Never Let Go Read Online Free PDF

bubble bath."
    Rucker kicked the bathroom door open and she instinctively cringed, covering her chest with crossed arms. The memory of something Valdivia had done was still too clear and she started trembling.
    Rucker walked in carrying a bowl of soup and a glass of milk, his face so tense that he could barely talk. "Don't shake like a scared rabbit," he ordered. "I won't touch you."
    He set the bowl and glass on the edge of the tub. His eyes scanned her huddled form, nonetheless. Suddenly he reached into the tub and grabbed the ankle nearest to him. Frothy water sloshed over the tub's rim as he jerked her leg up and examined the red scratches that started above her knee.
    "That's a helluva tundra you've been runnin' through, Eskimo. I'll see If I've got some antiseptic."
    Tenderness welled up inside her. She made a yearning sound in her throat and began to lower her arms. His mouth thinned with control. He released her ankle immediately and stood up.
    "We're not gonna trade sex for the money you need."
    Dinah cried out sadly. "That wasn't what I—"
    But he was already out the door, slamming it behind him.
    ***
    When she finished drying off she put the fur coat back on and twisted her slinky black robe into a small bundle of silk which she hid in the back of the bathroom linen closet.
    Dinah opened the bathroom door and gazed down in astonishment at the neatly folded white jogging suit laying on the floor outside. The sight of the familiar old outfit brought a poignant ache to her chest. Rucker had always loved this outfit on her.
    She dropped to her knees and clasped the soft material to her face, inhaling its fresh soap scent, the scent of Sunday afternoon washing.
    "Change into that and put the damned coat where I can't see it," Rucker told her.
    She looked down the hallway toward the living room. He stood there, legs braced apart, defensive as always. He pointed at the sable. "I don't want to see that ugly pelt again until you leave."
    "Okay."
    She smiled at him and he frowned. Dinah retreated back into the bathroom, holding the jogging suit to her chest as if it were a good luck charm.
    When she walked into the living room a few minutes later, he was sitting on the hearth reading the directions on a tube of ointment. A fire crackled on the grate behind him. He glanced up briefly then commented, "At least your hair looks better."
    "Thank you." She curled up on the couch and wondered how she'd ever be able to maintain her casual expression. She couldn't stop watching the sensual play of firelight on him. Red and gold streaks shone in his rumpled hair; flickering shadows highlighted his rough-cut features and thick mustache.
    Her lips parted in a sigh while a sweet feeling of desire melted inside her. She felt her body flush as warmth spread up her abdomen and across her breasts. How many nights had she lain alone in the dark. imagining every detail of him, almost feeling his touch?
    "Your hair got long," he said brusquely, without looking up.
    Dinah hid a smile. He couldn't pretend to read the antiseptic's instructions much longer. "Do you approve?"
    "Do you care whether I do or not?"
    "Yes." She had vowed not to cut her hair until she returned to him for good. It was a talisman of hope.
    "Hmmph. Now that it's all braided, you look more like yourself. Seein' you with messy hair is like seein' the Mona Lisa with a frown."
    Dinah patted the fat French braid that extended down the middle of her back. "I turned thirty-one last fall. I have a few gray hairs now."
    "I have plenty. They're all in my beard, though."
    She looked at him sadly. "I've never seen you with a beard."
    "I grew one for a while last fall."
    Dinah's chest tightened. He had grown the beard soon after she left. "Why? You always disliked beards."
    "Shavin'was just too much trouble."
    She nodded, understanding the hidden meaning. He hadn't cared how he looked. She had gone through the same phase. "I bet you did a fair imitation of a grizzly bear."
    "That's what