He tugged at the brim of his hat and shifted back in his seat, moving fully out of view of her door.
A.J. texted Chris his location, then snatched Ana’s case file once she was inside, and her front room light was on.
He flipped through the papers for the millionth time, but guilt slowly ate at him.
His phone began ringing, and he expected it to be Chris with an update, but it was his brother Caleb. Maybe he had news on how the rest of the bachelor party slash inquisition weekend went?
A.J. brought the phone to his ear, his eyes drifting from Ana’s townhouse, its windows shielded by blinds, before his focus moved back to the photo paperclipped to the file folder.
Reddish-gold hair fell past her shoulders. Had the FBI asked her to put it down for the shot? There was the tiniest hint of a cleft in her chin. Straight red eyebrows and long dark lashes dramatically framed her green eyes. Her nose was straight. Not too upturned or wide. And her lips. Heaven help him. Thick, full, and luscious.
“You there?”
He blinked at the sound of Caleb’s voice, nearly forgetting he’d answered the phone. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“The wedding is still a go, I’m afraid to say. Two weeks and counting,” Caleb announced apologetically. “Unless you happened to come across something that would convince Ella not to marry him.”
God, he didn’t want to be the one to break his sister’s heart. To crush her hopes and dreams. But he also didn’t want her making a mistake and marrying Perfect Brian, and he knew deep in his belly, the man was far from perfect for Ella.
“I should know soon about what really happened in Vegas,” he announced.
Wyatt’s daughter, Gwen, promised to look at the hotel surveillance to ensure Brian hadn’t cheated on Ella or done anything else disgraceful.
“Okay, let me know when you hear something.” Caleb paused. “Where are you at?”
“Working.” And that was all he could say. He wasn’t about to expose the fact he was sitting outside Ana’s apartment like some creepy stalker.
I’m getting paid to watch her. His skin heated at the thought. Yeah, he hated this, but he also hadn’t wanted anyone else to watch her.
This assignment also probably meant he’d never get a chance to ask her out. Once he cleared her name as a traitor, and that was the only acceptable outcome, how would he let her know about this? It wasn’t a secret he was comfortable keeping from her if, by chance, he manned up and ever officially asked her out.
Date? What am I thinking?
“Okay, well, stay safe,” Caleb said, taking on a bit of Beckett’s dad-tone. “Don’t die or anything.” He cleared his throat. His brother was about as good at dealing with his emotions as the rest of the Hawkins brothers—and that was to say he was shitty at it. They’d been raised by caring and loving parents, but each brother had gone through the wringer in one way or another that had shaped them into the men they were today. “By the way, how’s your head?”
A.J.’d had two hellish nightmares since bumping his noggin in the woods, and they all centered around painful memories. “I’m fine.” It wasn’t like he hadn’t hit his head a dozen times before. “Talk when I have news on Brian.” He ended the call before his brother had the chance to pry anymore, then almost dropped his phone at the sight of a man now standing on Ana’s front step, a brown bag cradled in his arm. Was that takeout?
The man shifted to the side as he waited for Ana to open the door as if he had the same feeling as Ana that someone was out there watching.
A.J. flipped through Ana’s file to another image, to the man standing outside her door.
Kyle Jeter. FBI for fifteen years. Thirty-nine years old. And Ana’s ex-husband.
A.J. swallowed hard when Ana opened the door, then stepped aside to allow her ex entry. She’d changed into jeans and a black, cotton V-neck tee.
“Well, shit,” A.J. muttered.
A tap at the passenger window had him losing sight of Ana’s door for a moment as he looked over to see Chris standing there. “I make a horrible stakeout guy. Didn’t see you there,” he said after letting Chris into the SUV.
A lopsided smile played at Chris’s lips. “I miss anything? Who’s the guy she just let in?”
“Her ex-husband.” Pings of jealousy, totally unwarranted, popped inside his chest like the Pop Rocks he ate as