Taking Liberty Read Online Free Page B

tailbone hit the hard ridge of the metal seat support. Looking across at Rini, he met her cocky expression. Okay, so she knew how to make a grown man cry like a baby who’d lost his pacifier. Didn’t mean she needed to gloat.
    â€œYou okay?”
    â€œYeah, never been better.” He squeezed the words between clenched teeth.
    â€œLook, I’m sorry if I hurt you. Are you still able to fly, or do you want me to take over?”
    Why didn’t she just chop his balls off and be done with it? “Sweetheart, it’s going to take a hell of a lot more than a hundred and ten pound woman to put me in traction.”
    A cute pink blushed her cheeks. “Thanks for the compliment, but I’m closer to one thirty.”
    Well hell, at least he didn’t overestimate her weight. Maybe it’d put her in a good mood and she’d go easy on him.
    â€œSo why are you smuggling caviar?”
    Then again, maybe not.
    â€œI prefer calling it a goodwill offering.” He powered up the Liberty and took off. At this rate, it’d be a damned miracle if they reached Aquatica by dawn. The star cruiser hit a rough air pocket and he coasted higher to combat the turbulence. From the corner of his eye, he caught the tell-me-another-bullshit-story expression darkening Rini’s face. He didn’t owe her any explanations, and what he did with his ship was no concern of hers.
    So why did it feel like a boulder sat dead center on his chest when she dropped her gaze to the hands clasped in her lap? Her disappointment poked his conscience. Damn it, he wasn’t a bad guy. “Sometimes you have to do unpleasant things in the name of survival. But I’m guessing you’ve never had that problem, princess.”
    â€œWhat’s that supposed to mean?”
    He glanced at her, cataloging the giveaway details. Expensive haircut. Small yet tasteful diamond studs tucked in her earlobes. When you’ve been burned once by the social elite, you know what to look for. “You come from money.”
    She stiffened. “Whatever you’re implying, you’re wrong.”
    â€œAm I? I’m guessing it took a shitload of capital to start up the UGG’s repo agency. Your family must be swimming in cash.”
    â€œThings haven’t been handed to me.”
    â€œBut I bet you haven’t exactly had to struggle for anything either.” His assessing glance lingered on her pink-polished nails. He remembered his ex-wife’s standing weekly appointment at the expensive salon she’d insisted was a necessity and the teary eyes she’d predictably turned on him when he’d asked her to cut back on the spending. In the end he’d caved. When it came to Sandra, that’d always been his M.O.
    Tearing his thoughts from dark alleys he’d rather not traverse, he gestured towards Rini’s hand. “Maybe that’s the real underlying reason you decided not to become a cop. Why settle for a low-paying job that’ll only ruin your manicure?” He met Rini’s indignant glower but all he could truly focus on was the dazzle of those damn diamonds in her ears. They brought out the bastard in him. “After all, Mommy and Daddy have a nice, cushy job all set to go at the agency. Way better than having to actually work your way up the ranks, like all the rest of us poor peons.”
    He waited for her inevitable denial. When it didn’t come, he shook his head with a scornful snort. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
    Â 
    Rini made no move to correct Lucus of his idiotic assessment. Let him think the worst of her. It was better than him knowing the sordid truth.
    Hardly anyone knew the real reason she gave up her dream of becoming a ranger. Not her parents, not her coworkers, not her best friend. Only two other people knew the truth, and they certainly weren’t going to blab to anyone. So her story was safe—a painful secret stuffed in the