Wild on You Read Online Free PDF Page A

mouth before, though she couldn’t place where. “Except you use that drive to kill. I use it to save.” Speaking of saving … She eyed the large sign for food and fuel and took the exit. “I have to go to the restroom.” She pulled into a gas station and up to the tanks. “I’ll put Freedom away.” As she scooped up the sleeping cat, her hand slid right down the front of his lap. She lurched back, the blood flaming to her cheeks. “Sorry, I didn’t … I mean, I wasn’t …”
    “Copping a feel?” He gave her a teasing smile as he picked up the cat and handed her to Addie. “Don’t sweat it, doll.”
    Easy for him to say. She climbed into the back, settled the sleepy cat in her crate, then stepped out to start the gas pump.
    Risk took over. “Go on to the restroom.” He studied her for a second. “You’re not going to run off, are you? You’ve got the gleam of the determined in your eyes. I saw that look from a guy I was interrogating right before he pulled a knife on me.” He turned his arm to reveal a scar that ran along the back of it.
    “What happened to the guy?”
    “He told me what I needed to know.”
    She blinked, trying to clear away any kind of gleam. “I’m only determined to pee.Besides, I wouldn’t ditch my animals with you.”
    “That would be wise. I’ve never had a pet.”
    That stopped her. “Never?”
    “Pets wouldn’t have lasted long around my father. He had the patience of a gnat and the temper of the Tasmanian devil. The only time I was around a dog was my senior year of high school, when I lived with my oldest brother and his wife. But Bongo wasn’t my responsibility. I scratched his tummy, fed him when they asked me to, and that was about it.”
    “Why did you live with your brother?”
    “Dad broke my nose.” He touched the bump on the bridge. “I’d had enough of him.” Even though he’d mentioned his father casually, she saw the shadow in Risk’s eyes. “Your father beat you?”
    “Oh, no, don’t get that ‘You poor thing, I’m going to save you,’ look. The same one you wore when you talked about Freedom earlier.”
    She frowned. “Sorry, it’s just the way I am. When I see the pain in their eyes, it just cracks my heart wide open. I will not save you. Humans are much more complicated than animals.” She gave him an once-over. “You look more than capable of taking care of yourself. Be right back.”
    She could feel his eyes on her as she headed toward the building. She wasn’t sure how that was possible, but she’d seen a documentary about how people could sense when they were being watched. It made her extremely self-conscious as she tried to put in a little but not too much wiggle in her walk.
    Who cares? He’s ex-military, a player, and a thrill seeker. So different from me
.
    She glanced at him, yes, watching her, before stepping into the bathroom. Nice of him to fill the tank for her. The moment she entered the bathroom, she checked one of her phone apps, then called Shirley. “It’s me.”
    “You rousted a good crowd, kiddo. Everything still on target, or did your father change his mind and lock you up?”
    “It’s a go, but I’ve got a babysitter. Six feet of muscle and attitude, a retiredSEAL, courtesy of Daddy dearest. With orders to keep me safe and contained.”
    “Does your father not know you at all?” Shirley asked in her droll voice.
    “No, he doesn’t.” He’d been trying to make Addie into his ideal all her life, holding her up to standards she had no desire to meet. She cleared her voice of the melancholy. “So here’s the new plan. I’m going to ditch the bodyguard at the protest. I’ll take the other van and handle the cub-napping myself.”
    “Are you sure? He might be young, but tigers are a handful.”
    “I’ve got the collar and the meat. The poor thing was so underfed, he’d probably follow me to Idaho if I was giving him tidbits.”
    The traveling zoo had offered photo ops with a tiger cub