Sandman (Unknown Identities #3) by Regan Black Read Free Book Online Page B

now. Did he wear the same cologne? Did he still order French food with a perfect accent? And was the red wine from her family’s vineyard in Italy still his favorite?
    She shifted out of his reach. “I’m okay,” she lied. She’d started to think she might never have her balance again, if this useless reminiscing kept up. “What do you know about my work?”
    “ Not enough and I wish it could stay that way, but you need to fill me in, Renata.”
    He had a way of speaking her name that made her shiver inside. In the best way. “I’m sorry you’re mixed up in this now, but I can’t tell you what I don’t know. Galloway is obsessive –”
    “ Bullshit.”
    Whatever else she ’d meant to say simply floated away. Matthew had never once used a foul word in her presence. Miraculous, considering her temper and her natural gift for creative insults in any language.
    “ If you know him so well,” she snapped, “enlighten me.”
    “ I don’t know him at all,” he said. “But that obsessive label doesn’t fit. He’s a thug and a coward who has friends in high places. He wanted something from your apartment. Went to great lengths to get it. What was it?”
    She didn ’t have any idea. Shaking, Renata took a step back as Matthew advanced. The only trouble was the lack of space.
    “ Rather than snatch you off that jet way himself and force you to hand over what he wanted, he hired a kidnapper. Let me assure you, he had no intention of ever making good on the trade he offered your cousin. He left your fate to the kidnapper. Why would he do that, Renata?”
    “ I don’t know.”
    Eyes wide, he jerked back as if she ’d slapped him. “You never lied to me before.”
    “ You weren’t dead to me before,” she shot back, instantly regretting it when he closed his eyes and gave her his back. But she couldn’t tell him the truth. It wouldn’t be safe – for either of them.
    “ Galloway fooled me.” Admitting anything else would put them both in jeopardy or give him a way to exploit her longing for what they’d once had.
    Of the countless people in her professional acquaintance, she hadn’t suspected Galloway of being anything more than a pretty face. Oh, sure there had been an edge to his voice on the rare occasions when things didn’t go completely his way, but she’d chalked it up to petulance and a privileged upbringing.
    That the self-absorbed, well-dressed Irishman might be one of the people she’d been warned to watch out for… it was a ridiculous notion. The news blindsided her and threw her off almost as much as seeing Matthew alive and well had done.
    “ It won’t be long before we might both be dead to the rest of the world,” he said, breaking the silence and interrupting her thoughts.
    “ What does that mean?”
    “ The car that delivered you, the trunk you busted out of, exploded yesterday.”
    “ That was yesterday?” She resented the loss of so much time.
    “ Yes. You went into shock and I’ve been hoping you’d snap out of it before we have to find another safe location.”
    She ’d traded one shock for another. Her body and mind might be back online, but her heart was still in trouble. She pushed her hair back from her face, feeling disgusted by the disarray of her foul-smelling, torn-up clothes and the stink of fear clinging to her skin. Matthew, however, looked fresh and handsome as ever. “At the risk of sounding utterly selfish, is there any chance of cleaning up before we move?”
    “ Not selfish at all,” he said, a ghost of a smile on his face. “There’s a shower through that door.” He pointed. “Only cold water.”
    “ As long as it’s clean water.” She really didn’t care about temperature. With her hormones on simmer since discovering Matthew hadn’t been a bitter trick of her imagination, cold water would be better anyway. Why did he have to look so good, especially when she was looking and feeling her worst?
    “ When I saw the police report, I