Hands On Read Online Free PDF Page B

cuddle?
    Sometimes she thought that would never happen. Most of the guys she knew were still in party mode, into the bar-hopping scene, trying to stretch out another year of college so their parents would continue to foot their bills. A few were okay, just young and uncertain about the future, but a lot of them were jerks. Like Dalton Styles.
    That wasn’t fair. She didn’t really know him. But he had manhandled her.
    â€œCassie, are you there?”
    â€œI was just thinking about how good this is going to look for the agency when we help catch someone the Feds apparently have been after for a long time.”
    Silence, and then Jen sighed. “What do you know about this Dalton guy? I assume you saw his identification?”
    â€œOf course. I also checked him out. He was recruited out of college eight years ago. He’s earned numerous citations and two commendations for bravery and going beyond the call of duty.”
    â€œHmm, this seems like an odd case for someone of his caliber to be assigned to.”
    Jen was too damn smart. Cassie leaned a hip on the kitchen counter and took a sip of water. She’d decided to skip the part about the reprimands Dalton had received for being a maverick, and for bending the rulesas casually as you’d bend a straw. Jen didn’t need to worry.
    â€œIt doesn’t make sense,” Jen continued. “Bask isn’t supposed to be dangerous, is he?”
    â€œNo. He’s a snake who swindles lonely, vulnerable women out of money, but he has no history of violence.”
    â€œTell me again about this plan you and Dalton devised.”
    â€œWe’re going to pretend we’re married and go for marriage counseling at Bask’s retreat.”
    â€œHow will that expose him?” Jen was obviously holding the baby. Gurgling noises came across the line.
    â€œDalton thinks that Bask sniffs out a weak marriage where the woman would be vulnerable to him, and then manipulates the couple to split them up while getting the wife to become more and more dependent on him.”
    â€œYeah, okay. I can see that.” Jen paused to whisper something to the baby who was beginning to fuss. “Your message said something about possibly being gone for a week?”
    Cassie briefly explained the encounter week, carefully editing out the parts that would put her and Dalton into intimate contact. The more she tried to leave out, the more she realized she was crazy for agreeing to this ruse. Not just crazy, terrified.
    She would be stuck out in the middle of nowhere for a week with a man she couldn’t stand. A man whose kiss made her want to wrap her legs around his waist and not come up for air for a month.
    Oh, God, this was not good.
    â€œCassie, I’m going to have to call you later. Annie needs to be changed.”
    â€œSure.” She hung up the phone with a shaky hand, her thoughts already elsewhere. It wasn’t too late. She could call Dalton and cancel. He was a resourceful guy. He could make his case without her.
    She picked up the phone again and called the Marriott where he was staying, growing impatient when it rang too many times.
    She wouldn’t let him talk her out of changing her mind. If he thought he could, he had another think coming. When Cassie York made up her mind, that was that.
    Â 
    â€œA RE YOU SURE you wrote these directions down correctly?” She stared at the scribble on the pad of Marriott paper. “Or maybe you just can’t read your own handwriting.”
    â€œI can read it fine.” Dalton made a U-turn, their third of the afternoon. At this rate they’d be lucky to find the place by dark. “Obviously you don’t know a map from a grocery list.”
    â€œThat was a very sexist remark.”
    â€œWhat? Men don’t shop?”
    Cassie picked up her water bottle and uncapped it. “You can’t blame this on me. I wanted to stop at that gas station five miles back to