A Seductive Melody (The Kelly Brothers Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

alone, too. “I don’t have to tell you anything.”
    He fished a few bills out of his wallet and threw them on the table before grabbing his helmet and stomping out the door. He was done with this crap.
    “Stop it right there,” a stern female voice called after him.
    He drew to a stop a split second before Rebecca grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. “What is your problem?” she asked, her body rigid with anger.
    “Maybe you’re my problem.”
    “That’s bullshit and you know it.” She rammed her finger into the center of his chest as she drove each point home, backing him into the alley between the café and its neighbor. “You’re so angry at the world that you’re willing to blame everyone for your problems but yourself.”
    He’d been brought up to never strike a woman, but she came pretty damned close to pushing enough of his buttons to make him consider shoving her out of his way. Instead, he drew up every inch of his height so he towered over her and dropped his voice to issue a low, sinister warning. “And that’s where you’re wrong.”
    But instead of cowering, she held her ground, her face inches from his. “Then prove it.”
    Intimidation wasn’t working with her, and for the wildest second, he fought the urge to kiss her. Maybe that would shock her enough to leave him alone. But he kept his arms at his sides, his eyes locked in the staring match they’d entered. “You first.”
    “Fine. I don’t know what your story is because you won’t share it with me, but Gary knew enough about you to think I’d be able to help, and I trust his judgment.”
    “You want me to open up, and yet you purposely evaded several of my questions in there. How do you expect me to trust you when you obviously don’t trust me?” He turned on his heel and made it three steps before she called out his name. His mind told him to keep walking, but something else made him halt.
    “You’re right,” she said, and his defenses cracked. He’d been so ready to say the hell with this, but with two little words, she’d managed to temper the rage boiling inside him.
    She approached him slowly, circling around him at arm’s reach like she expected him to take a swing at her if she got too close. Her face remained wary as she studied him. “Can I trust you?”
    He drew a breath into his lungs and held it while he weighed the cost of listening to another word from her. So far, she’d managed to get under his skin more than any other woman he’d ever known—in both good ways and bad ways. And if he opened the door to her, she’d keep invading his personal life until she knew all his secrets.
    But if he held one of her secrets, he could use it as leverage for when she got too close.
    “You can trust me.”
    She glanced over her shoulder at the pedestrians on the sidewalk behind them before pushing even further into the alley. The smell of rotting garbage wafted around them, but she seemed oblivious to it. “Have you heard of Shore Hotels?”
    “Who hasn’t?” He’d stayed in his fair share of the luxury hotel chain’s rooms when he was touring.
    “My great-grandfather started them.”
    “You’re Becca Shore?” Her confession set off a chain of recognition that unfolded like a clap of thunder. Images of a blond, tanned, partying heiress who frequently graced the tabloids a few years ago flashed before him. They seemed so at odds with the calm woman in front of him, but when he looked closer, he recognized her face. It was a bit fuller, and she’d traded the bronzed glow for a flawless ivory complexion, but the eyes were the same.
    She ran her fingers through her dark hair, one side of her mouth quirking up in a half smile. “Would you like to see my driver’s license?”
    “No, I believe you.” And more important, he finally understood why Gary had suggested she help him out until he had a sponsor. If anyone knew about trying to stay clean while under the pressures of fame, it would be her.