Christmas Confidential Read Online Free PDF Page A

time to let go of Miri, and she tumbled with him as a second man stepped out of the shadows of the pillar. He gave his hand a shake, then flexed his fingers. “Damn. Lucky for you, I didn’t break anything.”
    “I tried to warn you!” Miri snapped.
    Warn? She hadn’t said a word, had just looked like a modern damsel in distress, body trembling, eyes shifting, head shaking the tiniest bit.... “That’s what you call a warning? Next time try screaming, ‘Dean, he’s not alone.’”
    The first man smirked. “Dean, I’m not alone. Now, this pretty little girl is our Christmas present to ourselves. We found her first, so we get to unwrap her. You, get up and get out of here. Blondie’s coming with us.”
    Slowly Dean sat up. His jaw was throbbing, and his left elbow hurt from contact with the pavement, which was damn cold for sitting on. Sliding his right hand behind him, he rubbed his jaw with his left hand, worked it from side to side and decided it wasn’t broken, though he might have trouble eating the big thick steak he’d planned on for Christmas dinner.
    “Listen, guys,” he said pleasantly, despite the pain. His jaw might move side to side just fine, but up and down hurt. “There are a lot of people in the terminal, and some of them are probably watching through the windows. On top of that, there are cameras everywhere. And on top of that, I have my right hand on an HK .45 compact that is guaranteed to make your Christmas very unmerry.” He paused to ease to his feet and pull Miri up, too, then suggested, “You don’t want the kind of trouble Blondie will bring. Turn around, walk away and find someone else.”
    The first man moved as if he were going to argue, but the second one waved him back. After a long, silent moment, he gestured again, spun on his heel and walked away.
    Miri clung to Dean’s hand as the first man followed. Thirty feet away, he looked back, giving an obscene wave, then they turned the corner and disappeared from sight.
    “Do you really have a gun?” she whispered.
    “I really do.” He grinned at her. “A really big one. And I’m really accurate with it, too.”
    When a moment passed without either man coming back, she abruptly let go of him and stepped back, burying both hands in the bear’s ragged fur. “Thank you.”
    “Aw, I bet it kills you to say that to me. My car’s back that way—”
    She took another step back. “I’m not going with you.”
    “You think I’m gonna let you go back inside and give those guys another chance? No way, Miriam. Wherever you’re going, I’ll take you.”
    “Let me?” she echoed, holding the bear tighter. “I’m a free woman. I can do pretty much anything I want. The State of Texas says so.”
    “Yeah, well, my state of mind says you can’t. Jeez, you don’t know how those guys were planning to celebrate. They could have raped you, beat you or killed you. You think I want that on my conscience because I couldn’t persuade you to be reasonable?”
    Regretting the last word instantly, he reached out before she could find the words to slice him to ribbons. “Strike that. Bad choice of words. I don’t think you’re being unreasonable at all. I just—” He dragged his fingers through his hair, then exhaled loudly. A thin vapor formed in the air between them. “I owe you, Miriam. Let me take you and that god-awful bear wherever you’re going. You don’t even have to tell me exactly where. You want to go to California? I’ll take you to L.A. You want to go to Colorado, we’ll go to Denver. You can make the rest of the trip on your own then if that’s what you want. Just let me do that much for you, okay? It’ll be my Christmas gift to you.”
    She stared at him a long moment, her eyes narrowed, still annoyed by that “reasonable” comment, then she started walking toward the Charger down the street. Before he caught up with her, he heard her mutter.
    “Boo’s not god-awful. He’s beautiful. And you question my