Protector (Copper Mesa Eagles Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

utter fucking bastards , he thought. They can do whatever they want with me, but an innocent woman?
    She has nothing to do with this .
    Then he heard a click in the doorway and whirled around, breathing hard, ready to fight .
    Ellie stood there, pointing a gun at him.
    For a moment they just looked at each other. The hand around Garrett’s windpipe slackened. He felt like he could breathe again.
    “You’re okay,” he said. He put one hand to his forehead, nearly sagging with relief.
    “Did you do this?” she asked, her voice tight.
    “I thought they took you,” he said. “I got here and the place was destroyed, and you were gone, and I just thought the worst.”
    Ellie walked a few steps forward, her high heels crunching over the glass, gun still pointed at Garrett.
    Slowly, he put his hands into the air.
    “I swear I got here thirty seconds ago,” he said softly. “To meet you at nine. Like you said yesterday on the phone.”
    Her eyes narrowed.
    “Is this why you wanted me to have dinner with you last night?” she asked. “To make sure I was out of the office? So whoever you’re working with could take everything?”
    Garrett looked at the desk.
    Her computer’s gone , he realized. He’d been so convinced Ellie was gone he hadn’t even noticed the missing computer.
    “No,” he said. “Why wouldn’t I just do this in the middle of the night anyway?”
    “Why’d you want me to come to dinner, then?”
    Her brown eyes were hard, almost brittle, and Garrett glanced around the office before answering.
    “Because I wanted to take you to dinner?” he asked.
    Ellie blinked. The gun lowered a fraction of an inch.
    “That’s it?” she asked, her voice less suspicious now.
    Well, no, Garrett said. I also wanted to go back to your place and literally eat you for dessert.
    He thought better of saying that part out loud.
    “Yeah,” he said. “It was just a date.”
    Now she blushed and lowered the gun to point at the floor, though she didn’t put the safety back on.
    “If I check my security video, it’ll show you getting here thirty seconds before me?” she asked.
    “Maybe sixty,” Garrett said. “I got here, there was glass everywhere, I ran upstairs, yelled your name a bunch, and kicked a flower pot.”
    He glanced at the corners of the room, but he didn’t see a camera.
    Ellie put the safety back on the gun, stuck it behind her back, and pulled out her phone, watching it intently for a few moments.
    Garrett walked to her side and looked over her shoulder.
    On the screen was a view of the office from somewhere above and behind the desk. He turned to look for the camera but still didn’t see anything.
    “It’s very small,” Ellie murmured, then nodded at the screen. “That you coming up the stairs right now?”
    “ELLIE!” Phone-Garrett shouted, shoving the door open.
    Do I always look that disheveled? Garrett wondered. I need a haircut .
    Ellie shut off her phone and put it back in her pocket.
    “Looks like you’re in the clear,” she said. “Sorry about that.”
    “Will that thing show you who did break in?” he asked.
    Ellie nodded.
    “The app only goes back an hour unless you pay an extra fifty a month for premium, though,” she said. “I gotta use a computer.”
    She glanced at the desk.
    “Fuck,” she muttered, and walked around the back.
    “You had backups, right?”
    Ellie just nodded, though she seemed preoccupied with something on the back of the desk. Garrett walked around beside her, and a low whistle escaped him.
    All the drawers were open, paper and office supplies strewn around, like whoever broken in had been looking for something.
    Ellie was looking at the top left drawer, though, biting her lip.
    It had a lock on it, or it had . Now it looked like someone had gone after it with a hatchet, the wood splintered and destroyed.
    With one finger, Ellie pulled it the rest of the way open.
    Inside was a checkbook, some keys, and a few dollars in cash. She rooted