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

were chatting.” He let her face go and moved his gaze to the man on the floor. “Speaking of which... We should go before he wakes up.”
    Abruptly, Sam moved toward the man on the floor. He stared down for a long moment, and when he looked up, a deep frown clouded his features. And Meredith saw immediately why his attention had shifted so quickly. The rough-faced assailant’s coat had dropped open, and a shiny badge peeked out from an inside pocket.
    * * *
    As Sam bent down to grab the other man’s identification, a deep sense of foreboding made him draw in a shallow breath. The air sucked roughly against the ache in his throat, thickening it, and it only worsened as he confirmed what he already knew.
    The man who’d fired at him—who’d seemed to enjoy delivering more than a few blows while he demanded information about Meredith’s sister—was a cop, no doubt about it. And not just a cop. A detective. He read the name on the shield.
    Brody Boyd.
    “Don’t know him,” Sam muttered, not even realizing he’d spoken aloud until Meredith answered him.
    “Were you expecting to?”
    “No.” Sam paused, then decided he owed her a bit of disclosure. “But I thought his name might ring a bell. I used to do his job. Same department, too.”
    “You were a detective?”
    “I was. But I left the force years ago. Personal reasons.” He nodded toward the door. “We should move while we talk.”
    “We can’t go out the front,” she told him. “There was another cop out there.”
    Sam grimaced and studied the man on the floor again for a second. How far up did the corruption go? How many of them were involved? And what the hell did they want with Tamara Billing? Too many questions and far too few answers.
    “We need to get my notes,” he said decisively.
    “Your apartment is probably a little...occupied,” Meredith pointed out.
    He nodded. “That’s why we’re going to do it indirectly.”
    “Indirectly?”
    “Can we extend that bit of trust again?”
    She looked like she wanted to argue, but after a second, she shrugged. “Sure. But just so we’re clear, I did just knock a guy out for you, so now you owe me two.”
    Sam smiled and pulled her toward the stairs. “I’m still ahead by a half. And didn’t you tell me it wasn’t funny?”
    “Laugh or cry, right?”
    Her words were flippant, but her voice was serious, and Sam had to fight to keep himself from stopping to comfort her. It bothered him that Meredith was in pain. That she was in this situation at all. He knew, logically, that it wasn’t his fault. That didn’t mean he didn’t feel responsible. Or that he didn’t wish he could somehow soothe away her bad feelings. And as they got closer to their destination—the fifth floor, right below Sam’s own apartment—even more worry crept in.
    You should’ve forced her to stay with Worm, he told himself.
    Except Meredith wasn’t the kind of woman who could be forced to do anything. She’d made that abundantly clear.
    Besides that, if she had stayed behind, you’d probably be dead .
    Sam acknowledged the truth of the mental reminder. He did owe her his life, and though he wasn’t overly fond of being indebted to anyone, he was sure as hell thankful for her stubbornness at that moment. Thankful enough to kiss her. Again. And again.
    As they reached the fifth-floor landing, Sam ordered his libido to calm down and lifted a finger to his lips to indicate to Meredith that they needed silence. He eased open the heavy fire door and peered through the crack. The hallway appeared vacant. Still and quiet. It made Sam a little uneasy, but his intuition didn’t rear its head, so he pushed the door open wider and led Meredith past three doors. At the fourth one, he stopped.
    “Just follow my lead,” he said.
    “What do you mean?”
    Before Sam could answer her, the door swung open and a well-wizened woman greeted them with a shake of her finger.
    “If this isn’t your girlfriend, Sammy, I’m