Worth the Risk by Melinda Di Lorenzo Read Free Book Online Page B

place,” Worm said and cut the engine.
    Belatedly, Meredith realized the big truck had come to a halt in front of a squat bungalow.
    “You can rest up,” Sam told her. “Maybe eat something, if you want. Though from what I remember, Worm’s cooking skills consist of takeout and toaster waffles.”
    “I’ve had worse,” Meredith said and she let Sam help her from the truck.
    Her body ached, and as weird as it seemed, her stomach rumbled the second she thought of food. But as soon as they’d settled into Worm’s living room, and Sam started to lay out his plan, hunger and exhaustion quickly took a backseat to her concern.
    “I need to get my notes from my apartment,” Sam said. “Once I have them, Worm’ll use his super tech skills to track Tamara’s movements. I won’t be gone long.”
    “You don’t really expect me to agree to being left here, do you?” Meredith asked.
    Sam shot Worm a look, and the big man glanced from one of them to the other, muttered something about making coffee, then disappeared up the hall.
    “Sending him away isn’t going to change my mind,” Meredith said. “You’re my only lifeline to my sister. If something happens to you while you’re out there getting your notes...”
    At the end, her voice almost broke. Because it suddenly struck her that it was true. The man standing over her was the only one she could count on right that second. He was the only other person who knew Tamara was missing and quite possibly the only other person searching for her. The police couldn’t be trusted. Nicholas was nowhere to be found. Not that she exactly trusted him, either. Meredith also couldn’t put any of her friends in danger by telling them what was going on. And if the media got involved, the situation would turn into a circus and Tamara’s life would be at risk. If it wasn’t already.
    Oh, God. What if she’s— Meredith shut down the thought before it could even finish. She refused to consider that her sister was anything but alive.
    Sam sat beside her on the couch, and she lifted her hand to stop him from getting any closer. She knew if he touched her, that zap of attraction would floor her again, and she’d be in a bad position to say no to whatever he asked. And she wasn’t backing down. But as her arm raised, so did his, and before she could draw away, his fingers closed on her wrist. He pulled her palm to his chest in a gesture that was both strangely intimate and comforting at the same time.
    “I promise I’m doing what I think is best to help Tamara,” he told her gently. “And nothing’s going to happen to me while I’m doing that. It’s my job.”
    “If you really believed that, you wouldn’t be asking me to stay here.” Meredith shook her head. “And this might be just a job to you, Sam, but to me, it’s my sister’s life.”
    “I didn’t say this was just a job,” he amended. “I said it is my job.”
    “I don’t see the difference.”
    He finally let her wrist go.
    “I get paid, but I’m not in it for the money. My goal is always the same—to help people. Because I know how it feels to—” He cut himself off abruptly, cleared his throat, then started again. “I’ve seen how my clients feel when someone they love can’t be located, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I only take on missing-persons cases, nothing else. My closure rate has been one hundred percent since I started doing this. So the difference is, Meredith, it’s never just a job for me.”
    At the end of his short but impassioned speech, Meredith stared at him. What had he been about to say before he stopped himself? And why did she get the feeling that, whatever it was he did before he became a PI, his success rate wasn’t a hundred percent and that made him unhappy?
    So many more questions. And no time to ask them.
    “If all of that’s true,” she said, “then you know I can’t just sit around waiting.”
    “Let’s say I agreed to let you come with me. What if