Conned Read Free Page B

Not
when Conall was looking at her the way he was.
    He stepped away from the truck and stood in front of her,
keeping only a foot between them, forcing her to tilt her head back to look up
at him. What would he think of her dilemma? She wondered if he already knew
somehow.
    She lived in fear of that every day. Did they know she was a
lying piece of work? Did they know she would do anything to save her little
brother from a lifetime of suffering even if it meant she would suffer
instead?
    They couldn't know that, but she wondered. And worried.
    "I know you are scared and I know this has probably
taken a lot out of you, but I promise you that while you are with me, you will
be as safe as you could possibly be."
    He couldn't know how much those words actually meant to her,
but she couldn't let them penetrate. She had heard them before and it made no
difference. Regardless, she felt her lips twitch into a grin, "That's a
little conceited, don't you think?"
    He frowned and she wanted to kick herself. Either he thought
she was flirting or that she was a bitch, both of which were not what she
wanted him to think at all. She ran her teeth over her bottom lip and
forced herself to keep her chin up. He glanced down at her lips quickly before
meeting her eyes again and the move made her catch her breath. He looked
irritated. Maybe he was barely containing his annoyance at his new assignment
as much as she was.
    "Not conceited. Confident. I take my job seriously. Not
gonna stop now." He turned away from her and wrapped his fingers around
the handle of the door that was still opened and waiting for her. When he
turned back to her, his expression was solemn, but his eyes had softened.
" Especially now."
    She wanted to ask what he meant by that, but Julia was
huffing and puffing in the back seat already and it wasn't like it mattered
anyway. It wasn't necessary to question him or even get to know him.
    Especially now.
    She climbed into the passenger seat and buckled in while
Conall made his way around the truck. He really was the most handsome man she
had ever met, but there was something closed off about him. Something hard in
the way he carried himself that completely contradicted the warmth in his blue
eyes.
    The complete opposite of her brother. Rayce carried himself
like he didn't have a care in the world, but his eyes were hard and cold. Emily
always wondered where he got his personality from. Both of their parents were
anything but serious. Looking at the two of them together, it was the hair and
eyes that pointed out their relation. The day their parents died, however, had
taken away the unique brightness in the green eyes they shared. Hers had
softened over the years, understanding that life was life, but Rayce's had only
grown colder.
    She had spent the last few years trying to change it, but
nothing she did had made any kind of difference. She hoped what she was about
to do would see to that.
    The thought brought her back to the present and what she was
supposed to do.
    Stay off the grid for a couple months.
    Testify.
    Move on.
    Of course, moving on after testifying against the beloved
brother of a major crime boss was going to be impossible, but it was still a
goal. Once it was over, she would convince her brother to leave the life he was
living behind and they could finally be a family. She just had to get through
this.
    Conall played with the radio for a minute before finding a
station he was satisfied with and turning the volume just loud enough to fill
the silence. He steered the truck out of the short term parking and Emily kept
her eyes toward her window, watching as they passed cars dropping off and
picking up loved ones while they slowly made their way out of the airport.
    Her thoughts drifted to what her life was like several
months ago. Busy, but peaceful. No one walked all over her because she didn't
let them. No one except her brother, apparently.
    She had loved her job at the middle school teaching English
and the