Jake: The Sinner Saints #3 (5 page)

Verity heard her voice rising again, but suddenly she didn’t care.

“Because only after that can the conquerors get down to the business of really taking over. Of substituting their own history, their own symbols, their own meaning, on another. Of casting the conquered as outsiders in their own land.”

Jake leaned back in his seat as he listened to her rant. He cocked his head to the side, but didn’t seem upset. If anything he seemed…intrigued.

“Sure there are other things that go—language, clothes, food. But people have to eat. They have to clothe themselves. They need to talk. Those things can take generations to eradicate.
Art
on the other hand is wrongly seen as a luxury, easily stolen without consequence. But those
baubles
you’re talking about are far more valuable than money. And don’t you believe for a second that the people buying and selling them don’t understand that better than anyone else.”

Verity leaned back against her seat as she closed her mouth. It was only then that she noticed how quiet the diner had become. Heat rushed to her cheeks. She didn’t need to look around to know that every pair of eyes was on her now.

Crap.

She hadn’t meant to draw so much unwanted attention. She cast her gaze down to her lap as she tucked her curls back behind her ears.

“Sorry,” she said. “I have a terrible habit of getting a little loud when I’m passionate about something.”

“You never need to apologize for that with me,” Jake said. For the first time since she’d met him, there wasn’t even a hint of derision or anger showing on his face. There was some deep emotion playing around the corners of his eyes as he stared at her, but for the life of her, Verity couldn’t put her finger on what it was. “And you’re a very good teacher.”

“Thank you.” Verity tucked her chin down, forcing herself to turn away from the intensity of his gaze. “Does that mean you’re not going to strand me out here in the middle of the desert after all?”

“Just so long as you don’t ask me how long it’s been since I’ve set foot inside a museum.”

“Deal,” she said with a half-smile.

Jake nodded as he lifted his coffee cup. Verity could feel some of the tension between them slipping away. They might not be destined to be the greatest friends, but at least she could look him in the eye now. And that was a hell of a lot of progress from just a few minutes ago.

Denise was at the table’s edge by the time he’d drained the cup.

“You two need anything else?” she asked Verity. Her curiosity about the woman who dared raise her voice to Jake showed clearly on her face.

Verity gave the woman her best fake smile. “Just the check.”

Denise gave her a slow nod before slipping the bill down on the tabletop.

Verity reached for it as Denise walked away, but Jake’s hand covered hers before she could pick it up. And she did mean
covered
it. His hand was so big that hers practically disappeared under his palm. She looked up as the heat of his touch sizzled through her.

“It’s fine,” she said. “I’ve got it.”

He didn’t move. “You hardly ate anything.”

“Yeah, but I’m paying you, so it only seems right that I buy you breakfast,” she said.

“You’re paying Carter Macmillan. Not me,” he said, slowly pulling her hand back and snatching up the bill. “So the way I figure it, he owes both of us.”

Verity didn’t argue as she followed him to the front of the diner. She stopped short of the register though, wanting to give Denise and Jake space to say their goodbyes.

Instead, she went over to the glass door and stepped out into the dry mid-morning heat. Dang. It was the middle of October. Back home they were already looking forward to the first snow flurries of the season. It seemed that everything about this place was foreign.

Hell, she barely even recognized herself out here.

She’d done things in the last twenty-four hours that she’d never imagined doing before.

Including telling bald-faced lies.

Because while every word of her mini-lecture to Jake had technically been true, her reason for giving it had not. The truth was she hadn’t given up on saving her brother from the mess he’d fallen into, and there wasn’t a force on Earth strong enough to rip that hope away from her.

Not even Jake Thorne.

A moment later, Verity heard the chime of the bell above the swinging door.

“You ready to get going?” Jake’s voice boomed.

“Y-yeah,” Verity said with a nod.

And just like that, she lied again. Because deep down Verity wasn’t ready. She feared she never would be.

Chapter Four

Verity couldn’t recall the exact moment that her eyelids finally slid down during the long, monotonous ride through the Central Valley.

She could, however, pinpoint the precise instant that they snapped open again.

One second, her mind was lost in soft, warm oblivion, the next her butt was floating off the long bench seat of Jake’s truck. She threw one arm out in front of her in her panic, steadying herself on the dash. A heartbeat later, her cheeks touched down again, but she still kept her other arm wrapped around the solid, yet strangely comfortable post that she had been resting her head against.

“Whoa, there sugar,” Jake’s steady, deep voice washed over her. “It’s just a bump in the road.”

Verity blinked several times. It took a second for his words to sink into her sleep-soaked brain.
Just a bump in the road.
She’d only been shaken awake. Nothing bad had happened.

Well, as long as she didn’t count falling asleep on Jake. Which was obviously what she had done.

