Three Little Words (Fool's Gold #12)

“I should kill you where you sit,” his friend grumbled.

Ford looked around the brightly lit interior of Brew-haha. “And ruin Patience’s store? The one she’s worked so hard on? Justice wouldn’t like that. Plus, with me dead, you can kiss your successful business goodbye.”

“We’d find another sales guy.”

“Not like me.”

Angel tossed down his pencil. “If you’re so damned special, you fix it.”

Ford took the pad and studied the design. “Who’s this for again?”

His friend swore. “Seriously? We’ve been talking about these customers for an hour and you don’t know who they are?”

“I was thinking about something else.”

Angel’s expression darkened. Ford recognized he might be hitting the breaking point.

“Corporate, right?” he asked hastily. “So we need to assume some of the team are out of shape.” He looked back at the course Angel had come up with. “Walk-arounds.”

The other man’s eyes brightened. “Walk-arounds. We get to build a challenging course and no one gets dead.”

“Or seriously injured.”

Angel took back the pad and started making notes. “You think they expect that? There has to be some blood. If there isn’t, how will they know they’ve had a good time?”

“Civilians don’t think like that, my friend.”

A walk-around would mean anyone could simply walk around whatever the challenge was. A rope bridge, a chin-up bar, anything they couldn’t physically do. But they’d stay with the group and enjoy the collective experience.

“Is rappelling too much?” Ford asked. “It’s hard but satisfying. It would give them something to talk about on Monday morning, when they’re back at the office.”

He paused, but there wasn’t an answer. He returned his attention to Angel to find his friend staring at a woman getting coffee.

“You know her?” he asked.

Angel didn’t speak. As far as Ford could tell, the man wasn’t breathing. Slowly, his expression tightened from interested to predatory.

Ford looked back at the woman. She was tall, with long dark hair that hung straight down her back. She had on a suit, so she worked in some kind of business, and she wore those really high pumps that he’d always thought were a good way to break a leg. Although he had to admit she wore them well.

She was attractive enough, he supposed. Nowhere near as pretty as Isabel, but few women were.

The woman paid for her latte, got her drink and left without once glancing at Angel.

“Who is she?” Ford asked.

“Hell if I know.”

“You’re going to find out?”

Angel gave him a slow, determined smile. “If it’s the last thing I do.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“SHOULD WE SAY something?” Patience asked as she and Isabel walked into Jo’s Bar for lunch. “Do you think she saw us?”

“I don’t think we should worry,” Isabel said. “We’ve had lunch at other restaurants before.”

“But not right in front of me,” Jo said, appearing out of nowhere and staring at both of them. “Really? Street food? Is that what it’s come to? Have I been wasting my money on things like tables and chairs?”

Isabel couldn’t tell if the other woman was kidding or not, and based on her silence, Patience wasn’t sure, either. Felicia walked in and moved toward them.

“Jo’s upset,” Patience murmured.

“Don’t be ridiculous. She has no reason to be upset. There’s no way to avoid competition, especially in a town this small. Maybe Ana Raquel shouldn’t park directly in front of Jo’s place, but other than that, she’s within her rights. Besides, the street food will be less appealing when it gets cold, and Jo’s customers will return. She hardly wants to chase them away by pretending anger.” She paused. “I could be wrong about all of that, too.”

“Nope,” Jo said, handing them menus and pointing to a table by the back wall. “I heard you were expecting a big crowd today, so I saved that space.”

“She was messing with us,” Patience said. “I don’t know how I feel about that.”

“I’d go with it,” Isabel told her. “We love coming here.”

They took seats at the table. Charlie and Noelle arrived next. Consuelo followed. Heidi and Annabelle Stryker took chairs and said how happy they were to join them for once. Taryn Crawford arrived last.

As the tall, gorgeous brunette walked up to the table, everyone went silent. Isabel motioned to the seat she’d been saving next to herself and rose.

“Everyone, this is Taryn. She’s new to town. Her business is moving here.”

“Officially after the first of the year, but I came early to get things ready.” She raised her eyebrows. “I was promised you weren’t especially nice and I’m hoping that’s true.”

Charlie chuckled. “Next time sit by me.”

“Sure,” Taryn said as she sank into her chair.