Read Deception (Southern Comfort) for Free Online Page B

occasional squeak of wheels as stretchers and cleaning carts were maneuvered down the halls, this bland little cubicle of space was a sanctuary.
    Although not one Sam would ever have chosen.
    However, as she’d worked a double at the bar that her brother had had the dubious distinction of managing before his unfortunate encounters with first a bullet and then a bus, being off her feet in a calm, peaceful atmosphere was a wonderful change of venue.  As soon as she had time, she’d find herself a better job, but for now that one was paying the bills.  Well, some of them anyway.  And she was afraid if she quit she’d lose the benefits the place had extended Donnie, and then where would they be?  She was doing battle with the insurance agency at every turn as it was, and if they denied the claim altogether…
    Good Lord, she didn’t even want to think about it.
    But somehow, she’d get them through this.  Hopefully without taking off her clothes.
    The manager of the “entertainment” agency she’d signed on with had called her today, telling her she’d received a glowing compliment from last night’s client.  Probably because Rogan Murphy was embarrassed by the whole thing and wanted to make it go away as painlessly as possible.
    Sam couldn’t have agreed more.
    The money had been good, but it sure as heck hadn’t been easy.
    There had to be a better way.
    Swallowing a yawn, Sam opened her book to the next to the last chapter.  She and Donnie had been reading this one for a little while, as her dyslexia made the process slower, but she was anxious to see how it ended. She’d just started to make some headway when a soft knock sounded on the metal pole that held the privacy curtain.  Private rooms were way out of budget, so her brother shared his space with several other long-term patients.  She looked up from her book to find Justin’s familiar face peeking around the curtain.
    “Hey,” he said as he pushed the barrier aside.  “Do you mind if I join you?” 
    “Not at all.”  Which was a lie, but she figured she might as well get this over with.  She’d been expecting this conversation ever since she ran into him outside Murphy’s last night.  Over the past few months of painful setbacks and even more agonizing lack of progress with her brother’s condition, she’d come to think of Justin as a friend.  He was no longer technically her brother’s doctor, but he always managed to make himself available.  He’d answered endless amounts of questions as Sam had familiarized herself with traumatic head injury, and they’d shared coffee and some pathetic hospital cuisine on more than a few occasions.  He’d been helpful and respectful and engaging, and she genuinely liked and admired him.
    It was why it was so humiliatingly painful that she’d run into him last night.
    He lowered his long body into the cramped plastic chair, heaving out a sigh as he collapsed back against it.  “Man.  Sometimes there is just nothing better than sitting on your butt, you know what I mean?”
    Despite her trepidation, Samantha laughed, and Justin ran his fingers through his perpetually mussed hair before sliding his gaze toward her lap. His eyes widened at the Highlander with the improbable pecs brandishing a broadsword from her book’s cover. 
    “Well.  That’s an interesting change from Tom Jones.”
    Sam resisted the urge to make a flippant comment about strippers and their smut.  “It’s actually a wonderful story.  And since reading Donnie’s favorites was doing no good, I thought I’d shake him up a little.  I like these historical romances.  And having his sister describe another man’s sexual prowess out loud should be enough to bring any guy around, just so he can shut her up.”
    Justin grinned, and Sam’s tension eased. 
    “How long have you been at it?”
    “A little over a week now,” she admitted.  “It takes me a long time to read.”
    “More time to enjoy it.  Me, I’m