Not This Time Read Online Free PDF Page B

She’d love to see him—he’d planned to be here today for the ceremony—but something he wasn’t free to discuss had come up.
    That was often the case for the former Shadow Watchers. Spies who once spied on spies had a lot of things they weren’t free to discuss, even after they left the intelligence community and just consulted on special assignments. Having consulted often with Quantico, Beth fully understood. It’s impossible to take out of a person’s head what you’ve put into it. Once in, to some extent, you were in for life.
    “The team’s tied up right now,” Mark told Jeff.
    Disappointment bit Beth hard. She tucked her chin-length hair behind her ear. This ordeal rattled her in a way she’d rarely been rattled. Joe had a soothing effect on her and others. Tall and broad-shouldered, he had a calm and confident air that made him serene even in crises. With eyes somewhere between blue and green and thick blond hair that curled low on his neck, the man was a woman magnet and just plain cool too, which is why she’d had coffeeand dinner with him dozens of times but hadn’t allowed herself to fall for him.
    He’d break her heart just like Max had, no doubt about it.
    Max had been cool too—and he’d humiliated her, ditching her very publicly for a glamour girl. The same kind of glamour girl that gravitated to Joe and clung.
    “Sorry, Beth. You’re too  …  ordinary.”
    Even now, Max’s words stung. Everyday average couldn’t hold up to glamour. Never did, never would—which is why Joe, no matter how sincere he seemed or how charming, had to be kept at arm’s length.
    Still, his skills would be helpful. He’d been on the front line and instrumental in resolving Lisa’s abduction. If this was about NINA, the villagers needed Joe. Beth did too. He subtly invited her to lean on him, and she could … but only just a little. Another broken heart she did not need.
    Not that she was the same woman now she’d been with Max. Now, she was a successful businesswoman, rich, and confident in her skin—and that skin was slimmer now due to her daily beach runs, but it was still ordinary and everyday average. Once burned, twice shy .
    Annie stood near Nora’s shower screen, waiting patiently. Beth looked at Lisa. “You’ll get your mom and Nora home, right?” They shared an apartment at the Towers, next door to Beth’s beach house.
    “Mark and I will handle it.” Lisa nodded. “Don’t worry, Beth. Mom’s good at comforting the grieving. She’ll take care of Nora.”
    Annie would. Beth started walking away, stopped, and looked at Mark. “If you hear from Joe, have him call me when he can.” Her insides twisted. She needed a little of Joe’s calm, even if it was from a distance.
    Knowing glinted in Mark’s gray eyes. “He’ll like that.”
    Unable to miss Jeff’s disappointment, Beth walked out toward her car. Jeff was a good man. He was also still half in love with her. If she had half a brain, she’d jump at him, but her heart wouldn’t let her. He deserved someone to love him back, and she just didn’t. So every day of her life, she prayed he’d find awoman who would. So far, it hadn’t happened, but like Nora always said: “In God’s own sweet time.”
    Ironic that Beth felt the same way about Joe. And even more ironic was, despite Mark’s comment, Joe was about as apt to be genuinely interested in her as she was in Jeff. Oh, Joe said he wanted a home and a family, one day—and he said it in a way that made her think he’d never really had either one—but she wasn’t a fool. She was fine for coffee and conversation, but Joe would build that life with an extraordinary woman.
    Beth sighed. Love’s fickle. That’s that .
    Fire trucks lined the front of the parking lot. Every patrol car in the tricounty area seemed to be on site. From the cameras and lights, a ton of reporters had gathered just outside the police blockade. Their shouted questions garbled but one snagged her