Hunting Kat Read Online Free PDF

force to steal her breath.
    He leaned in until he hovered a whisper away from her cheek. “Am I going to suffer bodily damage?”
    His voice did naughty things to her. Kaitlyn swallowed past the catch in her throat. She needed to find some of the metal usually strapped to her spine and reinforce it, or she might melt right there, in the curve of his arms. Tilting her head to one side, she let her hair fall in a curtain between them. “Maybe.”
    She felt his smile against her hair. Just when she thought the tension would kill her, he backed away—not far enough to open up the bracket he’d formed, but he’d given her space.
    She sucked in air as if she’d been held underwater. Then she took another long sip from her glass. Things fuzzed into a pleasant blur after another minute or two. Good scotch took the edge off a girl.
    “Before I risk excruciating pain, do I get a name? I’ll want to tell my medic where the damage came from.” His words came out light, but held a stronger note than curiosity.
    “Kaitlyn…” she stuttered as he gently brushed her hair away from her face, his fingertip running along her cheek. She kept her eyes fastened on her glass of scotch. “Kaitlyn Darah.”
    “Kaitlyn.” He more than said her name, it was as if he tasted it, savoring the way the word formed in his mouth. “I’m Chris Rygard. Or just Rygard.”
    Now there was something she could focus on. “Lieutenant Rygard.” She jerked her chin towards the epaulettes on his shoulders. “Commissioned officer.”
    He didn’t get arrogant the way most officers did, only nodded. A fact, nothing more and nothing less. She liked him better for it.
    As if she needed more reasons to like him.
    “I’d rather you leave off the rank.” He raised one eyebrow as he held out his drink to her.
    Hers proved empty again. Fancy that.
    She risked lifting her head and instantly regretted it, her face passing too close to his mouth. Needing fortification, maybe to restart her pulse, she reached for the proffered glass. Instead of passing it to her, he held it closer until the complex aroma of the scotch filled her nose. Hesitantly, Kaitlyn rested her fingertips over the back of his hand as she took a sip. Electricity zinged all the way up her arm.
    She wanted more, wanted to rub against him and feel skin against skin, purring the whole time. Confused, she took a hefty gulp, the scotch burning down her throat and into her lungs. Better the burn than to make the mistake of purring again.
    “How long have you been a merc?”
    She blinked at the question, absently running the tip of her tongue over her bottom lip as her mind tried to catch up.
    Rygard chuckled. “Do it again, sweetness, and I can think of a lot of things I could do to your lower lip.”
    “Only the lower one?” Now where had those words come from? Didn’t matter, she’d finally delivered a good comeback.
    He only grinned, his focus on her mouth.
    Kaitlyn cleared her throat, biting the lip in question. Suddenly, her mind filled with thoughts of what it would be like if he kissed her. Which would be a train wreck. It’d been a long time since she’d kissed and she probably sucked at it, abysmally.
    And wasn’t that a buzzkill? Still, she rallied, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin. She didn’t take the opportunity to widen the space between them.
    “A few years.” There, she’d finally managed to answer one of his questions with something other than a maybe or a stuttering mess.
    “A few years is a long time for a merc.” He said it as if it was fact.
    She shook her head. “My captain’s been a merc a couple of decades. I’ve got plenty of time to be me.”
    “That so?” He tilted his head to one side. Damn, even if she ducked he would see her blushing now. “And what are you?”
    Loaded question and he didn’t even know it.
    “A lot of things.” She should have gotten defensive. Normally she shut down, usually walked away. Instead, she sat there