Reckless Heat: A Hostile Operations Team Prequel Read Online Free PDF Page B

She tilts her chin up and gives me a cold stare. I don’t like it.
    Yeah, I fucked up by trying to force her into my car. I don’t know what I was thinking except that I felt like I had to get her away from here. Home, where she’ll be safe. Where Jimmy Thibodeaux and all the other guys can’t touch her.
    Touch her…
    Jesus, she’s a virgin, which I’ve resolutely tried not to think about after she told me. And tonight she said maybe she wants to change that. It makes me crazy to think of one of these assholes touching her. Taking advantage of her. Making her cry.
    But, shit, she’s sixteen and she is going to have sex with someone eventually. It’s all part of growing up. If it isn’t now or next year, it’ll be in college with someone I won’t even know.
    I suck in a breath. Maybe that’s better. I don’t need to know who the guy is. I just need to know it isn’t any of these assholes.
    Why? Why do you need to know that?
    Fuck, I don’t know why. I suck down more of the whiskey and Coke. Yeah, I’m fucking insane. I blame it on my screwed-up life.
    I let my gaze filter over the crowd. I know who I won’t see here. Christina. My sister is shy, introverted. She doesn’t do well in crowds. She prefers reading to socializing. If she has a crush on some guy, I don’t know it.
    She’s in Baton Rouge this weekend, staying with our grandmother. She spends a lot of time there, but I never do. I mean, Grandmother is great and all that, but she’s a lot like Christina—quiet, contained, happy with books and stuff. For me, a weekend with her is like watching paint dry.
    Someone drags out speakers and starts playing music through a computer, a real deejay wannabe. The pumping beat gets people dancing, gyrating on the concrete floor. I watch it all with the kind of detachment I’d have watching monkeys at the zoo.
    But then the music slows and people couple up. Jeanine comes over and runs a hand down my arm.
    “Wanna dance?”
    I’m not sure I answer, but she drags me onto the floor and wraps her arms around my waist. I put my arms around her but keep my drink. My head swims a little, but not too much.
    “We should get out of here,” Jeanine whispers in my ear. Or my collarbone, actually. She’s standing on tiptoe, and she isn’t tall enough to reach.
    “In a bit,” I say, warming up to the idea of getting some pussy tonight.
    Fuck Evie anyway. Who does she think she is?
    A pain in my ass, that’s who she is. I’m only trying to help. Only trying to keep her from making a mistake.
    She slides into my field of view then, standing in Jimmy’s arms as they sway to the music. He’s holding her close, but not as close as he wants. I can tell that from the way he keeps trying to bring her in and she keeps bracing her hands against him and refusing to cooperate.
    Hell, they’re practically touching pelvises already. What more does the asshole want?
    And then he yanks her closer and she yelps. I see red. That fucking does it for me.

Chapter Ten
    EVIE
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    I shouldn’t have accepted Jimmy Thibodeaux’s invitation to dance. But the music changed and he was there, holding out his hand and asking me for the slow dance. He’s good-looking, though not as handsome as Matt. But maybe I need to move beyond Matt. Maybe I need to try to think about someone else for a change, see if that helps at all.
    It definitely isn’t helping. For one thing, Jimmy is all hands. He’s been groping me since this dance started, his fingers sliding around to brush my breasts or down to my ass while he apologizes and pretends it’s all a mistake.
    But his grip on me is too strong and I can’t break away. Jimmy is a linebacker for the Bulls, and he looks the part. Big, wide, powerful.
    When he finally succeeds in jerking me closer to his body, I feel more than I want to feel. I’ve never been this close to a guy, but I’m pretty sure that bulge at his groin isn’t a pistol.
    On the other hand, Jimmy is a bit of a redneck. A