She glanced down at her side, and saw that her arm wasn’t wrapped around a post at all. It was Jake’s arm.

And here she’d thought this day couldn’t get any more awkward.

She should have known better.

Verity snatched her hand away as fast as she could, and dragged it through her mop of hair.

“H-how long have I been out?” she asked.

“A little over an hour,” he said. “You dozed off just outside of Modesto.”

Verity rubbed her eyes a few times before turning her attention outside the window. She didn’t know why she bothered. It wasn’t as if she had any idea where she was. All she knew was that the landscape had changed drastically.

The wide open, agricultural flatlands of the Central Valley had given way to gently rolling hills and valleys. Every inch of uncultivated land seemed to be covered in a dry, golden grass that rippled and swayed in the breeze.

The only thing she could tell for certain was that they had left the freeway…and probably some time ago. That had to be a good sign, didn’t it? It must mean they were close.

Jake was taking them down a two-lane road that meandered through the countryside. Verity spotted a few barns and houses that dotted the horizon, but no other sign of civilization.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“A few miles outside of Augustville.”

“Augustville?” Verity turned toward him. “But isn’t that past the house that Roman sent us to?”

“It is,” Jake said with a nod. “But it’s as good a town as any for us to set up camp.”

Verity’s eyes widened. “Camp?”

“I just mean a base of operations. A place for us to spend the night.” She could just catch a hint of a smile tugging at his lips as he cocked his head.

Verity glanced over at the clock on the dashboard. The time read four forty-two. Sure, it was autumn and the days were getting shorter, but certainly there was still plenty of time left in the day.

“You sure you don’t want to just swing by the house while the sun is still up?”

Jake shot her a look out of the corner of his eye. “Positive.”

“I just thought you might want to get a head start,” she tried. “You know, since the sooner we start, the sooner you’re rid of me.”

“The only thing that I want right now is a shower and some rest. It’s been a long day of driving, and I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Verity sucked in a sharp breath between her teeth.

A fresh wave of guilt crashed over her. She hadn’t given a single thought to how tired he must be. And here, she’d snoozed the last seventy miles.

“Sorry,” she said sincerely. “I guess I was being a little selfish.”

“Not selfish,” Jake said, shaking his head slowly. “Anxious. There’s a difference.”

Verity shifted in her seat. As long as she was doling out apologies, she might as well get to the one that was really making her cheeks burn.

“Well, I
am
sorry that I fell asleep on you,” she said. “You should have woken me up.”

“Why would I do that?”

Verity grimaced as she looked down at the wet spot on his sleeve. “Because I
might
have drooled on you.”

A smile spread across his face in earnest. “I’ve suffered worse.”

“Not by me,” she teased.

Jake’s brows shot up.

“Let me get this straight,” he said, giving her an amused look before turning his attention back to the road. “You’re more ashamed of falling asleep on me with your mouth open than to picking my pocket and breaking into my hotel room?”

“Well, yeah,” Verity joked back. “Those last two couldn’t have been avoided, but now I owe you a new shirt.”

“I’m pretty sure it will come out in the wash.”

“Well, if not, let me know,” she said as Jake steered around another bend and the outline of town came into view. “If there’s one thing I hate, it’s owing people.”

“I understand.” Verity didn’t doubt his words. The smile faded from his lips, his expression growing suddenly serious. She lost him to his thoughts as they drove into the center of town.

He must have known exactly where he was going, because he didn’t check his phone or GPS, but took a series of turns through the small, rural town that led them right to an older strip-style motel on the outskirts of town.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, stopping the truck in the middle of the empty parking lot.

Verity craned around in her seat and looked out the back window as Jake made his way toward the office.

There wasn’t all that much to see. The biggest building was the bar across the street, all of its windows illuminated with the obligatory neon beer signs. The rest of the block was lined with an assortment of beige and brown storefronts that appeared to have come from the middle of the last century. Some had faded signs hanging out front advertising animal feed or auto supplies. Others looked like they hadn’t been occupied in at least a decade.

Verity counted three vehicles pass by in five minutes. It looked like Jake hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d called this place
out of the way
.

No one would ever find them here.

Not that anyone was looking.

But obviously Jake was concerned. She couldn’t think of any other reason that he would have driven nearly twenty miles out of the way just to end up at a no-name roadside motel.

Then again, maybe this was just his kind of place.

Before she could give it another thought, the driver’s door swung open.

“Grab your bag,” he said, reaching behind his seat and pulling out his own faded green duffel. “We’re all set.”

Verity stepped out onto the pavement, hauled her luggage out of the open cab, and wheeled it behind her. She met Jake in front of a faded blue door with a yellow 6 nailed in the center.

“Do I have the room next door?” she asked as he slipped the key card through the reader.

