Read Still The One (Family Stone #4 Jack) (Family Stone Romantic Suspense) for Free Online

from drifting to the tantalizing glimpse of skin. “That was part of the reason I put her in Iowa, besides the smells and sounds.”
    “What?”
    “It’s smack in the middle between California and DC.” Bliss lamented, “I wanted her to feel safe.”
    Bliss paced around the office until she stood behind the wing chair. The furniture was like a shield that protected her body from his penetrating stare. Her fingers traced the graceful arch of the back as she processed her thoughts.
    “What’s the second?” Because if Maria was as smart as Bliss thought, then she wouldn’t go with instinct number one.
    “Go back,” Bliss whispered.
    “What?”
    Bliss tilted her head, her burnished copper hair fell over one shoulder. “Where’s the last place he would look for her?”
    Jack shook his head. “She wouldn’t.”
    “It’s what I would do.” Bliss argued as the idea took root. And she knew with the instincts that had protected her for the last eighteen years, that she was right. “She’s got guts. She’d go back to the absolute last place Fernandez would look for her.”
    Jack was speechless.
    “We’ve got to go. Now.”
    “Where are we going?” Jack asked.
    “California,” Bliss said grimly. “After a quick stop in Iowa.”

Four
    Shane had filed their flight plan and was doing the preflight check on the Bombardier while Jack got Bliss settled. Once Bliss was ensconced in a butter soft, cream leather seat in the passenger cabin of the Stone family jet, Jack went to the cockpit and sat with Shane, serving as the co-pilot for takeoff.
    It had been a long fucking day.
    But Jack bet the day had been even longer for Maria Torres. Wherever she was.
    He was torn between wanting to spend more time with Bliss and wanting to stay as far away from her as possible. But he had a duty to Maria, a responsibility to the people, to find her and make sure that José Fernandez paid for his actions eight years ago.
    So once they were airborne, Jack reluctantly said, “I’m going to go check on our passenger. Be back in a bit.”
    Shane wiggled his brows and his wide smile was blindingly bright in his dark, ebony face. “Lucky you.” He laughed low and melodic as Jack unbuckled and headed for his passenger.
    “I wish,” he muttered. Not lucky, cursed.
    Jack closed the curtain between the cockpit and the cabin and took a second to soak her in. She was searching through papers on the burled wood table between the seats, seemingly absorbed in the paperwork scattered across the surface. He noted the tiny wrinkle between her eyebrows, and the way she still nibbled on the end of her pen when she concentrated intently.
    A pang of nostalgia hit him hard. How many times had he teased her about those damn pens? How many times had he tried to give her something else to nibble on? And how many times had he convinced her to nibble on him?
    Jack needed to remember the bad things. Not the good. She’d ripped out his heart and stomped on it when she’d ended their relationship. That’s what he needed to remember.
    He’d been speculating about where Maria might go, or who she might go to when she left the safe house, but he realized he’d forgotten one element.
    “What about family?” Jack said abruptly.
    But Bliss didn’t answer. Then he noticed the wires hanging from her ears. She had her headphones on and couldn’t hear him. Another memory bombarded him. He used to get her attention by kissing her out of a study trance.
    No kissing. He licked his lips and shoved the memories aside. Instead he strode over to her and stood in front of her until she looked up and removed the earbuds. “Yes?”
    “What about family?”
    Bliss wrapped the wires around the small iPod mini meticulously as she took her time answering. “Her parents were heartbroken when she disappeared. They went back to their home town in Mexico. Her father was killed a year later, caught in the wrong place during a drug war battle. Her mother...isn’t