TheFugitivesSexyBrother by Annabeth Leong Read Free Book Online

regain his ex-girlfriend’s trust.

Chapter Five
     
    Emily rushed her captive from her car to her apartment,
hoping the neighbors wouldn’t notice the handcuffs that still restrained him.
In this neighborhood she’d be surprised if someone took it upon themselves to
call the police, but she still didn’t like the risk. He’d gone silent halfway
through the car ride over and didn’t comment on the cracks in the concrete
leading to her building or the spiderwebs nestled in the stairwell going up or
the flimsiness of her apartment door.
    She pulled him inside her small apartment and shut and
locked the door behind them. He smelled good, like oranges and cinnamon with an
undertone of musk that transformed that citrus spice to a very male scent.
    She kept her home neat, so she didn’t have a mess to be
embarrassed about. However, she couldn’t help imagining what her living room
looked like to Javier’s eyes, comparing the shabbiness of her possessions to
the sumptuous clothes and furniture that had surrounded him a short time ago.
Emily left him standing near the door for a moment while she tugged a
threadbare green blanket over the arm of her couch, hoping to hide the stuffing
that spilled from a ragged hole there.
    Considering how much she wanted to be taken seriously as a
bounty hunter, her feelings about this man confused her. It would, of course,
be best for her if this was Fernando—she’d cuffed the right man and had fifty
grand waiting just as soon as she could get to Guy. Not all of her agreed
though. Far too much of Emily had gotten interested in the idea of a younger
brother named Javier, just as cute as Fernando but with kinder eyes. She’d even
started calling her captive Javier in her mind. It was a lot nicer to think
that the man who had flirted with her wasn’t actually a killer. Emily rolled
her eyes at herself and focused on the task at hand—establishing his identity.
    “Why don’t you have a seat and we’ll see what we can figure
out?”
    Javier only raised an eyebrow in reply. Emily sighed and
tugged him to the couch, pushing him into a sitting position. “Are you going to
arrange me with a bunch of stuffed animals and have a tea party?”
    Emily glared at him. His lips always seemed to have a
teasing curve. “Would you rather I put you in full-body restraints and leave
you that way until you sign affidavits swearing you’re Fernando Bonavita?”
    Javier blinked.
    “Scared you, didn’t I? I’ve been telling you I’m deadly
serious, but you keep thinking you can flirt your way out of this.”
    Brash bravado spread over his face again. Emily tried not to
let it get to her, but his wide, dimpled grin looked so damn charming every
time. “Actually, I was kind of turned on thinking about you restraining me like
that.”
    Emily blew her hair out of her eyes and stared at him. The
grin widened even further. Why was he so intent on throwing her off this way?
Emily had no illusions about being attractive. Matthew had used her for leads,
sex and housecleaning. Men didn’t like her style—bare of makeup, long on
attitude and short on patience and feminine graces. A man like this wouldn’t
really want Emily. Women would throng him anywhere he went. They’d go crazy
over that dark, ruddy skin, the cleft in his chin, the casual way he carried
his strength as if he didn’t even know it was there… Emily forced herself to
stop thinking about it. Her quarry was trying to play her, and she couldn’t
afford to fall for any of it—not the sexual temptation and definitely not the
claim of mistaken identity.
    She turned away and stepped to the file cabinet at the
corner of the room, crowded in beside a secondhand desk to form a makeshift
home office. The file Neva had given her had plenty of information she could
use to figure out whether “Javier” was who he claimed to be. Emily sifted
through official bail documents, records of Fernando Bonavita’s property,
reports on the suspected structure