Undercover with the Hottie (Investigating the Hottie) Read Online Free PDF Page B

many days did you volunteer to get your A-minus?”
    The stare down continued for a few seconds before he said, “Four.”
    “You are so dead,” I screeched. I grabbed for the closest pillow and threw it at him. “How dare you say I'm twice as bad as you!”
    Will had caught the pillow and used it as a shield while I battered him with another. Will was laughing harder than me, but he managed to stop long enough to say, “It was a compliment, remember?”  
    “What?” I walloped him on the top of the head with my feather-filled weapon.
    Breathless now from laughing, he argued, “You won the contest. You were the best of the worst. The very worst. The worstest?”  He decompensated into another fit of laughter.
    I stopped hitting him and he cringed while I considered. I had won the contest to be worst. And his grammatical corruption made me smile. “Okay. I won the contest last Fall, but I'm not twice as bad as you are. That's more of an insult than a compliment.”
    He peeked over the top of his pillow shield. “How about fifty percent worse than me?”
    I cocked a brow. “Not twice as bad but half of twice as bad?”
    Will's eyes crossed for a split second. “How about we go with, you're just a tiny bit worse than me? Just enough to beat me at being the worst?”
    “Better. Much better.”  I lowered my pillow.
    “Are you finished now?” He stood up and now was towering over me by several inches.
    Unnerved, I squeaked out an answer that sounded more like a question. “Yes?”
    “Then it's time I seek recompense for being falsely vilified.”
    Huh? “What do you mean?”
    He raised his pillow. “It means, I'm going to give you a head start.”
    I blinked.
    He leaned closer and whispered, “Go.”
     

Chapter Four
     
    I ran, clutching my pillow and dashing down the stairs and around the living room. “I'm sorry,” I shouted over my shoulder as I ran.
    “Hey guys,” Christie called from above us. “What's with the ruckus?”
    “She has to pay,” Will called in response.
    “Christie, help!” I shouted. “Save me!” I screeched as I picked up speed, laughing like an idiot as I ran.
    “Here I thought the neighbors were loud,” Grandma said from the kitchen counter.
    I turned at the promise of safety, dashing towards Grandma. “Grandma, help!”
    “Don't help her! This is between us,” Will yelled.
    Grandma's eyes widened as I rushed toward her. “Amanda! Will! No!”
    I had a flash of insight, picturing myself smacking into the older woman and then smashing her against the kitchen cabinets. Must not kill the grandmother. I jumped over an ottoman and changed course again, this time heading for the stairs. I had to reach Christie before he caught me.
    Pain seared through my side, a stitch from laughing and running at the same time. What a stupid thing to do. I grabbed my side and hit the first step, then the second. Safety, in the form of my aunt, stood about fifteen steps ahead of me.
    I raised my eyes to hers just as she gasped and held out her arms.
    Will had caught up to me. I flinched, still climbing and expecting the impact of the pillow against my back. Instead, Will's hard body hit my back, and he grabbed me around the waist, lifting me as I started to fall into the steps above. The pillow slipped from my grasp as I struggled to get a grip on something solid.
    Christie and Grandma were both shouting for us to be careful as I realized I wasn't going to smash my chin on the metal staircase after all. I was flying upward in Will's arms, losing my equilibrium as I became weightless.
    Finally, I was pulled back into Will's chest and everything stopped.
    “You nearly killed me!” I accused. I was leaning back at an angle, and if he let me go, I'd fall.
    “Put your hands on the railing, and I'll let go so you can kick my butt,” he said into my ear. “I don't want to drop you.”
    I grabbed the railing, struggling from my angle, and with a little help from Will, got myself vertical on