Safe from Harm Read Online Free PDF

enough to find herself in his arms in the best make-out session of her life. She could only imagine what it’d be like when he was completely sober. And she had imagined ever since. Often. Which seriously pissed her off.
    Elle huffed in disgust as she stormed away from Gabe, not sure if she was angrier with him or with herself. To think she’d ever found him even remotely attractive! Clearly, she’d been just like every other girl who’d been taken in by that sexy smile and those aqua eyes that sparkled with mischief. Thank God she’d come to her senses before things had gone too far.
    She’d had a lapse in judgment that night, that was all. And the way he’d been since then just confirmed she’d been right to put the brakes on. So no matter how many dimpled smiles he threw her way, she wasn’t about to let him off the hook for jeopardizing her case because he couldn’t keep it in his pants.
    â€œElle! Wait up!”
    She increased her pace, lifting her chin higher, determined to make it very clear what he could do with his apologies and dinner invitations.
    But her pace faltered when she reached the courthouse doors that led out to the steps where reporters were waiting. She hated dealing with the media, hated having to give a statement about her success or failure. Her stomach twisted into knots, and for a brief moment, she entertained the idea of waiting for Gabe to catch up and join her as she addressed the press. He had a way with the public, could charm them all with that confident, commanding air of his that had them all eating out of his hand.
    But then she set her jaw and shoved open the doors, determined to meet them all head-on. She’d worked too damned hard to get where she was to hand over the reins because of her distaste for dealing with reporters. She’d never once backed down from a challenge—she sure as hell wasn’t about to start now.
    The moment she reached the courthouse steps, the reporters moved in en masse, shouting their questions all at once, trying to be heard over the others in their throng. She held up her hand in a request for silence and opened her mouth to give the statement she’d rehearsed in her head when she suddenly caught sight of a face in the crowd that sent a shiver down her spine.
    Mark Monroe, the brother of the man they’d just convicted, stood a few feet behind the reporters, his face twisted into a furious mask of hatred. He’d been implicated in the murder with his brother as an accessory after the fact, but they’d had insufficient evidence to charge him. He’d been popping up periodically ever since, glaring daggers at her, his demeanor vaguely threatening but never crossing a line that could give her a reason to go to the police. He wasn’t the first angry family member she’d ever had to deal with, and he certainly wouldn’t be the last.
    Still, there was something in the man’s expression this time that made her glad of the crowd of reporters surrounding her. The fact that he was wearing an old jacket in spite of the oppressive summer heat momentarily set off alarms in her head until she remembered it was the same jacket he’d worn every day in court. Nothing to be worried about. It was over. The trial was over. And finally she could sleep well, knowing she’d put Chris’s killer behind bars.
    Donning a genuine smile, she dragged her gaze away from his and back to the dozen or so faces eagerly awaiting her statement. But even as she began talking, she could feel the weight of Mark Monroe’s gaze on her, felt the heat of his anger that prickled her skin in vague but persistent warning.
    * * *
    Gabe didn’t know why in the hell it bothered him so much that Elle thought he was a first-class loser. But it did. It rankled him like nothing else ever had. He normally didn’t give a shit what anyone thought. If someone had a problem with him, he was more than happy