Free Jude's Salvation: This Love Series by Nicole Smith

trained since I was twelve to become an assassin. I have been primed by a secret service in London to carry out my orders. I protect my charges at any cost. I come highly recommended and Mr. Daniels is willing to pay the price since his once secret lovechild was threatened six years ago and he had to bring her under his wing. Her head is still held as bounty by someone he owes a lot of money to. He keeps those details hidden from me but I know more than he thinks. I was there six years ago. I held her in my arms while she awaited her mother’s death sentence.
    I know who he owes and who he wants to keep her hidden from. I was surprised he would allow Eden to even go on this trip considering the danger she is in but he said she insisted on this backpacking excursion. I know Eden enough to know she is very stubborn and her father can’t say no to her, ever.
    I sit down on the edge of the bed and touch her bare thigh. She is my dream. When she laid her eyes on me in that pub my whole body heated. She has never noticed me before, at least I have never let her notice me before. There were times I wanted her to see me, I've always wanted to know if she remembers me but keeping her safe is my first priority. Watching her date that idiot Tyler from LA was painful. He cheated on her and I couldn’t tell her. I had my ways though. I set it up so she found out. It broke her heart but I couldn’t let it continue. She deserves better than a guy like that. She deserves a guy that worships the ground she walks on, that delights in her body and is riveted by her words.
    It was lucky for me that she and her traveling companions went into a pub my business associates own. I had acquaintances to talk to just a few tables over from hers. I had planned to blend in, hoping to look like just another patron. I laughed and talked a little business with a few partners but my plan of blending in didn’t work for long. She heard me, through all the other voices and above the music she somehow heard me. I thought for a moment she recognized my voice but that would've been impossible. I watched her eye me up and down. I could tell she liked what she saw. It thrilled me like nothing else in a long time. Women came easily to me and my satisfaction was elusive, never feeling the spark like I felt having Eden catch me in her sights. I felt more alive than I've ever been having Eden’s lustful gaze rake over my body. Damn, this girl is sexy and she has no idea. After tonight, staying professional and keeping my distance will be impossible. I’ve tasted the forbidden fruit and I would happily walk into the front of the firing line to do it again.
    It was her smile and that damn flush of her cheeks that made me approach her the other night, forgetting Daniel’s warnings. Having the chance to finally talk to her again was just too tempting to resist. Her father told me to protect her while she was traveling but he didn’t actually tell me I had to keep my hands off her. That’s an order I wouldn’t have been able to follow.
    Eden is the girl I dream about. She’s my happy place when I’m in the middle of a situation no one wants to see or hear about. Gangsters in Armani suits are no more civilized than gangsters in ripped jeans with bandannas wrapped around their greasy heads. Eden is the light in my dark world, guiding me back from the edge. Just having this time with her now to pretend that in another life, in another world we could have been something is too perfect to give up. When she told me she didn’t want me to behave last night I thought I was dreaming.
    She's attracted to me, the bad boy she see’s in me. I noticed the way her eyes lit up when she first caught sight of my tattoos. She was raised surrounded by the seedy side of New York, men with ego’s and addictions to fill. A life I thank the stars above she got away from but there will always be a scarred part of her, even if she doesn’t remember, it will always be there. She’s