With Her Last Breath by Cait London

or an end of an old life. But when Celeste got that feeling, it meant someone was going to die.
     
    Just like her sister, Maggie would tell him she loved him before she died.
    Brent Templeton placed the collection of worn notes on the hotel room’s table. They were in Maggie’s handwriting, thumbtacked to bulletin boards in an assortment of gyms, spas, and health food stores. For a year after her divorce,she’d tried to find work and then she’d disappeared. At first, he’d methodically called all the numbers on the old notes, but new voices had answered, not Maggie’s slightly husky, low tones.
    He needed to hear that voice as she told him she loved him.
    With care, he replaced the notes in a small envelope and called Maggie’s ex-husband. Once Ryan had bowed and scraped to get favors from Brent, but now his voice was curt. “I told you not to call here anymore. I’m remarried and I don’t know where Maggie is.”
    “I helped make you what you are. I helped get you those connections to make your gym a success. You’ll do as I say and have Maggie tracked down. Call Judge Jones and—”
    “No one wants anything to do with you now, Brent. You’ve pushed your weight around for the last time. Call Jones yourself. I’m certain he’d like to know where you are, since you still owe him money. That’s the deal, Brent. Leave us alone, or someone comes after you and it won’t be pleasant. I hear you’ve already had a taste of it. Take it or leave it. If you’re obsessed with Maggie, that’s your own problem. None of us ever wants to hear from her again—or you. You’re both just plain trouble.”
    “Your damn wife started all the trouble, not me.”
    “Everyone has moved on,” Ryan stated fiercely, and the line clicked off.
    Brent shook with anger, but meticulously replaced the receiver on its base. He would find Maggie, punish her, and then return to punish them all.
    He’d hold that bright penny-colored hair in his fist as he watched fear leap in those hazel eyes. He’d take her out in the water she feared and—
    In the way of a predator whose hunger needed satisfaction, Brent thought of the girl at the health food store, the one with soft hazel eyes. She’d been compassionate and helpful, and perfect to tell him that she loved him.
    She’d have to die later, of course. Just like Maggie.

FOUR
    M aggie looked at the man sitting next to her. Nick had beautiful, expressive eyes, and they told her that he was curious.
    Her senses told her that he wanted to touch her. He was too big, taking up too much space—and her air. Every time she breathed, she caught the enticing scent of a man who had just showered and shaved.
    His hair was damp and curling at the ends, long past the snip of a barber’s scissors, and Maggie pushed down the impulse to smooth it.
    Nick quite simply made her feminine senses jump—and that wasn’t good. Maggie had to focus, to keep her priorities. He’d pushed her too hard, asking questions she didn’t want to answer.
    “I’m not into small talk,” she said abruptly, down-shifting to prepare for a stop sign. “Just leave me alone and we’ll do fine.”
    “And if I don’t?” There was steel beneath the easygoing, lady-killer smile, just enough challenge to raise the hair on the back of her neck.
    In the past few years, she’d learned how to send out verbal spikes. “I’d think you’d have enough to do with Lorna. Or with that sweet young thing you married. I saw the wedding picture up in the old lighthouse and the album open on the table with the empty bottle of wine. Instead of drinking and pining, you might go after her and apologize for whatever you did.”
    “Is that what you think? It’s too late for apologies. My wife is dead,” Nick stated grimly. “She died almost twelve years ago. And yes, I should have done something and didn’t. Instead, I lost Alyssa and the baby she had just told me about. Strange, the things a man will let pass when he’s just been