Free Stronger Than Sin by Caridad Piñeiro Page A

salt-and-pepper buzz cut.
    Liliana dropped the bag on the ground with a noisy clatter and whirled to face Whittaker.
    “What you don’t get is that I need to find out what’s going on with Jesse.”
    Jesse smiled at the sound of his name on her lips. So much nicer spilling from the real Liliana rather than his dream woman.
    “You disobeyed my orders, Dr. Carrera. No one is supposed to know—”
    “No one
does
know. I did not tell Jesse’s family that he’s been found.”
    His family. She had seen his family, he thought and tried to sit up, but couldn’t with the ache in his muscles, the awkward
     way his hands were still bound to his hips and the manner in which the bed gave beneath him. He groaned at the distress in
     his body and squeezed his eyes shut against the pain.
    A second later, her calming touch came against his chest, but it was immediately followed by Whittaker’s curt, “When I give
     an order—”
    “I am not your slave, Special Agent Whittaker. You hired me to find out what’s going on with Jesse. To do so, I needed a more
     detailed medical history.”
    Spunk. She had spunk, and that brought a smile to his face.
    “Are you awake, Jesse?” she asked, apparently noticing that grin.
    “Yeah, I’m awake,” he said, his voice rusty from the night of disuse.
    “Please open your eyes for me.”
    He did, and a moment later, she was leaning over him, her gaze connecting with his. Inquisitive and intelligent, she straight
     away moved back and said, “Your little cocktail seems to have worn off, Special Agent. Could you please release him?”
    Whittaker strode up to her and snagged her arm, yanking her around to face him. “Are you crazy? Release him?”
    With cold fury glittering in her amazing brown eyes and her body trembling, Liliana glanced down at Whittaker’s hand on her
     arm. “Release
me,
Special Agent. I’m not your prisoner. Come to think of it, neither is Jesse.”
    Whittaker hesitated a moment but then did as she asked while also questioning her. “Meaning?”
    “He shouldn’t be treated worse than a criminal,” she shot back.
    Score one for the doc,
Jesse thought but wondered at her reaction to the agent’s manhandling. Almost an overreaction.
    “Please unchain Jesse so I can treat those abrasions and get the samples I need to continue our research.”
    With a frustrated sigh and a false smile on his face, Whittaker asked, “Is that a ‘pretty please’?”
    Liliana grasped her hands in front of her and shot him a patently bogus grin. “Pretty please.”
    Whittaker nodded. “I’ll send Bruno up to undo the shackles, but he’ll stand guard at the door in case you need him. Understand
     this: You disobey my orders again and this whole project gets scrapped.”
    Jesse bit back his reaction, but fear dug its ugly claws into his gut at the threat. He had committed to this farce because
     of his sister and his desire to find a cure for the disease that Whittaker had said would decimate her body.
    He couldn’t let the project be scrapped.
    “I’ll be good,” he said and hated the almost childlike way it came across.
    “I know you will, Jesse,” Liliana replied. She sounded as if she was speaking to someone who was mentally challenged.
    Though her tone ignited a small spark of irritation inside him, he strangled it by focusing on her face. An expressive face
     filled with a mix of emotions, although he didn’t know her well enough to discern all of them. Theone he could decipher was pity, and that was the last thing he wanted from the pretty doctor.
    Bruno came into the room, swinging a ring of keys that jangled in time with his gait. He approached Jesse and searched for
     the key to the shackles. When he unlocked them, he said, “Next time it’s a bullet, Bradford.”
    “Special Agent,” Liliana complained, only Jesse was quick to intercede.
    “Ignore him, Doc. He must be an Eagles fan.”
    The comment dragged a surprised chuckle from Liliana and even Bruno.