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Anna waved at the computer. “I can’t believe that Coran would put the one and only copy of the file onto my device with no kind of backup in place. He couldn’t know how I’d react. What if I’d deleted it? Surely there are other copies. Or maybe completely different files that hold other important information. To find them, I have to get back into the office. I know what to look for—I have the author names, and I’ve seen that one file.”
The room went quiet. The guys were all staring at her, even Gage. He didn’t look angry—he looked worried, with his forehead bunched.
He let out a breath. “Here’s the plan. We bring Brighton in on what’s going on. I’ll text him coordinates for neutral ground. But you,” he told Anna, “I’m sticking to you like your shadow.”
She shivered. A small voice in the back of her head wondered what she was doing, but she lifted her chin and managed a smile. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
18
Gage sat in his car and watched Anna walk into the offices of Coran Williams Publishing. He didn’t like this plan, but at least he didn’t have that tingling on the back of his neck telling him everything was about to head south.
Of course, he hadn’t had that feeling when he’d come here for the photo shoot…and then the place had been wrecked. At least Anna had a burner phone now—one Scotty could track. She also had instructions not to push it too far. Gage was due to show up in forty-five minutes with the excuse that he was there to set up another photo shoot. He pushed out a breath, telling himself that it would be fine. He’d be able to keep her safe. She’d let him do that, even if she didn’t seem to want anything else from him.
That shouldn’t bother him—but it did.
Women came and went, and he’d always preferred it that way. But he’d also suspected that one day he’d find the woman who wasitfor him. His bad luck that it was Anna, who seemed to grow more distant with every hour that passed.
On the way out of Scotty’s place, Scotty had pulled Gage aside and told him, “Dude, you know me and girls—and I’m telling you right now, you’re a fool if you let this one go. Find a way to fix it, or you’ll never stop regretting it.” Something had changed in Scotty’s eyes then—something that made Gage wonder if there was more to his womanizing than a desire not to be tied down.
Had Scotty been burned at some point, had his heart broken? Gage hadn’t had time to think about it. No, he had to find a way to convince Anna that what had happened between them was real and he wanted to make it last. But he was less and less confident that she felt the same way.
The only good news in all this was that Anna’s mother had seemed to like him—but was that really a point in his favor? The two of them didn’t have the best relationship. Maybe Eloise’s approval would actually countagainsthim.
Thumping a palm on the steering wheel, he let out a curse. He glanced at his watch. Great: forty minutes left. He wasn’t going to make it. He needed eyes on Anna—he needed her safe. He wanted to say to hell with the plan and go in now…but she’d be furious if he did. She’d insisted that she needed time to look for the file without drawing anyone’s attention.
“You need to put your cards on the table and let her make up her mind,” had been Kyle’s parting advice. “Don’t miss out—I’ve done that, and it’s not good.” Kyle had followed up his words with a hard look that spoke volumes about the ghosts Kyle was carrying. If Kyle could pull himself together after watching his brother go down like he had, Gage figured he could at least listen to him.
Only Spencer had kept his mouth shut, just giving Gage a look as he left with Anna, one eyebrow cocked as if he was daring Gage to try and make this work.
Hell, what did those three know about women? He’d never known them to have serious relationships. Scotty changed women more often than he changed his underwear. Nick—the only of them who had been married—seemed to have ended up with a possible spook for a wife. Gage rubbed the back of his neck. None of that was talking him out of Anna.
He kept thinking of how she’d looked coming out of that house, bruised and exhausted but still able to find a smile. How she’d curled up in his arms, so damn trusting. How she glowed when she came, her eyes bright as sapphires, her mouth slack and her skin hot to the touch. She was the full package—brains and beauty and spirit that would hold up to anything in SEAL training. But did those qualities make her a good SEAL’s partner?
He wondered about that. How would she deal with the separation when he was on a mission? With him not being able to talk about the classified shit that went down? Would it put space between them? Would she take it as rejection?
Would she even have the chance to see what it was like to be with a SEAL, or would he end up booted out of the program, maybe even behind bars for Nick’s murder?
He glanced at his watch. Another two minutes had crawled by. He was not going to make it—but he had to. He had to show Anna that he trusted her. Then he could work on maybe getting her to trust him again.
* * *
Security had improved. Anna had to stop at the front desk, show photo ID, and pick up a new company badge before she could head to her cubicle. She’d set up an appointment with HR for ten thirty, and since Marcella was still away, she didn’t have a boss breathing down her neck and wondering where she was. She did have marketing and editorial dropping by and emailing and calling to ask for photos that they needed.
She got the most pressing demands off her desk, emailed files, and headed over to find out how her colleagues who were still away from the office were doing. Linda was expected in tomorrow. Marcella apparently was taking another week at the spa and demanding that the company pay for her stress-related relief. Or that was the gossip in the coffee room. Janet was home from the hospital, but the doctors had recommended that she take it easy for another few days before returning to the office.
Anna quietly rode up to Coran’s office and looked for his computer, but it wasn’t there. Perhaps the police had confiscated it as part of their investigation. On a hunch, she decided to try Janet’s computer. Janet handled most of Coran’s correspondence, so it was common for him to route files through her. Would she have any additional N. T. Smalls manuscripts? Thankfully, she’d known Janet’s login forever—her husband’s name and their wedding anniversary—so she was able to log in.
Sure enough, she found another book by N.T. Smalls with more bad writing that made no sense.
It was folly to think of Nick and what might happen, but how could I forget March of 1972 when were last with Harry. The spring winds weren’t kind that April or May, and we shivered and thought of happier days in Laos.
If that wasn’t code, Anna didn’t know what was. She copied the file to a flash drive and headed back to her own cubicle.
Glancing at her watch, she saw it was nearly time for her check-in with HR. Gage would be in soon to set up his imaginary photo shoot, and he’d want to know what she’d learned. She was going to prove to him she could be just as capable as he was.
To be safe, she changed her password before shutting down her computer, then headed to HR.
They’d been stuffed into offices next to accounting. That gave Anna an excuse to stop by and ask about N.T. Smalls. She went to Beverly, who usually handled payments for models they used.
