On the Way Home Read Online Free

that could lap at my cheeks. His large body swayed gently with the motion of the truck. That relaxed pose was a facade, something that would fool a lesser fighter into thinking he was unaware.
    But I had plenty of experience with men’s bodies. I knew how they looked when stalking their prey. I knew how they looked at the height of climax. This man had been through hell and back, and I knew that look too.
    Cuts marred his tanned cheek and neck. Something had made a gauge at the back of his neck, leaving a scab still puffy with irritation. Heavy shadows marred his eyes, almost as heavy as a bruise, dark slashes beneath his golden lashes.
    Kind eyes. I had learned to recognize those too.
    A bright sign for a drive-up fast food place passed us by, and I exited the freeway.
    “Where are we going?” he asked, his voice husky with exhaustion.
    “Figured you could use some lunch. You look hungry.” More than hungry. He looked like he needed… everything. Food. Sleep. Even air itself. If I’d met him a different way, I would have wanted to give him those things, to care for him. To protect him.
    Which was funny, considering.
    He shook his head. “I’m okay.”
    “Come on. It won’t bite.” I maneuvered the truck beneath the small overhang carport and rolled down the window. “When’s the last time you ate, anyway? I know they didn’t serve lunch on the plane.”
    “I had coffee…” He scrubbed his face with a hand. “A few hours ago.”
    “Proving my point, soldier. A big boy like you needs nourishment.”
    He gave me a strange look, as if he couldn’t figure out if I was flirting with him. Maybe when he figured that out, he could tell me, because even I wasn’t sure. What I did know was that I couldn’t fight him. Despite the obvious toll his trip had taken, he was alert. His fists were huge, his muscles clearly defined beneath the army-green shirt he wore. No, the only weapon I had against him was sexuality.
    What else was new?
    “I’ll take a burger,” he conceded. “And whatever’s the biggest soda they have.”
    Yeah, he’d probably take an IV injection of caffeine if they had one. He was battling sleep big-time. But he needed rest. Caffeine wouldn’t be good for him. It wouldn’t be good for my purposes either.
    I leaned out the window and ordered three burgers and an extra-large lemonade. He raised his eyebrows at the change in his order, but he didn’t complain. Naturally submissive. I could tell these things, often after speaking with someone for a minute. That wasn’t conceit talking. In my old job I only had a minute to figure a guy out. That skill helped in my new job too.
    Girlfriend or not, he wasn’t immune to me. He thought I was looking at the menu, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw his gaze, hungry and a little desperate, on my body. The blue airline uniform was stiff and unappealing, but he made me feel like I was dressed in silk. Not even the cheap, gaudy kind, but something luxurious.
    His voice was gruff when he spoke. “So… how’d a nice girl like you end up in this dirty business?”
    Surprise forced all the air from my lungs. “What?” I managed to get out.
    He nodded toward the badge still stuck to my chest, the one with gold airplane wings and the name Della. “Charging fifty bucks to check in a bag. Holding us hostage during layovers. It’s practically highway robbery.”
    “Oh.” The air suddenly liquefied again, rushing into my lungs like a waterfall.
    His brows drew together. Was that concern? God, it had been so long since anyone had worried about me. No, it had never happened.
    “Sorry,” he muttered. “Bad joke.”
    “Don’t apologize.” I tried to smile. “You’re right. They’re pretty evil about it. But I have to admit, they’ve taken good care of me.” The pay sucked, but the health benefits were stellar. No risk of getting raped or killed, for example. That definitely improved my well-being.
    “That’s good.” The sleepiness had