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function.
    “You’re scaring me,” I finally whisper.
    “Good. You should be scared. I’ve not seen anyone who should be as scared as you in a very long time.”
    I remember the fear in my mother’s eyes. Her fear for me. Her fear for herself. But I think more than anything, the fear of these documents getting into the wrong hands. I look down at his. Can I trust them? Are they the right hands or the wrong hands? I just don’t know.
    I eye him again, trying to decide if he looks trustworthy. He has an open, honest face. He did admit to being a soldier and then working for the CIA, but was that even true? Something inside me cracks and I struggle to hold it together. Sadness. Fear. Uncertainty. They are swirling together into a toxic soup of self-doubt.
    What I do know is that I’m all alone in this. My heart pounds harder as I make a decision.
    “I’m fulfilling my mother’s final wish,” I blurt out before I can stop myself. “I don’t know what’s in the box or what it means. She didn’t have the chance to tell me.”
    I stiffen when Jax gives me a “good girl” look. “I’m almost afraid to ask this, but why didn’t she have the chance?” he asks softly.
    I look away, unable to meet his intense stare. “She died,” I say simply. “She died before she had the chance to tell me what I would find here.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that,” he murmurs. He does look genuinely sympathetic.
    “So you understand how important it is to me, that I manage to do this,” I say. “I don’t know exactly why these … whatever they are … are so important. Just that they are. It was important to her that I do this. Don’t you see?”
    “I do see, but you have to understand, it’s important to me too. At least, it is to my boss and to the government.”
    I chew on my bottom lip, then ask, “Do you know what’s in there?”
    He sighs loudly. “No, I don’t.” His shoulders seem to relax a little as if it having this conversation has given him some relief. “I do know it’s important that I get them to my boss so they can be in safe hands.”
    “So it looks like we’re both in the dark.” Even as I say it, my mind flashes onto an image of the two of us, alone in the dark. What in the world? I look away from him and focus on a small chip in the paint.
    “Mia.” He waits until I look at him again. “At least neither of us is in the dark all alone.”

Chapter 7 – Jax
    She’s adorable.
    I have to give her that. And either the best-trained spy I’ve ever encountered, or she’s telling the truth, and her dearly departed mother has sent her on a death mission.
    Who was her mother? She had to have been someone of some importance to have possession of such important documents.
    Mia tucks a curl of her long chestnut hair behind one ear with shaky fingers, giving away her nervousness. My own nerves aren’t doing much better. Her presence complicates things significantly.
    Especially when those light eyes brim with tears and the very tip of her nose turns pink. Or when she bites her lower lip to stop herself from crying. And when her chest heaves with the effort to suppress a sob, my damn cock twitches every time.
    She’s playing you.
    The warning whispers through my brain, and I know it’s right. Well, I must assume it’s right until evidence proves otherwise, at least. No way can she be as innocent as she appears. Just my luck too. The first damn woman I’ve been attracted to since … since Laura … and she’s most likely a fucking criminal.
    “Have you looked inside yet, Mia?” I ask her, nodding toward the bank box.
    She sniffs and wipes at her face with both hands. “No. I was just getting ready to open it when you came in.”
    I need to get her to trust me. “Want to look in it together? Rip off the band aid to see the extent of the damage?”
    She chews that damn lip again and nods. “I think we should. At least we’ll know what we’re dealing with.” She laughs, a soft giggle that