Danger Mine: A Base Branch Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

quicksand.
    “I’ve gotta go,” she said into the phone.
    “Good luck with it all. And hey, we always have a room or six, if you want to come visit.”
    Khani ended the call and shoved the phone into her pocket before her shaking hands dropped it. What the hell? In countless missions, dodging bullets and blades, covered in blood, hers and others, her hands never shook, no matter how steep the adrenaline drop afterward. She fisted them and crossed her arms over her thrashing heart.
    Her lips suddenly seemed as dry as the cracked edge of the walkway. No way could she speak. Not that she knew what to say anyway. She dragged them into her mouth and whittled her gaze.
    The jacket and hat no longer hid his features. What a shame for her heart health. He stood, relaxed, on his heels, as though he hadn’t just parked a tank in front of an oncoming train. One hand pressed leisurely into his back pocket. The other hung at his side. Veins swollen, probably from his quick escape, contoured a forearm as wide as her thigh. An extra-large white T-shirt—she knew from experience—molded to every bulge and curve of his traps, pecs, and round shoulders.
    His casual air, the one with which he interrupted her hard-fought center irritated her out of the momentary stupor. She tightened her fist in preparation to jab him on the square jaw or knock him upside his fat head. “Why are you here?”
    The nostrils of his broken-many-times nose flared.
    Khani salivated like a fucking dog in heat. She refused to swallow, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of knowing the effect he had on her.
    “To buy you dinner,” the Englishmen—who sounded more Irish than Brit—said.
    His voice ratcheted her insanity to a whole new level. She hadn’t heard it in months and it had been one of the things she found most appealing. His voice gave sound to his thoughts, which were often insightful. It was as if he’d lived four lives already and took the knowledge gained with him to the next. It had surprised the shit out of her at a time when not much stunned her.
    She swallowed. Fuck him. “You’ve already eaten.”
    “But you haven’t.” He nodded in the direction of the restaurant.
    “We don’t have reservations and your window seats were taken.”
    “You needed a minute to adjust to the idea.” One side of his mouth quirked.
    “What idea?”
    “The idea of seeing me again.”
    “Pompous ass.”
    “So, my being here doesn’t bother you at all?”
    “Why would it?”
    “Great. Then let’s eat. Don’t worry. I’ll get us a table.” He turned toward Sushi Capitol and waited. He’d goaded her into that one. Yet another thing he did well—maneuvered people.
    She’d mounted the ranks in a male dominated profession. She’d faced countless enemies and come out on top every time. She could share a meal with the man she’d let come inside her body. Couldn’t she?
    An inhale meant to fortify revealed just how shaky her nerves were. They rattled together like chains in a haunted house. One foot in front of the other. That’s how she’d survived training and that’s how she’d survive Street.
    Khani stuffed her hands into her jacket, took a step, and then another. The smell she’d never been able to pin down caressed her cheek. Her steps sped, bringing her even with Street, and then propelling her past him. She didn’t like anyone at her back, but it beat looking at him.
    She grabbed the door handle and yanked it wide. In the time it had taken her to make an ass out of herself in the alley, talk to Law, and confront a man she never thought she’d see again, the crowd had eaten their fill and thinned. Street drew closer in the narrow foyer. She backed against the glass. Still his chest brushed her shoulder as he pushed past her and strolled to the waitress.
    When the young woman’s dark eyes lifted the two feet he towered over her petite frame her mouth literally dropped. The server nodded even before Street asked his question. Like