Turning Point (The Kathleen Turner Series) by Tiffany Snow Read Free Book Online Page B

ex-wife of Navy SEAL Kyle Waters. She had been devastated when he’d re-enlisted, despite knowing she was pregnant. She’d miscarried shortly into his deployment and divorced him a few months after that.
    “Be sure to fall in love with someone who loves you more than you love them,” she had told me. I could still recall the bitterness in her voice and the disillusionment in her eyes.
    I loved Blane, but did he love me? And if so, would he love me enough not to reenlist? And did I love him enough to stick around waiting for the very real possibility that he’d die in combat?
    Should I get out now, before it was too late? Or was it already too late?
    I couldn’t answer any of these questions.
    When I came out of the bathroom dressed in fresh clothes, Kade was just getting off his cell phone.
    “My contact just called.” He glanced over at me. “I need to go meet with him.”
    “Okay.” I said, pulling my hair back into a ponytail. “Let me grab my purse.”
    Kade gave a snort. “You can’t go.”
    “Why not?”
    Kade sauntered closer. “Because where I’m going”—he twisted my ponytail around his finger and gave a gentle tug—“isn’t the kind of place for a girl like you, princess.”
    “But who’ll have your back?” I asked.
    “I’ve been doing this alone for a long time,” he smirked. “I think I can go one night without backup.”
    I pulled my ponytail out of his grasp and huffed in exasperation as he walked out the door. How was I supposed to do my job if he left me behind?
    Making an instant decision, I shoved my feet into my running shoes. Grabbing my purse and the extra room key, I headed out the door—just in time to watch Kade cross the street a block up.
    Trying to remember everything he’d taught me about surveillance, I followed him at a distance, close enough to keep him in sight but not draw his attention. There were just enough people out downtown to camouflage my pursuit.
    A crowd filled the sidewalk up ahead and Kade disappeared into it. I stepped up my pace.
    As I pushed my way into the mix of people, I realized I’d lost him. Looking up, I saw stairs leading into a nightclub. The sign overhead proclaimed it to be Bar Sinister.
    Well, that didn’t sound ominous or anything.
    I maneuvered my way to the front of the line, where a huge guy was manning the door. Even with the temperature around forty-five degrees, he wore a short-sleeved T-shirt stretched tightly across his massive arms and shoulders. Tattoos covered his arms and I could see more on his neck that disappeared under his collar. He wore silver earrings in each ear, and his head was shaved.
    When I got to the door, he stepped in front of me. Looking me up and down, he said, “I don’t think so.”
    Surprised, I glanced up, then up some more. He towered above me.
    I swallowed heavily. “My friend is in there,” I said, digging inside my purse. “How much for the cover?”
    “It’s not the cover, sweetheart. This ain’t no place for a sorority chick like you.” He gave me another derisive once-over and snorted.
    I looked down at my clothes, then at the people around me.
    Hmm. Okay, maybe he had a point.
    While my jeans, cami, and pullover sweater might seem fine to me, compared to the leather, lace, and stilettos around me, I looked like the proverbial fish out of water. Even if I did get in, I’d stand out. Bad idea.
    I backed away and pushed to the edge of the crowd, ignoring a few leers and aspersions on my sexual predilections cast my way.
    I chewed my lip, trying to think over my options. Kade was in there without backup, and while I wasn’t under any delusions about how much actual help I’d be should the need arise, some was better than none, at least to my way of thinking. Kade obviously held a differing opinion.
    Movement caught my eye and I looked down the narrow alley next to the building. Two women had emerged from a side door and were stumbling away, teetering precariously on their high heels.