Read Online Vow to Protect by Ann Voss Peterson - Free Book Online Page A

shifted again on the bench seat. “Is there plenty of room at this place? I mean, Ethan and I are used to living alone. We like our privacy.”
    Cord’s lips settled in a resigned line. Turning his attention back to the light as it turned green, he accelerated across the intersection. “You’ll have plenty of privacy. Believe me, you’ll hardly know I’m there.”
    She doubted that. Her body seemed to be in tune with his every glance, his every move. She’d felt that way since she’d first walked past him at the high school entrance, the quintessential bad boy leaning against a post with a cigarette dangling from his lips. Her obsession with him had only grown from there, until she was convinced she could change him, help him escape his desperate life. Until she really believed he wanted to get out of that neighborhood as much as she did.
    Cord took the next left. The truck crested a hill and the lake opened before them, waves sparkedby the moon and city lights. Against the dark gleam loomed the flat hulks of buildings.
    Cord nodded to the shoreline. “Here’s the place.”
    She scanned the structures ranging from three to six stories, jutting up from the shoreline. “It’s a building?”
    â€œI promised a security system, remember?” He drove down the dead-end street until he reached the parking lot at the very end. Solid brick reached six stories into the sky. Black windows stared down at them like dead eyes.
    â€œIt looks vacant.”
    â€œIt is.” He brushed past her legs and opened the glove compartment. Withdrawing a remote, he pressed the button and the door to the building’s underground garage began to lift.
    Her leg tingled where he’d touched. She gripped her thighs, digging her fingertips into her own flesh. She couldn’t wait for that door to open. Couldn’t wait to get into the building. Anything had to be better than sitting so close to him, the past teasing at the back of her mind. The worry of the present riding heavy on her shoulders.
    As Cord drove into the partially underground garage, she twisted to Ethan and moved a hand to his thigh. It was time to wake him. She hated to do it, but he was too big for her to carry anymore,and she wasn’t about to let Cord do it. “Ethan? We’re here.”
    His body jerked. A whimper caught in his throat.
    She circled his shoulders with an arm and held him close. “It’s okay. You’re here with me, honey. You’re safe.”
    He blinked and focused on her.
    â€œWe just need to go inside. Then you can go back to sleep.”
    He nodded.
    She hugged him close again. She could only hope and pray this would be over soon, before it took too much of a toll on Ethan. Or her.
    The headlights illuminated dirt-tracked concrete and construction equipment. Cord pulled into a parking space next to an elevator door.
    Melanie had the door open before he pulled his key from the switch. The garage smelled dank and cool, like new concrete. With three of them, it didn’t take long to load the supplies into the elevator. Melanie positioned herself between Cord and Ethan while Cord hit the button to the penthouse floor.
    â€œWhat is this place?”
    â€œIt’s a contract of mine. High-end condos. They’re scheduled to go on the market the end of next week.”
    â€œHigh-end? Why the camping equipment?”
    â€œThe units are sold as empty shells. The new owners choose how they’ll be finished.”
    As an ex-convict, how would Cord have anything to do with high-end anything? “What is it you do?”
    â€œI’m a window washer. Self-employed. That’s what all that gear in the back of the truck is for. Squeegees, drop clothes, buckets and towels. Shop-Vac. I do all the builder’s window cleaning and construction cleanup. I’m contracted to have this place clean before they start showing the units. And then again after the