Hidden Sins by Karice Bolton Page A

She had her dark hair in two braids, and she wore a pair of slouchy jean shorts and a pink camisole that was splattered with paint.
    She caught me looking at her shirt and laughed, clapping her hands. “I paint oils, or at least, I attempt to paint oils.”
    There was something familiar about Mia, which I knew was impossible, but her energy was infectious. It was exactly what I needed no matter how temporary my stay would be.
    “You don’t attempt to paint oils. You’re brilliant at it,” Emily said, rolling her eyes. “Not every twenty-six year old is able to open a show with every single painting selling out in the first night.”
    “It was a fluke,” Mia assured me.
    I couldn’t help but smile as she ushered us through the large foyer. “That’s the living room, which I rarely set foot into. Actually, I never really hang out on this floor at all so consider it yours.”
    “I’m not sure I’ll be able to afford the rent…”
    “You’re working at Buttons, right?” Her brow quirked.
    “Starting tomorrow.”
    “Believe me. You’ll be able to afford it. I’m only renting you a bedroom, remember?” Her smile was kind as she glanced at Emily and then back at me.
    I laughed and shook my head. Doubtful.
    “I had it on Craigslist for seven-fifty, but I like you. How about seven?” She crossed her arms in front of her. “And you don’t have to pay me the first month until you get your first paycheck at Buttons.”
    My mouth dropped open. Seven? I had planned on getting a hole-in-the-wall somewhere for seven hundred.
    “It’s month-to-month so if you decide you want your own place, you can always move out.”
    I nodded. “This is amazing.”
    “So is that a yes?” Mia asked.
    “It’s a big yes,” I laughed as Mia grabbed my hand and hauled me up the stairs.
     

Luke
     
    The thought of Hannah slipping into other men’s fantasies killed me, and that was precisely what Buttons offered. I’d seen the way men at Buttons devoured the waitresses with their eyes, and it was unsettling, and one of the many reasons I never showed up. I despised the fact that I had anything to do with the club, but I owed my friend, Sean, a favor and I wasn’t about to let him down. He helped me when I first started the security firm and it was something I could do in return. We’d met one another in a past life, but I never expected it to bite me in the ass like this.
    I stretched my legs in front of me in the airplane seat and took a sip of the red wine the flight attendant had just brought over. What in God’s name was Hannah doing at Buttons? Maybe she was passing by and that’s how the phone triangulated. That had to be it. There was no legitimate reason why she’d be there. She didn’t even fit the profile. Sean had a thing for brunettes and a real distaste for blondes. And Hannah was definitely blonde. No doubt about it. A beautiful blonde at that. Her being a blond was the one thing I could hold onto until I could access wireless at the cruising altitude.  
    Damn! She was hard to shake.
    I took another sip of the wine as I thought about why I was so fascinated by a woman I barely knew. The guy next to me snorted, signaling he’d already fallen asleep, which was good since I hated spectators while researching. I grabbed the newspaper out of my bag and opened it to the second page, but I had no interest in reading. My mind kept wandering to Hannah. My guys were on her so she’d be safe until I got there, but it didn’t calm my fears at all. I knew too little about her and what problems were following her. There had to be a way to get her to trust me and tell me what was going on. That would be the quickest solution.
    The moment the Captain announced that we had reached our cruising altitude, I opened up my laptop and began searching for information on the NLC. I also opened up another window for the facial recognition software to run my official airport greeter’s face through. I scanned through my email,