Page 86 of Final Sins

“Fine. All right. I’ll talk to her,” he conceded, his voice gruff. Not that he expected it to do any good.

But doubt quickly crept back in. “How can you even know she’s interested in me?”

Tai and Fenn exchanged exasperated looks.

“For a bright guy,” Tai said, shaking his head, “you’re really dumb sometimes.”

With that parting shot, the two men headed out the door, leaving Jason alone with his thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, he heaved himself out of the chair and made his way down the hallway. The guest room door was ajar, and he could hear Alex moving around inside. He hesitated, then rapped his knuckles against the doorframe.

Alex looked up, surprise flitting across her face. “What’s up?”

He fidgeted in the doorway, suddenly at a loss for words. “Hey, I, uh ... Redemption Creek is a great place, you know. Not that LA isn’t. And your huge house. Mansion. It’s nice ...”

“Oh, yeah, it’s ...” Alex started, then paused, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I mean, Redemption Creek is really beautiful. The mountains and all ...”

“Right, the mountains,” Jason nodded too enthusiastically. “They’re very ... mountainous.”

They both spoke at once: “So, LA traffic must be?—”

“The ranch is really?—”

They stopped, chuckling awkwardly.

“You go ahead,” he offered, rubbing the back of his neck.

Alex fiddled with the zipper on her bag. “No, no, you were saying?”

“Just, uh, wondering about LA traffic. Heard it’s pretty bad.”

“Oh, yeah, it can be ... but you get used to it, I guess.” She shrugged. “The ranch though. It’s so peaceful here.”

“Peaceful, yeah,” Jason agreed, tapping his fingers against the doorframe. “Except when we’re chasing bad guys or, you know, waiting for babies.”

They shared a nervous laugh that quickly faded into another stretch of uncomfortable silence.

The sharp thwack of helo blades spinning up took care of the quiet.

Alex hefted her go bag. “Well, Army, that’s my cue.”

He reached for it. “Here, let me.” He took the bag, their fingers brushing for a brief moment.

They walked out together, joining Liv and Mac who were sheltered on the far side of the huge metal hangar. The wind whipped around them, carrying the scent of dust and sage.

“Try not to miss us too much, Reilly,” Liv called out, a teasing glint in her eye.

Mac grinned. “Yeah, we know how attached you’ve gotten.”

Jason felt a smile tugging at his lips despite the ache in his chest. “I’ll try to soldier on somehow.”

Mac and Liv and Gabriel headed around the corner and ducked their way onto the helo.

The helicopter’s blades cut through the air, their rhythmic thwack-thwack-thwack growing louder by the second as Kate spun up the engine. Jason raised his voice to be heard over the din.

“Hey, maybe I’ll come visit LA sometime. You know, if I’m in the area.”

Alex’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “That would be great.”

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