Lily's Outlaw (Once a Marine, Always a Marine Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

held up both hands while trying to maintain a straight face. “Hey, most of what I told her was true.”
    “What are you talking about?” Lily was too tired to take any crap.
    “Come, walk with me and we will part ways as friends.”
    It wasn’t until that moment that she could pinpoint his accent. But the way he phrased his last statement made her look up at him. “Louisiana?”
    Damon nodded. “Cajun to the core.”
    “You hide it well, but my grandmother on my daddy’s side was direct from the swamp, as she used to say. So I recognized it.”
    “Well, then, we’re practically kissing cousins.”
    Lily found herself between the two large men as they walked toward the parking area. She thought Jesse mumbled something rude about Damon’s lips but couldn’t catch it.
    “Tell me how you knew to contact Jesse,” Lily said.
    “I’m a liaison of sorts for ex-Marines looking for the kind of work that isn’t listed in the want-ads,” Damon explained.
    “Jesse said it’s a lot of bodyguard work.”
    Damon nodded. “A lot of times it is and I have a good friend that specializes in guard work, so I refer people to her all the time. But there’s other work out there as well. Your case, for example, as well as direct assassinations. When one of our guys is contacted, they run the job through me. I have resources and contacts all over the world so I can usually give advice on which jobs to take and which jobs to avoid.”
    A small chill raced through her body at the word assassination, but she wasn’t as naïve as she sounded. “But how did you connect me to Jesse?”
    “Your hometown. I called Jess up to see if he recognized your name because I knew he was from the same town. Lucky for you he did.”
    “I’m not sure I feel lucky.”
    “You should, Lil,” Jesse said. “He’d checked all his other sources and the job was coming up sour. Because you’re an American, the cartel wanted to use a third party to kidnap you and deliver you to the border for an exchange. Damon had already put out the word not to touch it, and you had conveniently crossed the border by that time which is why they went ahead and took you. But by then, he’d remembered that I was from the same town.”
    Lily felt her mouth drop open and she stopped. Both men turned to look at her, golden eyes and serious blue eyes watching her reaction. “So you would have just left me there if Jesse hadn’t recognized my name? And you give advice on jobs where they kidnap or kill people?”
    “I took over the job to get better information, so we’d have a hope in hell of getting you out. It’s a deadly world out there and not everyone plays by the same rules that we do in America,” Damon said.
    His tone was patient and there was no regret on his face.
    “We are equally deadly. Trained that way by the government and experience. That doesn’t just go away when we leave the military.”
    “And he never just ignores information he has,” Jesse defended.
    “What would you have done if Jesse wasn’t in the picture?”
    Damon shrugged and they began walking again. “I would have turned the information I had over to the CIA or FBI.”
    “You make that sound like it’s a bad thing.” But she was so relieved that he wouldn’t have just left her there to die. What if someone else was in her situation?
    “They aren’t as good as we are,” he said. “And don’t sound so relieved, they don’t always act either.”
    “Semper Fi,” Jesse said. “Alphabet agencies are too concerned with politics. We just get the job done.”
    “This is me.” Damon pointed at the low slung black Corvette. He tossed some keys at Jesse. “You’ve got the black SUV parked at the end of the row. It’s paid up through the end of the week.”
    “Thanks, man. I owe you big.”
    “Then take a shower and we’re even. Even the gators back home wouldn’t eat your stinky ass.”
    Jesse threw his head back and laughed. “You got it.” Then he gave him a quick