Free Bodyguard: A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance (Snake Eyes Book 1) by Tabatha Kiss

checkout counter with the cash Fox gave me to find something to wear. It’s a low-end department store, somewhere I’d usually never shop but Fox insists that’s the point. I’m not Roxie Roberts right now. I’m just Dani. I’m not a movie star. I’m a normal person with thick sunglasses and short hair, buying some clothes because I have nothing else to wear other than a man’s shirt and boxer shorts. Just a normal girl with a target on her back.
    Nothing to see here, folks.
    “Do I know you from somewhere?”
    I look at the cashier through tinted lenses. “I get that a lot,” I mutter, dropping my voice deeper than usual. She stares at me for an extra long second before finally shrugging and requesting seventy dollars from me. My heart resets to its normal rhythm and I get out as fast as I went in.
    Fox waits outside for me, leaning against a new car by the curb. I’m not quite sure where he got it but I’m not about to question it. His eyes move back and forth in his skull on constant watch. Each passing person could be a danger. Each one another possibility for me to get recognized, however unlikely that is, especially with a fresh bandage covering half of my face. “So, where is this secret master file decrypter guy?” I ask.
    “Denver.”
    “Denver? Why aren’t we flying?”
    He pops open the passenger side door. “Because that requires going through security, flashing IDs…”
    “So?”
    “So…” He jerks his head, gesturing me into the car. I step off the curb and lower myself down into it while he moves to the driver’s side. “Snake Eyes has access to those systems. Chances are we’ve already been flagged by them and the L.A.P.D.”
    “Why them, too?” He glances at me out of the corner of his eyes, giving me a quick second to figure it out for myself. “Oh, right. My dad.”
    “Bennett’s not stupid,” he says as he turns the ignition. “He knows how to track you down. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if our photos are all over the news right now. We need to stay as off-the-grid as possible or we’ll never even make it out of California.”
    “It’s a good thing I look nothing like myself then…” I pull the visor down and flip open the mirror to look at my reflection. Black hair. No make-up. Giant gash on my cheek. I slide my sunglasses up onto my head to check my eyes. Still blue. That’s something, I guess.
    “Put those back on until we get out of the city,” Fox says as we start rolling down the busy street. I do as he says and shield my eyes again before tossing the bag of new clothes into the backseat and sliding back there with them. “Dani, what are you doing?”
    “I’m changing,” I say, flicking the buttons free on his borrowed shirt. “Just keep your eyes on the road.”
    “We have windows, you know.”
    “I’ll be quick.” I grab a black t-shirt out of the bag and lay it open on my lap. “It’s not like you’ve never seen it before anyway.”
    “What are you talking about?” he asks quickly.
    I smirk to myself as I throw the shirt over my head, covering my exposed breasts in less than a second. “Candy Crushers?”
    Fox sighs, keeping his neck stiff and his eyes locked forward. “I wasn’t looking at you.”
    “You see, here’s what doesn’t add up to me, Fox…” I slide both legs into the jeans and pull them up and over the boxer shorts. “You’re out there, watching from across the street, but you turn away — like the honorable man that you are — and focus on Smith while I’m all exposed. Am I right so far?”
    “That’s exactly what happened,” he confirms.
    “Then why didn’t you help Smith?”
    He pauses. “What?”
    I take the shoes and a pair of socks from the bag and climb back into the front seat. “If you were staring so intently into my kitchen to avoid seeing me naked, then you — an honorable man and all — would have taken out Mercer before he got to Smith.”
    “Dani…”
    My lips twitch. “You had a clear