Free Breathless Descent by Lisa Renée Jones

a home.
    She held out the phone over the marble coffee table, where she’d set her laptop. Caleb didn’t miss the strained look on her face even before she said, “Jennifer.”
    Somehow Caleb managed not to smile, and quickly reined in a moment of male satisfaction in which his ego screamed, hey-ho-yeah, baby, she was jealous. He’d felt that same pang of the green-eyed monster with Rick, and it was nice to know he wasn’t alone.
    Caleb accepted the phone, his fingers brushing Shay’s on purpose. She snatched her hand back, and this time, he had to turn away to hide a smile.
    “What’s up, Jennifer?” he asked, walking to Shay’s window and pulling up the wooden blinds to inspect her locks. Check. Need replacing.
    Jennifer didn’t bother with a greeting. “Who the heck was that, and why don’t we know about her? I can’t imagine you ever letting a woman answer your phone. You’re too private. Which means she isn’t someone you just met.”
    “We” meaning her and her husband, Bobby Evans, one of his best friends, a fellow Ace and, now, a business partner. “And your next question would be what?” Caleb asked, redirecting the conversation.
    “Check,” she said. “You can’t talk or don’t want to. Fine. But expect the question again. I demand to know the scoop.”
    “I’d expect nothing less from you,” Caleb assured her. He liked Jennifer. And he liked her with Bobby, who was the happiest he’d ever seen the man.
    “Good,” she said, her tone saying he’d successfully dodged her question. For now. And just to be sure he got the “for now” part, she added, “Then we agree you’ll tell me about her later.” She didn’t give him time to argue. “Onward to the reason I called. We’re grilling burgers out at the Hotzone. So we borrowed a few things from your fridge. Mustard, pickles. A few things we forgot.”
    His place was a small trailer at the back of the facility, meant to be temporary and offering him zero in privacy. “My place is your place. Since you asked and all.”
    She laughed. “I knew you’d see it that way. I’ll save you a burger. Or you could head back now and bring whomever she is with you.”
    Caleb turned to find Shay scribbling an address on a piece of paper. “Tonight’s not good,” he replied.
    Shay’s gaze snapped to his. “It’s okay. I’m fine. I can deal with this myself.”
    He held her stare and said to Jennifer, “Don’t keep Bobby up too late. We have a sunrise jump.” Shay’s eyes went wide before she looked away, although he saw the pink flush of her cheeks first.
    Caleb ended the call. “Her husband, Bobby, is one of my partners.”
    She bit her bottom lip and nodded. “Yeah. I guessed that.”
    “There is no one else, Shay. Just you.”
    Instantly, the air thickened with tension. “You didn’t have to tell me that.”
    “And you?” he asked, muscles clenching in his back as he waited for the reply. The idea that she might be seeing someone else hit him with a punch. “Are you seeing anyone, Shay?”
    Her lashes lowered, then lifted tentatively. “If I say yes?”
    A rush of possessiveness filled him. “I’d say he must not be too compelling since you were in your parents’ pantry kissing me.”
    She blinked and then laughed. “I believe your ego has expanded while you were off becoming some sort of super soldier, able to break into houses with a snap of your fingers.”
    Caleb wasn’t laughing. He was thinking of the illogical dread he’d felt for that day when he might hear she was married. Relief would have been logical—if he didn’t really want her. But he did. He always had.
    “Answer, Shay,” he ordered softly.
    Shay turned serious. “No,” she said. “I’m not seeing anyone.” She firmed her lips. “Including you.”
    Satisfaction filled him. They’d see about that before this night was over.

    “T HIS IS IT ,” Shay said, pointing out a stucco-style house nestled in the expensive West Austin area, with