Free Jake: The Sinner Saints #3 by Adrienne Bell Page A

then. I’ll get ready.” Verity plopped her feet down on the floor and went to her bag. She pulled out a fresh set of clothes and crushed them against her chest. “Just let me take a quick shower.”
    She turned around just in time to see him stand up and slide the knife into a sheath hooked onto his belt.
    “I’ll wait for you outside,” he said.
    She cocked her head to the side as Jake strode past her to the door.
    He was in a hurry. There was no doubt of that. The only thing she couldn’t figure out was if it was because he was anxious to get on the road, or to be away from her.
    Either way, she couldn’t blame him.
    Verity swallowed past the lump quickly forming in her throat and made her way to the bathroom. She didn’t linger in the shower. She toweled off quick and threw on her clothes. A few minutes and a couple of coats of mascara later, she stepped out of the motel room.
    She found Jake leaning against the grill of his truck, his cell pressed against his ear. He said a curt goodbye to whoever was on the other end as she approached.
    “I wasn’t expecting you to be so quick,” he said.
    “I didn’t want to keep you waiting.” She watched him tuck the phone into his pocket. “Who were you talking to?”
    “Someone back at the office,” he said, walking over to the driver’s side door. “Just needed to give them a head’s up on where we are headed.”
    Verity’s mouth went flat as she climbed up into her seat. “In case something goes wrong.”
    “Exactly.” Jake started the engine and threw the truck into reverse.
    He turned out of the parking lot and on to the main street. Verity bit into her lip as she turned her face toward her window, hoping that her anxiety would lessen if she wasn’t facing Jake.
    No such luck.
    The nervous coil in the pit of her belly tightened with every turn of the tires.
    “Are you expecting something to go wrong?” she asked.
    “Nothing in particular,” he said.
    “More like a general sense of concern?”
    “Sure.”
    Verity nodded as she stared out across the passing traffic lights and buildings. Her nerves were just getting the better of her. There was probably nothing to worry about. After all, she knew that Roman wasn’t going to be there. The house was going to be empty. Everything was going to be fine.
    And Jake was probably concerned before every one of his jobs. That was what made him so good at what he did, right?
    Unless…
    “Okay,” she said, swiveling back around in her seat suddenly. “But, just to clarify, what kind of general sense are we talking about? Would you categorize it as the bad gut feeling kind or more like the years of experience have trained me to be ready for anything kind? Because those are two very different things.”
    Jake shot her a look out of the corner of his eye.
    “You all right, Verity?” he asked.
    “Fine.” Her voice sounded tight even to her own ears. “Mostly. I’m mostly fine.”
    “Starting to have second thoughts?”
    “Nope,” she said truthfully.
    Sure, she was scared, but what else was new? Her knees had been shaking since the moment she’d opened Roman’s letter. She’d been nervous getting on the flight out here. She’d been terrified when she’d walked into the Crossroads. And, now that she was just minutes away from doing the actual deed, she was damned near petrified. But that didn’t mean that her resolve was wavering.
    She couldn’t turn away from doing what was right just because she was scared.
    Even if it did feel like her heart was going to pound its way right out of her chest.
    At least, Jake seemed to accept her answer.
    He uncurled his right hand from the steering wheel and laid it, palm up, on the armrest next to her. Verity looked down at it for a long second before slipping hers on top. A surge of warmth flowed through her as his strong, rough fingers closed around her hand.
    “Don’t worry,” he said. “We’re just going out there this morning to check the place out.