His to Cherish Read Free Page A

security team keeping tabs on Mia. Those five were equally clueless as to her location, all of them vying for the top spot on my shit list.
    I didn't care that Mia had left the Merritt Island facility during a shift change between the two units, leaving on foot through the main entrance on a supposed nearby errand and not in the company car with its locator chip. They had lost four hours because the team didn't realize Mia was missing until six p.m. and called Reed to see if she was working late. Another twenty minutes passed while Reed scoured the building and checked with security, only to receive the envelope indicating Mia had checked out permanently.
    They could have intercepted her during those four hours. Instead, they arrived at her townhouse to find that she had already cleared out her clothes. One unit stayed on watch in case she returned, while Reed and the second team began checking the airports, taxi companies, and the bus and train stations.
    Kane touched the screen on his laptop, his bottom jaw grinding side to side. "Reed got another envelope from Mia in the evening mail, stamped from the Orlando airport."
    "And?" I shoved my hand in my pocket, my finger seeking out the ring hidden inside. Up until yesterday, I had worn it on a chain around my neck. Finding my hand constantly drifting to the chain after the call that Mia had gone AWOL, I moved the ring to my pocket. Kane already wanted to throw me in a padded cell as far as she was concerned. He didn't need to see me toying with the damn ring every five minutes.
    "TSA isn't cooperating, neither are the airlines."
    "Shuttles...cabbies...one of them--"
    Kane shook his head. "It looks like she might have caught an unregistered cab."
    My chest tightened at the possibility. Even on the relatively prosperous peninsula that was Merritt Island, unregistered cabs could be dangerous for passengers, especially women. Mia would have entered the cab upset and thus vulnerable, I knew that much from Reed's review of the office security cameras. She had started her flight away from the building and me after entering the reception area and catching news coverage of me and Kessa, the woman who had replaced her as my secretary.
    Only as my secretary. I had taken no one to bed in Mia's absence, played with no one, waiting, perhaps, for Mia to find another lover first.
    "Keep looking," I barked, turning to leave. My hand on the door handle, I stopped and looked back. "You checked the airports around Keeling, right? If that was her destination, it would be a hell of a lot easier to get someone at a little county airport to talk."
    Kane's cheeks colored for the second time and I knew the possibility hadn't yet occurred to him. Without answering, he started typing on his keyboard, hit enter then reached for his phone.
    Before he could punch in the first airport's number, I interrupted him. "Do I need to take over?"
    His brows narrowed and his mouth turned into a thin white line as he stared me down. "Do you think you can?"
    Blinking first, I turned from the room. We both knew he was right. I couldn't keep my hand off the ring in my pocket long enough to marshall an effective search for the woman I loved. I had lost her twice and, this time, I might not get her back.
     

His to Cherish
     
    I made the hardware store my first stop. Overall, the house had stood up to six years of neglect except for the two trouble spots on the roof. I would start with some heavy tarps over the spare room while I arranged for quotes from a few roofers. I also needed a breathing mask before I returned to the spare room, and something to treat the mold on the walls before I repainted them, as well as a few tools.
    I hadn't intended to walk out of the store smiling -- with a job!
    Nothing permanent, three months maximum because the store was going out of business. There was both office work and clerking to do as things wound down. Knowing Keeling like I did, I would be hard pressed to find anyone hiring