When Bruce Met Cyn Read Online Free PDF Page B

all that great, either.
    Bruce propelled her forward with gentle, concerned insistence. His hand was big and hot, like the man himself. He didn’t hold her tight, but rather just as a gentlemanly gesture.
    He continued to chat as if he weren’t retrieving her from the woods. “My twin brother is, or rather used to be, a bounty hunter. Is that more the type of occupation you had in mind for my mug?”
    Amazed at such a disclosure, Cyn stared toward him. “Yeah. That’d work.” God knew he was big and solid enough to chase down criminals. His nearness was somehow comforting and secure, not threatening. Then, just because she wanted to keep him talking so he wouldn’t ask more questions, she said, “So you have a twin?”
    â€œMarried not too long ago. He and his wife, Shay, just settled in their new house in Visitation. We all used to live in Ohio. I ran a safe house there for prostitutes.”
    Cyn tripped over her own feet, and gasped as pain shot up her leg. “The hell you say?” Now that was just too damn much coincidence.
    Bruce hauled her upright, then slipped his arm around her waist when she almost collapsed again. “Okay?”
    â€œQuit asking me that.” She shoved him back a safer distance. When he got too close, her heart did funny little flips and her stomach curled in an odd, unfamiliar way. “I’m fine.” At least physically, she wasn’t hurt. But mentally, she was reeling. “You want me to believe that you housed hookers?”
    â€œWhen they needed a safe place to go, yes. I was able to help many of them start new lives.”
    As far as hints went, he wasn’t all that subtle. Cyn tucked in her chin. “What if they didn’t want to start a new life?”
    Her challenging tone didn’t faze him one bit. “Then I helped them deal with the life they had.”
    Unbelievable. It almost sounded like he truly cared, like he didn’t judge them as the sludge of humanity. She peeked at his heavily shadowed form, and couldn’t quite dredge up an image of him beating the evilness out of a woman.
    â€œShay also did some community work,” he said, pulling her from her thoughts. “She opened a bigger, nicer safe house in the same area where I had mine. A dear friend of hers runs it now, and things are going great, so I thought I’d try my hand at something else.”
    Like saving recently retired hookers from annoyed truckers? She shook her head at herself. “Like what?”
    â€œEasy there, watch your feet. There are sticker bushes.”
    His gallant consideration got on her nerves. It wasn’t what she was used to. It sure as heck wasn’t what she expected. “You can see pretty good in the dark, can’t you?” The cold tried to sink into her bones, making her entire body shiver, but Bruce pulled her closer and his warmth settled over her, as comforting as a heated blanket.
    â€œWell enough.” And with tons of innuendo:
    â€œBeing a preacher doesn’t make me blind.”
    He led her over the bushes, and then she could see his car on the road, the headlights still on, sending scant illumination around the area. He stopped and turned her to face him. For a long moment, she got lost in the dark mystery of his eyes, until he said, “So, what’ll it be?”
    He wanted to know if she’d ride with him. But he’d already told her he wouldn’t just leave her alone, and she’d been dumb enough for one night.
    She shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”
    An increasing breeze, damp with the threat of rain, lifted a long tress of her hair, sending it past her face and against Bruce’s throat. She watched him draw in a deep breath, then mentally shake himself. He smoothed her hair back, tucked it behind her ear. The moon shone down on him, giving his masculine form an almost divine aura.
    Damn, but he took her breath away.
    His warm fingertips grazed her