Free Mine's to Kill by Capri Montgomery Page A

having fun riding his coattails on the roller coaster of fame. He had done so well for himself thanks to his work during his high school years, but the moment he went deaf and the doctors finally bucked up and told him it was permanent he found out who his true friends were, and who they weren’t. His fiancé had left swiftly after the news he wouldn’t be getting his hearing back—ever, but not before cleaning out his safe. He didn’t even know she had the combination, but she had. Inside she left a note, for all that I won’t have because of you; that’s what she had written to him.
     
    Did he press charges—absolutely, but she had already blown his hard earned cash in Vegas by the time the cops caught up with her. Fortunately it wasn’t more than fifteen thousand, but that was his emergency stash. He never felt so betrayed in his life. She was supposed to be his wife one day. Eventually he brushed it off. Better now than ten years after marriage, he had said and his family agreed with him. After that he took every relationship as if it was going to be the same way as it was with Ashley. He never got close to anybody. He never wanted to—until now.
     
    “This will come in handy,” she told him. “Thank you for trusting me with this. You didn’t have to, so I appreciate that you did.”
     
    “You’re welcome,” he liked her honesty. She wasn’t after anything other than to successfully do her job. He felt a little guilty for the plan he was developing inside his studio—the plan to make sure she would stay after the threat passed. She wasn’t like other women. He could tell that right off. She was smart, and pretty—pretty was an understatement because to him the woman was a goddess. She was also honest. Not once had she tried to stroke his ego. Every word that came out her mouth from the moment she met him, through their run together, and now, had been honest truth.
     
    She wasn’t going to treat him with kid gloves because he couldn’t hear. She wasn’t going to look at him with pity and she wasn’t looking for his money either. Had she been looking for money she would have treated him differently—that’s what they always did—but not her. No, she seemed to be trying to run away from any feelings of passion they might share. Well, he wasn’t going to let her run. He was going after what he wanted—he wanted her. He needed her. He couldn’t explain it in any other way; he needed her. She made him feel alive. Like the world around him wasn’t just silence and colors; it was real. Good people were real. For the first time, in a long time, his heart wanted to connect with a woman on more than a friendship basis—not just any woman—her. He wouldn’t analyze it. He would paint it—the passions within him, the feelings he was experiencing now with her—he would paint them. He would paint what he felt and he hoped to God that she might come to feel it too.
     
    She placed her hand on his arm. He knew it was an action done just to get his attention, but her soft, delicate fingers felt so good against his bare skin. He had pulled on a t-shirt with every intention to spend the night painting and he was thankful he had because in a full on shirt he wouldn’t have felt the warm softness of her skin on his.
     
    “I’m going to let you get back to work.” She pointed to the back of them to let him know she was on her way back out to the main area where she would be sleeping. He wished she would be sleeping in his room, but he didn’t tell her that. He simply nodded, shut everything down and went back out to his studio.
     
    He watched her behind as she walked ahead of him. She had the nicest butt he had seen—ever. It was firm and round and he had to resist the urge to reach out and touch it. She would probably knock him out cold if he even tried—for now he would be content with just enjoying the view. As he watched her until she was out of sight he thought about all the paintings he