Rock Hard (Siren Publishing Classic) Read Online Free PDF Page A

her Jeep.
    She didn’t make it before Gentry came up from behind, stopping her with his palm on the door. She turned around, but he was in the way. He blocked her in with all muscle.
    “Tell me what’s wrong.”
    She struggled to get away from the ranger, but he wasn’t making it easy . She couldn’t get the truth to pass over her lips. The words caught in the back of her throat when she opened her mouth. She wanted to trust him, but she didn’t trust anyone anymore.
    Gentry’s hands clamped down on her shoulders. “Tell me what’s going on.”
    There was a long stretch where Gentry regarded her as a man with a lot of hard-bitten experience. Rangers working with the Forest Service didn’t get that type of experience chasing down climbers or peeling drunk campers off the cliffs. It was then that she knew there was more to the man than what was in his personnel file.
    Wynn knew she couldn’t tell him the truth. She’d be breaking all the rules. I’m already breaking all the rules. Once he found out that she was IA investigating the pipeline, he’d never want to talk to her again. Wynn knew someone on the inside wasn’t doing their job, and that meant she had to investigate Kade to rule him out.
    She broke all the rules by kissing him. Her career was over if word got out about that kiss. That one forbidden moment would ruin her for a lifetime. Everything she worked for was as good as gone.
    She had to get out of the Red now.
    She groaned, and her legs gave out. Gentry caught her with his hands and legs. Wynn felt the solid force of his thigh slip between her legs.
    “Breathe. Keep your eyes open. Deep breaths. Don’t pass out on me.”
    The ranger’s lips whispered against her ear. A forbidden heat spun through her core. She turned her cheek against his, letting his warmth seep over her skin. She wanted to believe that all the allegations about Kade weren’t true, but she wouldn’t know unless she did her job.
    He used the side of her Wrangler and his size to keep her up. His radio crackled to life, and Gentry responded. Wynn found her fingers digging into Gentry’s shirt for support. She couldn’t stay here. She jerked wildly.
    “Easy now. Let’s get out of the rain where you can tell me what’s going on,” he said.
    Wynn pushed against him, but he didn’t let her move away. He held on tight. “No! I’m okay. Really, it’s nothing.”
    “Whatever it is, I can protect you.”
    “It’s not like that...”
    She moaned and felt the ground go upside down. Tingles moved up from her hands and hit her in the head with the force of a thunderclap.
    Wynn felt the ground rush up to her side and Gentry’s arms around her before she went down. He scooped her up easily. She had the sense of movement. The feel of hard rain hitting her in the face. Then it stopped.
    She felt his hands caress her arm, her shoulder, and her neck to check her pulse. The sound of the rain pounding on metal above them slowly brought Wynn back to the here and now. The darkness that had taken her under suddenly lightened.
    The ranger held her within his strong arms. Wynn kept her eyes closed as she listened to the solid beat of Kade’s heart. Slowly, she opened her eyes when his hand brushed her wet hair away from her temples. He had popped the door on the trunk and sat down on the edge.
    “I’ve got you. It’s going to be okay,” he whispered.
    She tightened her fingers in the front of his shirt, unknowingly drawing him closer. She wanted to believe that everything was going to be all right when he said those words, but she didn’t. There were already too many secrets between them for either one of them to come out unscathed.
    “I hope you’re right.”
    She saw his eyes harden with questions she wasn’t ready or willing to answer. Wynn felt the ranger’s fingers move up the base of her neck in a slow caress. She shivered.
    “Chilly?”
    She bit her lip. “A little.”
    He moved her closer. She tried to tell herself it was