Caught in the Crosshair Read Online Free PDF Page A

man who does other people’s dirty work?”
    She jolted at the nearness of his voice. He was so close now she could smell the woodsy scent of his aftershave. For the first time she was keenly aware of just how tall he was. He had to be at least six-three, maybe more. Standing this close to her, he nearly dwarfed her frame at five-four.
    “No.” She didn’t think that. If Jaden Dean had dirty work to do, he did it for himself.
    It was high noon. The temperature was warm and humid, causing clumps of her long hair to cling to her neck. She pushed it away and drew a breath, craving fresh air, but only succeeded in piloting in the scent of him. Musky and male.
    Her heart beat too fast in her chest. “I don’t know what kind of man you really are.”
    “You don’t need to.”
    “If you’re trying to scare me,” she said, “it won’t work.”
    “I suppose you’re not trembling, either.”
    Frustration shot through her, because damn it, he was right. Refusing to give an inch, she shot back, “I’m cold.”
    “Try again.”
    With trembling fingers, she zipped her shorty and then struggled to buckle her buoyancy control vest. Thank God he’d turned back to the pile of equipment, no doubt searching for anything useful. She needed a second to pull it together and calm her rattled self.
    “I never could figure this thing out,” she said, hating how uneven and shaky her voice sounded.
    “Tighten it here,” he said, moving closer, his tone dropping an octave lower.
    His finger brushed across her stomach causing heat to swirl low in her belly. “Should be snug across the belly but not too tight under the arms.”
    The wind wound through his tight black curls.
    Lauren slipped on her weight belt, followed by her tank, ignoring the sensations igniting her nervous system from his slightest touch. He was dark and dangerous, and he’d just saved her life. Her body was simply reacting to that.
    “I don’t know anything about you aside from your name.”
    “No. You don’t.” He tanked up without breaking rhythm; his gruff tone suggested they were done talking. “If you want to stay alive, you’d better follow me.”
    She clutched the overnight bag.
    “You can’t swim with that.”
    Panic widened her eyes. “This is everything I have. There’s no more. I told you, I don’t bring this and my brother’s dead. I have to —”
    “You bring it, game over,
you
die.” As if to punctuate his sentence, Jaden picked up his gun and fired off a round into the water, emptying the chamber, and then tossed the clip overboard before securing his gun back inside his shorty.
    “What are you doing?”
    “Bullets on a Glock and water don’t mix,” was all he said. Then came, “And I’m serious about losing the bag.”
    Lauren flinched as she set it down, cleared her throat, and positioned herself on the edge of the boat preparing for the backward spiral into the water. The sound of a boat engine roared in the distance. Panic gripped her. They were getting closer.
    If they got the money, would they kill Max?
    “Hold on.” She grabbed the fire extinguisher, tied it onto her piece of luggage, and tossed it overboard. “That might buy Max a little more time if they find the boat.”
    Jaden winked approvingly, and her heart stuttered. She shouldn’t care what this man thought.
    She took her seat on the edge of the boat again. Normally, the water in the Caribbean was like glass, providing a clear view to the sand below, but the storm-churned seas had her diving in blind. Glancing down deep where the blue water darkened, she said a silent prayer nothing scarier than men with guns waited down there.
    Jaden looked capable of handling any situation that might come up under the surface or otherwise. That was comforting. The notion she felt comforted by the presence of a complete stranger with a gun struck Lauren as odd.
    “Stick close by me.”
    He fell backward, motioning Lauren to follow, looking half unsure if she would. She