Page 51 of End Game

“Beautiful. Bring everything we have on SB623 to my office. Let’s see if there’s something more we could, or should, be doing.”

Excitement infused Gemma’s response. “I’ll be there in a sec.”

Kayla’s lips twitched. She’d been an intern once and knew the prospect of working one-on-one with the boss would send a rush of adrenaline through the young woman’s body.

Equilibrium restored, she marched into her office and didn’t think about the FBI agent once over the course of the next few hours. Not until she found a spine-tingling message etched into the paint of her beautiful Mercedes.

24

The scent of roasted coffee and buttery pastries tripped Ash’s olfactory senses the moment he stepped into Blues, Brews, and Books, better known by the locals as Triple B.

One side of a soundproof wall housed a restaurant and bar, the other a coffee shop and oversized Little Free Library. Steele Ridge patrons had their pick of atmosphere and locally-sourced vittles.

When Randi Shepherd opened the doors beneath the iconic blue awnings, the coffee shop had operated only in the mornings. But in the era of How do you want your coffee—hot or cold?, she now kept the shop door open until 8:00 p.m., requiring Randi to double her staff.

Another win-win for Steele Ridge.

After placing his order, Ash skimmed the wall of library books for something to read while he waited for Liv to arrive.

Since he was in the area, he couldn’t pass up a chance to check in on his former colleague. He’d thought of her often after his meeting with Zeke, and wondered how the possible mother-to-be was doing.

The barista called out his name. He grabbed a hardback by T. J. Newman, picked up his black coffee, settled into one of two seats at a postage-stamp-sized table near the window, and flipped to page one.

“Must be a good book,” a familiar female voice said.

Ash blinked away visions of passenger planes sinking to the bottom of the ocean and glanced up to find Liv Westcott.

She raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on her lips.

He used the dust jacket to mark his place, stunned to find that he’d already ripped through the first five chapters. With surprising reluctance, he set the book aside and rose to greet his brother’s fiancée.

It took every molecule of control in his body not to glance down at Liv’s stomach to see if he could detect the beginning of a baby bump. Instead, he gave her a swift hug before resuming his seat. “Thanks for seeing me on such short notice.”

She set her to-go cup on the table, a testament to how engrossed he’d been in Newman’s singular thriller that he hadn’t noticed Liv come in, let alone place an order.

Sliding into the chair opposite him, she said, “Of course.”

She displayed an unfettered smile and looked strangely radiant in her leggings and sports tank top beneath a sleeveless T-shirt.

“Did I interrupt your workout?”

She shook her head. “Brodie has a baseball game today and the weather gods believe we’ll hit mid-eighties. So I dressed for sweat.”

“I’m keeping you from your family.” He pushed his chair back from the table, the metal legs screeched in protest. “We can do this another time.”

She waved off his concern. “Don’t get me wrong, I love watching my son play, especially after he’d forsaken the game for so long. But he’s in travel baseball, and it can be . . . a bit much.”

“But—”

She shook her head and gave him a reassuring smile. “I’ll be back in time to see the last few innings. No worries.”

“If you’re sure.”

“One hundred percent.” Her smile faded. “What’s on your mind?”

“I see the private sector hasn’t vaporized your powers of observation.”

“I don’t need FBI training to notice something is weighing hard on my friend’s mind.”

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