“No. I honestly don’t remember him.” Shame heated her cheeks. “I remember problem customers. Creeps who stared too long. Big tippers. Families who came every Friday. Not every man who ordered a pizza and sat in a booth.”
“Did Stina ever mention someone bothering her?”
“No.”
“Following her? Asking questions? Waiting around after close?”
Jolie shook her head. “Just an on-again-off-again boyfriend. She keeps going back to the jerk and he kicks her out andshe ends up crashing with me. But if more was going on, she wouldn’t hide it from me. We’re friends.”
Cannon held her gaze another beat, weighing everything. “What else did he say?”
“That I should’ve stayed in Chicago. That he’d been tracking me.” Her stomach turned all over again. “He said Stina’s full name like he knew her.”
Silence smothered the room.
Cannon asked for every detail a second time—whether her kidnapper’s voice sounded familiar, whether Stina had reacted strangely to any customer. Jolie answered until her throat felt raw and her head pounded.
Only when he seemed satisfied did he set the tablet down and give her a measured look. “Anything else?” he asked.
She swallowed. “Can I call my sister?”
Something gentled in his expression, so brief she would have missed it if she hadn’t been looking. “Yeah. You’ve earned that.”
Archer was already on his feet, holding out a hand. “Come on.”
He helped her up carefully and guided her out of the war room, one hand steady at her back as they moved down the hall. The base felt different now—less like a place she’d stumbled into and more like somewhere she knew by heart.
He led her into a smaller side room with a desk, two chairs and a lamp burning low. He pulled a phone out of a drawer and handed it to her.
“Secure line,” he said.
“Fancy.”
“Can I get you anything? Food? Water? You’ve had a hard day.”
“I’m fine. I just want to tell my sister I’m okay and it will be a little while before I get home.”
He nodded.
“Then I want you.”
His stare held hers for three long beats before he leaned down and brushed his lips across hers. It wasn’t filled with lust or the driving need they both felt before. It was soft and steady.
It was everything she needed and full of all the things neither of them could say yet.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, she took the phone.
Archer turned back at the door. “I’ll be just down the hall if you need me. Okay?”
She gave him a small smile, heart bursting with love as she watched him walk away.
Jolie took a moment to center herself before punching in Lara’s number. Her sister answered on the first ring.
“Where have you been?” Lara demanded.
Jolie laughed, the sound too shaky. “Long story.”
There was a pause, and suddenly Lara’s voice echoed with delight. “With your hot ranger?”
