Deep Trouble: A MacKenzie Family Novella (The MacKenzie Family) Read Online Free PDF Page A

cops on his payroll, it explains how he found us. He probably pulled your registration from the DMV database. After that, it was just a matter of looking for places you might hide.”
    Kylie cursed her stupidity for staying put. “I knew I should’ve kept driving.” Her pulse picked up the pace, and she cut a glance in the direction of the road beside them. Not that she could see anything other than the shadow-lined interior of Devon’s car with how she was slumped way down in her seat. “Don’t you think he’ll find us again? I mean, we’re only what? Five miles from the motel?”
    Devon lifted a shoulder, his leather jacket shushing in the dark. “We just have to lie low and wait to find out. Speaking of which, slide down lower in your seat so you’re completely out of sight. You can move it back a little farther if you need room for your legs.”
    She did what he asked even though logic warred with her instinct to trust him. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t this make us sitting ducks?”
    “No. It makes us tactically smart. Fagan is probably tearing up the highway right now with his hair on fire trying to find us in a place that we’re not. We have a clear path to the on-ramp as an exit strategy on the off chance he didn’t bite. I know I can outrun that Escalade he’s in.” Devon flicked a glance through the windshield at the hood of the muscle car. “But I don’t want to unless I have to.”
    “Oh.” Way to offer up the lamest response in the galaxy . Devon’s plan made sense, she guessed. At least, it would have if sitting still wasn’t going to give her the mother of all panic attacks.
    Kylie swallowed hard, forcing herself to focus on something that wasn’t the possibility of Fagan finding them in short order. Her eyes landed on Devon, and she took a minute to really check him out.
    He looked so different than the quiet, easy-to-smile guy she remembered, to the point that she hadn’t recognized him in the parking lot. Now that her vision had adjusted to the scant light and the shadows in the car, she could make out his harder features in detail—the sharp blade of his nose, strong cheekbones, firm mouth. His hair was dark blond, but really, that was half a guess since it was short enough to make her unsure. Although he’d lifted his hand from her shoulder in order to take a low, defensive position in the driver’s seat, Devon was still within less than arm’s reach, his body coiled with controlled tension.
    Oh, his body. Even through his jeans and leather jacket, Kylie had been able to discern that he was bigger and more imposing than he’d been five years ago, one hundred percent muscle. Hell, he’d been pressed against her hard enough in the parking lot to prove it. But Devon wasn’t just bulk, clumsy force with no follow-through. His body was dangerous and graceful all at once, as if he was spring-loaded, just waiting to unleash that intensity onto something. Someone.
    Jeez , it was hell-hot in this car.
    “Devon, I—”
    “Shh!” His demeanor changed in an instant. A ripple in the shadows on the dashboard at eye level told Kylie headlights had appeared at the top of the side road leading back to the highway, and oh God. She knew—she knew Xavier was too smart and too mean not to find them.
    “Devon. Oh my God, what do we do?” Panic lanced through her chest, spreading out to seize all four of her limbs in less than a breath.
    With a lightning-fast turn of his wrist, Devon had his weapon at the ready, his frame dropping low across the front seat. The move flattened his back across her chest and belly, and even though his legs remained on the driver’s side of the car, considering the size of his six-foot-plus frame? He couldn’t be comfortable draped halfway over her.
    “Shh. Easy.” The sound arrived on less than a whisper, Devon’s whiskey-brown eyes flashing up to hers as the headlights drew closer. He gripped his gun with his right hand, holding it carefully