Lori Ryan

  The Sutton Capital Series

  Legal Ease

  Penalty Clause

  The Baker’s Bodyguard (A Sutton Capital Series Novella)

  Negotiation Tactics

  The Billionaire’s Suite Dreams

  The Baker, the Bodyguard, and the Wedding Bell Blues (A Sutton Capital Series Novella)

  Her SEALed Fate

  The Sutton Capital Series Boxed Set (Books One Through Four)

  The Sutton Capital Series Boxed Set (Books Five Through Seven)

  Sutton Capital Intrigue

  Cutthroat

  Cut and Run

  Cut to the Chase

  Sutton Capital On the Line Series

  Pure Vengeance

  Latent Danger

  Wicked Justice

  Heroes of Evers, Texas Series

  Love and Protect

  Promise and Protect

  Honor and Protect (An Evers, TX Novella)

  Serve and Protect

  Desire and Protect

  Cherish and Protect

  Triple Play Curse Series

  Game Changer

  Game Maker

  Game Clincher

  The Triple Play Curse Boxed Set

  Standalone Books

  Stealing Home (writing in Melanie Shawn’s Hope Falls Series)

  Any Witch Way (writing in Robyn Peterman’s Magic and Mayhem Series)

  All In (writing in the Sleeper SEALs Series)

  About the Author

  Lori Ryan is a NY Times and USA Today bestselling author who writes romantic suspense, contemporary romance, and sports romance. She lives with an extremely understanding husband, three wonderful children, and two mostly-behaved dogs in Austin, Texas. It’s a bit of a zoo, but she wouldn’t change a thing.

  Lori published her first novel in April of 2013 and hasn’t looked back since then. She loves to connect with her readers.

  For new release info and bonus content, join her newsletter at http://loriryanromance.com/lets-keep-touch/

  Follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/loriryanromance/

  or Twitter at https://twitter.com/Loriryanauthor

  or Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/loriryanauthor/