Stone Cold Christmas Ranger

Alyssa’s mouth went slack as it dawned on her what he was suggesting. “You want me to pretend to be involved with you like...sleeping-over involved?” Her voice squeaked and her entire face heated. Her whole body heated. She’d never been sleeping-over involved with anyone, and she was pretty sure that was a really lame way of putting it, but she didn’t know how else to say it.

She didn’t know how to wrap her head around what he was suggesting.

“My parents aren’t invasive exactly. Actually, they’re incredibly invasive, but like I said, it’s unlikely they’re there. They have some of the best security in Austin, so we’ll be safe, or at least forewarned. Should one of the staff mention I had a woman over, then they’ll assume it’s personal and we’ll just go with it.”

“Your parents have a guesthouse and staff?”

“Your father runs a drug cartel?” he returned in the same put-off tone.

She wanted to laugh even though it wasn’t funny in the least little bit. “No one’s going to believe I’m involved with...you.”

Something in his expression changed, a softening followed by an all-too-charming smile that had her heart beating hard against her chest.

“Am I that hideous?” he asked, clearly knowing full well he was not.

“You know what I mean. I look like a street urchin,” she said, waving a hand down her front. “You look like...” She waved her hand ineffectually at him.

He cocked his head. “I look like what?” he asked, and there was something a little darker in his tone. Dangerous. But cops weren’t dangerous. Not like that.

“I don’t know,” she muttered, knowing she had to be blushing so profusely even the bad lighting couldn’t hide it. “A guy who has servants and guesthouses and crap.”

“They’ll believe it because there’s no reason not to. Street-urchin chic or no, my parents wouldn’t doubt me. They might assume I’m trying to give them an aneurism, but they won’t suspect anything.”

Alyssa looked at her bike. She could hop on, flip him off and zoom away. Zoom away from everything she’d built in the past two years, zoom away from everything that had held her prisoner for the first twenty-two.

But she hadn’t left Austin on her release from her kidnapper, and she had people to protect now. She couldn’t leave Gabby and Natalie in the middle of this, even if they were both married to men or living with men who would try to protect them.

She studied Ranger Stevens and knew she had to make a choice. Fight, and trust this man. Or run, and ruin them all.

It wasn’t a hard choice in the slightest. “All right. I’ll go.”

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.