Hard to Let Go Read Online Free PDF Page A

sleeping in this space. Her room had been in use by Nick’s SF commander’s son, Charlie Merritt, who’d been kidnapped by a gang and rescued by Nick’s team. But yesterday, Charlie had moved into the bedroom next door—Jeremy’s room. As in, with Jeremy.
    The thought made her smile as she grabbed some dry clothes.
    Her brother and Charlie were possibly the most adorkable couple ever. Despite Jeremy’s crazy outgoing playfulness and Charlie’s shyness, they just worked together in a way that made Kat’s chest all warm and fuzzy. Jeremy would flirt with pretty much anyone, but she’d never seen the younger of her two brothers so obviously enamored. Come to think of it, she was the odd-woman-out among her siblings—both of whom had found someone special during the past few weeks.
    Meanwhile, she was trying and failing to get rid of her ex. The one who, two months into their relationship, had gotten jealous of a colleague she’d been spending a lot of time with working on a case, including a few working dinners. Despite the fact that the colleague was happily married. At first Cole had apologized and convinced her that he just missed her, and his charm and her friends’ endorsement of his character made her believe he was genuine. But by the third month of their relationship, his comments and his behavior had come off as unreasonable, insecure, even controlling . . .
    The memories made her shiver. Or maybe she’d just caught a chill from the rain.
    She stepped into dry panties, hooked her bra, and pulled on a soft pair of black yoga pants. Examining her arms, she confirmed she still needed the long sleeves, and tugged on a white V-neck.
    God, how she hoped Beckett didn’t make a big issue of her freaking out. He’d just caught her off guard—in the exact same way Cole had. And, truth be told, she was mad at herself for not reacting faster to Cole surprising her.
    More worried about Cole than you’re admitting to yourself, Kat?
    “No,” she said out loud as she tugged a brush through her hair. Sighing, she opened the door and walked right into someone. Someone who was all hard muscle. Someone who smelled like soap and spice and man.
    Beckett stood like a wall, arms crossed over his chest and a stormy expression on his face.
    Kat’s heart raced. “What are you doing?”
    “I hurt you.”
    “What? I didn’t run into you that hard.” Rubbing her nose, she retreated a step so she didn’t have to crane her neck to meet his eyes. God, they were startlingly blue, the right one surrounded by a series of crisscrossing scars.
    His eyebrows cranked down. “When I grabbed you.”
    Duh, Kat . But feeling Beckett’s body up against her own, even for that split second, had short-circuited the wiring in her head. “Uh, oh. No. I’m fine, Beckett,” she said, hating for him to think that her yelp had been from pain. He could irritate the crap out of her, but she felt absolutely safe around him. He would never hurt her. None of Nick’s teammates would. And, unlike Cole, Beckett hadn’t squeezed or dug his fingers into her flesh. Now that she really thought about it, his grip had been rather gentle. “Really.”
    “Nick’s like a brother to me, and I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
    “Beck—”
    “So, I didn’t mean to.” He shook his head and his eyes seemed to look somewhere between them, like he didn’t want to meet hers. Or couldn’t?
    Why wouldn’t he believe her? Why did he seem so upset? Almost . . . ashamed? The vulnerability in his demeanor was so unlike the Beckett she’d gotten to know over the past five days that it tugged at her chest. Made her want to make it better, any way she could. She stepped forward, patted his mountainous arm and gave him a wry smile. “If you’d hurt me, Trigger, do you really think I’d deny it?”
    The corner of his lip quirked, just the littlest bit, but the humor died away again just as quick. He braced his hands against the door frame on either