Collide & Burn Read Online Free PDF Page B

his wife. Since the boarder who had called them was absent, evidently not wanting to get involved, the police just shook their heads and left.
    Time for me to do likewise, and I started off.
    Wade stomped towards me, took my hand, and led me off to the side of the building. “Don’t you ever put yourself in the middle of anything like that again.”
    “Who the hell do you think you are talking to me like that?” Did I just say that? I never speak like that.
    “I own these stables, and I am responsible for anyone who works or lives here,” he said softly.
    When I turned on my heel, he reached for and held my arm. I gave his hand a glare and then turned the glare on him. He dropped his hand. “Charlie, when I saw her pointing that gun … at you, my heart stopped. Besides that, what happens here affects my ability to draw in new boarders.”
    “Then you should be grateful to me, because we averted a scandal.”
    “We did, but only because I advised Mr. James that it would be in his best interest not to mention a gun registered in his name being waved around at my farm when the signpost at the beginning of the drive forbids firearms being brought onto the property. He didn’t press charges against his wife because he was afraid of a lawsuit from me.”
    I eyed him. “How did you know the gun was registered in his name?”
    He grinned. “I made a lucky guess.”
    I laughed. It had been a soul-draining experience. There hadn’t been time to think that I could have been shot, even accidentally. Now it all flooded back, and my reaction was hysteria. I started laughing and couldn’t stop.
    Nerves will out.
    I sobered up and stopped laughing when he took me into his arms and laid those delicious lips on mine. Damn, but my knees buckled, literally, and I held onto him as he held me in place.
    I’ve read about knees buckling and thought, yeah, sure —and then it happened to me. He was my romance novel come to life. The bones in my knees … gone. What could I do but collapse into his embrace?
    He suddenly held me upright by my shoulders, but not in an embrace. He took a step back from me, and his blue eyes seemed glazed as he whispered, “Run away from me, Charlie … run .”
    I did just that.
    I ran up the stairs and into my living room. Clasping my hands, I paced between my easel and my desk, and then finally, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to paint or anything else, I picked up my bag and headed back downstairs. My stairs lead right from my living room to the outside. The fresh air hit me in the face, and it was good. I needed more.
    I needed to have a moment with Dee. I speed dialed her, and she answered. “Well, it’s about time, Charlie. Where ya been?”
    “Meet me at Joe’s Café.”
    “Sure, but I only get forty-five minutes for lunch today. Heading out now … you ?”
    “Yes, on my way.” Dee was my drug of choice. Right then I needed a tranquilizer. She had a way of sorting things out and lining them up. Yeah, she was a gadabout, but she was also practical and no-nonsense. Besides that, I missed her.
    As I passed Wade’s house, humming with construction workers in and out, I noted Mr. Hottie was nowhere in sight. But Blondie was . She pulled into his circular driveway, which had its own entrance from Mutton Road.
    I slowed and noted that she was dressed to kill in a clingy red suit, high Jimmy Choo heels, and a smile that said she owned the world. I supposed she did, because if she was there, he must have invited her—right?
     

 
     
    ~ Three ~
     
    I STIRRED MY COFFEE and sipped as Dee wagged her finger and said, “You won’t make it through this, Charlie. You aren’t the type that can jump in and out of bed with a guy and just forget him.”
    “So what are you saying?” I knew what she was saying. I don’t know why I asked the question. Maybe because what she was saying didn’t suit me. Maybe it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Maybe, though, it was the truth.
    “You know