Jason (Blue Halo Book 2)

“Someone’s happy.”

Jason swung his head around at the sound of his friend and business partner, Tyler. Tyler was the youngest on the team, but you’d never be able to tell. He was just as big and strong as the rest of them. And equally dangerous.

Closing his car door, Jason nodded. “Always happy to be at work.”

But more than that, happy to start his day off with a bit of Courtney.

Tyler gave him a knowing smile. “Nah, it’s something else.”

Damn, the guy saw right through him.

They headed across the parking lot. “It wouldn’t be our new blue-eyed receptionist, would it?”

Amy? Jason almost laughed out loud. The woman was pretty, and he was sure most men would fall all over themselves for her. But she wasn’t the one who plagued his mind morning, noon, and night.

Amy had been a late applicant for the receptionist job, but the guys had still decided to interview her, and she’d blown the other applicants out of the water. She’d been by far the most confident, with the most experience behind her. And because they’d handled the interviewing and selection process, he’d offered to take the lead on training the woman.

“Barely even registered she had blue eyes.”

The door was midway open when Tyler froze. “You’re serious? You’ve spent the last week training her and didn’t notice how stunning she is? How on earth is that—” He stopped, understanding lighting his eyes.

Ah, crap.

“Courtney.”

Jason shook his head, walking past Tyler and onto the stairs. His entire team had probably seen the way he looked at the woman. It was hard to miss. “If you think Amy’s stunning, ask her out. I’m pretty sure she’s single.”

Actually, he knew she was. The woman had told him on her first day at Blue Halo. He’d responded with what he’d hoped was a polite smile.

Tyler chuckled, following him up the stairs. “Maybe I will. And maybe you should ask Courtney out.”

That was an idea he could get behind. And something he’d already thought about… a lot.

Stopping at Courtney’s place this morning had been a last-minute decision. Best damn decision he’d made all week. The idea of dating her, kissing her… yeah, he liked it.

“Maybe.”

Before his friend could respond, Jason pushed open the door to Blue Halo. Amy immediately stood from her position behind the desk.

“Good morning.” Her smile was wide, teeth so white they were almost blinding.

The woman was pretty in a perfectly polished and understated kind of way. Not Jason’s type. He liked color. Vibrancy. An effortless, natural beauty.

“Good morning.” He stopped in front of the desk, tapping the surface with his hand. “You’re here early.”

She’d only been with the company for a week, but so far, she’d impressed the hell out of him and everyone else on the team. She was efficient, hardworking, and quick to pick things up.

She lifted a shoulder. “I’m an early bird. Should I make some coffee? Or I could run down to the coffee shop and grab some for everyone?”

“Not for me, thanks.” Jason had barely finished his cup before arriving.

Tyler stepped up beside him. “Me either.”

She nodded, eyes darting to the computer. She bent over, clicking on something with the mouse. “Jason, I was wondering if you could help me. I was having trouble with the calendars.”

“Sure thing.” Heading around the desk, he didn’t miss the way Tyler nudged his shoulder, or the way he lifted his brows suggestively as he walked down the hall.

Get lost, buddy.

“I’ll open Tyler’s calendar to show you.” She clicked into it. “See, there’s this blacked-out section that wasn’t there yesterday. And usually when I click on an item, it gives me details, but when I click on the blacked-out days, I just get ‘unavailable’.”

Jason nodded. The blacked-out periods were days when the team would be occupied with off-the-books missions, assigned to them by their FBI liaison, Steve. That was a part of the business that Amy knew very little about—and would continue to know little about, until she’d been working for them a lot longer.

“Remember when I told you there were certain parts of the business we couldn’t share just yet? That’s one of them.”

“Oh.” She glanced at the screen, and then back to him, recovering quickly. “Okay, no problem. So, I’ll just consider those blacked-out periods as someone being completely unavailable?”

He gave a quick nod. “Yep.”

She touched his arm, giving it a light squeeze. “That’s a relief. For a moment I thought I was going crazy, accidentally messing up huge chunks of the calendar or something.”

When her touch fell away, Jason almost felt relieved.

Yeah. He was definitely taken by another woman.

He was about to walk away when Amy stepped closer. Again, she touched his arm. “Don’t run away. There were a couple of messages for you overnight. I was going to email them, but now that you’re here, I can just tell you.”

Reaching behind her, she grabbed a piece of paper. “Steve called and wants someone to call him back. Your eleven o’clock appointment asked to reschedule, and the superintendent from the building on Greenby Street called, claiming he was returning your call.”

Good. He’d been waiting for that guy to get back to him. He took the paper from Amy’s outstretched hand.

