Collision Course Read Online Free PDF Page A

Smart.
    Good
initials for him. They suited the bastard he turned out to be. A
sanctimonious son of a bitch.
    She’d be
hard pressed to decide which of the two men she hated more. Probably the
uptight colonel. An example of chauvinism at its worst. Or best, depending on
the point of view.
    But
while Aaron Smart had tried to destroy her sense of self-worth, Paul Marsden
had ripped her heart out. Casey hadn’t given it lightly, either. She’d never
been someone who opened herself with ease to another person. She’d seen too
many crushed when intense relationships disintegrated. Except what happened to
hers was different and had been much, much worse.
    She’d
heard all the stories about battle zone love affairs. About how the atmosphere
of war creates a need for emotional escape. How you needed some kind of
sanctuary from the daily grind of battle and blood.
    What a
fool she’d been to believe herself exempt from such hunger. Paul had zeroed in
on her like a homing pigeon, working his magic on her a little at a time. He’d
played on her vulnerability, a neediness she seldom gave into. She’d always
found it better, working in a male-dominated venue, to never show
susceptibility. She’d believed Paul, though. Believed they shared more than
battlefield sex.
    The end
of the affair left her in emotional shock. She doubted she’d ever forget the
day she learned her rotation had ended. Her term was up, anyway, her discharge
days away. Paul came to her tent when he heard the news and she, the foolish
idiot, thought he’d come to make plans to keep in contact until he, too,
arrived stateside. His words were like a shower of ice water.
    “You
know how it is, right, babe?” The words said with a casual smile as he leaned
in the doorway of her tent.
    Right,
babe?
    Right.
Plunge a knife in my heart and leave before the bleeding starts.
    “But you
said—”
    “I said
what you needed to hear.” He’d leaned closer. “We’re a little short on females
out here, in case you hadn’t noticed. You were the best of the lot, the most
feminine, although that’s not saying much.”
    She’d
stared at him, shocked, at his cavalier words. It nearly destroyed her to be smacked
in the face with the vivid reality he was a man doing what predatory men
do—telling a girl what she wants to hear to get what they want. Then yanking
the rug out from beneath her when they discover—shock!—she thought they meant
it. He’d decimated her sense of self-worth.
    In
hindsight, she should have known better. But she had been drawn by his sexy
dark looks, a smile that made every part of her quiver with anticipation. His
knowledge of a woman’s body was second to none. She believed the seductive words
he whispered in her ear, the promises he made. He’d made her look forward to
the erotic nights after bloody days and given her hope for the future. In the
tense, warlike atmosphere of the Middle East sandbox, she’d been vulnerable,
and he’d known how to play off her susceptibility.
    Then
he’d brushed it aside as “business as usual during a war. Babe.”
    Casey
was proud of herself. Even while her heart shattered and tears threatened to
clog her throat, she’d managed a careless smile and brushed him away with a
wave of her hand. She hadn’t cried a drop until her plane landed in the good
old U.S. of A. Then she’d booked a hotel room and spent the night crying until
there was nothing left, leeching him out of her system before she had to face
people again.
    And she
did one more thing. His criticism of her femininity hurt much more than she’d
let on, so she indulged herself with a trip to a boutique specializing in sexy
lingerie. She still hadn’t recovered but she hid the pain much better now. No
one would suspect beneath her jeans and t-shirts or tailored blouses, she wore
lingerie to make a man hard just thinking about it. She’d also learned not to
trust any man again. Ever.
    Aaron
Smart was another matter altogether. Old-line