Operation: Endeavor (When The Mission Ends) by Christi Snow Read Free Book Online Page B

didn’t work out for them when they dated, they’d stayed friends in the years since. “Well, hey there sexy.”
    “Penny! What are you doing calling me this early on a Sunday morning? Are you coming out to visit us soon?”
    “I am. That’s actually why I called. I have a friend in town who I thought might enjoy a true Texas ranching experience.”
    “So he’s not from around here?”
    “No, he’s an archeologist here negotiating a deal with Texas Tech to get some students to come work with him on his dig.”
    “An archeologist? Really? That doesn’t sound like your normal fare. Where’s his dig located?”
    She laughed. “You know me well, but he’s a nice guy. The dig is on the Mexico/Belize border.”
    “Does he ride?”
    “I have no clue. It was just a spur of the moment idea, so I thought I’d run it by you.”
    “Penny, you’re always welcome to bring anyone out you want. We appreciate all you do for the ranch and want to keep you coming out as much as possible.”
    “Thanks, Thomas. I’ll let you know when we head that way. Regardless of whether he comes out with me or not, I’ll be out sometime this week to exercise some of the horses.”
    “Sounds good, Penny. I look forward to seeing you.”
    “Bye, Thomas.” She disconnected the call.
    A few years back, when she’d been doing the research on ranching for her Celeste DeMarco series, she’d discovered the Rocking M Ranch. Owned by Michael Martin and run by him and his four sons, she’d come to love the family and the ranch.
    But now she had work to do with her other passion, the bookstore. She sat down at her desk to sort through the piles of paperwork Alix left for her. One whole pile pertained to her writing as Celeste DeMarco. It included current contract negotiations, income statements, and the trickling of fan mail that came in. In this day and age, most people resorted to the internet for those sorts of things, but there were still fans who appreciated the written word of a letter. Unfortunately, the majority of those who still wrote physical letters happened to fall under the category of crazy… religious zealots and old-fashioned conservatives who viewed her writing as glorified pornography or worse.
    This pile definitely had a few of those in it, but there were also a few fan letters. There were a couple from women who thanked her for spicing up their married lives. She always liked those. One letter from a prison librarian who stated her books were always among the most popular among the inmates. She had to chuckle at that one.
    When she turned she noticed another pile of ARC’s waiting for Hannah. They seemed to be receiving more books than normal lately. She hoped Hannah had the time to handle them all, but it had been a while since she’d done one of the reviews. Maybe she would take something home to read and distract her from her new roommate.
    The night before, thoughts of Colton sleeping just a few yards away had kept her awake for hours. She wondered if he slept in the nude, whether he slept on one side of the bed, or whether he sprawled over the entire space. She needed a diversion.
    As she thumbed through them, one book caught her eye, The Gift of Serendipity. The cover was shades of dark purple and grey. In silhouette, there was an outline of a couple in a deep embrace. She flipped the book over to read the back copy.
     
Serendipity had come into her parents’ lives very late and unexpectedly. That wasn’t the only thing unexpected about Serendipity. She had a very special gift. Unfortunately before she learned how to control it, that gift killed her parents.
     
Now she’s just trying to protect the world.  And Blake is just trying to protect her.  In a world that doesn’t understand magic, they’re both fighting against the odds.
     
    Inserted into the book was a PR flier. She pulled it out. Across the top it said, ‘Abilene Authors …a new kind of AA feeding your addiction for books. ’ She giggled.