Free Mine's to Kill by Capri Montgomery

search. They didn’t know either and that angered him. He couldn’t kill the guy if he didn’t know who he was. No; he was going to have to do some hacking—but not from home. He couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t risk having an on-line search trip him up now. He wasn’t done here yet.
     

 

     

     
    Chapter Seven
     
    C olt took the first shower while Autumn took the second. He had told her she could go first but she had told him to go on. When she got out she was in another pair of workout pants and a tank top as if she had to be ready to stand up and fight at any moment. He couldn’t imagine what her life must have felt like, to live like death was just a breath away.
     
    “I’m going to do the rounds again.” She had done them when they got back, walking around the upstairs and then the downstairs and checking everything out.
     
    “Come with me,” he said as he took hold of her hand and pulled her toward his painting studio and then through to the other side behind the closed doors.
     
    “What?” She looked at him as he switched on a light that softly illuminated the small room from overhead with several rows of recessed lighting. Then he flipped another switch, pushed a button and the screen lifted displaying a forty-two inch screen that showed the state of his home from point to point.
     
    “I don’t record this, he signed. “But I do watch when I need to.”
     
    “You wired your place for video?”
     
    “I’m deaf. I have to be careful and I won’t know if an alarm has been tripped unless the lights go crazy. The first time that happened it was just an electrical storm that took out the system, but it scared the life out of me. After that I opted for video instead. I can watch from up here; see who’s coming and going. Safety first,” he laughed. “And I’m a bit nosey.” He pointed to direct her attention to the screen before pressing another button that showed the lake area.
     
    She laughed hard. He could see her laughing. He wished he could hear her too. He wondered what she sounded like. Did she sound as beautiful as she looked?
     
    She wiped tears from her cheek before turning her attention back to him. She signed, “you should be so glad you own part of that property back there or people might be upset you’re monitoring the lake.”
     
    “I own it all,” he corrected her. He hadn’t told her that before, but that was all his. He bought it when he bought this place.
     
    “Wow,” she looked back to the monitor and then to him. “Heaven in a not so heavenly place. It’s beautiful, Colt.”
     
    “Thank you. So you see, you don’t have to go down all the time—not unless you want to.”
     
    He saw the look on her face, a mix of shock and heat. She got his double entendre. She was there to work, but that didn’t stop his mind from envisioning all the things they could do together while she was there. And for the first time since Ashley he wanted more than just a night. He wanted to know this woman. He wanted to have her. He would have her.
     
    Since the moment he saw her his imagination seemed to spring to life. He had gone into his studio and immediately he had a face, a body, and a soul for the woman in his painting. She had become Autumn. Thankfully he was good at hiding his work until he was ready to show it or she would have seen his work in progress when he took her through the studio section of his home and she would have freaked out. He would show it to her eventually. He didn’t have any plans to sell it. He was going to keep this one for himself—something to remember her by in case she didn’t feel the same way about him by the time her time as his protector was up.
     
    Of course he was setting himself on a mission to show her just why he was worth her time. He knew he had some disadvantages—okay, a major one let some women tell it, but just because he couldn’t hear didn’t mean he was worthless. Ashley hadn’t felt that way about him. She was