Nobody's Lost (Rescue Me Saga #5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

send an invite. He’d worked hard to stay under the scope since his discharge. But Megan didn’t need to know that.
    Guarding her was not going to be an easy assignment, either. He hadn’t spent much time alone with a woman since Sherry left him. He’d topped a few women at a private dungeon in Santa Fe one night, but only because Carlos dragged him up there.
    Last thing he wanted or needed was another woman in his life. How many nights had he slept on the couch before his ex walked out, afraid he would hurt her during a night terror? His inability to be a husband anymore probably was the main reason she’d called it quits. That and she didn’t want to live holed up in a fucking cave in the desert, which was how she’d referred to the place he’d chosen to hide away from life.
    His refuge.
    Jesus, let me just finish this mission so I can head back there.
    The demons lurked on the edges of his consciousness. He couldn’t keep them at bay forever. Last thing he needed was for Megan to report back to Top that he was in desperate need of a shrink.
    She placed a mug of steaming coffee on the counter between them, and he removed his leather jacket. She stared at the Marine emblem ink on his forearm. He’d been drunk and on shore leave in Istanbul when that became his first and last tat back in 1998.
    He noticed a trembling in her hand. “You don’t have to worry about anyone hurting you. I won’t let anyone near you.”
    “That’s not what I’m worried about.”
    He waited, but she didn’t elaborate. He needed more answers from her. “Is there someone who might have wanted to hurt you by disrupting your life? A thwarted lover maybe?”
    “Sorry to be so boring, but I have no enemies or jilted lovers. I can’t imagine anyone having it in for me or wanting revenge, and Lord knows no one would be jealous of me.” She met his gaze. “Even if there had been some former lover, what would he want with my computer? I’m a photographer, but I don’t take those kinds of photos.”
    He wondered what she did photograph, but clearly the woman had no clue how beautiful she was if she thought no one would be jealous.
    “You don’t believe me.”
    He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
    “It matters to me.” She glanced at her empty glass before meeting his gaze again “I hate to disappoint a conspiracy theorist, but I’ve been solely focused on earning my master’s in fine arts and making plans to start my career. No time to date anyone on a serious level. I haven’t been in love since my high-school sweetheart, and we broke up in college.”
    “I can remember what it’s like to be that age. Intense…emotions.”
    “Well, those emotions ended long ago. Besides, my big brother scared him so badly on prom night that he couldn’t do anything—intense or otherwise—if he wanted to.”
    “I imagine Adam would make guys toe the line around you.” One thing was certain, Ryder wouldn’t cross that line. Was he afraid of Adam? Maybe. But what he feared most was dishonoring himself in front of his master sergeant.
    “Not Adam. I’ve only known him for about six months. He’s actually my half-brother. He disappeared from my mother’s life until last Thanksgiving. No, I’m talking about my other brother, Patrick. He was a pilot in the Marine Air-Ground Task Force and is working on his commercial pilot’s license now.”
    Ah. A Marine. Regardless, Ryder needed to find out who this old boyfriend was and have him checked out.
    Megan held up her hand. “Before you form a posse to search for my last boyfriend, he’s now happily married to one of my best friends, and they have three kids.”
    A shadow of pain crossed her eyes. She wasn’t being completely honest with him. Perhaps she still had a thing for him.
    *     *     *
    Something I could never give him.
    She stared at her empty snifter, but decided she’d had more than enough. Her lips began to tingle as numbness set in. She hadn’t slept in more