Acceptable Risks by Natalie J. Damschroder Read Free Book Online

Adrenaline spiked. Lark grabbed one of the transfer buckets and a hose and braced herself. When the man pushed open the door to the storeroom, she flung the contents of the bucket—dry fertilizer—in his face. The bucket clattered to the floor and she raised the hose, spraying the sputtering, spitting man with water. He yelled as the mix ran into his eyes.
“That’s got to burn.” She strode forward as he backed away, keeping the spray on his face so he couldn’t recover and come after her, or run away. He smacked into a stand of pots, knocking them over, and staggered as they tumbled around his feet.
Lark dropped the hose and picked up a clay pot, swinging it at his head.
“That’s enough.”
Startled at the voice behind her, Lark pulled her swing and spun.
The man was young, only a couple of years older than her, and good looking in a sparkly-blue-eyes, pale-blond-hair, tennis-muscles kind of way. But the glee on his face almost made him look ugly.
“What the hell is going on here?” she demanded, still angry. “How do you people keep getting in?”
“Yeah, we’re gonna tell you.” The blond eyed the other man, who whimpered and rubbed at his face. “Did you blind him?”
“Probably.”
He tsked. “That doesn’t make me happy.”
Lark didn’t say anything. If these guys knew anything about her, they weren’t surprised by her response to their attempt to steal her work. And her, apparently.
“Oh, well. Come on, Donald.”
The man tried to follow the command. The tennis blond reached for Lark’s wrist. She attempted to jerk away, but he was ready for her and held on.
“Ah-ah!” He held up a finger. “Your father taught me well. And unlike you, I’ve used what he taught me for years.”
Lark frowned at him. “You—what?” Her mind raced as she leaned away from him, her arm stretched out. Pieces came together, clicking quickly into place. Her father’s business might be struggling, but he had few true enemies. Her heart sank. “You’re Isaac Kemmerling.” Shit .
He smiled. “Daddy talks shop at home. Great, that saves us the whole getting-acquainted period.” He laughed and tugged on her arm. “Come quietly and no one gets hurt.” He turned to leave.
A man Lark hadn’t seen creeping up on them slammed his fist into Isaac’s face. He crumpled without a sound, his slack fingers sliding off Lark’s wrist.
She gaped at the new guy. He was blond, too, but a darker color that would bleach into streaks in the sun. His skin tone was “computer geek” but his body was—well.
Then he looked up, and all the edges of her vision went fuzzy and dark. She swayed and blinked fast to bring it back. A hard, warm arm wrapped around her back, grounding her, and she stared up into the green-gold eyes of a dead man.
“Jason,” she breathed.
He grinned. “I guess Matt didn’t tell you.”
Before she could respond, blue-uniformed security men flooded the building, fanning out and scampering up aisles, peering under tables.
“They’re over here!” she called.
“We have to go,” Jason said, his arm tightening around her.
“I can’t, I have to—”
“We have to go now .”
Lark didn’t argue. She should stay with company security, talk to the police, make sure the two men on the floor—one still, one writhing—were taken into custody. But this man was her father’s best friend, and though she hadn’t seen him for years before he died, she trusted him.
It didn’t keep her from casting a reluctant look over her shoulder at her rare, delicate plants as she and Jason trotted behind a row of cabinets and around to the main door, now stupidly unsecured. Jason gave her a significant look as he pushed through, and she nodded. Whatever was going on, there was a distinct lack of safety here at the moment.
Jason led her to a navy sedan she recognized as Hummingbird issue. He’d obviously driven here from DC.
“Is my father okay?” she asked as he opened the passenger door for her.
“He’s