Read Online The Chosen by Sharon Sala - Free Book Online

that.”
    The cheesecake in Ben’s stomach did a quick one-eighty. For a moment he was afraid it might come back up.
    â€œCan I ask you one last thing?” she murmured.
    â€œMaybe,” he said, ever cautious when it came to the media.
    â€œDid he have any next of kin?”
    â€œWho?”
    She rolled her eyes.
    â€œBrother John…the man who was murdered.”
    â€œYes, actually, he did.”
    She nodded. “That’s good. I think it would be sad to die without someone left behind to grieve. What was his name…his real name?”
    â€œJesus, lady. Don’t you have someplace else to be?”
    Her expression fell.
    The moment he said it, Ben wished he could have taken it back, but it was too late.
    â€œLook, Miss DeLena…January…I didn’t mean that like it sounded. But damn it, you make me nervous, okay?”
    She thought about that for a moment, took another drink of her margarita, then picked up her purse.
    â€œYou make me nervous, too, Benjamin North. One of these days we’ll have to figure out a way to calm ourselves down, won’t we?”
    With that, she dug a handful of bills out of her purse and tossed them on the table.
    He knew he was going to regret this, but it was no longer a secret. Next of kin had been notified. It was a matter of public record.
    â€œHis name was Jean Louis Baptiste.”
    January’s face went pale. She sat for a moment, then got up from the table and left the restaurant without looking back.
    Ben was in over his head. He was so busy watching the sway of her hips beneath that tiny black dress that he never noticed she’d been afraid.

Four
    D aylight was still at least an hour away when January woke up. She glanced at the clock, groaned, turned her pillow over to the cool side and tried to go back to sleep, but it was no use. Her mind had gone into gear the moment her eyes were open. She would never have believed that being stood up on a date would wind up being the best night of her life.
    Benjamin North liked her, she was sure of it. He just didn’t know it yet. It was unfortunate that their first off-work moment together had been spent with her dislodging a hunk of steak from his throat. Things like that tended to put men on the defensive. Traditionally, they were the ones who liked to do the rescuing.
    A faint ding sounded from the kitchen, signaling that her coffeemaker had come on. She sat up on the side of the bed and then leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees as she noticed a tear in the lace on her nightgown. That was the story of her life. It appeared perfect, like the polish on her toenails, but there was always a little flaw just waiting to surface.
    She glanced at the clock again, then looked out the window. The sky was clear, and she was too wide-awake to stay in bed. It wasn’t often that she found time for a workout. Maybe a good run through the neighborhood would get the day off to a good start and reset her mental focus.
    Before she could talk herself out of it, she pulled her hair up into a ponytail, dressed in jogging clothes, put on her favorite sneakers, and headed for the kitchen and the freshly brewing coffee. She drank it in front of the kitchen window, gauging the new light of day and the weather with a practiced eye, then pocketed sunglasses and her house key, and out the door she went.
    Even at this time of the morning, traffic was brisk. She paused at the curb, waiting for a chance to cross, then, when the break came, jogged across the street. Once there, she did a few warm-up exercises. The sun was up now, just high enough above the horizon to be right in her eyes as she turned east. She put on the sunglasses, patted her pocket to make sure her house key was still there and took off.
    The air was brisk with a bit of breeze. It ruffled the tiny wisps of January’s hair around her temples and cooled the quick sheen of perspiration on her forehead as she ran. The jolt