Leave Me Breathless Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Look, there are about a hundred women who would love to say they got nailed by the popular young judge. You’ve got power, and that stupid robe seems to drive the courthouse ladies wild. You need a good time? Pick one of them.”
    Ben tried to think of something less appealing. “I can’t date anyone who works for me or in the same building.”
    Mark stopped. Even gave a forced smile. “Then you have your answer.”
    “To what?”
    “Callie works there. Right in your office, in fact. By your logic, she’s in restricted territory.”
    “She doesn’t really.”
    Mark shrugged. “Besides, she probably isn’t interested.”
    “What about my aphrodisiac robe?”
    “You’re not her type.”
    Ben refused to ask. This amounted to brotherly warfare. He set his empty bottle in the sink and thought about… Hell. He turned back around. “What’s her type?”
    “A guy who’s smart enough to take a bodyguard without whining when one’s offered,” Mark said as if he’d been waiting to fire off that response.
    “You’re wrong.”
    “About?”
    “Almost everything, but mostly about Callie’s feelings. She wants me back.” Ben was counting on being right about that important fact.
    “She better not.”
    Ben was thinking the exact opposite.

Chapter Four
    T he next day, Callie stepped off the elevator and rushed down the hallway leading to the private judges’ chambers. That was her deal with Mark. They would exchange the responsibility for Ben no later than seven thirty each work morning. The fact the plan worked a bit like a kid’s day care drop-off made her smile. She bet Ben loved that.
    But funny or not, she vowed to arrive even earlier each day and get settled in. Since she didn’t have any real paperwork to do, getting ready for work consisted of walking through the office’s four rooms and reception area to make sure no one else was there. The only barrier between the elevator and the office was a sign at the top of the hallway that read “RESTRICTED AREA” and warned of electronic monitoring. Yeah, that would stop the bad guys. Stern written warnings always scared men who liked to blow things up.
    Idiots.
    She made a mental note to go a second round with Sheriff Danbury over the need for a guard station on each of the floors where the judges had offices. She knew the man would ignore her, but there was an “I told you so” moment coming and she planned to be ready for it. The truth of looming disaster gnawed at her gut.
    Her shoes tapped against the marble floors as she walked past the stupid sign. There was something unsettling about knowing security guards sat in a room somewhere in the building watching her walk. Kind of made her want to do something inappropriate, but since the gossip about her new position with Ben had already started rumbling in the women’s restrooms and at the tables in the cafeteria she skipped the offensive gestures. It had been hard enough to make a salad under all those watchful eyes at lunch yesterday. No need to make people think she had an insanity issue on top of having a mysterious job.
    She stopped at the far end of the hall near the emergency door to the stairwell. The locked door on the right side led to Ben’s offices. The one directly across on the left led to Emma Blanton’s space. A very convenient arrangement for their so-called friendship and for anyone who might want to take the judges out together.
    Callie swept her key card through the reader and heard the door click open. On her second step, her heel hit on something that made her leg slide a few inches. She noticed the envelope with Ben’s name on it. Reaching out, she closed the door behind her.
    The air in her lungs started to whirl, but she refused to panic. The man was a judge. He probably got messages under his door all the time. It could be work or personal. It didn’t mean anything. Because her stomach kept jumping around, however, she decided to ignore the rational theory and