Honor Bound by Samantha Chase Read Free Book Online

pulled up those I saw, and they only consisted of menus and travel itineraries for trips to Europe and Australia.
    I shook my head. This was obviously Mrs. Gentry’s laptop. There wouldn’t be anything helpful on it at all.
    With a sigh, I closed out the documents. I was considering pulling up the email account when I heard a voice down the hall.
    Startled, I closed the laptop quickly and then stood in the middle of the room, torn in two directions at once.
    I was dying to get out of this room, since I definitely didn’t belong here. But, if someone was in the hall, then they would see me, and I’d have to explain my presence.
    In a panic, I ran to the door that opened onto the balcony and stepped outside. I could just hang out there for a minute until whoever it was moved on.
    I cracked the door behind me—I was too scared to close it all the way for fear it would lock, the way balcony doors always seemed to do in movies—and I moved to the corner, catching my breath and trying to think of an excuse for why I might be here. Just in case I was caught.
    I’d been caught before, after all.
    Usually by Sebastian.
    As if on cue, I heard his voice in the media room, muffled by the mostly closed balcony door. He must have been talking on the phone because his was the only voice I heard. He said, “Hold on a minute. No one is supposed to be up here, but I thought I heard something.”
    I moved as far into the corner of the balcony as I could, so I wouldn’t be seen through the glass panes of the door.
    Maybe Sebastian wouldn’t notice that the damned door wasn’t closed all the way.
    He noticed.
    My heart hammered with growing anxiety as I saw the door start to open. Then Sebastian stepped out onto the balcony.
    My mouth went dry, and I desperately searched for something to say to explain my presence.
    He had his phone to his ear as he saw me, and his questioning expression relaxed into a smile. “Let me call you back,” he said into the phone, amusement edging his tone. “I’ve got to take care of something.”
    When he disconnected, he lifted his eyebrows. “Did Cheryl decide she needed measurements of all the balconies in the house so she could sprinkle rose petals on them or something?”
    His tone was teasing—he obviously didn’t for a minute think I was a threat—but I was still so nervous I couldn’t say much. “No.”
    He chuckled. “Then what are you doing up here?”
    “I…She wanted me to take some pictures of the outside space from above, so she could get a sense of the big picture.” Damn, where had that come from? It actually wasn’t too bad as an explanation. Fortunately, I had my tablet in my hand, so I showed it to him—as evidence for how I was taking the pictures.
    His questioning expression tempered, and it looked like he might believe me.
    I widened my eyes, trying to appear innocent. “Should I not be up here?”
    “Probably not, but don’t worry about it.” He stepped over until he was beside me, giving me that warm, genuine smile. “I was hoping I’d run into you today.”
    “You did?” I tried—unsuccessfully—not to blush. “I thought you weren’t here. I didn’t see your car.”
    “So you were looking for me, were you?” He twitched his eyebrows flirtatiously.
    I glanced down. “I wasn’t looking. It’s just such a fancy car that it stands out.”
    He gave a strange sigh. “Yeah.”
    “You don’t like your car?”
    “It was a present.”
    “It’s a pretty nice present.”
    “It might have been, if it hadn’t come with strings.”
    Genuine interest was drowning my anxiety from before. “What strings did the car come with?”
    “Oh, you know. Do what you’re supposed to do.”
    “What are you supposed to do?”
    He gave a half-shrug. “Most of the time, I don’t even know.”
    I felt a surge of sympathy and reached out instinctively to touch his arm.
    He put his big hand over mine on his arm. “You know, when you look at me like that, nothing seems