Free Too Much to Lose by Samantha Holt Page A

fingers
together and I spy a battle raging in her eyes. Part of me wants to scream at
her to run. Send me away. Then I’ll have no choice. I won’t be able to complete
the job. But why does she deserve to get away with stealing?
    “Sure, okay. Let’s go for
breakfast.”
    “Great.” A huge lump of guilt
jams in my throat.
    She grabs her coat off the
couch and goes to shrug into it. I snatch her wrist and frown. “How did you get
these?” Bruises are scattered all along her forearm, marring her skin.
    She blinks and glances at the
purple marks. “Oh, it must have been when you… you know, pushed me.”
    I drop her arm. “Shit.”
    “It’s okay. You saved me,
remember?”
    “I didn’t realize you’d been
hurt. You should have said.”
    “It’s only bruises. I didn’t
really think about it. I was more concerned for you.”
    I skim a finger along her arm,
bitter regret burning in my stomach. “You’re really something, princess.”
    Jess laughs. “Why? Because I
didn’t complain about a little bump?”
    I shake my head. “That’s no
little bump.”
    “Don’t worry about it. I’m not
that easily hurt.”
    “Somehow I doubt that.” I’m
beginning to doubt there’s a dishonest bone in her body. Which is dangerous
territory. Why would my client waste money sending me after her if she didn’t
take the money? She’s clouding my judgment somehow, emitting some weird
brainwashing signals.
    “Are we grabbing some food or
not? Any later and we’ll miss any chance for breakfast.” She says this with a
smile but there’s wariness in her eyes. I need to play this more carefully or
she’ll clam up completely and I’ll never find out anything.
    I grab my leather jacket while
she stuffs some money and her keys into hers. “Damn.” I pluck at my T-shirt and
she laughs.
    “You do look a little dodgy all
covered in blood.”
    “I’m not exactly covered… but
it does look bad. Do you mind if we stop at my place so I can grab a change of
clothes?”
    “Your place?”
    “Yeah.” I’m not sure I intended
for this to happen either. It’s one step too close to her seeing everything. If
she realizes I’m investigating her, I’m screwed. But I’ve got to use this chance
to dig deeper. “Unless you’ve got something…”
    “Definitely not.”
    “I’m only about fifteen minutes
from here.” She puts the tip of a finger to her mouth and nibbles the end. I
have never wanted to be a finger so badly. “You don’t have any plans today do you?”
I press, knowing she doesn’t. I’ve followed her long enough to know she does
very little on Sundays.
    “No.” Jess releases an audible
sigh. “Come on then.”
    “It’s not that much of a
hardship spending time with me, is it?”
    A reluctant smile twitches on her
lips. “No, of course not.”
    “Good, cause I plan on spending
a lot of time with you from now on.”
     

Chapter Seven
    Jess
    We pull up outside a Victorian
terraced house, all red brick and tall windows. It takes me a moment to realize
we’ve reached Hunter’s house. The place he’s on the verge of losing. Funny, I
didn’t picture him living in a normal house. I clearly know nothing about him.
    He turns off the engine. “Here
we are. You can wait in the car if you want.”
    Curiosity has me shaking my
head and he shrugs. We climb out, push through the small wooden gate and I
stare at the bevelled windows as he unlocks the door. I still can’t figure out
how I ended up here. There’s definitely this burning need to find out more
about him driving me, but I’ve never given into inquisitiveness before. Why
now? Why with Hunter?
    He flicks a grin in my
direction and motions me in. My stomach flips. Probably because he’s so sexy.
What am I doing? Why have I put myself in this situation? I’ve already shown I
have no sense when it comes to Hunter. I should never have let him kiss me or
even remotely encouraged him.
    “Wait in here.” He motions to
the door on the right. “I’ll