Jace Read Online Free PDF Page A

something more unique like she was?
    That’s it, he liked this woman.
He didn’t want any games between them. “I want to take you out. Tonight,
tomorrow, whenever. Tell me what kind of food you like, what things you like
and don’t like, and I’ll give you a time and place.”
    She gave him a big, wicked
smile. “Mr. Jace Mathews, are you asking me out on a date?”
    “Absolutely.”
    Her smile waned as she realized
how serious he was. He turned his chair to face hers directly. He wanted to see
her better. He liked her hair and how it looked in the light. It was long and
wavy but as light as champagne. No highlights or anything extra added to her
hair, but natural contrasts in her hair. A natural blonde. She had hair he
could wrap his hand around. This was good to know because he planned on doing
it—soon.
    “I thought I was supposed to
ask you out,” she said. There was stunned, teasing look on her face. “I don’t
make it a habit to ask men out. I have before but not to someone as…manly as
you.”
    “Manly?” That made him want to
laugh—and preen like a peacock.
    “You’re healthy and fit and you
drive a big black truck. All manly things.”
    His smile flashed and hers grew
even brighter, white teeth shining. That only made his smile grow until his
cheeks hurt. He wanted to kiss her. Bad. As his mind worked out a strategy to
win a kiss before she left his office, her smile faded.
    “So, I came here about
something.”
    Instantly on alert, he sat up.
“What happened?”
    “See, it’s kind of hard to
explain but…”
    “Try me,” he encouraged.
    She sighed, looking like the
walls of her life were scraping her at the shoulder and closing in quickly.
“Someone was in my house.”
    A muscle in his neck tightened
to an unbearable level. He rolled his head to loosen it. “A robbery?”
    “No, no. It’s…you’re probably
not gonna believe me. It sounds crazy.”
    Meaning it was probably worse
than better. “Try me,” he said.
    “You see, I was in an a bad
relationship a while back. Corey…he’s not all there in the head. I thought he
was when we first got together.” She paused, as she shook her head. “You don’t
need to know that. What you need to know is that he’s hurt me in the past. I do
have a restraining order on him but that didn’t stop him before. Also, I think
he was in my house last night.”
    Every muscle in Jace’s body
froze. Only his eyes blinked. “Why do you think he was in your house?” Every
instinctive urge inside him wanted to wrap her up in his arms and shield her
from all harm. He couldn’t help it; by now it was instinctual. His mom had been
through the very same thing Mara had.
    Her shoulders sagged. She
looked tired. For a second he hesitated, but instinct took over and he placed
his hand on top of hers. She stiffened at the touch, then relaxed. “I know he
was. When I woke up, the thermostat was turned on to heat and the temperature
was turned up to ninety-three.”
    “That’s certainly odd. What’s
the significance?”
    Her eyes fell to the floor.
“It’s…not important. Trust me, it’s not. Just know that it’s something between
Corey and me and it’s pretty important.”
    It was curiosity that got to
him, but as her security specialist, if she did have a stalker problem, then he
needed to know everything about the situation.
    “I want to help, but I need to
know about the gritty details.”
    Her fingers twitched beneath
his hand as she started to pull her hand away. Of course. This sort of
handholding was premature. But then soft fingers tangled with his, pressing
close, palm to palm. She’d turned her hand around to hold his. He looked at
their joined hands and felt…a surge of power in his chest, like he was
Superman, capable of flying right through the roof and out into the universe.
The moment faded as he adjusted to the sensation, but still he nearly trembled
with the power of emotion he just experienced.
    “I don’t tell my own mom