Rush Read Online Free Page B

sunlight.
    No, he wasn’t handsome, but there was something there. Something dark and hot in his eyes that gave away the things he’d seen, not nice things. This was a man who’d lived at the edge of life, skirting around the outside. She knew about that. About secrets and always being on the outside looking in.
    He cleared his throat and broke eye contact. “Which key is it?”
    She looked down at her key ring, sitting in the palm of his hand. She reached for them, sliding her fingers across his palm, taking the keys from him. The contact made them both shift away.
    She selected a key and held it out, the others dangling. “This one.”
    He took it from her as she expected he would. This was a man who took charge, who’d taken charge of her from the moment they’d met. Mi wasn’t sure if she was just too tired to stop him or if she needed someone else to be in control for a while. Either way she had no fight for him. When she’d handed over her keys to him in the parking lot at the station, she’d—in a sense—handed over the keys to her life. Or at least a part of it.
    As he bent to unlock the door, she looked around her neighborhood and wondered what he thought of it. She’d guessed by his clothes that he was used to something finer. This little suburban neighborhood on the backside of middle class prosperity would probably be a step down for him. It wasn’t any one thing he said or did, just a lot of little things. He had money or came from money. She was sure of it.
    He drew her across the threshold into the entryway, then tucked her behind the door, leaving it slightly ajar for the light. He held up a hand for her to stay and disappeared, instantly blending into the dimness.
    As suddenly as he’d disappeared, he reappeared. “All clear.” He slipped something into his coat.
    She gestured toward his jacket. “Are you carrying a gun?”
    He closed the door, plunging them into near darkness. “Yeah.”
    The dimness settled around them, but neither of them made an effort to find light. She should have been afraid or at the very least nervous. Instead she was intrigued, almost titillated. They were close enough to touch. Close enough that she could smell him, hear his breath, and feel the heat that always seemed to be radiating off him. The buzz she’d gotten when she’d first seen him settled into a quiet purr.
    “Do you always carry a gun?” Her voice sounded throaty almost sensual.
    He drifted closer without moving. “Yes.”
    “Can I see it?”
    The air seemed to snap between them, little sparks set off by whatever attraction they shared. She hadn’t had a lot of experience, but she knew chemistry when she felt it. And they definitely had it. She wished she could indulge, have something just for her. But she knew she shouldn’t. Before too long he’d do more than hint at wanting to know her secrets. He’d demand. She didn’t think he was the type of man who would allow the gray in which she lived her life. He was a strictly black or white kind of guy. But oh, how she wished she could reach out, bridging the space between them and bring him up hard against her.
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he whispered.
    She wasn’t entirely sure he was talking only about his gun. That maybe he’d been thinking the same things she had and had come to the same conclusion.
    “No, probably not.” She reached back and flipped on the light, illuminating the small entryway and living room.
    It was nothing to look at, she knew. Most of the furnishings had been cobbled together from cast-offs and rummage sale finds. But it was hers. As was the house. She shifted her feet, seeing it through his eyes. No longer charming and homey, it now seemed shabby and worn down. Much like her.
    “I’m going to grab my stuff from my truck and call the police,” Lucas said.
    “Your truck?”
    “The black one parked out front.”
    She’d noticed it only to note how out of place a black Cadillac truck was in