Reason To Believe Read Online Free PDF Page B

out your weak spots,” she said, so quietly he almost didn’t hear her.
    He stepped down to the asphalt and peered into the shadows between the buildings around them. “I don’t have any.”
    Her laugh was light, but her touch was a sudden jolt of warmth as she slid her arms around his waist from the back, her fingers brushing the bump of his holster. He reacted instantly, whipping around and grabbing her under her arms, raising her a foot off the ground before she could so much as make a sound. “Don’t do that unless you want to get shot.”
    “I was just looking for your weak spot,” she said, catching the breath he’d stolen.
    “And you found my weapon instead.” He held her aloft, his gaze holding a serious warning. “This isn’t a game.” Slowly, he eased her back to the ground.
    She tried to laugh it off, but the sound caught in her throat. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to…I just thought I could sort of break the ice.”
    The little force field of energy and spunk suddenly looked very small, very vulnerable, and very scared, and the impact was as strong as if she had managed to get her hands all the way around him and squeeze her body against his.
    “There are much less risky ways,” he said, his voice sounding gruff, wanting to let her off the hook for the minor infraction, but not wanting to let go of the warmth of her.
    “Sorry,” she repeated, a tiny shudder making her quiver.
    “You know…” He reached down to the zipper tab of her jacket. “For a girl who promotes ‘closure,’ you don’t really ever finish anything, do you?” He slid the zipper up, the teeth grinding slowly as his hand followed the feminine line of her body. When he reached the hollow of her throat, he let his fingers brush her skin.
    He could feel her struggle to swallow.
    “Then I guess I should be careful what I start,” she said.
    “That’s the first completely sensible thing you’ve said.”
    She closed her hand over his. “Sensible is boring.”
    “Sensible is safe.”
    The instant he spoke, a gunshot cracked the night and the trailer rocked with the impact of a bullet.

Chapter Three
    A RIANNA LET OUT A SHRIEK , and Chase shoved her down. Her pack went sailing, the contents spilling to the ground as he pushed her, low and fast, around the back of the trailer.
    Her heart clobbered her ribs, the sound of her pulse so deafening she could barely hear his orders.
    “Stay down. Move. Now!”
    In seconds, he had them hidden deep in the darkness between her trailer and another, then flattened her face forward against the cool metal using his entire body to shield her.
    “Someone shot—”
    “Shhh!” His demand was harsh, and indisputable. In the distance, she heard running footsteps, then the sound of a golf cart engine revving and fading across the deserted lot.
    “They’re gone,” she whispered, her chest heaving against the ridges of the trailer with every tight, terrified breath.
    He didn’t move, one hand locking her against the trailer, the other holding a gun. “Maybe.”
    “What do we do?”
    “Leave. Fast.”
    “But…” Her stuff . “My bag. The keys to my house. My wallet, my phone.” The ring . “My whole life is in that backpack.” That wasn’t even an exaggeration. Without the ring—
    “Then you should close it.”
    She swallowed a retort, but only because he’d just saved her ass, and was on her like a human bulletproof vest. “I can’t leave without…my things.”
    “Yes, you can. We’ll break into your house and we’ll cancel your credit cards and you can get another phone.”
    “Someone will have my keys and my ID.” And her gift .
    “But you’ll be alive,” he growled into her ear, his insistent breath tickling the hairs on the back of her neck.
    “Please.” She tried to catch his gaze over her shoulder, but he held her immobile against the trailer. “I can’t leave it here.”
    “You can, and you will. You’ll do exactly as I say, when I