Hunt Me (Love Thieves #3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

altitude.
    “Good evening, Kit Kat. Enjoy your shower?” He rose and circled the table to turn out the chair he obviously meant for her to sit in. He’d abandoned his jacket and the tie. The deep-amber of his dress shirt matched his warm-brown eyes to perfection. The shirt opened three buttons at the collar and revealed a hint of the chest beneath.
    “Why are you on my plane?” She didn’t bother trying to retrieve the game right now. He had her at a complete disadvantage. She stood there without cosmetics, suit, or hairstyle. Her pajamas felt almost too sheer under the heat of his gaze. She suspected the shrewdness she’d glimpsed in him earlier was but the tip of a very deep iceberg.
    “Well, I’m about to have dinner with a very lovely lady. Or, at least, I hope I am.” The corner of his far-too-kissable mouth turned up in a hint of play. “Of course, you probably mean why am I on board to begin with?”
    She folded her arms and waited. Her insides jittered like a roadrunner on a caffeine buzz, but she kept her outward calm and focused. It didn’t matter about standing there barefoot in a tank top that didn’t disguise her nipples’ tingling reaction to his presence. It sure as hell didn’t matter if the first thought she had on seeing him was what he would look like without the shirt.
    Warning bells clanged in her head. Their first encounter on the curb, no matter how he tried to play it, smelled of contrivance.
    His presence on her plane—conspiracy theories bloomed from fewer facts.
    Jarod held up both hands, palms outward, and circled around the dining table to the forward-facing chairs. He retrieved his briefcase from beneath the seats and clicked it open. He glanced at her twice, making sure she could see his hands at all times, and pulled out a folder.
    The standard manila folder, with no names or labels to distinguish it from any other, was thick—nearly an inch thick.
    “You left the Costa Rica project notes in your limo. I tried to catch up with you, but you were already aboard. I explained to the captain and showed him my credentials. He called Fitzhugh, who vouched for me. Since I also have business in Los Angeles, I didn’t think you’d mind the company…or the additional challenge.”
    The plausible explanation threatened to take the wind out of her outrage, but it didn’t budge her suspicions or silence the clang of alarm in her mind. She didn’t like too many coincidences.
    She held out her hand and said nothing. He offered her another smile, but not as easily nor with as much humor. He looked worried.
    Good.
    She carried the folder and retreated to the side to pick up a phone. “Captain, please ring me through to Miles Fitzhugh.”
    The captain completed the call while she kept her gaze on Jarod. The folder contained exactly what he said it did. The facts and figures of the Costa Rican deal—a folder she had put into her bag in the conference room. She didn’t make mistakes in business, and she hadn’t opened her things during the limo ride.
    He would have to be pretty slick to have filched it right under her nose.
    Miles answered the phone on the third ring. “Fitzhugh.”
    “Miles, it’s Katherine.” She assumed the smooth, mildly flirtatious tone she often used with her father’s older business executives—it placated and tempted at the same time.
    “Good evening.” He sounded worried.
    He should be.
    “Yes, could you please explain to me why Jarod Parker is aboard my plane?”
    The awkward silence followed by Miles’ pained cough told her he hadn’t wanted to agree to this, or was, at the very least, mildly embarrassed. She waited, allowing him a moment to gather his composure. Jarod leaned against the table, hands resting against it in relaxed fashion. But, despite his posture, his eyes narrowed and the corners of his mouth tightened.
    “I’m sorry, Katherine. I should have warned you. Your father….” He hesitated.
    Her father.
    Dammit!
    “I see. He put you