Tempted by a Dangerous Man Read Online Free PDF

that, I knew it wouldn’t be so easy… but at least I could see a path forward, an escape from the obsessive, circular thinking that heaped fault at my feet.
    “You could have said that at the house,” I told Corbin, afraid that if I didn’t keep talking, the realization would somehow drift away, leaving me divorced from myself again. “Strapping crampons to my feet and making me scale the Himalayas wasn’t necessary.”
    “You weren’t ready to hear it.” He nudged my sandwich with his. “Please eat.”
    I looked down helplessly at it. “You do realize that I’m not a python?”  
    Corbin raised a dark eyebrow.
    “My jaw doesn’t unhinge,” I said. When he didn’t look amused, I added, “You’re not the only one allowed to make snake metaphors. Or don’t tell me you forgot.”  
    “That was several days ago.” The corners of his mouth curled. “So you want me to squish your sandwich? Cut it into little pieces. Or drop it in a blender.” He tilted his head thoughtfully, and his eyes gleamed. “I can think of some ways to help you stretch your jaw.”
    I flushed. “I don’t know… you didn’t seem all that interested earlier.” It was even harder to eat when I couldn’t stop smiling.  
    He laughed. A few minutes later, he wiped his mouth with a paper napkin and balled up his trash. “I’m not asking this in a judgmental way, but why didn’t you call the cops? It was an accident, after all.”
    “Well… I was trespassing. My dad had changed the alarm code, so there’s no doubt on that point. The guy was dead, and I did push him. The photos had Zachary’s fingerprints on them. My dad and Rob had both touched the photos previously, and they know about them, and they would have gotten dragged into it.” I stared at the remainder of my sandwich. “Mostly, my brain wasn’t functioning, to be honest. If you hadn’t found me, maybe I would have called them, eventually.”
    “Hours after?” Corbin frowned. “That would not have been good. I agree that his death would look suspicious. I was just curious.”
    “What would you have done?”
    Corbin took a sip of water. “Exactly what you did. Someone runs at me, I’m not going to wait to see how badly they want to hurt me before I react.” His eyes dropped to my lips, lingered there. “Unless it’s you.”
    His answer made me feel better, and the flirt at the end went a long way toward reassuring me that he and I would be fine. I bit into my sandwich, and half the ingredients fell into the wrapper. “Does Zachary have kids? I keep thinking…”
    “No, baby. He was scum. No one will miss him.” He turned to face me, grabbing my lower arms. “The most important thing, by far, is that you’re safe. You know what scares me? I’m worried that if someone does something like that in the future, you might second-guess your instincts and end up hurt. You did what you should have. You didn’t know Zachary’s intentions, what he would have done. But I do. He was a sneaky, underhanded man. He lived a world of lies, bribery and blackmail. Do you understand?” His face hardened. “He wasn’t hoping to give you a manicure.”  
    Stunned by the intensity behind his words, I could only stare. Corbin slowly released me. He scrubbed a hand over his face, then shook more apricots into his palm.
    “Where is he?” I asked finally.
    “Don’t worry about that.”
    “Will… will he be found?”
    “Not unless I want him to be. Finish eating. Plenty of trail ahead.”
    After Corbin packed up the leftover food and trash, we set out again. As before, he quickly disappeared.
    This time, I didn’t mind. Now that I was calmed down, I appreciated the time alone. I walked, sometimes trying to match my footsteps to his tracks. Soon the mindless rhythm of propelling my body through space took on the slightly meditative quality as before lunch. Except this time, my mind wasn’t blank, hiding.  
    Talking with Corbin hadn’t set everything back to