COLE (Dragon Security Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

room—“are my witnesses. He grabbed me first. Twice. He fucking deserved what he got.”
    I stormed out of the building, as best as I could, and wrenched open the door to my car. Tina ran up behind me and pressed some crumpled bills into my hand.
    “Your tips for tonight.”
    I kissed her cheek. “Thanks.”
    “You’ll be okay. You’ll find something else.”
    We both knew there was nothing else in this town, but I nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
    I half fell, half wedged myself into the car and turned the key. Of course the starter chose that moment to die completely. Just a grinding sound filled the car. This car wasn’t going anywhere tonight.
    And that was the last straw.
    I slammed my hands against the steering wheel over and over again, a scream slipping from my lips before tears just flowed like an open faucet. What was I going to do? This baby was due in three weeks and I didn’t have a job, my electricity was about to be turned off, my cell phone was already off, my water would be turned off next week. I had no groceries, no gas money, and no way of getting this damn car fixed! I had nothing.
    If not for the baby…
    “Let me drive you home.”
    I’d almost forgotten about Cole. He knelt beside my open car door and looked up at me.
    I shook my head. “I don’t need you.”
    “You need someone. Your starter’s gone. This car isn’t moving unless you have the money to call a tow truck.”
    I groaned. I couldn’t even do that. And if I left the car here for longer than a day or two, Art would have it towed. Then I’d have that mess to deal with.
    Could things get any worse?
    The pain in my back suddenly tightened. It’d been doing that for two days now, and it was beginning to drive me crazy. Like the constant pain wasn’t enough, it had to get worse on regular intervals. I wanted this baby out. I wanted my body back. But then I remembered I didn’t have a crib, I didn’t have but two little cute outfits to dress the baby in, and I only had a single pack of diapers. How was I going to take care of a baby with that?
    I scrubbed at my cheeks with the back of my hand. No matter how hopeless it all seemed, I wasn’t going to give Cole Bradford the satisfaction of watching me fall apart.
    “I’ll get a ride from someone.”
    “And then what? Are you going to fix the starter yourself?”
    “If I had the money for the part.” I saw surprise burst into his eyes. “I know how to work on a car. Do you?”
    He made a waving gesture with his hand. “Let me drive you home. I’m going there anyway.”
    “How long are you going to watch me?”
    “Until we identify that stalker of yours. That is, of course, if he ever shows himself.”
    “Maybe you scared him off.”
    “Maybe.”
    He stood up and held out his hand to me. I reluctantly took it, aware that he was right about what he’d said. There was no point bothering someone else for a ride when he was going that way anyway. And I could really use a nice, long, hot bath while I still had water.
    His car was…I’d never sat in a car like this one before. The seats were leather and smelled like leather. Everything was bright and shiny, and there were more electric gadgets than I was pretty sure were required to operate a car. It was fascinating. I wanted to run my hands over everything then pinch myself to be sure I wasn’t having some sort of fantastic dream.
    But I kept my hands to myself. The baby was wiggling deep in my belly, rubbing against my bladder like he wanted to play basketball with it or something. But then his foot pushed out against my upper belly, just above my belly button.
    “What’s wrong with your stomach?”
    I glanced at Cole. “What do you mean?”
    “It’s oddly shaped there.” He made a sort of pointing gesture toward me. “It wasn’t like that a minute ago.”
    “It’s the baby. That’s a foot.” I reached for his hand. “You can touch it.”
    He pulled away. “I don’t want to hurt it or anything.”
    “You