Page 9 of No Reason to Trust

“I’ll do that.” Livvy said. “It shouldn’t be too hard to convince them that you need backup that you can trust. They both know what happened in Brighton Beach, so it should be easy to persuade them.”

“Sounds good.” Jake nodded at the people sitting at the bar, who were all watching them. “Go head and toss that beer in my face,” he said. “Otherwise, our audience is gonna be disappointed.”

“I’m afraid they’re going to have to suffer,” Olivia said, taking a pull of her drink. “No way am I wasting good Guinness on you.” One side of her mouth curled into a smile. “Much rather drink it.”

“If we end up working together, I’ll probably piss you off more than once or twice, so you’ll have plenty of other chances,” Jake said.

“Something to look forward to,” Olivia said, draining her glass. “I’ll talk to Mel and Dev and find out when we could meet with them. I’ll be in touch.”

Jake watched her walk toward the bar, carrying the empty beer glass and some bills. Her black boots tapped on the wooden floor, catching his eye. They ended just above her ankles. Olivia pushed through The Trailhead’s door, and a few minutes later, he heard the distinctive sound of a Harley outside the bar. No one could mistake that rumble that sounded like potato, potato, potato for anything else. What the hell? Williams rode a Harley?

Apparently, the woman had hidden depths.

Depth or not, he needed to stay away from Olivia Williams. But he’d just invited himself to work with her.

What the hell was wrong with him? Did he have a death wish? Because working with Olivia to find the Russian assets in the Bureau would be a very dangerous job, professionally.

And maybe personally, as well.

Chapter 4

As he sat in the lounge area of the Excelsior, Jake glanced at his phone. Almost four. Olivia’s job had fallen through, and should be here in an hour, and he was feeling twitchy. Unsettled. He knew it was because he hadn’t run in a while. Hadn’t worked on the machines in the Excelsior Hotel’s workout room. He’d been too busy, but he needed to move. Work his muscles.

So he ran up to his room, threw on a pair of running shorts, a tee shirt and a pair of running shoes. Walked out of the hotel and jogged through town. When he was finally on the road out of Helena, the one that passed the Blackhawk Security compound, he got onto the shoulder and began to run instead of jog.

By the time he’d gone five miles, he was drenched in sweat. Just the way he liked his workouts. He glanced at his watch -- with any luck, he’d have time for a shower before he met with Olivia.

He had three miles left to get back to the Excelsior when he heard a motorcycle behind him. Pretty sure it was a Harley, but he didn’t look over his shoulder. That was just asking to stumble over a rock on the edge and fall on his ass. Probably in front of Olivia.

Scowling, irritated that he’d even thought about not looking like a fool in front of Olivia, he ran a little faster. Not like he could outrun a motorcycle, but at least he wouldn’t look like he was dogging it.

The motorcycle was getting closer and closer, and he heard it slow down. Finally it glided to a stop about fifty feet in front of him. Livvy turned on the saddle and flipped up her helmet’s faceguard. “Thought that looked like you, dogging it into Helena.”

“The hell I was dogging it. I was going at a good clip until you forced me off the road.”

“Hah. You were already on the edge of the road, running on the stones. Don’t you know that’s not good for your knees? All that uneven surface?”

Jake slowed down as he reached Livvy, who was balancing her motorcycle with both feet planted on the ground. His gaze went right to those too-hot black ankle boots. “Better the uneven ground than getting mowed down by a bike or a car.”

Olivia snorted. “Like someone couldn’t see you, running along the road? You’re as big as a moose out here.”

“Not quite, Williams.” Jake bent at the waist and sucked in a deep breath. “You run into a moose on that thing? You’ll know you’ve hit something big. You run into me? I’d go flying off the road.”

Her gaze scanned him from head to toe, lingering on the sweat darkening his shirt and running down the sides of his face. Finally she said, “You interested in a ride back to town?”

He patted his head. “Would have been, but you only have one helmet. I wouldn’t ride one of those donor cycles without a helmet.”

“Hah,” she said, swiveling on the seat to unlock the storage compartment. “I always carry an extra.” She pulled out a bright pink helmet and extended it toward him. “Here you go. Put in on and hop on behind me.”

Jake studied the helmet in Livvy’s hands. “Pink, huh?” He glanced down at his green running shorts. “Afraid I’d clash. Have to pass it up.”

Livvy rolled her eyes at him. “You afraid of pink, Jake? Too bad you’re not confident in your masculinity. That must be a tough burden to carry.”

Jake’s lips twitched. “You think I’m afraid of pink? Gimme that thing.”

He jammed it onto his head, but it was way too small. It perched on his crown like a giant bird.

“Oh, for God’s sake.” She snatched the helmet off his head and adjusted something in the webbing inside the helmet. “Here,” she said. “Try it now.”

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