Free Safe and Sound (The Safe House Series Book 3) by Leslie North

intoxicating.
    “Not when most of your nights are spent watching Wheel of Fortune and listening to Eugenia shout, “Buy a vowel, ya dumb bitch!”
    An unabashed peal of laughter left Max’s lips. “Who wouldn’t want to escape back to that ?”
    “I know, right? Eugenia’s a good person. She just needs to get out of her own way sometimes to show it.”
    Her words drove over his chest like an infantry tank.
    “How do you always see the good in people?
    “I play a game in my head. Take Baudin, for instance. I imagine the worst possible scenario for him.”
    “Death penalty?”
    “A woman who insults his manhood.”
    Another ripple of amusement surfaced in Max’s chest. “So true.”
    “Then I find something authentic about him that can overcome what I imagined.”
    “Baudin? Authentic?”
    “He’s a lover, not a fighter.”
    “He’s a killer, Lola. Don’t convince yourself otherwise.”
    “He values relationships more than you know. He’s been hurt by a woman he loved very much.”
    “How did you get all that?”
    “There’s a sadness in his eyes when he makes jokes about us together. Like he had it once and the only way to get through the pain is to make light of it in others.”
    Max flipped through his mental file on the guy. He didn’t have the heart to reveal any of the grizzly details to Lola.
    “You think I’m naïve.”
    “I think the world needs more people like you.” Just not his world.
    Minutes passed. Baudin’s loud television filled the void. Women’s exaggerated moans and a rollicking bad jazz number. Yeah, the guy was a fucking saint. Max buried his head beneath his pillow. He already had a reservoir of charged hormones he’d have to work off in his morning shower. The last thing he needed was an auditory reminder of his worst case scenario.
    Lola.
    And never.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 8
     
     
    Max stumbled out into the suite’s common area to find Baudin sucking on a cigarette for breakfast. He sat on the sofa in white, old-man briefs. In only white, old-man briefs.
    “Show your dick some respect, Baudin.”
    “All night, Monsieur .” Baudin blew out a festive ring of smoke and gripped his package for show.
    Max threw up a little in his mouth. How on earth could Lola see Baudin for anything other than what he was—a waste of space?
    “Put some clothes on before Lola sees you.”
    Max had spent the night in a perpetual hard-on state beside the warm and absently accommodating Lola, who thought nothing of reaching for him in half-slumber and spooning up like they were already in the throes of post-coital afterglow. In his mind, they were. His sex organ hadn’t yet gotten the message. A good ten minutes in hand under a scalding rush of water hadn’t smoothed the edges any.
    “Afraid she might defect to the French side of the suite?”
    “Not unless there’s a charity over there for shriveled up old pricks.”
    Baudin’s appreciative laugh slipped loose on a puff of smoke. He was nothing if not a sportsman. They had been vying for a gold medal in the insult Olympics since day one of Max’s assignment.
    “I trust you slept well, Oui ?”
    Max paused from his one-cup coffee prep to level a stare Baudin’s direction.
    “I’ve seen greater looks of satisfaction on informants who have been water-boarded. And all night, you have a stunning woman beside you. Let me guess—your overblown code of honor? Your tireless dedication to my plight? Quite a lofty excuse.”
    “Fuck off.”
    Max dumped two sugar packets and a pod of creamer into the foamy dark roast. He punished himself for entering into this inane conversation with a robust pull of too-hot liquid past his tongue.
    “Rewards in this life are fleeting, Monsieur . One must seize them when they come.” 
    “A mantra that, no doubt, put you in the position of being hunted like an animal.”
    “We are not so different.”
    “How do you figure that?”
    “Our loyalty is