Alive at 5 (Entangled Ignite) Read Online Free PDF Page A

shifted his weight and finally felt compelled to look down.
    Men probably stared at her all the time. He had to admit she was great looking, and he had enjoyed flirting with her earlier, sympathized with her after Maxwell’s death. Even thought about looking her up and asking her out after he got back to his normal life. But when the satellite news truck pulled up, and he realized she was about to throw a huge spotlight on the company he was investigating, he’d gone stone cold. It had to be all business between them now. He couldn’t risk anything else.
    Reluctantly, he looked up again. She held his gaze for a moment, then abruptly turned away.
    He pulled his Ray Ban’s back into place so Samantha couldn’t read the intent in his gaze and strode toward her. He had to convince her to leave immediately, before she stuck her reporter nose in where it didn’t belong, asking questions and stirring up even more interest in the adventure vacation company.
    She remained near the camera, but luckily her photographer was walking back to their truck in the parking lot. The last thing he needed was the cameraman running around taking more pictures that might later air on TV. The publicity generated today would make his job much more difficult. He didn’t want either of them hanging around asking more invasive questions, scaring witnesses—and possibly the killer—and blasting crucial evidence across the evening news. Not to mention what she might dig up on him personally.
    Be nice , he told himself as he approached.
    That was his goal, but when he reached her, and she cocked her head as if in challenge, his true feelings stormed out. “How can you do that?”
    “Do what?” Her face was still red and puffy under a new layer of makeup that didn’t quite hide her distress.
    “Turn your emotions on and off like that. One minute you’re crying hysterically on my shoulder, the next you’re this indifferent journalist reporting a death as if the man was a stranger to you. Don’t you feel bad about that?”
    Her eyes looked as if they would pop out of her head. “It’s my job. It’s what I have to do, like it or not. Some of us have to work to survive.”
    “What you did was cold.” He knew he was pushing her buttons, but couldn’t help it. His past experiences with reporters had left a bitter taste in his mouth.
    Samantha cast an icy stare his way. “Then I’m sure you’ll be glad to know I froze on live TV. Couldn’t speak a word. No one knows what happened to Maxwell because I couldn’t even breathe long enough to get the story out.” With each word, her voice rose in pitch and volume. She swiped the back of her palm against her cheek, smudging a black streak of mascara across it. “Now, I’m probably going to be fired.”
    Taken aback, a flash of regret slugged him. And shame. When he was a kid, his dad’s condescending words had cut through him on a regular basis, making him feel small and worthless. Stupid and unworthy. How could he be so quick to make another person feel the same way, deserved or not? And apparently he’d been wrong about her.
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t—” He shook his head. He really was sorry. But he also wondered how much information had made the broadcast despite her freeze-up.
    A man behind them cleared his throat.
    Zack whipped around.
    One of the cops who’d arrived earlier in a marked cruiser sauntered up to Samantha. He was dressed in khakis and a dark green polo shirt with a Pasco County Sheriff’s Department emblem on one side. Casual for a detective. Zack could spot a Homicide dick a mile away.
    “Am I interrupting anything?” the detective asked Samantha. The dude was tall, with a body-builder’s physique, and he moved toward her in a familiar way.
    “Not at all, Stuart.” She shot Zack a guilty look. “I mean, Detective Johnson. I wish you’d arrived a few minutes earlier. Maybe you could have saved me from a total meltdown on TV. Again.”
    “Meltdown?” The