“The superintendent said he’s free anytime today if you want to call him back.”

It was like the woman read his mind. This is why she’d become an asset to the office. “Great. Thanks, Amy.”

She gave him one of her huge smiles before winking. “You got it.”

Jason headed into his own office, then sat behind the desk and immediately dialed the number.

“Andrew speaking.”

He leaned back. “Andrew, this is Jason Porter, sorry I missed your call.”

“Jason, yes, and I’m sorry I missed your call too, from yesterday. What can I do for you?”

He tapped his fingers on the desk. “A friend and I got stuck in your elevator yesterday. I was wondering if that happens a lot?”

The guy sighed. “Yeah, sorry, it’s happened a couple of times over the last few weeks. I got an electrician out, but he couldn’t find anything wrong. I guess I can get someone else out to have a second look. The thing is old though, just like the building, not really a surprise it’s acting up.”

Surprising or not, it wasn’t okay. The problem needed to be identified and people taking the elevator warned. “Do you keep any video surveillance in the building?”

“Surveillance? No. Why would I? These are offices and a radio station. Cradle Mountain isn’t exactly a place of high crime.”

No, it wasn’t. He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Okay. Thanks. One more thing… we ran into some janitors on the fourth floor. Do they work for you?”

“Kid, I source my janitors from Ketchum Janitorial Services. I don’t keep on top of exactly who they send, all I care about is whether they get the job done. Which they do. Why? Was there a problem? Because I’ve never had a problem with them in the past.”

The guy’s voice was starting to get defensive. Jason already knew he wasn’t getting anything else from him.

He remained calm as he thanked the building manager and hung up.

Leaning back, he took a moment to digest the information. Maybe he was overthinking what happened yesterday. It was looking like the incident had been nothing more than a faulty elevator.

Courtney slid another coffee across the counter. It had to be the hundredth she’d personally served today, or some equally crazy number. Usually, she rotated between making drinks and working the floor, but the server she had on was young and not confident in making coffee, and Joey looked… tired.

Even though he was only twenty-one, a good ten years her junior, she loved the guy. He was more of a friend than an employee. And usually the quickest person in the place. Today, though, he looked exhausted. She cast another glance at him from beneath her lashes.

The second his gaze clashed with hers, she looked away. Dang it.

The next second, he was beside her. “Courtney, I told you, I’m fine.”

“I know.” She busied herself with starting the next order, keeping her eyes off him. Truth be told, he had a right to be annoyed. It was nearing closing time, and she’d probably studied him a gazillion times.

“Then why is it I keep catching you looking at me like I’m a drowning rat that needs saving?”

She spun around, hands on her hips, voice low. “Maybe because you have rings under your eyes that look like they’ve been drawn on with permanent marker. Did you sleep last night?”

He rolled his eyes. He was the only person who worked for her who would do such a thing. And the only person she didn’t mind doing it. “Of course. Courtney, I’m a young guy. I went out last night, it’s what we do. I’m sorry if it’s affected my work today—”

“It hasn’t. I was just worried.”

Both statements were true. Even though he looked tired, he’d pulled his weight. Still, she’d insisted he be on the lighter table-bussing duty.

Some of the strain eased from his face. “I appreciate that you’re concerned, but you don’t need to be. I should be the one pestering you about how flushed you look every time a certain someone enters the shop.”

Ah, crap. She was so dang obvious, wasn’t she? And if Joey noticed, there was no way Jason hadn’t.

Even though he’d dropped by her apartment with coffee yesterday morning, he’d also come to The Grind for lunch a few hours later. She tried not to read too much into it. It wasn’t unusual for him to visit the shop at some point during the day. She loved it and hated it at the same time. Hated it because her words got jumbled on a daily basis in her own workplace. Loved it because, well, it was Jason.

“No pestering required, Joey.” Heck, she pestered herself enough.

When the doorbell dinged, Courtney looked up to see a man in a suit walk inside. She touched Joey’s arm. “I’ve got it.”

He muttered something under his breath that sounded like, “Of course you do.”

She chuckled, walking over to the tall stranger at the end of the counter. He wasn’t looking back—instead, he scanned the shop before his gaze landed on a framed magazine article on the side wall.

Courtney’s smile widened. It was the Living in Idaho Today two-page spread of the shop. It included a big writeup as well as a collage of pictures. The picture in the middle, the biggest, was of Courtney, smiling behind the counter.

How many copies of the magazine had she bought? Probably a dozen. And the only reason she hadn’t bought more was because she wanted some other people to have a chance to read it.

It was evidence of her hard work. Of her success. She wished Jessica was here to celebrate with her but knew her cousin would be looking down at her, proud as punch.

