Faceoff Read Online Free PDF Page A

the lake, and one of those cottages was her parents’. She had to smile at seeing all the cars parked in the small driveway and on the narrow road in front. Some of those vehicles likely belonged to the Hellers, who had the cottage next door. A little ripple of excitement ran through her at getting to see all those old friends and family.
    She found a place to park. She hadn’t called anyone to say she was coming. Maybe she should have. When she opened her car door, the freshness of the air filled her nostrils and she drew it deeply into her lungs―the combined scent of pine and freshly mowed grass and the faintly fishy smell of the big lake.
    She approached the cottage, lugging her suitcase and taking in the familiar structure, a sprawling bungalow style painted white with neat grey shingles on the roof, black shutters on the windows and a bright yellow front door. She bypassed the front entrance, though, and followed the stone-paved path around the side, through a gate in a white picket fence covered with climbing pink roses, and around to the rear of the cottage, which she well knew was where everyone would be. There, the expansive wooden deck looked out over the grass sloping down toward the white sand beach, the lake spread in its magnificence just beyond that. The low sun drenched everything in vivid color, green grass, bright red, purple and yellow flowers hanging in baskets and overflowing out of pots, everything almost glowing. So beautiful.
    The sounds of voices reached her as she rounded the corner of the cottage, talking and laughing. Then she saw everyone on the deck, a whole group of very big, very gorgeous men all standing, some leaning against the railing, beers in hand. Dad played down on the grass with Emily, Mom reclined on one of the lounge chairs. Scott’s wife Jessica sat in a chair nursing a baby and another woman Kyla didn’t know occupied a chair next to her. Doug and Laura Heller stood near the house.
    One of the men leaning on the railing looked up and spotted her.
    “Hey! Kyla’s here!” Her brother Scott grinned and everyone turned to look at her. She smiled at them all, so happy and relieved and excited to be there, to see everyone. And then that feeling of pressure rose up inside her again, so unexpectedly she couldn’t get her breath. She tried to draw air into her lungs, but her head went light and dizzy. She put out a hand for the railing of the steps up to the deck, hoping it would help her balance, but her hand encountered only air and then her vision narrowed into a tiny circle of light before everything went black.
    * * * * *
    Tag stood on the deck of the MacIntoshs’ cottage and watched the woman walking toward them, a suitcase bumping over the stone path behind her. Her long dark hair, parted in the middle, hung in curls and waves past her shoulders. A smile lit up her perfect oval face, her dark eyes smiling too. She looked a little out of place there at the lake in a black pencil skirt and a fitted white shirt that hugged her slender curves and—holy shit—amazing breasts, but she was stunningly gorgeous. That was Kyla?
    Yeah. That was her. The smile was familiar, the way her eyes crinkled up when she smiled, the glossy brown hair. Then her smile faded, her face went visibly pale, almost green, her eyes went out of focus and then next thing they all knew, she was lying face down on the grass.
    “Oh my god!” Jenn cried, leaping out of her seat. Everyone else cried out, the guys cursing and hurtling down the steps.
    “Auntie Kywa!” Emily came running across the grass. “Auntie Kywa! Is she dead?” She burst into tears.
    The entire yard was a commotion of anxious cries and swearing and Emily’s sobbing. Jenn called for her husband. “Greg, come quick!”
    Tag reached Kyla first and gently rolled her onto her back. Her long hair spread around her head and her eyes fluttered. He touched his fingers to her cheek. “You okay?” he murmured.
    Everyone else crowded