His Christmas Assignment. Lisa Childs

Чтение книги онлайн.

       Chapter 3

      Candace was home. In River City again, at least. Raised an army brat, she’d never had a real home. But she had lived in this city longer than any others. So it was probably as close to home as she had ever come.

      She had already done what she’d had to do. Not what she’d wanted to do. She wasn’t sure what she actually wanted anymore.

      Her hand trembled as she slid the key in the lock and turned the knob. But Candace hesitated before pushing open her apartment door.

      He was gone.

      She knew that. After all, two weeks had passed and she knew what he’d been doing during that time. Sort of. As much as anyone ever knew what Garek Kozminski was doing. He wasn’t still in her apartment. But he’d been there the last time she had been.

      So she stepped carefully inside, but she didn’t stop in the living room. She carried her suitcase directly down the hall to the bedroom.

      Some of the clothes she hadn’t packed had fallen to the floor around the bed. And on the bed the silk sheets were as tangled and twisted as she—as they—had left them. Her face heated with embarrassment. What had she done? And why the hell had she come back here? To the scene of the crime. The scene of her stupidity.

      The scene of the most exciting night of her life. And Candace, as a soldier and a police officer, had lived an exciting life.

      Her breath shuddered out in a ragged sigh—like it had that night he’d kissed her. She should have stopped him then. She’d pulled back. But then he’d looked at her—like no one else had ever looked at her—with such hunger and desire. And instead of shoving him away, she had looped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down for another kiss.

      She had been a fool that night. And she’d been an even bigger fool to come back. Garek Kozminski had gotten what he’d wanted from her. He wanted nothing else—or he would have been the one who’d tracked her down. Not his sister.

      She shouldn’t have let Stacy get to her. She should have just stayed away. Not that she doubted what his sister had told her. She believed that Garek had gone back to his life. What was the saying—once a thief always a thief?

      But she had found no evidence that he’d been stealing anything since he’d been a teenager. Was he just so good that he had never gotten caught?

      Or that lucky?

      If he was working for Chekov again, his luck would probably run out. Like Stacy had said, he was in danger. Candace just didn’t believe there was anything she could do to stop him. Or to protect him.

      By coming back, she had only put herself in danger—her heart and maybe even her life.

      * * *

      “What the hell are you doing?” Garek asked when his vision cleared and he recognized his brother as the one who’d knocked him into the side of his SUV.

      “What the hell are you doing?” Milek asked, his voice raised and sharp with anger.

      Garek blinked again—making sure he was really seeing his brother. Milek didn’t get angry; he didn’t lose his temper anymore—not even when he had every right. “What’s wrong with you?”

      Milek shoved him back, knocking him against the SUV again. “What’s wrong with you?”

      “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Garek answered honestly. His brother wasn’t making a whole lot of sense. “And how the hell did you find me here? Did you follow me?”

      He had suspected someone might have, but he hadn’t seen anyone behind him. He’d been distracted, though. But...

      “Did you follow me?” he asked again.

      Milek snorted. “How else would I have found you? Of course I followed you. You’re not as good as you think are.”

      His brother must have been right—about Garek’s not detecting a tail. But maybe that wasn’t the only thing Garek wasn’t as good at as he’d thought he was. Candace had left that night—after they’d finally given in to the attraction that had burned between them for a year.

      At СКАЧАТЬ