Lucky Like Us
Page 30
by Dixie Lee Brown
Debut author Dixie Lee Brown launches her Trust No One series with this tale of a hunted woman and the one man who can save her life . . . if she’ll let him.
“Trust me. This is the safest way.”
Everything required trust with Joe. So, did she trust him? If she ever got back on the ground, she might be able to answer that question. Cara looked over the edge of the platform. There’s no way!
“Take your time. Go when you’re ready . . . unless you want me to give you a little push.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” She wrapped her arms around the pole.
“You really don’t trust me, do you?” He laughed.
“I was starting to, before you said the word ‘push.’ ”
“There’s hope then? If I choose my words more carefully?”
“Maybe . . . if I ever get down from here.”
“Let’s sit for a minute. Things will look different from that perspective.” He sat, dangling his long legs over the side. Cara positioned herself beside him, her hands nervously flexing on the rope that joined her to the zip line.
“Jumping doesn’t seem any more reasonable from here.” Too bad, since sitting close enough to rub shoulders with him made her nearly as uncomfortable as the stupid zip line.
“We’ll just hang out and talk for a while then. That okay?” He gripped the edge of the platform and leaned forward, turning to look at her.
“The last time we talked, it ended badly.”
“Now we know which subjects to stay away from.”
“Yeah, anything to do with either of our private lives.”
“I think it was your ex-husband and my desire to protect you from him that got us crossways with each other.”
Cara glanced sideways at him. He was looking at her. Their eyes met. The strangest emotions coursed through her. Somehow, it didn’t sound so bad when he said it like that. Who didn’t want a knight in shining armor? She was afraid for Joe, but he sounded so confident that he could protect her, and himself, she almost believed it. Recognizing the danger in that, she tore her eyes away from his.
“We’re making progress. You didn’t rip into me that time.” A grin came through in his voice.
“It doesn’t do any good to try talking sense into you.” She wanted to sound serious, but her heart was no longer in it. She forced her mind back to the task at hand, considering the likelihood that she’d ever be able to zip off this ledge. What was the worst that could happen? The cable could break, and she’d plummet thirty feet to the ground. End all of her problems. More likely, it would be a gradual descent, with the jump from the platform the only really exciting part. She could do this.
“We’ve got unfinished business, you know. We might as well take care of it while we’re sitting here.”
“What’s that?”
“I almost had you talked into dinner that night we met.”
“You weren’t even close.”
“I think you were as intrigued with the idea as I was.” He grinned. “I also think we stood a good chance of ending the evening with a kiss.”
“That’s a stretch. You’re making the same mistake you made that night. Going from confident to arrogant in about two seconds flat. There was no chance in hell you were going to get a kiss.” Cara smiled at his wounded look.
“Will my chances ever improve?” His eyes met hers again.
She’d forgotten what a good-looking guy he was. The same mesmerizing pull she’d experienced the night she met him overcame her better judgment now. For a moment she wondered what it would feel like, his lips on hers, his arms holding her close, while they lost themselves in each other.
Cara drew herself up short. Was she completely crazy? She was barely free from one dangerous man. Why would she get involved with another? There was an attraction between them she couldn’t deny, but nothing could ever come of it.
“Maybe.” The word slipped out, almost on its own.
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Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from The Right Bride copyright © 2013 by Jennifer Ryan.
Excerpt from All or Nothing copyright © 2013 by Dixie Brown.
LUCKY LIKE US. Copyright © 2013 by Jennifer Ryan. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition APRIL 2013 ISBN: 9780062271327
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062271334
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