Page 23 of Worth the Risk

Chapter 6

EXPECTING NOTHING LESSfrom him, Dan’s knock the next morning came at nine sharp. Bella gave him the news first thing when she opened the door.

“I’m sorry. My car is acting up again. Would it be okay if you drove?”

“That’s fine. What’s wrong with it?”

“I don’t know, but it won’t start.”

“I have a guy,” he replied. “I’ll ask him to look at it.”

“Would you? That would be great.”

Bella frowned. He’d carried on the conversation while looking off to his left. It wasn’t until she stepped out to see what he was staring at that the cursing and shouting registered.

Two sketchy-looking guys were arguing at the far end of the parking lot. One held a gun as the other tucked something into his jacket pocket. A jacket in July in South Texas was a big red flag, and so was the third guy, standing off to the side counting a stack of cash. They seemed not to care who was around watching, either.

“Get your purse. We’re leaving. Now,” he said in an ominous tone.

She didn’t argue, nor did she have a purse, so she pulled the door shut and followed him to his vehicle. Suggesting they take hers didn’t even occur to her once she saw his shiny black new-looking SUV. Like a gentleman, he opened the passenger door for her and shut it after she climbed in. The interior was immaculate, with plush leather seats and a new-car smell, which she suspected didn’t come from an air freshener.

When he slid behind the wheel, he issued a two-word order, “Seat belt.”

As soon as she buckled herself in, he backed out and sped out of the parking lot.

“Jesus, Bella. That fucking place... It was worse than I imagined.”

She knew it was awful and wasn’t about to debate him. What was the point? She leaned onto one hip and pulled out a folded sheet of paper.

“Here’s a list of apartments with addresses that are in my price range. They all have open viewings this morning.”

At the next red light, he took it from her, glanced over it, and laid it in the console cubby. “I have a few leads, too. Since we have time, what do you say we check out mine then work our way through your list?”

Appreciating that he asked rather than bulldozed over her wishes like most of the men in her family, she agreed. “Okay by me.”

Their first stop was a subdivision in north San Antonio. As they drove through the front entrance, she looked at the well-maintained two-story houses with pretty landscaping and manicured lawns. A few streets in, he turned down a row of townhouses, also well taken care of, and pulled into a space in front of the one on the far end.

It was three-stories with the ground level a drive-under garage. The second floor had a covered porch with a wrought-iron railing and the third had two dormered windows. The exterior was a warm butter yellow with white trim, and, making it even more inviting, two massive Boston ferns hung between the railing posts. She fell in love with it on sight, but at a glance knew it would be way more than she could afford.

“Dan, I don’t think—” she began, but he had already slid out and slammed the door on her comment.

When he came around and opened hers, she was hesitant to get out. “This is too much. I’m a waitress, remember?”

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