Line of Fire Read Online Free PDF

question sound like a mandate?
    “No, thanks. I think I’ll park on the couch and watch the news or something.”
    “Well, if you’re sure.” She frowned, obviously searching for some way to make him more comfortable. “Hungry?”
    Starving. “I can wait until you and Dad are ready for dinner.” With that, his stomach protested loudly, making a big liar out of him.
    His mom smiled. “How about I start early, then?”
    He laughed, then lowered himself carefully onto the couch. “Sounds good, Mom.”
    Apparently happy to have someone extra to spoil, his mother disappeared into the kitchen. His dad flopped into his favorite recliner, grabbed the remote, and turned on the television. The drone of a CNN newscaster filled the living room, punctuated now and then by the banging of a pot or pan from the kitchen.
    Tommy toed off his shoes and stretched out, comfortable in loose shorts and a T-shirt. “Thanks for coming to fetch me, and for the change of clothes.”
    His only answer was a grunt as his dad gave his attention to the Dow Jones. Tommy closed his eyes and had just started to drift off, thanks in part to the painkiller he’d been given before they left, when the older man’s voice broke into the pleasant fog.
    “What’s going on with you and that cute little curly-headed gal who works in the ER?”
    Tommy cracked an eye open to peer at his dad. “Not a thing.”
    “Sounds like a problem, the way you say it.”
    “You think? She doesn’t know I’m alive.”
    He chuckled, eyes twinkling. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that.”
    Tommy sat up some, wincing. “Why not?”
    “Because she made about a dozen trips past your cubicle.”
    “She was busy, Dad.”
    “I know when someone is hovering,” he said. “Besides, she even showed up when you were getting your noggin scanned. Checked on you, told me and your mother she was sure you’d be fine, and left.”
    His heart sped up. But her actions still didn’t necessarily mean anything. “She’s a professional, just doing her job. She helped treat me, and she probably wanted to reassure you both.”
    “If you say so.”
    “She’s going out with someone else,” he said, unable to mask his jealousy. “On Saturday. She’s bringing some loser to Zack’s wedding.”
    “Really? So what. Fight fire with fire, no pun intended.”
    “What?”
    “Show up with your own date. Give her something to think about.”
    He blinked at his dad. “I—I can’t do that.”
    “Why the hell not?”
    “Because I don’t want anyone else! I might blow any chance I’ve got with her.”
    “So you’re just going to let this girl walk all over you?” He snorted. “What happened to the boy who used to think it was his God-given duty in life to test-drive every woman under the age of forty?”
    “Dad,” he hissed, shooting a glance toward the kitchen doorway. A flush warmed his cheeks. “That’s not exactly the image I want to cultivate with Shea.”
    “Doesn’t mean you have to roll over, either. Given the way she was acting earlier, my guess is she cares for you a lot. I think you’d make your point. Give it some thought, anyway.”
    As his dad turned back to the news, Tommy tried to doze again. But the seed the older man had planted took root. And grew to the size of a football.
    His dad’s advice made a lot of sense. Why should he play the doormat? She’d known Tommy would be at the wedding; he was one of the groomsmen, for God’s sake! Obviously, she hadn’t spared a thought for his feelings. Or maybe she’d believed he’d given up the chase and she simply didn’t want to attend the wedding alone. Jesus, who knows what she thought!
    His pride would not, however, allow him to believe for one second that she preferred this other dude over himself.
    And he’d prove it.
    Pushing himself off the couch with a pained moan, he shuffled into his dad’s small study and closed the door. After walking over to the desk, he sat down and reached for the phone.
    Fight