Just A Little Bit Dangerous. Linda Castillo

she said after a moment.

      Pinching the bridge of his nose, Jake laughed humorlessly. “Look, if we’re going to be stuck together, I’ve got one rule.”

      She leaned back in the chair, blinking back what he hoped to God weren’t tears. “I’m not very good at rules.”

      “All I want is for you to be straight with me,” he said. “That means no games. No lying. No tricks. If you can’t tell the truth, then don’t say anything. Do you think you can abide by that?”

      She pressed her lips together. “I wasn’t going to…you know, sleep with you.”

      “If you weren’t going to sleep with me, just what the hell did you have in mind?”

      “Well…I thought maybe…I thought maybe I could distract you.”

      “Distract me?” Jake gritted his teeth. “Some other bozo in my position might have taken you up on your offer. Some unscrupulous cop might have wanted more than you were willing to give. Then where would you be?”

      “I’d still be in the same predicament I’m in now.”

      “Yeah? And what’s that? Paying your debt to society?”

      “Going back to prison for a crime I didn’t commit.”

      “You’re going to have to come up with something a little more original than that because I’ve been in this business a long time, and I’ve heard every lie in the book.”

      “You want original?” She stood abruptly, trembling and pale, tears shimmering on ashen skin. “The night before I escaped, somebody tried to kill me. I had two choices. Leave or die. So I left. Is that original enough for you?”