Read Online Beyond Limits by Laura Griffin - Free Book Online Page B

the laser-sharp focus of his gaze. I’m listening. Just the thought made her chest tighten. He was listening. And she felt the urge to let her guard down, to let him in. But she knew where that would lead.
    One kiss. That was all it had taken to get her in this much trouble. They hadn’t even slept together, and somehow he’d managed to shake up her world for an entire year.
    He’d wanted to sleep with her in San Francisco. He’d been very upfront about it, inviting her back to his hotel room after they’d gone drinking at a pub following what—at that point—had been the single worst day of her career.
    Sometimes she wished they’d gone through with it. She’d probably be embarrassed now, but at least she’d be able to place him solidly in the category of Drunken Mistakes. As it was, whenever she thought of him, she felt this burning curiosity.
    What would it have been like?
    She might never know, because instead of sleeping with her, he’d tucked her into bed and crashed on the sofa. In the morning he’d pulled on his cowboy boots and acted like it was no big deal.
    He was still watching her, waiting. I’m listening.
    He really was. And it felt so good to see him, to be near him. She felt more alive and awake in the last hour than she had in months, and she knew it was him . He had this effect on her. But if this was what it felt like just being near him, how would she feel if he ever really touched her?
    Heat sparked in his eyes, and he stepped closer. “Liz . . .” He slipped his hand around her waist. “You’re doing it again.”
    “What?”
    “Looking at me like that.”
    Noise and people swirled around her as she gazed up at him, and they may as well have been the only people in here.
    “When you look at me that way . . .” His hand trailed up and settled on her shoulder. He was going to kiss her, and she watched him, heart thudding.
    Her phone chimed, and she stepped back. She looked around and spotted her purse under the table. Fishing the phone out, she found a text from Jimmy Torres.
    “Shit.”
    Another message came in, this one from Gordon. Her stomach knotted as she read the words.
    “Shit, shit, shit.”
    “What’s wrong?”
    She glanced up and started to tell him. Then she clamped her mouth shut.
    “Nothing.” She dropped the phone into her purse. “I’m really sorry, but I have to go.”

Chapter Six

     
    E lizabeth caught the first flight out before sunrise. By the time she landed and picked up her rental car, rush hour was dissipating, and so was her energy. She pulled into the office and did her hair and makeup in the parking lot before locking her suitcase in the trunk and rushing inside. After hurrying through security, she found the entire task force squeezed into a conference room.
    Elizabeth slipped inside. Every seat was taken around the table, so she grabbed a bit of wall space beside Torres.
    He did a double take.
    “Who’s this?” she mouthed, nodding toward the far end of the room, where a man stood talking.
    He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “ICE.”
    Immigration and Customs Enforcement. So this lead had come from them.
    “It’s something we’ve been worried about for some time,” the ICE agent was saying. “It’s a back door, and they’ve used it before.”
    Gordon was watching her from the head of the conference table. He’d wanted her here ASAP, so here she was. A little harried, yes, but she was present.
    “The most serious attempt was several summers ago,” the agent continued, “when a Mexico-based Al Qaeda cell tried to smuggle a truck bomb up through one of the border tunnels.”
    Elizabeth glanced behind the ICE agent, where a screen showed a black-and-white still shot of a dark minivan. It was parked beside a gas pump, and the image looked to have been taken by a surveillance camera.
    “How far is this entry point from that location?” someone at the table asked.
    “Not far at all. And the turf is controlled by the same