Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“It’s classified.” That was the easiest answer I could give.
“I don’t give a fuck,” Carter yelled. He cranked the engine, slammed the vehicle into gear and took off.
I held on tight as he floored it through a turn. “I see your driving hasn’t improved.”
“Are you trying to get me to shoot you?”
“Maybe that’s part of my mission.”
“I fucking hate you.”
“Then kick me out. Dump me on the side of the road, and you’ll never see me again.” That wasn’t true. Now that I’d seen him, I wouldn’t be able to stay away. I’d end up stalking him.
“I’m not done with you yet.”
He wanted to scare me with that statement, but he couldn’t. At this point there was very little he could do to me that I wouldn’t welcome, and he was too much of a hero to actually push past my limits.
He didn’t speak as he drove us out of the city. When the silence got to me, I said, “If you want to kill me and dump the body, we don’t really have to drive this far. There are plenty of places in the city no one would ever look.”
Carter didn’t respond. He turned on the radio and raised the volume until it was rattling the windows.
“You can’t shut me out. It doesn’t matter what you do.”
“Fuck you,” he yelled over the pumping bass. That was better. I wanted him hot with anger. The cold, silent routine was harder to work with.
“Do you think of me every day?”
“No. I…I can’t—”
“I think of you. I’ve never stopped thinking of you.”
“Do you think you’re going to seduce me again? Do you really think that’s how this is going to end?”
I realized in that moment that part of me did.
I didn’t respond, and Carter didn’t say anything else. We rode in silence for what felt like ages. I kept glancing over at him, admiring the hard line of his jaw, the thick muscles of his arms. My body was buzzing with need and nerves by the time he turned onto a dirt road. Maybe he really was taking me somewhere to dump my body.
No, he hadn’t gotten that cold. His eyes were still warm, and there was sure as hell nothing dead about them. Whatever he’d been doing since I left him in the jungle, it had been good for him. He was angry, but it was a hot, burning anger, not the anger of a cold-blooded killer.
I wasn’t convinced he was immune to seduction. There was absolutely still something between us, something I could use to get out of this fucked up situation. I didn’t want to use him though. I wanted…. No, he would never allow that.
Carter parked the SUV in front of a small cabin.
“Where the hell are we?”
He didn’t respond.
“Is this your cabin? Do you live out here like a fucking hermit? I thought you worked for Montgomery.”
He sighed. “I should have known it couldn’t last.”
“What?”
“The silence.”
I laughed. “I’m sure as hell not going to give you peace while you cut me up in your murder cabin.”
Carter shook his head. “No, of course you wouldn’t.”
“I haven’t really changed, you know? I’m still a pain in the ass who thinks far too much of himself, just like you said all those months ago.”
He stiffened. “Don’t talk about our past.”
Damn. That was quite a reaction. “Why not? It won’t go away just because you want it to.”
“It had until you showed up again.”
Had It? It sure as hell hadn’t for me. I still dreamed about him regularly. “Did you really forget me that quickly?”
“You were nothing to me after you fucking shot me and joined the enemy.”
Ouch. “At least now you know why I did it.” I wasn’t going to try to convince him to change his mind about me. I didn’t deserve that anyway.
“Get inside.” He gestured to the cabin.
If I couldn’t win him over, I might as well have what fun I could. “What if I don’t? Are you going to shoot me?”
“This isn’t a game.”
I grinned and gave him a slow once over. “I sure as hell wish it was.”
“Matteo, go inside.”
The way he said my name nearly killed me. There was exasperation in his tone, but there was also longing. It made me remember the way he would say my name in bed.
I laid my hand on his arm. “I didn’t want to leave you.”
He snarled at me as he pulled his arm free. “Then you could have made other choices.”
I couldn’t have though, other than actually leaving him for dead.
6
CARTER
Istared at Matteo as he opened the door and stepped out of my SUV. I hated the way his touch had sent lightning racing through me. I didn’t want to feel anything for him, and I sure as hell didn’t want to be sitting here half hard, remembering how good he could make me feel.