Free Damsel in Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 1) by Olivia Jaymes Page A

held me in an underground cell. There was no light except a strip of sun that would come in during the day. At night it was pitch black. And quiet. So fucking quiet. It made the waiting seem like it went on forever.”
    Those few weeks in that cell had felt like a lifetime. Even when he’d escaped he’d been afraid that it was all a dream. That reality was the prison and freedom was a fantasy that he’d created as he slowly went out of his mind. It was strange how quickly sanity could desert a man when death and pain were his only companions.
    Jason needed to shut the hell up but she’d opened the floodgates with her gentle questions and sympathetic tears. Those tears were trailing down her cheeks, her hand covering her mouth in horror. If he had any fucking sense he’d stop talking and send her to bed.
    But he wasn’t all that smart. Not about this.
    “It got to where I could tell who was coming by the sound of their shoes on the dirt and stones. It was a good thing to know. If it was one of the men coming to take me for interrogation I could prepare myself mentally. Or maybe it was just someone who would walk by my cell to another poor bastard. While I was there I heard them take away three people that never came back.”
    He’d been waiting for that day. Knowing it would come. The only question was when and how they would finally kill him and put him out of his misery. The electrical shocks. The beatings. Funny how the thing he most remembered was being thirsty. It seemed like he could never get enough water. It explained why he now had a case of bottled water in the refrigerator and another in the pantry. He kept extra bottles in the truck. He never wanted to be caught without it.
    “God, Jason.” The words seemed torn from Brinley’s throat. He was ashamed that he’d said anything. She hadn’t done anything to deserve to carry this shit around with her.
    He abandoned the cup in the sink and came around the kitchen island, pulling her into his arms, her body trembling with emotion. He was humbled to be with a woman who could feel that deeply for someone other than herself. “Hey, no crying, sweetheart. It’s over and done with. The past. I’m alive. That’s the only thing that’s important.”
    He brushed at her damp cheeks and she nodded, blinking away the tears. “I know you haven’t told me half of what happened to you.”
    And he never would. He’d already told her too much. “What happened isn’t important. I’ve learned to live in the present. It’s just some nights it’s tough, that’s all.”
    “That’s when you sit outside and read, isn’t it? I’ve seen you when I couldn’t sleep too,” she sniffled.
    “If I’d known you were awake I would have invited you over for a movie marathon.” Jason wanted to lighten the atmosphere that had grown between them. He didn’t want her feeling sorry for him. He sure as shit didn’t feel sorry for himself. It was his own damn fault he’d been captured.
    Jason finally got a smile in return, albeit a tad watery. “Now you know. I’d love to watch movies with you.”
    Jason looked down at the canine sleeping at his feet. “What do you say, Huck? Should we pop a movie in and see who falls asleep first? My guess it will be the dog.”
    “I think you’re right. What movie should we watch?”
    It didn’t matter. She’d taken her pill and would be asleep before long. Maybe he could sleep as well with her beside him and the noise of the television in the background.
    “Pick anything out you like,” he offered, tucking a blanket around her as they settled on the couch. “I’ll even watch a chick flick.”
    She rolled her eyes and chose Weekend at Bernie’s but the movie had barely begun before her head drooped onto his shoulder, fast asleep. Jason listened to her even breathing as her palm settled on his chest, right over his heart. Like it belonged there.
    This woman had wormed her way past all the defenses he’d so carefully erected