Mallory Rush - [Outlawsand Heroes 02] Read Online Free PDF

shared, the bond she'd forged with him during the nights she'd watched over him, pouring out her heart for hours on end.
    "When you talked to me," he said into the lengthening silence, "did you tell me secrets?"
    "Let's just say that you were such a good listener, I did a lot of gut spilling." Lori could feel her cheeks flush. "Pretty messy. Hopefully you won't remember anything I said."
    "Hopefully, I will." His smile deepened. "But have no fear, your secrets are safe with me. Just as you've proved that mine are with you. A rare and promising beginning to our relationship, don't you agree?"
    Their relationship, she knew, was infinitely more complex and far reaching than he could possibly grasp. How in the world she could prepare him for the reality of his situation, she had no idea. As for how he would take it, his reaction could range from shock to disbelief to rage—maybe all three.
    The longer she could avoid the inevitable, the better off he'd be. After the physical trauma he'd suffered, the last thing he needed was for her to heap on distress or confusion by asking him about the secrets he himself had spoken of. Whatever they were, they couldn't be half as horrible as discovering that all his friends and family were long gone.
    Lori hurt for him already. He would need a friend, a good one, to get through what lay ahead. And she was it.
    "My name's Lori," she said, extending her hand.
    He brushed a kiss to her knuckles. "I'm charmed."
    Deciding that she'd better get this lady-killer out of the tub and into some clothes before she said or did something she'd be sorry for later, she tried to pull back her hand. He tightened his hold and stroked a finger over her wrist.
    "Forget the soup. I'll go see what's in the—" fridge. Catching herself, she quickly amended, "pantry. While I do that you can dry off. Think you can manage by yourself?"
    "Perhaps." He returned her hand to his chest and lifted an eyebrow, suggestively. "Perhaps not."
    The thought of running a towel over those tough, lean muscles of his stirred her, made her ache in hidden places of both heart and heat. She was experiencing a sweet revival, and though good sense warned her not to, Lori offered hopefully, "I'll be glad to help."
    "How accommodating you are, my dear." He wrapped the endearment around his tongue in an easy, intimate way that rendered her spellbound as he led her palm to his shoulder and slid his own to her waist. "I'll accept your offer of help. But first, a request."
    Anything, she wanted to say. Lori was drowning in his slitted gaze and getting dangerously close to making a request of her own— kiss me —when he cinched his hold.
    "And just what might your request be?" she whispered.
    "I wish for you to come join me." He hauled her over, and she fell in with a splash and a gasp.
    He cupped her behind and pushed up so that her breasts bobbed against his chest. Water streaming down her face, she sputtered, "What—what do you think you're doing?"
    "Thinking is the business of philosophers. Doing is the business between us." He hiked up her full denim skirt while his mouth seemed to be in more places at once than was humanly possible.
    Biting her chin, sipping at her neck, tonguing her earlobe, he whispered hotly, "as you can see, my strength is fast returning. And none too soon. You are without doubt, the most delectable morsel of femininity to grace my company and straddle my hips in what seems forever. But alas, our time is short. Please, allow me to show my gratitude for your many kindnesses before I take my leave."
    Lori wasn't sure whether to slap his face or beg him to be more than generous in his show of mind-reeling, pulse-pounding thanks. She commanded herself to think, to get this crazy situation under control while she still could.
    "If—if you really want to show your gratitude..." More, please more. Her starved senses clamored for attention. So did her professional concerns. How could she be sure that he was entirely stable?