Free Pushing the Limit by Emmy Curtis

with Jason. Harry leaned against the doorjamb with a glass of hot tea, watching in amusement as Mueen kicked Jason’s ass with his aggressive moves on the board.
    Matt pushed aside a hanging bamboo curtain that led to the garden and stepped out into the cool night. The lights from the small house illuminated the garden. Herbs he recognized and a bunch of stuff he didn’t grew in wooden raised beds. Probably where Ain got her seasonings. A raised bed at the end of the enclosure had nothing but flowers along it. A riot of bright jewel-colored blooms covered the whole seven-foot-or-so bed. He was not that into flowers, but even he appreciated the beauty of it. Looked like it took lots of tending to.
    In among the stems he saw a small cross. Odd.
    He looked back at the house and then peered closer at it. It looked like two sticks of cinnamon tied together. But it was definitely a cross. Not improbable in Iraq, a country with Christians, but he knew this family was Muslim by the prayer mats he’d clocked in their front room as they’d walked through the house. Idly he looked back at the house and then at his watch which had a compass. Yup. The prayer mats had been facing Mecca.
    “What are you doing out here?” Harry came up behind him, carrying an extra glass of tea.
    He took it and sipped. “Just looking at the plants. They seem to not have any insect enemies here. In my yard these plants would have been eaten in days.”
    She laughed quietly. “I know nothing about you. I was just surprised you had a yard, but I don’t know why. Where do you live?”
    He took a relaxing breath as he imagined his house near the beach in its quiet neighborhood. He should be back there by now. Maybe he could leave tomorrow. “Hawaii. You?”
    “I have a house in Boston, but I’m rarely there.” She turned and looked at the other plants that he’d passed to look at the flowers.
    Suddenly he didn’t want to be alone with her. Not here, in a garden at night. It reminded him too much of what he’d done to her at the rehearsal dinner. He took a breath, and immediately Danny’s face invaded his brain. Laughing, eyes closed as he belly-laughed, and as he always did, he spun out in slow motion, leaving nothing but a pink mist of blood and vaporized body parts.
    “Are you okay?” Harry was at his side, hand on his arm, and he had no idea how she got so close.
    “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” He struggled to not jump away from her, but instead he moved from her touch slowly, pretending to look at the basil. He shoved his shaking hand in his pants pocket and chugged the rest of the tea with his other.
    “You zoned out for a second there.” She laughed. “You must be tired still. We’ll leave in a little while. Ain was packing up some spices for Molly, and we should grab Jason before he loses his mind.”
    “Huh? What’s wrong with Jason?” What the hell had he missed while he was out in the garden?
    “Mueen keeps beating him at chess. Fast and roundly. I left the house just as Jason was failing to find the humor in it.” She held her hand out as if she wanted him to take it. “Come on.”
    He didn’t dare touch her again, not with his equilibrium so screwed up. He really hoped that he could get back home tomorrow. He needed away from this clusterfuck of Harry and Iraq. The unlikeliest combination that seemed perfectly created to fuck with his head.

Chapter Nine
    The journey back to the hotel was slightly tenser than the ride there. What with Jason still smarting at being beaten so easily by Mueen, and Matt glaring out the window, literally on the edge of his seat looking for danger as they slowly bumped back, Harry was certain that the vehicle was emitting a force field of negativity that no one would dare penetrate.
    When they eventually got out of Mueen’s truck, they gathered around him to shake his hand and thank him for the evening.
    “I’ll be here at eight for you, as usual,” he told them out the window as he