Down by Contact - A Seattle Lumberjacks Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

Scranton,
and praying they didn’t find her. This morning she’d been ten
minutes late for her interview.
    With a tired sigh, Kelsie ducked into a
small coffee shop and ordered a small cup of drip coffee, even as
her taste buds craved a double mocha with whip. She counted out her
change. Unable to afford a tip, she smiled apologetically at the
barista. Setting up her computer, she connected to the wireless.
Dozens of emails from Mark filled up the screen, each one angrier
than the previous one. Mixed in were messages from her mother,
father, and brother, all chastising her for leaving Mark for
another man and breaking his heart.
    If they only knew. She didn’t have another
man. The last thing she wanted was another man in her life,
attempting to control her every move and emotionally breaking her
down until she became a shell of her former confident self. Mark
had almost destroyed her, turned her into a walking/talking Barbie
doll with no mind of her own. In some ways she figured it was her
penance for being such a selfish bitch in her teenage years.
    She stared out the window as the
never-ending rain pelted the glass. Across the street, a tall man
huddled under an awning. He wore a dark trench coat and a fedora.
The sunglasses on his face drew her attention. No one wore
sunglasses on a gloomy day like today. She squinted and pressed her
face closer to the window. The man removed the glasses and locked
gazes with her. Her heart rate sped up, and the hairs rose on the
back of her neck. A smug smile crossing his nondescript face sent
her reeling away from the window.
    She’d seen the man before.
    This morning when she left the Y, he’d been
there.
    And last night, he’d sat at a table near her
in Burger King as she ate dinner.
    And now here he was across the street.
    Kelsie swiped a hand across her forehead.
She hugged herself, suddenly cold even though she was sweating like
a jumper on the Brooklyn Bridge.
    Had Mark tracked her down, found her haven?
But how? She’d run halfway across the country, avoided using
anything that would have her name attached to it, gotten a
different car, and been virtually homeless.
    Unless—
    Zach.
    It had to be Zach. He’d called someone back
home and told them, and the news got back to Mark.
    She’d have a word with the Neanderthal. No
more cowering and hiding. She’d confront him for what he’d
done.
    She didn’t want to run anymore.
    * * * * *
    Weary and nursing the mother of all
headaches, Zach trudged out of the training facility. Sometimes,
well, most times, he didn’t think the facility was large enough for
both him and Harris. Especially tonight when Harris stayed to watch
game film and hogged the remote, refusing to replay or slow-mo when
Zach asked. Damn, when the season ended, he’d beat the living crap
out of the asshole, teammate or not.
    Zach stopped dead in his tracks when someone
stepped out of the shadows and blocked his path. As soon as the
dark figure moved into the dim light of the street lamp, he
recognized the tall, slender body. “Kelsie?” He glanced around,
wondering if she waited for someone other than him.
    She stalked up to him, fists shoved against
her thighs. Her entire body radiated anger. “Did you tell him?”
    He blinked several times and tried to make
sense of her words. “Tell who?”
    “You did, didn’t you?”
    “Who’s him? Tell them what?”
    “That you saw me.”
    “I never told anyone anything.”
    “You did. You called someone back home and
told them.”
    “I don’t have contact with anyone in Texas.
Haven’t for years.” He tiptoed lightly around this female landmine.
If the explosion didn’t kill him, the shrapnel from her anger sure
as hell would.
    “Are you sure?” She deflated a little. Her
shoulders slumped, and her chin lowered. Her eyes dimmed a
little.
    “Positive. I might be a lot of things, but
I’m not a liar. You should know that.”
    The remainder of her anger fizzled like the
remnants of a sparkler.