Monday, March 22

Jackson glanced at the clock on his desk and realized it was finally late enough to call the Collin County prosecutor’s office.  He grabbed his cell phone and went into one of the conference rooms, pulling the door closed behind him.  Even though there was a phone on his desk, it was too out in the open and he didn’t want Dinsley to walk by and find out that he was going outside the Bureau to find out about him and the case.

“Good morning, Jenna Monroe’s office,” Trista said once she answered the phone. Read more »

I looked at the men in shock.  Not only was Chill not surprised to see Parker, but they went way back. That was information I should have gotten long before this moment.  I didn’t fully understand what was going on yet, so I remained quiet and sized up Chill.

No matter how many times I saw Chill, his appearance was always startling to me.  Read more »

I looked out the window of Parker’s car as he pulled into the parking lot. “Blaine’s Rain?  I thought this was important.  I’m really not a fan of clubs.”

“We have someone to meet.” He cut the engine and grinned over at me…again. Seriously, what was his deal? He’d done that at least a dozen times since I’d walked out of my bedroom in a short black skirt and electric green halter-top that didn’t quite hit my waist.

He could grin all he wanted, but Read more »

Sunday, March 21

“Wow.” I tossed the paperback book near my feet on the couch.  “How do people come up with that stuff?”

I rubbed my eyes and glanced at the clock.  Nearly ten-thirty.  True to his word, the weekend had indeed been mine.  It struck me as odd that I didn’t know what to do with the spare time.  Not long ago I worked completely alone and never minded the endless hours stretched out before me, but now that I had a real plan, and someone who had a connection to Raptor, it annoyed me to spend a single minute on anything else. Read more »

“Did they ever prove if the agent was on the take?”

Jenna shook her head and started gathering the dinner plates from the coffee table. “They turned over the information to your office, but you know how you guys handle everything internally. No one on my side ever heard what happened one way or the other.”

This new information cast more suspicion on his partner. Dinsley’s behavior was already suspect before this, but if he were on the take… Read more »

Rushing out of the restaurant the way I did was a mistake; one I didn’t realize until I was already home. Saying I wasn’t hungry was a total lie, but I couldn’t handle being out in public. As it was, I barely made it into my car before the hot tears burned through my eyes and slid down my face.

Now I was just pissed off. Read more »

“Caldwell,” Jackson said into his cell phone.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the way you Bureau guys answer your phones,” Jenna replied.  Without waiting for a response, she continued, “I think I have something you might be interested in, Jackson.”

He could think of many things Jenna had that he wanted, but he didn’t figure she would appreciate his saying so.  Read more »

The time at the florist was unbelievably boring for Parker.  After an hour and a half of waiting on a stool in between displays of roses and carnations, he was beginning to think he should meet up with her once she was done here.  This was about flowers for a gala that didn’t matter to her, not the cure for cancer. At least she didn’t have him babysitting her purse as women liked to do while shopping.

He cracked his first smile since parking next to her car in the flower shop’s parking lot. Skylar probably thought he’d snatch her wallet if she let go of her death grip on it. Read more »

Friday, March 19

What is that God awful sound? Why won’t it stop when I smack my alarm clock? Oh. I didn’t set my alarm. Wow. It’s already after one o’clock? How did that happen? Sure, I had to take something to help me sleep last night after seeing Eric again, but…still. I should’ve been up hours ago.

I rubbed my eyes and opened the door, not bothering to see who it was first.

Or change out of the tank top and yoga pants I slept in. Read more »

As the meeting began to wind down, Michael chided himself for not warning Skylar about Reyna and Eric.  While she seemed to be dealing with the surprise well enough, he knew she was a mess inside.  Monty had always described his daughter as having a level head when it came to everything except for that boy. Read more »

I opened my eyes just before five that evening.  Good thing, too, because I didn’t set my alarm.  Part of me wished I had overslept, but I knew there was no turning back for me now.  I knew that from the first moment I locked eyes with Parker Ramsey. Raptor would never expect me to come after him.  I couldn’t let my feelings for Eric get in the way of that.

What were my feelings for him? With so much time between us, it was hard to say. Read more »

As though on cue, Parker returned to the living room.  He shot me a look, but I pretended not to notice.  I wasn’t in the mood to talk about the past anymore.  I’d just vocalized the most painful detail of my father’s murder and I would have to relive another painful portion of the past in a few hours.

How many memories of pain could one person endure before they crumpled? I was just about there… Read more »

When the door opened, a pair of untrusting blue eyes greeted Jackson.

“Can I help you?”

“Are you Skylar Montgomery?”

“I am.  What can I do for you?”

He flashed his badge.  “I’m Special Agent Caldwell.  Can I come in for a moment?  There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.” Read more »

Parker needed a break from his planning so he went to Skylar’s just before one o’clock that afternoon.  When he realized she wasn’t home, he let himself in to wait.  It annoyed him that she was never home, even though she had no way to know when he was coming over.  He needed to tell her the truth, but every minute that ticked by while he waited took away a piece of his nerve. Read more »

I left Yvette’s just after one o’clock that afternoon. I was grateful the committee meeting wasn’t until six-thirty.  My mind was racing and I knew I would need every millisecond of the time to pull myself back together.   It figured that the first time I chose to try and get my social life back that Eric would be somehow involved.

Pulling one over on Michael was hard enough, but no one on the planet knew me the way Eric did. Read more »