Page 8

She stared at it … calm now, almost relieved.

This was it.

“I warned you,” he said, finger tightening on the trigger.

She closed her eyes.

Weakling. Coward.

But at least the fear and pain would end.

And she welcomed it.

Felicity jerked awake, pushing up onto her elbows, breath sharp and eyes wide. Slits of light knifed through the blinds, bisecting the wall in pale lines, slicing across the worn edges of furniture.

Everything was still in place. No intruders. No monsters.

She blew out a breath and dropped back against the pillow.

Her heart was still racing, but already irritation was crowding it.

Nightmares were useless. Left her tired, off her game.

She rolled out of bed, already running through the day ahead. Shift. Reports. Follow-ups. No room for lingering shadows.

By the time her feet hit the cold floor, she’d shoved the dream into a locked box in the back of her mind.

Coffee would fix the rest.

2

Bad idea

Six months later …

Felicity scanned the bar for an open seat. A jolt shot through her when her gaze snagged on the slumped figure at the end of the scarred wooden counter.

The Marine. Ronan Murphy. Or Law, as people called him.

She still remembered the censure in his eyes last year.

But now…

He’d attended Harlan Barrow’s memorial earlier that day.

Mere days after burying his own wife.

Against all reason, empathy welled up in her.

Empathy? From her?

Before she could second-guess herself, she strode across the floor and claimed the empty stool beside him. He didn’t look up, only kept turning the tumbler in his hands, the golden liquid lapping lazily against the glass.

She lifted a hand, signaling the bartender for the same.

The whiskey — Blanton’s — arrived quickly. She tipped her glass toward his. “Here’s to surviving the things we never saw coming.”

He jerked his head up, his eyes locking with hers. The lifelessness in his gaze cut deeper than his scorn had that September evening. “Gloat all you want. It’s not like I’ve got anything left to lose.” Under the overhead lights, dark auburn glinted beneath the brown of his hair.