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I kissed her softly. “Good to know, Darlin’.”

16SHOW, NOT TELL

Lanie

Two weeks had gone by since the night I’d walked into Steak on Main. With the baby coming early and all the other crazy stuff, Henley insisted we hold off on the baby shower until things settled down a bit. The original plan had been to have the party at her and Keaton’s place, but unbeknownst to me, she and the rest of our group decided on something new. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who needed to forget the bad.

Tonight, we were back, standing in front of the glass building with the cowboy maître d’. Keaton and Henley, Koen and Jade, Noah and me. The six of us, plus Ryder, were going to make some new memories, and I was finally going to taste the expensive steak I never got to order. We were righting all kinds of wrongs.

“We need to go in or they’ll cancel our reservation.” Jade gently nudged me from behind.

Noah weaved his fingers through mine. “You guys go ahead. Give us a second.”

My heart was lodged in my throat as I watched themwalk away. This shouldn’t be so fucking hard. It’s just a building for heaven’s sake. A bunch of walls, some kick-ass decor, yet I couldn’t get my feet to move. I hadn’t had a single nightmare. Not even when Zak flew Pru home a week ago. Noah watched me like a hawk, waiting for a meltdown which never came. Until now. Who would have thought the restaurant would have been the trigger.

“Come with me,” he said, leading me down the sidewalk. We stopped on the corner. “The van was parked right there. Waverly chose that spot because she thought it would give us a view of the whole restaurant. What we didn’t count on was the two of you being at the chef’s table. When we lost visual, Duncan threatened to cuff me to the seat if I didn’t cool it.”

“I would’ve liked to see that.” I grinned.

“Up ’til then, we could still hear your entire conversation, but the texts came through and we started scrambling to figure out how to get you out of there. We didn’t pay close enough attention to the clue he left.”

“What clue?”

“He called you milaya, dear in Russian. D.E.A.R.”

“Yes, I know. I was there. How is that a clue?”

“The warehouse was located on Deer Road. D.E.E.R. He wanted us to find you.”

“Holy shit.” Pulling me close, he circled his arms around my waist, laying his chin on my shoulder. “He didn’t lie.”

A few moments passed.

“He called today.”

“Conversing with criminals, Agent Anderson?”

My joke fell flat, just like my mood at the moment. I needed to get out of this funk. We’d returned to work, short an agent with Keaton on paternity leave and shortour resident agent in charge. There wasn’t a huge uptick in crime that needed our immediate attention, which meant we were looking at cold cases like Beth’s; trying to find clues from the ashes. Nine times out of ten, they stayed unsolved, but every once in a while, luck would strike.

“Pru is trying to shut him out.”

“She’s terrified, Noah. Her whole life is on a tilt-a-whirl right now. She doesn’t know which way is up. He needs to give her a chance to breathe.”

“He needs to fight for her.”

“You told him that?”

“Yup. He told me a little about her past. She hasn’t had it easy. He can give that to her.”

“Hmm. You could be right.”

His fingers drifted to my sides. “Say that again?”

“Do not tickle me.” I squirmed in his hold.

“Then say it again.”

“Fine. You were right.”

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