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“Well, if you’ve got any more ideas like that, send them my way, and I’ll look at you all you want.”

He held my stare.

Then he smiled, turned on the car, and drove away. Our first meeting felt like a complete success, even if we didn’t get any leads.

NINE

Ty

Disbelief.

That was the only word I could think to best describe the way I currently felt.

If anyone had told me that just a few weeks after learning that my girlfriend of a year had cheated on me that I’d be feeling this good, I wouldn’t have believed them.

But here I was, feeling better than I had in months and convinced it was only going to get better.

As I made my way to the front of the Harper Security Ops office, I had only one person to thank for it—Alana.

Initially, I had assumed I was merely experiencing the effects of being caught up in my work and being around someone new. And while it was true that I was enjoying the work I was doing now, there was a part of me that realized what I was feeling now had less to do with the work and more to do with her.

We were about to spend our third day working together on the Annie Sanders story. We’d visited two more spots the same day we’d met up with Carl at the Steel Ridge Rec. And yesterday,Alana and I had checked off another two on her list. It was safe to say I was impressed by Alana’s ability to just keep going, to keep digging. Even though she had that walking boot on and could technically get around while wearing it, I would have thought she’d need more down time to help her recovery. Either her body was doing an excellent job of repairing itself, she had a high tolerance for pain, or she was far too determined to uncover the truth to slow down.

Rounding the corner, my eyes went toward the front door, where Alana was having a conversation with Avalon while she waited for me. Alana was in the middle of saying something I couldn’t hear from the distance, when she glanced up and saw me. She smiled and waved, making it impossible for me to ignore the flutter in my stomach.

With the exception of Avalon—who’d done what she’d done for the man she loved—Alana was the only woman I’d ever met who was so determined and dedicated to her work that she was willing to put herself in harm’s way. Alana was pushing herself to get to the bottom of this story, risking her safety to do it, and she didn’t even personally know the woman who’d been murdered. I thought it said a lot about the kind of woman she was.

I came to a stop in front of her, just beside Avalon’s desk. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Ty. Ready for another fun-filled adventure today?”

There was that, too.

Other than one or two instances where she’d been reflecting on the whole investigation or the time that I’d walked into her hospital room and found her shouting at her boss, Alana was such a pleasant woman. Maybe that was another reason I was feeling so good so soon after my break-up.

I smiled at her. “Try and stop me.”

She laughed, her gaze shifting to Avalon. “It was nice to talk to you for a few minutes this morning. See you later.”

“Yeah, you, too,” Avalon replied. “Have a good day, Ty.”

I could tell from the way her voice changed that Avalon wanted to say more than she did, but it was likely her unwillingness to scare Alana off that had her refraining from being more forward with me.

“Later, Avalon.”

I moved forward, urging Alana toward the front door, holding it open for her as she walked through. We took our time making our way to my car since she still needed to contend with the boot.

After opening her door and letting her in, I rounded it and got in on my side. I’d barely closed the door when Alana asked, “Hey, I don’t mean to inconvenience you at all, but before we dive into the work today, would you mind making a quick pit stop for me?”

“Not at all. Where do you need to go?” It surprised me how easy it was for my response to roll off my tongue. I didn’t even take a moment to think about where she might have wanted to go.

“Oh, thanks. I didn’t have much time this morning, so I skipped breakfast. I was hoping to grab something quick this morning. Would it be alright to stop by the bagel shop downtown? It’s only five minutes away from our first stop this morning.”

“Sure. Are you talking about the one around the corner from the police station?” I asked.

Alana’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, I forgot about that place. No, I was actually referring to the one two blocks north. The one across the street from the post office.”

As soon as she said it, I turned on my car and pulled out of the parking lot. Ten minutes later, I grumbled, “The traffic is so bad this morning. There’s no place to park.”

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