Jake Chandler is a struggling small-town Florida lawyer, and his life is falling apart. His ex-wife makes seeing his daughter difficult, his boyfriend Noah may be cheating on him, and his money woes are growing. Jake hopes that a new murder defense case will help with his money woes, but his ex-wife Elena is the prosecutor. It’s bad enough she has to fight with him over custody of their daughter. Now she wants nothing more than to beat him in the courtroom, too.<br><br>And then people around him start dying.<br><br>First, an ex-lover gets his brains blown out while he and Jake have coffee. The danger comes even closer. Then Jake meets handsome FBI agent Xavier, who is investigating the crimes surrounding him. Can Jake trust this new man in his life? Is Xavier who he says he is? Or does his involvement put Jake and those he loves in even more danger?

Love and Murder

Noah changed everything. Noah forced me to be honest with Elena, to break off whatever Anton and I were doing. The divorce was painful, the fight about joint custody tough, but I couldn’t have done it without Noah. I owed him another chance.


“Watch where you’re going, asshole!”


“Stupid fucking joggers,” the guy in the truck mumbled.


I looked at my watch. Close to an hour since I left Noah snoring.


Time to head back. Time to talk to Noah about what we should do next.


Coffee and bagels from Noah’s favorite place in one hand, and keys in another. There was a song from the iPod I couldn’t get out of my head after I finished the run.


I tried my key, but the door was unlocked.


Guess I closed it, but didn’t lock it.


I latched the deadbolt and walked in. Didn’t hear Noah’s snoring. Or the sound of running water.


“Hey, Noah, I brought coffee and got bagels.”


Chapter 39