Dangerous to Her Read Online Free PDF

under him, interrupting his reach for rock. He didn’t flail or kick the way Mattie would have expected. Instead, he hung suspended in air, his only lifeline his right-handed grip on the small overhang.
    Panic reared its ugly claws. The tornado swirled to life inside her, just like it had when they’d been together and she’d imagined him being gunned down on the job. Only now, instead of him lying in his own blood in an alley somewhere, she pictured Dom’s body falling to the ground and breaking into a hundred pieces.
    “Wait. He’s okay. Look.” The man next to her gripped her arm at the same time he spoke, and the human connection grounded her. She fought back her panic and focused again on Dom.
    When he slowly pulled himself up the few inches necessary to gain a two-handed hold on the wall, she let out a shaky breath and her heartbeat slowed to normal. Dom began to climb again, and she was vaguely aware of the man walking away with a mumbled “crazy bastard.”
    She agreed. He was a crazy bastard. She’d been right to question his chosen career—clearly being a cop was nothing more than a way to satisfy his suicidal urges—and to keep Jordan from him. At least now, the only one he was endangering by his crazed carelessness was himself.
    Sitting back on her haunches, she closed her eyes and let her head hang. What was she going to do now? Confront him? Bring her past crashing straight into her present? Swallowing hard, she thought of Jordan and how impressed she would have been seeing Dom climb that wall. Of course, she wouldn’t think of the danger he’d been in or the danger in which he might thoughtlessly place others. He’d still be a hero in her eyes.
    The stab of jealousy was unwarranted, but there nonetheless.
    No, she wasn’t going to confront Dom. She’d chalk this up to being a huge coincidence because it would serve her purposes. It would keep her and Jordan out of the past and firmly in the present, and it would also keep Dom out of their future.
    She opened her eyes, but when she looked up, Dom was gone. Surprised, she looked around and immediately saw him walking toward her. He’d donned a ragged T-shirt and was swiping at his face with a white towel. He stopped beside her, making her crane her neck to see him.
    “Ms. Nolan, right?” His voice was strong though slightly breathless.
    Purposely keeping her expression blank, she nodded. “Yes.”
    “It must have been you who left the phone book in the break room open. I saw the ad for this place. I’ve been looking for another rock gym for awhile.”
    Sure, he had, but she was more than willing to let him play whatever game he was pursuing. Still, she couldn’t stop herself from saying, “Why don’t you just step in front of a car and get it over with? It would be quicker that way.”
    His expression didn’t change, but his gaze flickered. He looked over his shoulder to where another man was starting to climb the same wall. Again, without a harness or cable. “There’s a safety mat underneath the wall,” he said softly. “You just can’t see if from here.”
    With that, he left. Mortified, Mattie stared at the floor beneath her.
    Okay, so he wasn’t quite as foolhardy as she’d thought. Didn’t matter. He was still an adrenaline junkie and she didn’t want anything to do with him. That went double for Jordan.
    “How are you doing?”
    She glanced up at her spotter, who looked as cheery as ever. She swiped an arm across her forehead and took a long gulp of water from her water bottle. Then she nodded, her expression grim. “Let’s do it again.”

Chapter 4

    Wednesday

    I f unwanted fantasizing could kill a woman, then Dominic had likely lured many women to their graves. Despite her best efforts, and whether he knew it or not, he had Mattie’s fantasies working overtime, taunting her with what she couldn’t have.
    What she didn’t want , she corrected.
    Unfortunately, Brenda was making it difficult for her to remember