Page 33 of Tempting the Bounty Hunter

“Dane, my mother is involved.” Her voice trembles. “She could be arrested. She’s made bad choices, but she’s not a bad person. She’s just…weak. She never figured out how to stand on her own. And what about me? I’m still a fugitive. They could arrest me again, and I still won’t have any proof of my innocence.”

Fuck.

I dig my fingers into my palms. She slides her arms around my waist from behind and presses herself against my back in a crush of warmth and softness.

As much as I hate the idea of her getting close to such scum and violence, I also don’t want to let her out of my sight. The last time I did, Benny got to her.

I’ve held the little weasel off—and he knows I’ll fuck him up bad if he gets near Hannah again—but that doesn’t mean he won’t send someone else after her. If she’s with me, I can keep her safe.

Turning, I pull her into my arms and kiss the top of her head. “Tell me again.”

“I’ll do whatever you say.” She lifts her head to look at me, and I want to drown in the fathoms of her eyes. “I promise.”

“And I will fucking die before I let anything happen to you.” I tilt her chin up and lower my mouth to hers. “I promise.”

“I don’t want you to make that promise,” she murmurs against my lips. “I want you to promise never to leave me.”

“I’ll promise that, too, a million times over.” I pull away from her slightly. “And then a million more. Here.”

I unfasten the leather strap and medallion from my wrist. She draws in a breath.

“Dane…”

“I want you to have it.” I pick up her hand and latch the band around her right wrist. Even at the tightest notch, the band is too loose on her, and the medallion slides around to her inner wrist. “Keep it safe for me.”

She turns the band and looks at the medallion, tracing the compass with the tip of her finger. “It’s beautiful. I’ll keep it safe, but it belongs to you.”

“Like you do.” I put my hand on her cheek, unable to get enough of gazing at her. “And with both you and the compass, I’ll always know exactly where I am.”

ChapterSixteen

Hannah

The dashboard clockreads 1:17 a.m. We’ve been waiting for two hours.

Dane borrowed a beat-up sedan so his SUV wouldn’t be recognized or traceable. He parked close to a dilapidated old shed across the vacant lot from the stash house. The position conceals the car but gives us a reasonably good view of the front of the house.

“So is this what a stakeout is like?” I pull my sweatshirt closer around my body, trying not to let my nervousness show. “I imagine you’ve done a lot of those in your time.”

“Plenty, including for drug deals.” He narrows his gaze on the two-story house across the street. A single exterior fixture throws a pool of light by the front door. “But this might be the biggest yet.”

An engine rumbles in the distance. A rusty van pulls up to the front of the house, and three men jump out. Another man opens the front door, and they hurry to cart boxes from the van to the house. They disappear inside like ants into a hole.

One man drives the van away just as another car appears around the corner and parks at the curb.

Eddie.

He gets out, fastening the button of his shiny suit jacket. A burly man who looks like a bodyguard hovers at his side. They stride up the porch steps into the house.

Dane opens the glove compartment and takes out a Glock.

Nausea surges in my gut.

“Stay here.” A shadow carves his face into planes of light and dark. “Don’t follow me or go near the house. Understand?”

“Yes.”

He opens the door and plants one booted foot on the ground, then leans over to kiss me. “I love you.”

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