Page 44 of Live a Little!

She sent him a look that promised retribution, then grabbed her coat and bag and headed for thedoor.

“Hey!” He halted her in the doorway. “About lastnight.”

A wary expression entered her green eyes. She was obviously expecting him to lecture her again about keeping out of trouble. But that wasn’t what was on his mind. He was remembering how she’d wrapped her arms around him when he most needed comfort, how she’d held him and loved him when his mood was black with pain andgrief.

He wanted to kiss her, but her mouth was busy chewing toast, so he raised her hand and kissed the palm. “Thanks.”

Once he’d returned to his place long enough for a quick shower and change of clothes, he headed to Harrison’s apartment building. On the way, he called the bureau from hiscar.

“What?” a voicesnarled.

Even though his buddy Carl couldn’t see him, Jake grinned. “You been taking more of those public relationscourses?”

“Wheeler! You better be calling to tell me you’re hauling your ass back inhere.”

“Soon, Carl. I need you to confirm that Harrison, the former Oceanic accountant, hasn’t returned to theStates.”

There was a huffy blasphemy. “I got a terrorist plot that looks like a hoax, but I gotta check it out, two bank robberies with the same MO as a string of heists in Texas, a murdered drug dealer and an ulcer. And you want me keeping tabs on some clerk who’s taking a holiday.” Jake heard papers computer keys tapping. “Seems like everybody’s on holiday,” he grumbled. “Holdon.”

The line clicked and Jakewaited.

Ahead of him a van with a pile of kids in it pulled into his lane. Some kind of field trip, he imagined. Or maybe a day care; they didn’t look old enough to his inexperienced eye to be in school. The mom, or teacher, appeared pretty perky for a woman with a van full of kids. She had red hair, but it didn’t have the attitude Cynthia’s hair did. And just like that he pictured Cynthia withkids.

He felt as if he’d just been punched. The kids he’d imagined werehiskids. His and Cynthia’s. Which just made him agree with Carl that he’d been on holiday too long. Jake needed a good dose ofreality.

The line clicked and he took a right turn, losing sight of the toddler van. “Nope. No sign of Harrison. If he’s reentered the States he used a differentpassport.”

“Thanks,buddy.”

“No sweat. Hey, come by for dinner one night next week. Susan’s got a friend she wants you tomeet.”

Jake’s expletive was met with a coarse chuckle. He figured they were both recalling the women Carl’s wife had already set him up with: a belly dancer who’d just dumped her fourth husband and a dog groomer who’d rubbed his thigh and made sexual innuendos about his “gun” all through dinner. He mostly went along with it for the entertainment value, and because he liked Carl and his wife. “Who is it thistime?”

“Amedium.”

There was a second of silence. “As in, talks to deadpeople?”

“Yep.” Carl gave a snort of ill-disguisedmerriment.

Jake shook his head. “Doesn’t Susan have any friends who aresane?”

“Not that she’d let you getnear.”

He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel while he waited for the light to go green. “Tell Susan thanks, but I’m seeingsomeone.”

“No kidding. Is shehot?”

Jake thought about Cyn and a reluctant grin kicked up one side of his mouth. The light turned green and he put his foot on the gas. “Oh, yeah. She’shot.”

“Bring her for dinner. We’d love to meet her. You pick theday.”

“I’ll ask her.” He didn’t know what Carl would make of the new woman in his life, but he had a feeling Susan and Cynthia would get on like a house on fire. They were equally nuts, and he was crazy about both ofthem.

JAKE’S CELL PHONE RANG.Thinking it was Carl calling back, he said, “Wheeler.”

“That’s not a very friendly greeting. It could be a girl calling.” Just hearing Cynthias’s deliberately provocative purr made him jerk thewheel.

A low laugh traveled through his earpiece as intimately as though she had her lips pressed against him. “Careful, you don’t want to run off theroad.”

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