Page 3 of Montana Rain

A flood of people suddenly came through the doors. Sports fans. Must be a game tonight. Rayne stepped back and looked at me with more heat than I think she realized. “I’m glad I won’t have to see you again, Cole.”

She disappeared into the crowd exactly as she meant to, and I went back to my beer. I smiled. If Rayne was glad she didn’t have to see me again, she was going to be really upset when she found out Garnet Bend was where I was spending the next four months.

Downing the last of my drink, I tossed cash on the bar and headed back to my room. The sooner I could get out of here, the better. For both the FBI and for me.

Montana wasn’t a place I saw myself, but seeing Rayne again? This was going to be fun.

Chapter 2

Rayne Westerfield

I had to be hallucinating.

As a therapist, I was pretty sure I wasn’t, but I hoped I was hallucinating. Because Cole Phillips was here.

In Chicago.

Staring down at me just like he had last year, seconds before he had me pressed up against his car and put his lips on mine in the best kiss of my damn life.

And I couldn’t do it. Because Cole Phillips made me feel out of control, and that was absolutely unacceptable. The reasons I gave him were bullshit and we both knew it, but this was Chicago. In the morning, I was getting on a plane to Montana, and he’d go back to whatever mission he was currently on. That would be the end of it.

The surge of people coming in the doors of the hotel lobby distracted both of us, and I took the opportunity to step back and put some space between us. “I’m glad I won’t have to see you again, Cole.”

I could have imagined it, but I thought he smiled before I fully turned around. And like hell was I going to admit what that kind of smile did to me.

I turned, taking my coat from over my arm and putting it on. Chicago wasn’t as cold as Montana in general, but the wind chill was both legendary and brutal. I was going to need my coat, even on the short walk to Mom and Ava’s apartment.

All the breath left me as someone ran into me. A woman, definitely not dressed for the chill. Long dark hair and panic in her eyes. She was pressed up against me for only a second before she clawed away from me and sprinted through the crowd deeper into the hotel.

I lost her. Enough people were milling around the lobby now that it was too dense to see, even with someone sprinting.

Turning back to the doors, I saw three men burst through them and start to look around. Like they were chasing someone. Someone who was running. I noted the suits they wore, which contrasted with the intensity with which they were looking.

I might not know what was going on, but like hell was I going to let someone be chased, regardless. The men had slowed down and had waded into the crowd. Pushing my way through in the opposite direction of the bar, I edged around until I reached the concierge desk. “Excuse me.”

The woman looked up, and her eyes locked on my badge from the conference. Instantly, her face transformed into a smile. “Yes, how can I help you?”

“Three men just came into the lobby chasing a woman.” I pointed them out in the crowd. “I don’t know where she went, but I didn’t want to just let it happen.”

“Yeah.” Her eyes went wide. She grabbed the radio that sat on her desk. “I need security in the lobby.”

The thing squawked. “We’re here. What do you need?”

“Come to the desk.”

A couple of guys pushed through the crowd, and I’d bet they were off-duty cops from the way they carried themselves. I pointed out the three men—now deep into the lobby crowd—and watched as security found them and escorted them out of the hotel.

The woman was still nowhere to be found. I gave her description to the concierge and checked the lobby bathroom, but there was no sign of her. Whatever happened to her and whatever she was running from, I hoped it didn’t catch up with her.

Finally, I left and made the ten-minute walk back to the downtown apartment my mother and sister shared. I unlocked the door, trying to be quiet since it was getting late. Ava would probably already be asleep.

Instead, I was greeted with the low sound of sitcom laughter and all the lights on. Mom and Ava sat in the living room, watching a show. “What are you two doing up? I thought you’d be asleep by now.”

Ava rolled her eyes. “Like we’d go to sleep on your last night here.”

She was on the couch and not in her chair, settled in and comfortable. My mom, on the other hand, was exhausted. I saw in her eyes that she was drooping and staying awake for Ava’s sake. She probably had a packed day tomorrow, but she was doing this for her.

Familiar guilt clogged my throat, and I forced a smile at the two of them. “Sorry I’m so late. I meant to leave a little earlier, but there was a little chaos at the hotel.” I shrugged off my coat and shoes before snuggling in between them on the couch. “Girl ran into me, seemed like she was being chased. I stayed to make sure the guys who were running after her were taken out of the building.”

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