A Reason to Kill (Reason #2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

axe to the next contestant, and to my surprise and utter terror, made his way straight towards me.
    His eyes never left my face until he stopped at the water’s edge. Then he dropped his shirt and kneeled down dipping his hands into the cold water, cupping them. Since my ability to think, let alone speak, went south when all that muscle knelt down beside me. I said nothing out of fear he’d recognize me from the day before. Then, like it was my birthday and he was my present, he splashed water onto his sweat-covered face and neck, repeating this until the water dripped down his chest. Transfixed by the droplets, I watched the water run down all those hard nooks and plains. When he ran his strong fingers through his long hair, the front, curling down into his eyes, I stared spellbound, caught like a moth to a flame.
    “You feelin’ better?” A deep rumbling voiced asked. My brain, which was firing at half capacity, slowly registered his words. When my eyes shot to his, he was staring at me as if he expected an answer. So I stuttered like a fool and asked, “Feeling, feeling better?”
    “Yeah, babe, are you feelin’ better. I figured you’d have a headache after last night.”
    Dread crept in at his words and I knew then I was missing something important. My confusion must have shown since he smiled, pulled his shirt back over that gorgeous body, then sat down next to me leaning in. Then he rocked my world when he said, “You don’t remember what happened between us, do you?”

    Max chuckled as Mia’s expression paled, then turned bright red behind the dark glasses she wore. He figured she’d be fuzzy about the night before, but not so fuzzy that she wouldn’t remember him carrying her from the bathroom and out the door of the bar to her motel room. Jerry, who owned the motel, had let him into her room when they arrived. She’d been barely awake when he put her on her feet, then held her steady as she found her balance. She’d smiled dreamily at him as he held her close, slurring, “You have beautiful eyes, Paul Bunyan.” Then she’d pulled that damn Care Bears tee over her head and yanked off her sneakers and pants, showing him that stripper’s body as if she undressed in front of him every day. He’d had to ball his fists just to keep from reaching out to her. Then she’d stumbled forward, her ample breasts pinned to his chest as she’d reached up and caressed his beard. He locked eyes with her again as her tiny hand ran down his face and the sense of drowning returned as if he couldn’t catch his breath. Then she’d pulled his face down, got up on her toes, and kissed him softly on the cheek, whispering, “You’re like a big fuzzy bear. I love Grizzlies.”
    “Jesus, you’re a cute drunk,” he’d chuckled.
    She’d turned from him giggling and his eyes had moved to that firm ass of hers as she crawled into bed and passed out. He’d moved to the bed, positioned her on her side, and then watched her for a moment. When it was clear she was all right, he’d covered her and then left.
    When he noticed her at the water’s edge, hiding behind those dark glasses, he figured she’d come to say thank you for seeing her back to her room. Now that he knew she didn’t remember, he decided to have some fun.
    “What do you mean what happened between us?” she asked breathlessly.
    Max leaned in, pulled the sunglasses from her face, and he replied, “Uptown girl, I’ll have to work harder next time if you don’t remember callin’ me your grizzly bear.”
    “What?” she whispered, then continued flustered, “no, no I didn’t, I, I, you, you scowled at me and then, and then I saw you, I saw you at . . . oh, God, the bar.”
    Like she was searching for an answer to all her questions, she leaned in and looked closely at his eyes. After a moment of searching, while Max tried to keep from laughing, she closed her eyes and whispered, “I’m never drinking again.”
    Christ, that did it. Max laughed