He gave her a last hug. "Thanks, Mom."

She patted his cheek. "If you do find her, I'd like to meet her. She must be something to put the squeeze on your heart."

"Oh, she's something all right." Jake rubbed the back of his neck. Boy, was she something. Something a guy didn't get over easily. Or fast. He headed out the door, feeling a little lighter of heart. It still ached, but was no longer dragging him down. He was just getting into the truck when his cell phone shrilled a call to action.

"Yeah?"

"Jake? Riggs, here. Hey, man, Matt had me tracking down phone numbers of all calls made from the bar and the house. I found one you might want to have someone check out."

"Give me the address," Jake said, propping the phone between shoulder and ear and grabbing his pen and notebook.

"It's called Smith's. Part of a strip mall in Estes Park." Riggs gave him the address. "I called around, tried to find out who they were or what they did and came up a total blank. Landlord doesn't know what they do but thinks it's something to do with computers. The name on the lease is a bogus. I called it probable cause, and a judge agreed. I got a warrant. How do you want it handled?"

Jake sat for a moment, thinking. Logic said, assign it to someone in the Estes Park PD. No reason for Phoebe to be there. She was going forward with her game, not backtracking.

"I'll take it," he said. His brain was telling him it was a waste of time, but his gut was twitching. He followed his gut and put his truck into gear. He'd pick up the warrant and head for Estes Park.

Phoebe drove past Smith's, looking for signs it was under surveillance and finding none. Okay, so they hadn't found the number on her phone bill, yet, but they would. Then someone would come. This setup was the kind of lead that Phagan's Fibbie/love would sell her firstborn for.

She pulled into the rear, since the orange, green and yellow piece of shit Dewey had gotten her to drive would stand out like a sore thumb in the parking lot out front and her clothes didn't match the car. She'd passed on the Polly clothes and hair paint for a black sheath and heels. She wished she could have passed on the car.

Inside she started a wipe/delete on the hard drives of the VR setup in the back room where she'd planned the TelTech heist. There weren't a lot of papers lying around, since Phagan didn't believe in paper trails, but what there was, she fed into the shredder, all the while keeping an eye on the security monitors.

The emergency wipe was about half done when she saw Jake's truck pull to a stop out in front.

Chapter 15.

Jake had to jiggle the key the landlord had given him in the lock before the front door gave. The lock felt stiff, as if it wasn't often used. To reinforce this impression, the door gave a protesting squeak as it swung closed behind him. Inside, the light filtering through imperfect blinds was thick with dust motes as it dimly revealed what looked like an ordinary office. A lesser desk near the front door seemed to be for reception purposes, with several desks of better quality lined up behind. Phones, computers, and filing cabinets completed the picture of a business enterprise, though there was no indication what that enterprise was supposed to be.

He pulled on protective gloves and adjusted one set of blinds to let in more light. The air was stale, and-Jake swiped a finger across a slat-a layer of dust coated everything in sight. Did this mean it was a cold trail? The call had been made two weeks ago. He didn't have statistics on dust accumulation, only personal experience to go by. He'd been gone from his apartment in DC for a month or more and hadn't found this much dust when he returned.

He walked around the reception desk and sat down. Opened a few drawers, all empty. Tried the phone. It didn't work. The computer monitor wasn't connected to anything, and when he touched it lightly, it fell off the desk. And bounced.

Jake picked it up. Cardboard. Designed to fool the casual observer. Did that make this place a front, and, if so, for what? The rent wasn't huge, but it wasn't peanuts, either. If this was part of Phagan's setup, what role had it played?

Well, whatever purpose this place had served, this fake office wasn't going to cough up anything but dust bunnies. Maybe the prize was in one of the back rooms. He got up and headed for the doorway.

That's when he heard a toilet flush.

He had his gun out and was in the hallway when the door opened. Light spilled into the corridor, just short of where he stood, painting a familiar, leggy outline onto the floor at his feet. He followed it up to the source, but before his eyes got to her, his senses already knew who it was.

Phoebe.

"Jake? What are you doing here?" She looked genuinely surprised to see him and not at all alarmed.

"I could ask you the same thing." His eyes drank her in. She was wearing something black and slinky that lightly hugged her body everywhere that mattered, then stopped well above her knees, leaving plenty of leg. He didn't know a pair of black heels could be that sexy, but there'd been a lot he didn't know before he'd met her.

She leaned against the jamb and crossed her legs like a teenager on the porch with her first beau.

"Just taking care of a little business." Her tongue traced a moist path around her lips. "And you?"

"The same." He heard the hoarseness in his voice and cleared it. "You...cut your hair."

She reached up and touched the sheared ends, something that could be uncertainty flashing in her eyes. "It's...cooler."

Her eyes were deep, sad pools threatening to drown his sense of duty. Her scent turned the stale air sweet and his thoughts thick and slow.

"It's...nice. It suits you."

Her smile was quick and pleased but slightly shy.

As if to make sure no blood got to his brain, his collar turned into a noose. He tugged at it, but it didn't help. What he needed was water. Cold water. Applied everywhere. He rubbed the back his neck, fighting for control. When he reached the point of tenuous control, as if she knew the exact moment when questions began to rise above the lust, she asked, "How did you get in? We're closed, you know."

That cleared his head. He holstered the gun he'd almost forgotten he was holding. Stripped off the gloves and stuck them in his jacket pocket. "I...have a warrant to search the premises."

Her eyebrows arched. She did surprised very well. "All you had to do was ask, Curious Jake."

"I didn't think you were around to ask. I thought-"

"What did you think?"

"That you'd left."

"Without saying goodbye?" She stepped toward him. "I wouldn't do that."

"I thought we said goodbye, at the motel the other night. It sounded like goodbye."

"Things...aren't always what they seem."

He licked his lips. "No, they aren't."

She took a glove, hanging part way out of his pocket and examined it. "Afraid you'll catch something? I promise, I'm not contagious."

Jake swallowed dryly as she stuffed the glove back into his pocket, real slow, as if she expected him to stop her. He knew he should stop her, but it would be easier to stop breathing.

He didn't decide to touch her. His hands acted on their own, sliding around the back of her neck, the short, silky ends of her hair stroking his skin as he bent toward her parted mouth. His heart jumped then settled into a hard but steady rhythm.

It was as if he'd waited his whole life for this moment.

Phoebe didn't, couldn't, close her eyes or look away. She needed to see him. See what he was feeling pass through his eyes each moment that was left to her. This time, this kiss had to last her a lifetime. There'd be no one after him. How could there be anyone but the lawman for this outlaw?

His scent reached her before his mouth did. It filled her senses, heady and clean, like mountain air first thing in the morning. A pulse beat frantically against her hand. The feel of his skin was a delight all its own. She could have spent the whole day just absorbing it, feeling the wonder of his skin against her.

But her mouth, her impatient mouth had waited forever to taste his. She arched onto her toes, eager to close the last millimeter between them. Her head spun with longing as his breath mingled with hers.

Had she thought there was anything she wouldn't give this man, the other half of her soul? She felt surrender stealing through her body in a hot rush. Maybe she could trust him with it all...