Read Online Copy That by Helenkay Dimon - Free Book Online Page A

he wasn’t absent. Even though the siblings shared identical looks, Jeremy’s impact on her senses surpassed routine and sped straight toward explosive. There was nothing sisterly about the little dance in her stomach every time she looked at his face.
    “I knew Garrett had many secrets, but a twin brother and all this covert equipment is a surprise.”
    “I’ll take that as a compliment.” Jeremy took the keycard out of his pocket.
    “Where did you get that?”
    “I always carry it. Slipped it out of my wallet back at the motel. Here, take this back. I should have just let you keep it at the motel.” He turned her hand over and laid his cell in her palm. “And now for the impressive part.”
    She’d spent almost every minute with him being impressed. It took only a short time for her to figure out the truth. He stayed calm. He remained focused. He hunted the bad guys and wanted to save Sara because that’s who he was. He never questioned what should be done. He just did it.
    He slipped his fingers underneath a brick and pulled out the row of grout. “Embedded reader.”
    “Caterpillar. See? I can say random words, too.”
    “You’re hysterical.” Before she could blink, he slid the card through the crack.
    “What are you doing?”
    “Getting access.”
    “To what?”
    “The entry log.”
    He could have said anything, even used his shoe to call for a flying car and had it land in front of him, and she wouldn’t have been more surprised. Instead, he hit a button on the phone and lines of black print filled the small screen.
    She squinted, hoping the gibberish would make sense if the words blurred together then broke apart again. “I have no idea what that says.”
    “It’s code. The important piece of information is that someone has been here. Is still here.”
    “Sara?”
    “I hope. Or Garrett. Someone with access swiped a card, which is a good sign.”
    “How exactly?”
    “No one tried to break in. The log shows one entry.”
    “Unless two people went in together.”
    He froze. “What?”
    “Just stating the obvious.”
    For the shortest of blips, his guard wavered. From the slight slump of his shoulders to the hitch in his voice, she knew his mind wandered to that awful place of uncertainty where he didn’t know if his brother lived or not.
    She’d survived a similar darkness. In her bleakest moments, when the man she’d thought she loved switched from insults to threats, she’d feared not the end but the moment before the end, when she’d know which one of her breaths would be her last. Then she’d made a decision not to face the unknown horror for one more day. She’d bought a gun, learned to shoot, moved out...and rolled through the waves of panic that came every time the phone rang or footsteps sounded in the hallway.
    She’d been nineteen and naive and so sure she’d found what people searched a lifetime to find. She never saw how disconnected from reality she’d become. But this, right here, with Jeremy, tasted and felt real. Terrifying and completely incomprehensible in her black-and-white mind, but real. She’d long ago lost her ability to read men and no longer trusted her judgment, but Jeremy made her want to believe.
    With his arm bent and tucked against his side, he threaded the fingers of his other hand through hers. “You okay?”
    Shaking her head, she snapped out of the past and fell back to the present. Those deep blue eyes held her until her stomach bounced.
    “Fine.” She turned her attention to the boarded-up front door. Anything not to get lost in his gaze. “Do you own this building, too?”
    “Garrett uses it for business.” Jeremy felt behind the hinges. “Motion sensors.” Another swipe of the card and the door opened, opposite to the way it would normally swing.
    “If you’re trying to impress me...”
    His eyebrow rose. “Is it working?”
    “Totally. Yes.”
    She followed, slipping in behind him as he entered the building. The door opened