His Secret Child (Slade Security Team Series Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

wanted to say about it.
    Bethany turned and pulled two mugs down from the cupboard. She set them down with a sharp clink on the tile counter. “My own folks should have divorced and didn’t. They hung on all right—till the bitter end. We had the police over about once a month when the arguments got loud enough. Our folks never had time for us—they were too busy fighting. For Tayra, it left her hungry for attention, and not always in a good way. I buried myself in computer code. Sometimes I wonder if all of that left Tayra hating any kind of confrontation. She’d always rather bail on a boyfriend instead of standing her ground and having a fight about anything.”
    “But not you?” Slade asked. He heard what she wasn’t saying—how she came out of it just as much a fighter as her folks.
    She turned away, pulled open the fridge door, and took out half and half. “How do you take your coffee?”
    Slade was starting to think she was better than he was at ducking personal questions that cut too close to the truth. He picked up a cup, held it smooth and cool in his hand. “Black’s fine.” She poured it and used both hands to hold the pot steady. The steam and aroma reached him, and his mouth watered. There were few things better than that first cup of coffee in the morning. Bethany bit her lower lip as she poured, and Slade’s thoughts went back to that kiss. Okay, so that was better.
    He wanted to kiss her again—kiss her senseless, leave her eyes darkening with passion, and empty her mind. He wanted to drag off that shapeless T-shirt and see what she looked like naked, and fit his palms over her breasts. He wanted to smell her and taste her.
    But none of that would be smart.
    The tears could be an act—the timing was about right to hook him in with the poor female who needed a strong shoulder to cry on. She could play him now for a fool who could be won over with sex, and she’d probably be able to pull that off. He’d always been a sucker for damsels in distress. Besides, get any guy cranked up and his mind ended up down in his pants. Slade was still half hard from that kiss. He still wanted more from her. He had to be careful. She was beautiful dynamite.
    She poured her own coffee, added a large dollop of cream, stirred in two sugars. He smiled. “Take a little coffee with your cream?”
    She leaned a hip against the counter. “Let’s say I take you up on your offer. I…I have to tell you, my love life’s been dismal over the last few years, and completely non-existent over the last few months. I’m attracted to you. I’m not going to be coy about that. All of that means I’m not sure how smart it is to let you stay around.”
    “I’m too much temptation?” Slade asked. He couldn’t keep the humor out of his voice.
    Bethany nodded. “Something like that. But…Jason likes you. And you’re not wrong about him needing a role model of some kind. However, if this is part of some plan to get him away from me—”
    “You’ll rip off my head and let Jason use it for batting practice?”
    She smiled. “Something like that.”
    “Great.” He lifted his coffee to her. “Sounds like we’ve got everything all worked out.”

Chapter 7
    Bethany replayed Slade’s words in her head, over and over again, as she sat at her computer, staring at the code she was working on. Or rather, not working on. She was working on her own project right now, something that would identify if any tracking program was being run on anyone’s phone.
    The program would then send back a series of signals, causing the files that had originated from the phone or computer to destroy themselves. She wanted to get this done and put it out as freeware for anyone who wanted privacy to be able to have it. But without a hard deadline, she had no reason to pull late nights working on it. No reason to send Slade away.
    Was she wrong about this idea of letting Slade stay? Had one kiss left her wanting too much more from him?
    She gave