Lethal Consequences by Elisabeth Naughton Read Free Book Online Page A

sweaty forehead and pushed that depressing thought aside. “Why you? Why didn’t they come after someone else from Aegis?”
    “Because I didn’t work for Aegis when it happened.”
    “When you were with the Marines?”
    “No.”
    “When then?”
    He didn’t answer, and she could tell from the hesitation that there was something he didn’t want to say. Her gaze finally flicked to his, and that’s when she saw it. A look of guilt that chilled her to her core. Way deeper than the guilty look he’d flashed in that hotel when that slut had walked out of his bedroom.
    An ominous feeling slid through her veins, and a tiny voice in the back of her head screamed, Don’t ask! But she had to. Because she wanted to live. And if he had answers that could keep her alive, she needed to hear them. “I think I deserve the truth, Landon. You dragged me into this whether you wanted to or not. You owe me an explanation.”
    He sighed again, but this time his eyes fell closed and he leaned his head back against the cement wall. “They want information about a job I did for the DIA.”
    “The who?”
    “The Defense Intelligence Agency. It’s like the military’s version of the intelligence game.”
    Olivia’s brain spun, trying to make a connection, but the wheels couldn’t totally catch. In all the months they’d been chatting via text and phone calls, he’d never once mentioned the DIA. He’d told her he’d been in the Marines, and she knew he now worked for Aegis. But he’d said nothing about the government or the DIA or anything in between. What else didn’t she know about him? What else was he hiding?
    A lot. Look at that chick in his room. And all this.
    That control she’d been fighting to hold on to threatened to wrench itself out of her grasp. Anger and humiliation burned into a hard, hot knot in her stomach. “Military intelligence?” She crossed her arms over her chest and pushed to her feet. “Isn’t that an oxymoron?”
    “Yeah,” he huffed, still not looking at her. “You could say that.”
    “So tell them what they want.”
    “It’s not that easy.”
    Not that easy? Baloney. It was that easy. He just didn’t want to do it.
    “I’m not going through this again,” she tossed back. “I’m not giving up my life for this. Tell them whatever they want to know and get this . . . damn thing . . . over with.”
    Her voice was rising, and she was swearing—something she didn’t like to do. She could hear the panic lifting an octave. Her skin grew warm everywhere, and claustrophobia stole her breath, making it hard to get air. She backed up until her spine hit the wall.
    “Olivia. Breathe.”
    “Fuck . . . you . . .” she managed between deep breaths.
    Somehow, amidst all his pain, he was there, at her front, wrapping his arms around her, holding her close, trapping her between his warm, muscular body and the wall. Heat infused her skin, seeped into her muscles. And though she knew it made zero sense, being enclosed in his arms abated the claustrophobia, though it should have done the opposite.
    “I’m here,” he whispered. “You’re okay. But I need you to listen.”
    She couldn’t move. Could barely think. Her arms hung at her sides while his body molded to hers and his warm breath fanned the skin near her ear. Beneath the dirt, she could smell him—that sweet, earthy scent of citrus and pine she remembered from the day he’d rescued her in Seattle. She wanted to push him away, to lash out at him, but her muscles weren’t responding to her brain’s commands, and her body was flashing back to months ago, when he’d been her knight in shining armor.
    “They’re going to come for you,” he whispered. “They’re going to take you away from me and ask you questions. You don’t know anything. Just answer honestly. Don’t try to lie. They’ll know if you’re lying.”
    They . The people who’d taken them. The ones who’d left him bruised and bloody. Fear lodged a knot in