Free Lily's Outlaw (Once a Marine, Always a Marine Book 2) by Kori David Page A

finish the woman. He only hoped the big blond man was with her.
    Ramon flexed his muscles. It was a point of pride that he was large for a man of his heritage. Tall and whipcord lean, he was fast and deadly in a fight. And he was intrigued by this mystery man who was able to best his men. Ramon needed to find out who he was. Maybe he would take the man back to Mexico with him and keep him locked away.
    His men liked it when he brought home fresh candidates for the ring. Even Ramon occasionally watched the fights. It wasn’t often that someone lasted long against the dogs.
    But this man might last. At least for a couple of rounds.
    No one lasted more than two.

    ***

    The flight home to Austin, Texas, only took two hours, but the guilt that rode with Lily made every mile seem like a torturous betrayal. She’d snuck out of the motel room like she had something to hide. And she did. But that didn’t make her feel any better.
    Jesse had given her a night of beauty and passion, and the way she’d left tarnished it.
    She worried that he’d keep her safe and protected, but buried away, when she had two things to do. Get home and retrieve something vitally important to finishing this whole fiasco and get to the police with the information. After one minor stop that shouldn’t take very much time, but needed to be done. And maybe once this whole situation was resolved, she would look him up again. To apologize, and maybe more.
    Her modest three-bedroom home sat on a street lined with hundred-year-old oaks and statuesque pecan trees. The elderly neighbor always watered her flowers when she was gone on assignment so an explosion of color met her as she exited the cab. A couple jogging by gave her a wide berth and she couldn’t blame them. She looked like a refugee with her tangled hair and weary eyes.
    But when her front door opened and her ex-husband smiled at her, she was thankful she looked like something that crawled out of the desert. “Just what do you think you’re doing in my house?”
    He held up a key. “Your mother got worried and asked me to check up on you.”
    Lily stomped past Robert Worthington III to put her stuff in the front hallway. Her nose wrinkled at the cloying scent he seemed to bathe in. Then she spun around and held out her hand for the key. “You have no right to be here.”
    “You always were overly dramatic, Liliana.” But he gave her the key anyway.
    “You’re a bit overdressed for a house call,” she said, eyeing his custom suit and matching snake skinned boots. She’d always hated his style, preferring jeans and a T-shirt over brand names and expensive cologne.
    “I was on my way to have breakfast with a couple of the local representatives to discuss the upcoming election.”
    “So my mother sent her lapdog to check on her wayward daughter?”
    His lips tightened but then smoothed out as he smiled, obviously deciding to ignore the insult. “She’s been worried. You haven’t returned her calls and your cell has been off for days.” He gave her a quick up and down. “You look good.”
    Throwing her head back to laugh she said, “What do you really want, Robert? You don’t do anything for anyone else unless it benefits you in some way.”
    “So bitter.” He made a tsk-tsk noise. “Maybe I just wanted to see you again. I’ve missed you.”
    “What? Are you out of secretaries already?”
    Lily turned away and walked into her living room. And froze. It wasn’t anything obvious, but little things were out of place. Her figurine from India faced the wrong direction on the book case; a couple of her hanging pictures weren’t straight. She spun back around.
    “You searched my house?”
    He arched a blond eyebrow and shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    “You’re lying.”
    “I arrived exactly five minutes before your cab pulled up. I hardly think that gives me the time to search your quaint little home. Not only that, but why would I? I was worried