Alpha's Captive 04 - Haven Read Free

everybody on the road is nice, and that includes truckers. It’s really not a good idea for you to stop just ’cause you see someone on the side of the road.”
    Harper glanced back at Levi at the trucker’s mention of him. He bent as if he were adjusting his shoe, and as he straightened, he casually slid a hand under the edge of the trailer, just for a moment.
    Bingo.
    “You’re probably right,” Harper said. “I’m sorry. And now I’ve just taken up your time for no reason at all, too.”
    “Well, thanks for your concern, miss,” he said. “And I really don’t mind at all. It’s just that not everybody’s going to be friendly, you know.”
    She nodded earnestly. “Well, I’m glad we stopped, anyway. Gives us a chance to put the top down, right? And it’s such a pretty day.”
    There were hands on her shoulders then, and she looked back to see Levi standing behind her.
    “Come on, sis,” he said. “Stop bothering the guy and get back in the car.”
    Harper rolled her eyes dramatically for the trucker’s benefit. “Yes, sir,” she said sarcastically.
    Levi looped an arm around her shoulders and hustled her back to the car. His arm around her felt anything but brotherly.
    “You think he bought that?” he muttered.
    Harper turned the full force of her gray eyes up at him, making them as big and sweet as she could manage. “Wouldn’t you?”
    She felt his body stiffen in automatic reaction. “Damn, girl, you’re good.”
    She smiled smugly. “I know.”
    They were at the Mini Cooper now, and Harper turned back to give one last wave at the trucker before circling around to the driver’s side.
    Easy peasy.
    “Why don’t I drive?” Levi suggested.
    “I stole the car,” Harper said. “I get to drive. Anyhow, who’s the better shot? You need your hands free.”
    With her snub-nosed revolver versus his nine mil, there was no question that he’d be able to hit a target at a farther distance. She’d challenge anybody with a better gun, but Levi didn’t need to know that.
    They got inside, and Harper started the car and hit the button for the soft top to fold up on itself at the back of the car. The warm midday sun slanted down on their heads as she pulled back onto the road, shifting through second into third. The trucker smiled from his cab and raised a hand in salute as they drove.
    It had worked. They were free of the GPS tracker and back on track. She could hardly believe it. Maybe now things would finally go smoothly.
    “Sunglasses,” Harper ordered, holding out her hand.
    Levi, in the passenger seat now, twisted around and pulled her purse out of the back to dig them out.
    “They are mine, you know,” he said mildly, handing them over. Damn but he looked good sitting there, next to her. His unshaven scruff was beginning to shade over into a short beard, but he looked no less handsome for that, with his bright white teeth in his tanned face.
    “So? ” Harper shoved the shades on and checked her reflection in the mirror. “I think they look better on me.”
    Which was a complete fabrication, but she felt like teasing him. She felt suddenly, ridiculously lighthearted. They were still driving an absurdly conspicuous stolen car, and they were no closer to getting anything off the SD card, but now at least they knew how they’d been found so easily before and they’d dealt with that. It seemed like progress, and right then, she’d take what she could get. Levi would get the SD card to his friend, get the data off it, and then they’d part ways. Forever.
    And she was entirely okay with that. Really, she was.
    Her gaze slid over to Levi in the seat beside her. He’d pulled the plastic box of stew from her purse and was eating it greedily—with one of Aunt Tiff’s spoons. She frowned. She hadn’t put that into her purse.
    “Your nose is already burned,” Levi said conversationally, catching her gaze.
    She looked in the rearview mirror, then prodded it gently with her fingertips.