On the Line (Special Ops) Read Free Page B

It’s going to mean something to me—something more than just a quick fix.”
     
    “Smart woman. Preston was my first, my only and my last,” she admitted something to Zahara that she hadn’t admitted to anybody else. “Thank God for vibrators.”
     
    Zahara laughed. “You so should reach out to Preston. Look him up and see where he’s at and what he’s doing now.”
     
    “I already know. He’s living in Austin. He’s moved since he bought his first place there. He has something bigger with more land now. He runs his own company. He has a search and rescue company called the Squadron.”
     
    “So go knock on his door.”
     
    “No. Not even. I only know where he’s at and what he does because I met somebody who knew him. We started talking and he told me about this guy who rescued him from some place in Egypt about five years ago. I did some serious searching and I found out a little about the company. If he wanted me to know about him then he would have called me and told me. I’m still in the same house I bought after our divorce. My phone number is still the same. I haven’t gone anywhere. Clearly he’s over me. He was probably over me a long time before we ended.” She shrugged. “But if I were in trouble he is the only man I would trust to save me. He saved me once and I know he would do it again…or at least I think he would. He was so honorable, and definitely driven. I can’t imagine that his honesty and code of honor would allow him to do anything else; he would definitely help even if he doesn’t like me anymore.” Ariana could see the look of compassion, empathy and pain etched on the young woman’s face as she spoke with her.
     
    “Anyway, you did not come in here for my drama and heartache. You came in here so I could make you feel better about the show. So, here’s my advice. Suck it up, my Hawaiian goddess belly dancer. You don’t carry the stage name of Isis so you can cower at the hands of men.”
     
    Zahara laughed hard. “I’m sucking it up,” she nodded. “Thanks. I really did need that. Now, may I see that picture you were looking at more than you were looking at the papers on your desk?”
     
    Ariana laughed. She hadn’t stopped wearing that locket around her neck. She took it off for shows, but she always put it back on after the show was over. Sometimes she would even find a spot within her costume where she could secure it without worrying about losing it during a performance. Preston had given her that locket and somehow wearing the gold heart with key pendent seemed like she was keeping him close to her heart. The photos inside the locket included one of him in his Air Force dress uniform on one side and one of their engagement photos on the other side. Well, it wasn’t an official engagement photo. It was just something she had taken with her old 35mm film camera and had her father develop for her. He had made one for their wall; it was a lovely black and white photograph that used to hang in their living room when she lived with Preston. It hung next to the wedding photo her father had taken. He was a photographer—a hobbyist he would say but he was a genius in her book. He did their photos in both black and white film and color and they were amazing—and free, which helped them with their budget. Not that she needed much help on that part seeing as though she had already made quite a bit of money on her dancing appearances. Preston had apparently asked her father to make one of him in his dress uniform for the locket he gave her on their wedding night. That was his wedding gift to her and just like the ring he had given her, she had never been able to pull it off.
     
    The ring was a simple sterling Celtic love knot ring with her March aquamarine birthstone in the center. He had a little money, but not much and she didn’t need any insanely expensive wedding ring so she didn’t offer to give him the money to buy her one. She loved the ring he gave her