Run the Risk Read Online Free Page A

course.” She swayed back into him. “I am alone.”
    Amazed by how quickly she melted, he settled both hands on her
shoulders. Again he noted her slimness. Not skinny, but most definitely slight
in the way of females.
    Would it really be this easy? Did she not possess a single iota
of self-preservation? She wore her heart on her sleeve, her need for affection
painstakingly obvious.
    He wanted to pull her closer, wrap his arms around her, but he
didn’t want to scare her off.
    Using his thumbs to rub the backs of her upper arms, he said,
“You could have invited me over.”
    “I…” She shook her head. “No. I couldn’t.”
    Because her brother wouldn’t allow it? Bastard.
    Logan leaned closer, his breath on her nape, his whisper near
her ear. “Anytime, Sue. You have my number.” His lips just touched her lobe. “Or
just knock at my door.”
    Breathing hard, she shifted—then lurched out of his reach. “No,
I’m sorry,” she said in a rush, “but I won’t ever do that.” She all but raced
out to the patio. With her out of the room, Logan looked around.
    Her furniture, ragtag and mismatched, had probably come with
the apartment, same as his. As an acting manager for the four-unit building, did
she get to live here rent-free? Where did she get money for food? For clothes?
Lack of funds likely accounted for her secondhand clothing. She didn’t have a
car—because she couldn’t afford one?
    It disturbed Logan, how isolated and alone she was. He always
empathized with those less fortunate; never in his life had he wanted for a
single thing—except justice. But with this woman, it went beyond a sense of
social responsibility to the needy.
    It went beyond anything familiar.
    Where the hell was her brother? Why did Rowdy leave her so
unguarded?
    From what he’d uncovered, he hadn’t considered Rowdy Yates a
“bad” man, just a man of poor choices and, in the case of his employment with
Morton Andrews, worse acquaintances. Now, knowing Pepper? Rowdy had to be the
lowest type of villain. How else could you explain her circumstances?
    Other than a work history that included everything from
dishwasher to deliveryman, carpenter to bouncer, there’d been little on Rowdy,
and even less on Pepper.
    Logan knew her brother worked, he drifted, he teetered on the
edge of trouble—and he dragged Pepper along for the ride.
    Logan hadn’t been able to find anything on their educations,
parents or other relatives.
    But Rowdy had worked at Checkers—which was the wrong club at
the wrong time. While employed there he’d gotten embroiled in corruption. His
testimony was needed to bring down Andrews, but for two years now, he’d dodged
involvement. The last anyone had heard from Rowdy was right before a reporter
had his throat cut.
    After that, nada.
    Until now.
    Now, Logan had Rowdy’s kid sister, and much as it went against
the grain, he would use her to get what he
wanted.
    Justice.
    Revenge.
    Peace of mind.
    Unwavering, Logan picked up his food, snagged two beers, and
went out to the patio to join her.
    * * *
    P EPPER LAY IN HER BED ,
wide-awake, miserably hot, and dissatisfied.
    The fan in her window stirred the humid air, pushing it around
the room and over her mostly bare body.
    A cold shower hadn’t helped, not after four long hours of Logan
Stark’s personal brand of seduction.
    God, she felt singed. The intimate way he’d looked at her, the
suggestive way he talked.
    Even the way he ate his steak somehow affected her to the point
that she’d barely touched her own, when she’d been anticipating the dinner.
    She had planned to ask Logan some personal questions, but he’d
kept her on the defensive with small touches and warm smiles. It had taken all
her wits to keep from falling under his spell.
    But she wanted to. Badly.
    Actually, she wanted to be under him.
    Impossible.
    Rolling to her back, she stared at the shadowed ceiling and
wondered if he was asleep. After that spontaneous kiss he’d given her