Beneath the Secrets, Part Two (Tall, Dark & Deadly) Read Online Free Page A

trying to ensure a
way back in when they don’t expect us?”
    He stopped at the tail of the truck
and turned to look at her. “And all of this is the thought process
of a secretary?”
    She drew back slightly. “You think
a secretary can’t logically think through how to deal with a
problem? We have a theft issue.”
    He scrubbed his jaw and laughed.
“Well played, Kara. You’re good. Fast-talking and sharp with your
answers. Just not as good as me. I’m not buying your
motivation.”
    She ignored the remark. What else
could she do? “My gut says we need to tour tonight. We’ll discover
something we need to find.”
    His lips compressed. “Because you
overheard something you didn’t tell me about.”
    “No.” Damn, her voice squeaked. She
was so bad at lying to him for some unnerving reason. “Because,
like I said, my gut says so.”
    “Give me more than that or we
aren’t going back in.”
    She inhaled and forced it out. “We
need to go back in.”
    “Not a good enough
answer.”
    “Damn it, Blake—”
    His grip curled around her arm and
he gently, but insistently, pulled her against him. “You’re too on
their radar and we’re going to get you off.” He kissed her, fast
and hard. “End of story.” He released her. “Now get in the
truck.”
    She glowered at him, furious. She
didn’t like being ordered around. She didn’t like him playing
protector when she knew he was one of them, able and willing to
slice her throat if he gave her reason. He’d all but said so in the
truck earlier. And she was going to give him reason to do it when
he discovered her identity. Time was everything for all kinds of
reasons. What would he do if she headed back to the building
besides follow?
    “Don’t do it,” he said softly,
telling her he’d read her mind. “You won’t like how I
respond.”
    Kara studied him, considering the
threat, her breathing labored when it should be controlled, her
anger barely contained. She wasn’t afraid of him. No. That wasn’t
true. She was afraid of him, and how irrational he made her act.
And she was afraid of dying before she did what she’d come here to
do. “I don’t need a bodyguard, and that’s not what you were hired
to be. Mendez hired you to solve the theft problem.”
    “Says the woman who had a gun
pointed at her head tonight and needed a bodyguard.”
    Her fingers curled by her sides. “I
was trying to find you. I was afraid something had happened to
you.” Her stomach knotted all over again with that confession. One
minute she was thinking he was a killer, and the next trying to
protect him. She was conflicted, screwed up beyond reason, over
this man.
    He arched a brow. “Were you
now?”
    “Yes. You were gone too long.” She
grimaced and played the same cards he had in the truck. “Nothing
can happen to you. I might need you.”
    “You might need me?”
    His eyes heated and damn it, so did
her skin. “To get this theft issue under control.”
    “So you thought I needed a
bodyguard?” His eyes twinkled with mischief. He was way too amused
by the direction of this conversation.
    Kara grimaced. She wasn’t winning
the battle to go back inside so she’d pick one she had a shot at.
“That’s it. This conversation is over. Let’s go back to my place
and see who can cuff who first. As angry you’re making me, I’m
betting I get the upper hand.” She turned and headed to the
truck.
    His deep, sexy laughter followed.
It rippled down her spine and settled in low and hot in her belly.
The man got to her way too easily. Oh yeah. She’d be cuffing him
all right and enjoying every second of it. Then she’d slip out and
find the blond girl before she ended up on some drug cartel main
menu.
    ***
    Blake followed Kara up the stairs
to her apartment, locking the door behind him, his blood pumping
hot, adrenaline pulsing through him. He wanted this woman. Damn it
to hell, he wanted her in a bad way. Bad enough that it was time
for answers. Time he knew who