Trust Me: The Lassiter Group, Book 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

in case Joe had decided to follow up on his whereabouts, but it didn’t hurt to see if Tess could make the rental information disappear.
    He planned on being long gone before the local law officials, in this case the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, went looking for the owner. The fact that he’d rented the car in Maine before he’d crossed the border would slow them down. Still, he’d feel better knowing they’d have little to go on when they got to that point.
    Not that any of that was going to happen unless he started getting some cell phone reception.
    “Turn here.” He motioned with his injured arm, and clenched his jaw at the flair of pain that burned through his shoulder.
    If he’d arrived five minutes earlier, not only might he have gotten the shop door locked before Snake and Edward Blackwater arrived and avoided being shot, he might have had an easier time of getting Max to talk to him.
    After the way she’d nearly left him in her dust back in Riverbend, he wasn’t holding his breath that she’d spill her guts about what went down the night Cara died. And no matter what story he came up with, the odds of her trusting him on even a superficial level fell somewhere between not in this lifetime and when hell freezes over.
    Running short on some of that earlier good luck he’d been enjoying, he indulged in a small victory when she made the turn without objection.
    He didn’t intimidate her at all unless he had a gun pointed at her, and even then he could see her mind working behind those stormy blue eyes. Eyes he knew from the hours he’d spent going over her file, wanting to get a handle on her. Eyes that turned out to be far more striking in person.
    That wasn’t the part that worried him, though. He’d come across plenty of attractive women on assignment, some when he’d still been in the military and running an op, and although he’d entertained a thought or two about a handful of them, it took more than pretty eyes to pull his head out of the game.
    It was that jolt of awareness that slid through him when she’d turned around at the counter and he got his first up close look at her that made him wary. That and the subtle kiss-my-ass attitude of hers that had trouble written all over it. Especially when the attitude belonged to a woman wanted for his partner’s murder.
    Makeover aside, he doubted anyone in her department would have pegged her as a murderer, but some people were damn good at masking their nastier sides. He wasn’t convinced she had killed Cara or he wouldn’t have been so nice about it up until this point, but he wasn’t about to hand over her gun and give her the opportunity to prove him wrong.
    Once he got ahold of Tess, he could plan his next move. He wasn’t looking forward to pointing a gun at Max indefinitely, though, and that was probably the only way to ensure her reluctant cooperation.
    Across the seat, she gave a good show of focusing on the road. Strong, slim fingers clenched the steering wheel, the only indication she was tense, and under his scrutiny, they too relaxed as though she suspected he was sizing her up.
    “How did you find me?” Her velvet-edged voice still carried the unmistakable tone of someone used to getting what she wanted.
    Lucas considered ignoring her then changed his mind, figuring he might as well push a button or two himself. “You made it rather easy.”
    She arched a brow. “If it was so easy, how come it took so long to catch up with me?”
    “I found you when I needed to,” he lied. “You should have done a better job of covering your tracks.” Lucas retrieved the gun and settled against the seat’s faded and worn upholstery.
    Max shook her head, her knuckles turning a little white. “I covered my tracks—”
    “Whatever you say.”
    Her shoulders stiffened, but she let it go. “Where are we going?”
    “Don’t worry about it. Just drive.”
    “Is it much farther?”
    He didn’t know if it was Max, his shoulder, or that he