“No,” Jake said with a shake of his head. “You’re staying in here with me.”

Verity’s eyes widened. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“You didn’t seem to mind the arrangement last night.” He threw open the door and held it for her.

“But you sure did,” she said, stepping inside.

“That was different, and you know it,” he said.

She let out a long breath when she saw that there were two beds in the room. That was a relief.

At least, it should have been. As it was, Verity wasn’t one hundred percent certain of her feelings about this situation…or Jake Thorne as a whole, for that matter.

She rolled her bag up to the bed closest to the door and sat down on the edge. She ran her fingers through her hair, pushing her curls back from her face.

“I just thought that we might rest better if there was a little space between us,” she said.

“There is,” he said, tossing his duffel down on the mattress.

Verity glanced to her side.

Yeah. A whole two feet.

“And trust me, having a wall in between us isn’t going to make me sleep any better,” he went on. “You wanted my protection? Well, that means keeping you close.”

“How close?” she asked.

Jake cocked his head to the side. “I won’t forget which bed is mine in the middle of the night if that’s your concern.”

It wasn’t.

She’d be lying if she said that the thought hadn’t crossed her mind. And who could blame her? It had been one hell of a long drive up the valley after all. How else was she supposed to entertain herself if not with the occasional fantasy of peeling off Jake’s T-shirt? Of running her hands over his hard chest and back. Of dipping the tip of her tongue down into the hollow where his throat met his collar bones. Of leaving a trail of kisses along the thick column of his neck as she lifted herself up on tiptoes, rising up until she was level with his lips. Of…

“Y-yeah, don’t worry,” Verity said dipping her head, hoping he wouldn’t catch the blush that was burning her cheeks. “I’m well aware you don’t think of me that way.”

A long silence stretched on from the other side of the room, but Verity didn’t dare lift her head. And she didn’t have any plans to, not until she was damn well sure the guilty blush had left her cheeks.

Not that it did any good.

She could still feel his gaze burning into her, almost as if his stare was a tangible thing.

A few seconds later, she felt it slide away.

“I think it’s past time I took that shower,” he said.

Verity glanced up in time to see Jake turning the corner into the bathroom. A second later, she heard the water turn on.

She let out a long breath as she let herself fall backward. The springs in the mattress barely made a sound as she flopped against it. Verity cocked a brow. The bed was actually somewhat soft and comfortable. That was a nice surprise for a cheap motel.

Perhaps she was being unfair to the place. The room might be spare, but it was clean, and it didn’t look overly worn. It would be fine for a night.

Hell, she could survive anything for one night.

Even the crushing mortification she felt every time her imagination ran wild all over Jake Thorne.

And what the hell was up with that anyway?

Sure, there was no denying that Jake was attractive on a primal level. For some reason, just looking at him opened the floodgates of her hormones. He wasn’t like anyone she’d ever met…and that included all of Roman’s Army buddies.

So, maybe the draw wasn’t purely physical. But there
had
to be something novel in Jake because he was about as far from her usual type as she could get. She’d always dated men for their brains—historians, professors, doctors. And while Jake might not have turned out to be the knuckle-dragger that she’d originally feared, he also wasn’t likely to be giving a lecture on the significance of animal symbolism in pre-Columbian art any time soon.

Then again, he had appeared to be genuinely intrigued by her opinions on the preservation and public display of art this morning at breakfast. And when was the last time she could say that about any of the men that she’d dated?

Except, this morning hadn’t been a date, Verity reminded herself. It was the furthest thing from it.

Saying that she wasn’t his type was probably putting it kindly.

His body had been chiseled to near perfection after several hard years of training and experience. Hers, on the other hand, was the direct result of spending too many nights hiding in the corner of art galleries drinking complimentary wine and mooching off the cheese tray.

She couldn’t expect him to see anything in her. And the truth was she didn’t.

She wasn’t out here to make a soulful connection, or sneak in a quick roll in the hay. All she needed was a bodyguard—someone to keep her safe while she tried to save her brother’s ass and a cache of priceless treasures—and God knew, Jake fit that role perfectly. Nothing else mattered.

Nothing.

Especially not a pair of warm brown eyes that made her insides all hot and tingly.

Dear God, she
needed
to stop thinking about him. His eyes, his lips, his body. Every part of him.

Verity reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.

Hey
, she texted Cheryl.
Anything new on the home front?

She stared blankly at the screen until the message bubble appeared with a chime.

Nothing good. Dean Philips asked me about you again.

Shit.

Verity let out a long breath.

That was the downside of landing a job at her alma mater earlier this year. She hadn’t been there long enough to earn any leave. Hell, she didn’t even have any vacation days, not that they would have done her any good. It wasn’t as if anyone would be willing to sign off on time off right in the middle of the fall semester.