Never Let Go Read Online Free PDF

move on to the weather.”
    That glint of fire was back in her eyes. “Damn it, Justin Whitmore, you are the most impossible man I have ever met in my life. I thought when you suggested dinner, you might be mellowing toward me just a little, but you haven’t, have you?”
    “It depends on what you mean by mellowing,” he said cautiously. “If you’re referring to professional respect, maybe. If you’re referring to trust, let’s just say I’m still withholding judgment.”
    His lips curved into an unwilling smile. “If you’re talking about my being attracted to you as a woman, I’d say I’ve definitely mellowed. In fact, if I weren’t so damn tired, I’d spend the rest of the night showing you just how attracted I am.” The admission, made lightly, was all too true. Even now, his body was responding to her in a way that he’d never intended.
    If he wasn’tparticularly pleased about it, Mallory Blake was incensed. “Oh, no, you wouldn’t, you pompous ass.” She seethed with what he knew was thoroughly justifiable fury. He was surprised she didn’t jump up and punch him in the nose. She looked as though she wanted to, but she settled for berating him verbally. “Do you honestly think I’m flattered that you’re interested in my body, when you’ve just finished saying you might respect me and you barely trust me? Work on the respect and trust, doctor, and then we might have something to talk about.”
    “That’s an intriguing invitation.”
    “It wasn’t meant to be.”
    Justin chuckled, the knot in his stomach unraveling. “You are—”
    Her eyes narrowed threateningly. “If you say one word about my being beautiful when I’m angry,” she warned, “I will dump that entire chicken dinner on top of your overactive hormones.”
    He threw up his hands in mock surrender. “Never. I was simply going to say that you are the most fascinating woman I’ve ever known.”
    “Humph.”
    He regarded her warily. “Does that mean I can stop worrying about getting my lap doused with chicken and rice?”
    “Maybe.”
    “When will I know for sure?”
    Suddenly she grinned and that flashing smile made his heart thump crazily in his chest. One of the things he found so beguiling about her was her knack for letting go of her anger so readily, for saying exactly what was on her mind and then moving on. She was apparently one of those enviable souls who carried around no excess emotional baggage.
    “When you’vefinished eating all the chicken,” she said primly. Their laughter bubbled up and ended the moment of tension, if not the sizzling feeling of awareness.
    For the rest of the meal, they stuck to safer topics, mostly focusing on Mallory. She described her childhood in Arizona, her two rambunctious brothers and devilish sister, her salt-of-the-earth mother and generous father.
    “Dad blustered and threatened a lot, but he never once took a switch to any of us. He didn’t have to. The minute he raised his voice, calling us by our full names, we knew the game was over. It was absolutely amazing how he could quiet a room, just by saying, ‘Mallory Marie, Theodore James, David John, Heather Jane, that’s enough now!’”
    Something painful tugged at Justin’s heart as he listened. Just when he sensed that Mallory was about to question him about his own childhood, he called for the check.
    “Sorry to end this so early,” he apologized. “I really am exhausted.”
    If Mallory was thrown by the abrupt end of their evening, she covered it well. “No problem,” she said quickly. “I’m amazed you’ve made it this long.”
    As they approached the hospital, she asked, “Where’s your car?”
    “Don’tworry about it. Just drop me at the front entrance.”
    Her expression was horrified. “You’re not going back on duty, are you?”
    Impulsively, Justin leaned across and brushed a kiss across her lips, which parted instantly in what he realized subconsciously was astonishment. He was every bit as