Running on Empty Read Online Free PDF

other than the man in front of her would have caused suspicion she couldn’t afford. 
    “I selected a wide array of Spanish dishes I thought might please your palate.”
    Sabrina took in the variety and smiled her delight. He was definitely trying to tempt her. Lucia St. Martine had been raised in a small convent on the outskirts of Madrid. The fact that she had no family was likely a mark in her favor. No pesky relatives to bother him when he tired of her and she disappeared.
    In actuality, Sabrina Fox was born and raised in the hills of North Carolina and was as all-American as they came. The only thing she had in common with Lucia was the lack of relatives to mourn if something happened to her. She pushed away the pointless self-pity.
    “How thoughtful you are, Reuben. Everything looks delicious.”
    “I hope you understand that my thoughtfulness extends well beyond ordering your favorite foods.”
    Her smile slow and coy, she asked, “May I?” and held her hand toward a small, flaky, meat-filled pastry. The flavorful spices wafting through the air created a pleasing culinary fragrance.
    His mouth tilted in a pleased smile. He gave a nod of approval.
    Biting into the delicacy, she closed her eyes and groaned at the flavor, only halfway acting—it really was delicious.
    “I’m glad you’re pleased.”
    Her eyes opened. Undisguised lust had turned Reuben’s semi-attractive features into something revoltingly evil. Satisfaction gave her a small inner glow. Using food to turn a man on was such a simple, easy technique. Declan had once teased her that she could make him come just by watching her consume a meal. 
    Sabrina jerked her mind away from wherever it’d been headed. Declan again? What the hell? She had trained herself never to think of him during a mission. With several children’s lives on the line, this certainly wasn’t the time to loosen her restrictions. Becoming mired in the hellish memory of her past was best done at a time when she had a sparring partner close by. Grief could bring a surge of anger that only physical activity could assuage. 
    Her thoughts solely in the present once more, she threw Pierce a look of approval. “It’s delicious.”
    “Tell me more about yourself.”
    She raised a shoulder in a feminine, careless shrug. “There’s not much to say. I grew up in a convent far from the city. I left when I was eighteen.”
    “And though you don’t look much older than eighteen, I know your age, so tell me what you’ve been doing for the past seven years.”
    Nice that her age wasn’t showing. Pierce thought her to be twenty-five. She had turned thirty-two on her last birthday. “I worked in various fields. Retail, secretarial, restaurants. Nothing really appealed to me.”
    “And when did you decide to leave those careers and concentrate on pleasure?”
    A smile, knowing and confident, tilted her full, lush lips. “When I realized how good I am.”
    “I would accuse you of boastfulness, but I have heard too much to discount your words. You have a reputation unlike any I’ve known before.”
    That was because her cover was damn good. “I was trained well.”
    “Ah yes, I did hear that you were trained by the sensual mystic Arood Mendalmo in the art of bringing pleasure.”
    Delight bloomed within her. Arood Mendalmo didn’t exist outside an impressive website and a phone number that when called went straight to an LCR facility. The receptionist who answered the phone was prepared to handle just one caller—Reuben Pierce. Pierce had called, inquiring about her training, and had been told that Lucia St. Martine had been one of Mendalmo’s most gifted students. 
    Admittedly, Sabrina did have some talents in that direction, as her previous job had required knowledge of sensual arts and pleasing a lover. The man across from her would never have the chance to discover them. Being touched by this creature wasn’t something she could stomach. She once had the kind of physical