For Love & Bourbon Read Online Free

“Let’s make some noise for our generous sheriff over here who has just graciously offered to buy y’all a round of Lucky Fox Bourbon!”
    The bar erupted in whistling cheers. Ava made a point to meet Beau dead in the eye. “Enjoy picking up that tab, Sheriff.”
    He gaped at her and at the patrons who came by to slap him on the shoulder and thank him for an offer he hadn’t even made. He’d be a fool to try and back step it now, she knew, which meant he’d be shelling out a couple hundred bucks just for messing with her. That’d teach him.
    With a devilish wink, Ava hooked her arm in her brother’s and led the way out to the dance floor. Her favorite song had just come on and she was ready to have some fun.
    Adam gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. “Good move, darlin’. Damn good move.”
    “I told him I’d knock that stupid grin off his face.” She laughed and stepped into the line that had formed, Adam at her side. They kicked their boots and sang along to Luke Bryan, drinks in hand and the whiskey flowing. All on Beau’s dime, of course, which made it taste even sweeter.
    There in that bar with people she’d known all her life, music that spoke to her soul, and whiskey her very own hands helped create, she was on top of the world.
    Nothing was missing, she told herself. Life was perfect just the way it was.
     

 
     
     

     
     
    Washington, D.C.
     
    S pecial Agent Cooper Lawson didn’t make a habit of placing bets, but he’d wager an entire year’s pay that the Brannon family of Kentucky was cooking up more than just whiskey. He was positive they were funding terrorism that had gotten two Americans killed in a car bombing in Dublin.
    As an agent with the Terrorist Financing Operations Section of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, that made it his business and, frankly, he had a bone to pick with anyone who dared send money overseas to sponsor terrorist activities, even if it was the IRA.
    Across the table from him, his partner was busy sucking down two fingers of Lucky Fox Distiller’s Choice, chipper as can be.
    “You realize you’re contributing to the problem, right?” Cooper nodded at the glass of whiskey, amused by the irony of it.
    Special Agent Marco D’Amico shrugged. “What? It’s good stuff. Innocent until proven guilty, my friend.”
    “Please. You know they’re guilty. At least, we know Ty Brannon is,” Cooper reminded him, taking a pull from his own bottle of Sam Adam’s. They sat in the same old bar they’d always gone to, packed with FBI agents, lobbyists, and political goons. Big screen television sets lined the brick walls, set on non-stop ESPN. Cooper’s gaze drifted to watch the horse race someone had turned on, mildly interested in it. “We just gotta get down there and prove it.”
    “All in good time. Until then, I’m going to enjoy this glass of especially fine bourbon.”
    Cooper chuckled and picked at the label on his beer. “If we find what I think we’ll find on Brannon’s computers that may be the last taste you get of Lucky Fox whiskey.”
    “All the more reason to enjoy it.” Marco grinned. “You ever been down south?”
    “Nope.” Cooper settled back in his chair. “Never had a reason to. Until now.”
    “Whole other world, my friend.” Ice tinkled as Marco lifted his glass in a toast. “Us New York boys are gonna stand out like sore thumbs.”
    “As if the badge wasn’t bad enough.” Though Cooper itched to dig out the file he had on Brannon from his briefcase, he resisted the urge. He’d pored over its contents hundreds of times already, prepping for the task of heading the team down in Louisville on the investigation. Within twenty-four hours he’d land in Kentucky and be able to confront the man behind the file. The man who he was convinced was sending money to family in Ireland to fund the IRA.
    Cooper’s blood ran green with Ireland himself, though a few generations separated him from the country and its notorious war