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“Sounds like she’s busy,” Alex lamented as she moved away from the door and toward a large glass dispenser full of water and cucumbers. “Would you like some?”

Alex pulled the silver tab and poured herself some water.

Charlotte’s mouth was dry from the ping ponging emotions and adrenaline spikes wracking her body, but she eyed the floating vegetable disks skeptically.

“How much does it taste like cucumbers?”

Alex drained the small cup before chuckling. “Not a fan?”

she asked, instead of judging her for never having introduced strange foods into her drinking water. Filling a new cup a quarter of the way, Alex glanced at her. “Try it.

Maybe you’ll like it.”

Charlotte hesitated to accept the drink. There was a faint green tinge to it that made it wholly unappealing. It couldn’t be worse than Herman’s smoothies, right?

“Where’s that risk taking spirit? Or is this not a place where it counts?” Alex’s inquiry was accompanied by a raised eyebrow.

Charlotte was relieved at the return of her restrained playfulness and was amused that she was calling back a comment from their last conversation. Had she been thinking about it? Thinking about her?

“It really depends on the prospect of how great this reward might be,” Charlotte confessed before taking a massive gulp to prove she wasn’t a coward. As soon as the flavor assaulted her tastebuds, Charlotte’s lip curled involuntarily. “Well . . . the next time I want to drink a salad, I’ll know where to go.”

Alex chuckled. The deep, throaty sound made Charlotte’s skin warm again.

“You should use your generous employee discount and try one of the massages,” Alex said as they looped through the mostly empty fitness center to get back to the locker room.

“Ask for Candy. She’s incredible.”

Candy? That must be a codeword.

“That’s good to know because if your business depended on the beverages you serve, we’d all be in trouble,” she joked

to expend the rush of energy coursing through her body.

She’d just been tested and passed. She was sure of it.

CHAPTER 9

TENSE WEEKS PASSED between when Alexandra suggested she see Candy and when the woman had a cancelation Charlotte could slip into. She’d smirked knowingly when Paola informed her Candy was booked months out with . . .

regulars.

If that’s what we’re calling them , she thought but didn’t say.

After the initial excitement of her progress faded, Charlotte started to worry about what she’d gotten herself into. The weekend before her Tuesday morning appointment, she was dying to talk to Jayson.

She debated calling him on a burner phone. There was no reason she couldn’t. Even if his concerns about Alex doing some deep dive on her were valid, she wouldn’t be checking his phone records. If she found their connection, the jig would already be up.

Charlotte went as far as driving to the store and perusing a stand packed with cheap, ugly black cell phones before deciding against it. Jayson’s chief wasn’t going to use his connections to get her to the top of the FBI interview pile if

she called Jay in a panic the moment the mere possibility of something happening arose.

Instead, Charlotte splurged on a new pair of sneakers and spent two hours running training drills in the park.

Movement helped her forget how much she missed Jayson and how she wished she could talk to him like a brother.

Even if just for a little while.

Late in the day, Charlotte positioned her sweaty body under her shower head and let the weak but icy cold stream rush over her. In the safety of her faded tile green bathroom that hadn’t been renovated since it was built in the 1970’s, there was nowhere left to hide.