Against the Sky Read Online Free PDF Page A

bouquet of red roses,” he told the man on the other end of the line, then read the address on the card Samantha had given him for The Perfect Pup on Hyde Street in San Francisco.
    â€œWhat would you like on the note, sir?”
    He thought of Samantha and smiled. “Just say, Thanks for the memories, Nick. ”
    Nick hung up the phone.

Chapter Four
    Samantha read the card on the huge bouquet of two dozen red roses one more time. They had come to the shop the day after she got back to San Francisco and she had been admiring them ever since.
    She sighed. Her fantasy weekend was over, nothing but memories, as the card reminded her. Once the flowers wilted, thoughts of Nick Brodie would fade along with them. Still, it had been wonderful.
    â€œHe must have been something.” Her partner, Abigail Dunstan, walked toward her. “You’ve read that card half a dozen times.” Taller by six inches, two years older, red-haired and outspoken, Abby Dunstan was a far different woman from Samantha. And yet they’d been friends ever since she’d started working for Abby at The Perfect Pup four years ago.
    Samantha just smiled. “Nick was perfect—or at least he was for three whole days.” She grinned. “Of course, no man is ever completely perfect so it’s probably a good thing he’s totally out of reach.”
    â€œMaybe,” Abby said. “But not all men are like that rat-bastard Justin Chapman— the third, ” she added with a haughty accent and her nose in the air.
    Samantha laughed. “I guess not. Doesn’t matter. Nick’s long gone.” Just like his flowers soon would be.
    â€œWell, you’ll always have the memories.”
    â€œTrue . . .” She gave a wistful sigh and took a last glance at the roses. “And making them is one thing I’ll never regret.”
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    Home once more, Nick spent the first four days prowling the house, watching TV, telling himself he would figure out what he wanted to do with his life, and slowly driving himself crazy.
    Off and on, he thought of Samantha, but the long weekend in Vegas seemed a distant fantasy, the woman, a pretty little wet dream that had nothing to do with the reality of his life in Alaska. They had e-mailed back and forth a few times, and Samantha had thanked him for the roses, but that had been days ago. He hadn’t heard from her since.
    His fifth day back, he heard a knock at the door, looked up from his place on the brown leather sofa in front of his big, flat-screen TV to see his best friend, Cordell Reeves, a detective with the Anchorage PD, standing on his porch. Grateful for the break from doing nothing, Nick walked over and opened the door.
    â€œHey, man, good to see you. Come on in.”
    Cord’s hazel eyes skimmed over Nick’s bare feet, jeans, and the plain white T-shirt he had pulled on that morning. “I see nothing’s changed since you got back. You’re wearing the same uniform you had on before you left.”
    â€œVery funny. You want a cup of coffee or a beer?”
    â€œCoffee sounds good.” Cord was a couple of inches shorter, about six feet, same lean build, but his hair was blond instead of dark like Nick’s. Before they’d gone to work for the Anchorage PD, they had both been in the military, Nick in the Rangers, Cord a Marine. They had hit it off the first day they’d met and been friends ever since.
    Nick led Cord into the kitchen and poured him a cup of coffee from the pot he’d made earlier that morning. Cord took a sip and wrinkled his nose.
    â€œOn second thought, I think I’ll pass.” He dumped the thick black brew in the sink. It smelled like dirty laundry.
    â€œI could make some fresh.”
    Cord shook his head. “I can’t stay long. I just came by to see if you’d come to your senses or if you were still deluding yourself into thinking you want to do something besides