With a mental shake of her head, she smiled at the man. “Hi! I’m Courtney, can I grab you a coffee?”

The man was clearly an out-of-towner, which hadn’t been out of the ordinary for Cradle Mountain lately. Not just because of her article in the magazine, but also because the men from Blue Halo—the illegal experiments they’d endured—had been exposed.

The man turned, studying her in much the same way as he’d studied the article. When his gaze lowered to her chest—and remained on her chest for a good thirty seconds—her smile faltered.

Okay, this suit had quickly turned into a sleazebag.

“We’re actually closing in a few minutes,” she said quickly. And then, only because she felt compelled out of politeness, added, “I can get you something to go.”

He gave a curt nod. “A coffee to go would be good.”

Accent. Figures. He looked like a rich sleazebag, from somewhere far away.

This time, her smile was tight as she turned and started on the coffee. She made sure her back was firmly facing the guy as she worked. And if he stared at her ass, she didn’t want to know.

“You are the owner?”

She nodded without turning. “I am. Been running this baby for almost two years now. She’s my pride and joy.”

“And before?”

“Before I lived in Cradle Mountain?” So now the chest-starer wanted information on her? Uh, that was a solid no. “I moved around a bit.” Lie. “I lived in at least a dozen towns before I settled on this one.”

Big. Fat. Lie. If he read the article, he’d know that, but she doubted a guy like him would bother.

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

For a second, she paused in what she was doing. Okay, she might have just thrown up a bit in her mouth. “Yep. I do.” The lies were just rolling off her tongue now. “He’s former military. Very big and strong and we’re totally infatuated with each other. Barely apart.” Barely apart in her dreams.

She finished the coffee quickly, fitting the lid before turning and handing it to the guy. “Here you go.”

He handed over a bill. “Keep the change.”

She looked down, and her eyes almost bugged out of her head. A hundred-dollar bill? “Are you sure?”

This could buy him twenty coffees, with a healthy side of donuts.

“It was nice to meet you, Courtney.”

She was still standing there, mouth so far open it was almost touching her chest, when Joey came to stand beside her. “Holy shit, did he give you a hundred? For a coffee?”

“It would appear so.” It should make her like him more, shouldn’t it? But it didn’t. In fact, she wanted nothing more than to get rid of the bill from the guy who’d checked her out like she was a piece of meat.

She handed it to Joey.

This time, his eyes almost bugged out of his head. “You’re giving it to me?”

The dirty money? Yeah. “You deserve it. Consider it a tip because I’d be lost without you.” Like, completely lost. She had other workers, but they didn’t come close to having his work ethic, availability, or skills. She pushed it into his hand. “And you can go now if you want. I’ll do the close.”

There was one customer left in a booth, and Courtney could already see the woman grabbing her bag to go.

“Okay, who are you and what have you done with hard-ass Courtney?”

She chuckled, pushing him away. “Go.”

“Seriously though, are you sure?” He held up the hundred.

“Yes! Now get your ass out of here before I physically remove you.”

He chuckled, and boy was it good to see a smile on his face, probably the first of the day. “Okay. Thank you. For the tip and the early finish.”

“Don’t thank me. Thank Mr. Suit.” Aka, Mr. Chest-Starer.

He shook his head, already moving toward the door.

Once Joey and the last customer had left, Courtney cleaned the coffee machine then mopped the floors. Half an hour later, she was leaving as well. Her apartment was right in the center of Cradle Mountain, so she rarely ever drove to work. Locking the doors, she headed across the street.

Takeout was on the menu for tonight. And lots of Eddie cuddles on the couch. She smiled, already dreaming about her lazy night.

When something sounded behind her—footsteps—Courtney paused, turning her head.

There was no one there.

She frowned. Was she going so loopy that she was hearing things now? Hearing people that didn’t exist? Giving herself a mental shake, she kept walking.

Mr. Suit had probably affected her. That, and her experience of having a knife pressed against her throat and being locked in her freezer with a dead body. God, she really did need to book a session with Grace. She knew she should. Heck, she was sure Grace would make any space available that she needed.

But if Courtney was good at anything, it was putting off hard stuff that she didn’t want to do. Why else would she have gone into an architecture career that she never wanted? Or dated men who were so wrong for her and treated her like crap?

It was easier to avoid hard conversations.

Grow some courage, woman.

When the noise behind her sounded again, Courtney didn’t stop this time, instead sneaking a peek over her shoulder as she turned a corner.

She only just faced forward in time to see a huge body in front of her.

God Almighty!

Her hands flew to a hard chest, while bigger hands grabbed her upper arms.