Risk of a Lifetime by Claudia Shelton Read Free Book Online Page B

looked at her like a man even the least bit interested in taking up where they left off. Good. She wasn’t, either. She wanted him out of Crayton for good.
    Evidently, her talk with him last night had finally convinced him that cabin fever was setting in, and she needed to get out before her pleasant attitude got the better of her. He’d laughed. Said he’d think on it. This morning, he’d relented, and now here they were parked in front of her counseling office.
    She winced as JB lifted her down from his truck. Even the mere feel of his hands around her waist made her core quiver with what-ifs. Anticipation. No…no need for anticipation. What-ifs weren’t going to happen…not now…not ever again. She had her own life now, and as soon as she got everything straightened out, she might just take up the dinner offer from the high school math teacher in the next town over. He’d been asking her out for the past six months, and truth be told, he wasn’t half bad—for someone who didn’t like fishing, hunting, or anything that involved being in the sun.
    “I can’t believe I let you talk me into bringing you to your office.” JB placed her on her feet like a fragile piece of crystal. “You get one hour. No more. Then I’m taking you home where you still ought to be.”
    “Two.”
    His expression said he wasn’t happy, but he’d give her two hours.
    After allowing him to open the front door and carry her briefcase, she brushed past him, knowing full well he could have given her more space in the doorway. The room smelled musty, felt close, and for an instant, she realized this outing might not have been the best idea. But she’d e-mailed her clients to let them know they could reach her at the office today. So, like it or not, she’d stay.
    He wandered from the front room to her consultation area to a small private office in the rear. He looked in the direction of the turquoise sofa and quirked the side of his mouth. “See you’ve still got that same squeaky make-out spot.”
    She didn’t favor him with a reply, but a bitterly cold Valentine’s Day with the two of them making enough heat on that sofa to start a fire flooded her memory. That had been the first of many afternoon memories. She felt herself smile, then flattened it out. “Are you satisfied there’s no one here? I’m not a child, you know. You seem to forget I took care of myself for the past few years.”
    His jaw worked into the same clench he used to block his feelings every time something inched close to the truth. Turning toward the front door, he inspected each closet along the way. “Two hours at the most. I’ll check back sooner. You got your phone turned on?”
    She patted her hip pocket and nodded, then shoved him toward the door.
    “Lock up behind me,” he said.
    “I still don’t know why you think someone was shooting at me. Leon’s the one with a million enemies, not me.” Doing what he said was not going to happen. She needed to make a point and make it now, that she was her own woman. “My office is open for as long as I stay.”
    “Don’t argue with me on this. Besides, I’ll be out of your hair soon, so humor me on this while I’m here.” As he stepped outside, he motioned to the button he’d drilled into the brick the first day she’d opened her business five years ago. “They can use the buzzer.”
    That had been a day filled with dreams for their future. Seemed like a long time ago. Even longer, the two of them had been Crayton’s high school sweethearts. The state football star and the cheerleader. After graduation, they’d been Crayton’s dream couple. They lived together through college before inviting half the town to their wedding.
    Later on, the town had watched them flounder. By then, he was a Crayton deputy, and she the county’s only marriage counselor, but he wanted to join the FBI. Knowing he’d never leave of his own accord or follow his dream without her, she’d shoved him out the door