Page 6 of Dangerous Lies

“I'm scared to ask…?”

“I like bugs.”

“I'm not sure I've everheardsomeone say they like bugs,” he said, his brows drawn together. He poured a cup of coffee and took a sip. “I guess we better lay down how this will work.”

This was when he would learn really quick things wouldn't go his way. She didn't ask for the bodyguard. Technically, the man was only at her house togetinformation from her sister.

“Nope, I'm not changing my way of life because Brit might be close again, or Carter might kidnap me. For eight years, Brit worked her way into Carter's organization. This isn't my first rodeo. You are my first bodyguard, but I'm not changing my life.”

She faintlyheardher phone ring from the other room and bolted before Ginger could reply. She jogged up the stairs and pickedup the phone from her bed.Itwas a cleanup job for a murder. The calls came when the person who had died had no family or friends. She grabbed the biohazard helmet and headed down the stairs.

“I have to head to work,” she told Ginger.

Ginger set his cup down. “Then I'm coming with you to the job site. I’m here to be your bodyguard not your house sitter.”

She wondered if she should warn him before they got to the scene but decided against it.

It would be more fun to let him discover what she did for a living on his own.

3

GINGER

Ginger stared at the biohazard suit Rose handed him. They stood behind her van gathering supplies. He should had asked more questions on the ride from her house to the large warehouse in the middle of nowhere.

Cy, his teammate, had offered to dig into Rose's life. Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten him the information until he drove him to the airport. The report was stuffed in the side pocket of his bag back at her house. He didn’t want to see any information about Brittany so he hadn’t looked at it right away. He figured there was no way the report would only be strictly about Rose. On the flight, he’d looked at the data Xavier’s team had pulled on Carter instead.

Xavier ran a team full of former military and CIA officers called Rogue Mercenaries. The members of the group had become close to Ginger’s own SEAL team. So, when Brittany helped him escape, Xavier was the first person he thought to call. His team triangulated his GPS signal and pinpointed his location to a small island in Hawaii. He’d hid in an alley for six hours waiting for Xavier to show up. When he did, he had a medical team with him, and they did a full workup while on the way back to California.Ittook Ginger three weeks for the bruises and infection on his arm to heal. Which meant he hid from the world for three weeks. Those three weeks gave him time to think about what Brittany did and how he was to protect her sister. He should hate Rose just as much, but when she opened the door in the hazmat suit all his doubts washed away.

Xavier had convinced his Commanderitwas best if Ginger stayed off the grid. They didn’t want to tip Carter off that he’d gotten away. The longer Carter thought he was still locked up the more time they had to track him down. When he told Xavier about Rose, they all agreeditwould be best if he flew to Las Vegas and watch over her.

He knew better than to walk into an op unprepared. A crime scene cleanup was the last thing he expected to do on the mission. Over the years, he'd created a lot of crime scenes, but never had to step back into one and deal with the aftermath. That was someone else’s problem, althoughitlooked like it was his problem now.

Rose slipped on the biohazard suit and held the large head covering in one hand and a second suit in the other. “This suit should fit you. I had a guy working for me for a while, but he couldn't hackit. Said something about my practices being too unorthodox.”

Ginger grabbed the suit from her, and she motioned for him togetdressed. The damn thing was too tight. He stood in the middle of the driveway, trying to fit his large frame into a medium suit. Rose had a hand over her face, covering her smile.

He would show her. He stepped out of the garment and reached for his belt buckle.

“Wait!” Rose covered her eyes with her hand. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to make this fit unless you have another one? I bet that place stinks, and I’m not going in without a suit. So my only option is to strip.”

He winked at her when she peeked through her fingers.Itwasn't the first time he’d caught her checking him out. Heknewhe was good-looking. Women told him often enough, but women also lied to him, which was the reason he’d sworn off dating.

“Get in the SUV and change.”

“I have boxers on.” He didn't wait for her to reply as he dropped his jeans to the ground.

Rose squealed and turned her head to the side. He loved how her cheeks pinked, butitwas a little cold, so he pulled on the suit, which stillfelttwo sizes too small.

“Ready?” he asked.

Rose looked over and laughed. “Well, let'sgetthis over with.”

She opened the back of her SUV and pulled out a cart. She proceeded to fillitwith cleaning supplies, garbage bags, and other crap. He had no clue why they needed so many items to clean up a crime scene.

He offered to push the cart and when she declined, he followed behind her. The suit was baggy on her, but somehowitmade her even cuter.

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