Free Someone Like Her by Sandra Owens Page A

kitchen.
    “You need to calm down, Eddie. Getting all agitated isn’t helping anyone.”
    “I know, man, but I just get so pissed when she talks about what he tried to do to her.”
    “I understand, but she got away. What Angie needs now is for you to hold it together and be there for her.”
    “Man, I know that, but what I really wanna do is find the asshole and hurt him like he hurt Angie.”
    Jake caught the boy’s gaze and held it. “Eddie, pay attention here. The man’s dangerous. He’s hurt people before. I’m an ex-SEAL, and even I would use caution where he’s concerned. Let the police do their job.” A small lie, that one. He’d have no problem tangling with Fortunada.
    “No shit? You’re a SEAL. Wow. Were you on the team that killed bin Laden?”
    Jake suppressed a smile. The kid was a trip. “No, that was Team Six, but back to my point. The way you can help is to stick close to Angie and her mother. Like I said yesterday, it’s possible Fortunada could show up if he gets desperate, maybe looking for a place to hide out. What if he does and they’re here alone because you’re out somewhere on a fruitless search for him?”
    “Shouldn’t I have a gun?”
    Hell no. “You have a cell phone?”
    Eddie’s eyebrows met in the middle of his forehead. “Doesn’t everybody?”
    Well hell. He let his amusement go and laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. You stick with your ladies and any sign of our man, you call the police, then me. Give me your cell.”
    Jake programed his number into Eddie’s phone and handed it back. “Now, there’s something else I need to know. Who holds the mortgage on this house?”
    “Why?”
    Jake had given this some thought and knew Maria would eventually ask the same question. “The Tango stole all of Angie’s mother’s money and now she can’t make the mortgage payment. If I know Maria,”—and he was sure he did—“she’ll probably want to help out.” He would insist on contributing at least half.
    “What’s a Tango?”
    Right. No SEAL lingo. “A bad guy. Can you find out?”
    Eddie squared his shoulders, his stance one of the man he might grow into some day. “I already took care of that, dude. I had some money saved up, you know? Gave it to Angie this morning to give to her mom.”
    He was starting to like this boy. Jake exchanged a smile with the kid, giving him a manly slap on the shoulder. “Cool, dude.” Had he really just said that? Jesus, he’d been sucked into a time warp.
    Maria noted his return with a softening of her eyes as he escorted Eddie back into the room. Stop looking at me like that, Maria. Somehow, he had to put an end to this growing desire to make her his. When she turned those coffee-colored eyes on him in that warm way, he wanted to promise things he couldn’t deliver.
    Forever was not in his vocabulary.

CHAPTER SEVEN

    J ake’s gaze fell on Maria, then flicked away. He’d been quiet and distant all day, speaking only to answer a question. She’d given up trying to get him to talk. If this was how he was going to act for the duration of his time with her, then she hoped the police caught Fortunada soon.
    The Davis living room was dark because of the drapes drawn over the windows. Jake stood off to the side, out of the small beam of light from the lamp, his face shadowed. She didn’t need to look into his hazel eyes to recall the heat they’d held the night before when he’d kissed her. He wanted her, she was certain.
    If she could choose who her heart wanted, it wouldn’t have been Jake. He was exactly the kind of man she should avoid. But from the time she’d met him, he had fascinated her. Her teenage crush on him had blossomed into something more at her twenty-first birthday party. Logan’s wife was a romance writer, and it had happened just like in one of Dani’s stories.
    She’d met Jake’s gaze from across the room, and it was as if time had stopped. He’d taken a step toward her, but then he’d shifted his