Dead No More. L. R. Nicolello

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ muscles pressed through his damp shirt. Everything female about her perked up. Damn. He’s sexy.

      He also blocked her only escape route...unless she wanted to take a swim in the Missouri River to her left. Which she didn’t.

      She picked up speed again.

      So did he.

      “Thought you could use a running buddy.”

      “Not interested.”

      “You know, they say women shouldn’t run alone.”

      She snorted. This man had no idea what she was capable of. “Go away.”

      “Not going to happen. I need to talk to you.”

      Lily slowed to a stop and shoved her hands to her hips, glaring at him. “Look, I appreciate the Midwest friendliness, really, I do. But I don’t take to strangers interrupting my life, and especially my runs. Now. Go. Away.”

      “I’m not a stranger.”

      “Like hell you aren’t.”

      She turned to leave.

      “I do know you, Lily Andrews.” His voice sliced through the dusk air. He pushed his sunglasses up on top of his head and pinned her with piercing blue eyes that made the clearest Caribbean water look dull. “Your reputation precedes you. I know you were 67’s best black-ops agent before you went quiet. I know that you moved to Nebraska to escape...”

      As the stranger rattled off classified information, the irritation drained out of her, replaced by a white-hot rage. Who was this guy? Another 67 agent? How else would he know so much about her? She’d never seen him at Langley, so he had to be embedded in another agency. DEA? FBI? She refused to believe the alternative—that she’d been burned—and focused on searing his image in her memory.

      Lily backed into the tree line, scanned the running path. Reaching behind her, her fingertips brushed the petite gun tucked against the small of her back.

      The man mirrored her movement, almost as if he could read her mind, knew her playbook, and stepped closer. “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.”

      She gripped the butt of the gun. All her senses were on high alert. Why would 67 come after her now? A year after she’d walked? Did Kennedy honestly think the raging fire in her belly would have snuffed out? A soft crunching behind her pulled at her ears, and her muscles coiled. She cast an uneasy glance over her shoulder, calculating the impending risk.

      Nothing but a bunch of young high school kids.

      “Get your hand off that gun, Lily.” He stopped talking and let a group of joggers run past. “A Mexican standoff in public all but guarantees you’ll blow your safe haven to hell.”

      He had a point. She tipped her chin toward him, carefully watching his movements. “You first.”

      A grin spread across his face, and a deep dimple appeared. He raised his arms in surrender.

      She stepped back and put distance between herself and the handsome stranger. “I don’t know who you think you are, but stay away from me. I won’t ask again.”

      “Just hear me out.”

      “Hell will freeze over first.” She pulled the gun out and let it hang by her side. It was an extreme gesture, but he’d rattled her.

      His eyes widened, but so did his grin.

      Lily cocked the hammer back. “Run. You have five minutes to be out of my sight. Or I’m coming after you.”

      “As tempting as that thought is...”

      She increased the pressure on her trigger. “I told you to run.”

      “And I told you that a standoff wasn’t necessary.”

      Before she could respond, he sprang and tackled her onto the ground, straddling her. She reacted instinctively, bringing her gun up to aim. He hit her at the wrist joint and sent the weapon tumbling into the tall ornamental grass planted along the running path, hiding it from view. Grabbing her arms, he pinned Lily beneath the bulk of his body. She gasped and struggled against his ironclad hold.

      He moved his mouth to her ear. “Don’t make a bigger scene than you already have. We have an audience. Follow my lead or we’re both going to spend some time behind bars.”

      Follow his lead, my ass. She fought hard, desperate to put some space between herself and this brute of a man. He cocked his head and grinned down at her.

      “Don’t forget I asked nicely.”

       Asked nice—

      The stranger lowered his head and brought his lips to hers.

      Lily froze. Every nerve ending in her body fired spontaneously—and without her consent—as he deepened the kiss, pulling a sensual reaction from her that she hadn’t experienced since Jackson. It hummed within every fiber of her being. What the hell? She tried to twist away, but he pressed down harder, the heat of his body seeping into her coiled muscles, coaxing them to relax, to let go.

      To trust.

      Not able to break his iron grip, Lily did the only thing she could think of.

      She bit him. Hard.

      With a surprised yelp, the stranger jerked back and stared down at her as if she’d lost her mind. Maybe she had—she’d drawn blood.

      “Is everything okay here?” an older woman asked, eyeing them suspiciously. Her male running companion reached for his phone.

      Lily’s eyes flickered between the couple and the man on top of her. He licked away the drops of blood on his lip and gently increased the pressure against her wrists as he spoke softly in her ear. “Damn it, Lily. Sell it. Make them believe I’m your lover.”

      Of course. That was why he’d kissed her. It was the perfect cover with so many public, prying eyes. She forced her muscles to relax, hating that this stranger invading her personal space was right.

      “Lovers’ spat,” Lily muttered, glaring up at him.

      The man straddling her pressed his lips to hers again, looked up and shrugged, feigning sheepishness.

      Lily wanted to kill him.

      The older woman shook her head, muttered something that sounded like “stupid young people” and walked off. The man with her laughed as he pocketed his phone, put his earbuds back in and followed his companion.

      Lily wrestled against the stranger’s strong, but gentle, hold. “Get off me.”

      “Are you going to behave?”

      She glared up at him.

      Chuckling, he rolled off her and stood.

      Scrambling to her feet, Lily dug around in the tall grass until her fingers landed СКАЧАТЬ