Hot Pursuit: Hot Zone, Book 5 Read Free Page A

sense. She’d never told anyone this, any of the stuff she’d explained to Vic. It felt like a release a long time in the making. “I’m really sorry that I bought into everything in high school. The whole popularity garbage. I hurt you and that wasn’t cool.”
    His smile was forgiving. “We all do stupid shit when we’re teenagers. I know you’re not that kind of person now. I’m over it.”
    Was he? Then perhaps she should be too. She sighed, the release in her heart and mind a warmth she would never forget.
    “Do your parents still live here?” he asked.
    “No, they’re spending early retirement on a series of cruises. They think my photography career is bogus. They hope I’ll come to my senses someday and do something worthwhile. My brother is a doctor, and that makes them proud. He’s a chiropractor, and yet they really wish he’d been a surgeon.”
    He leaned in closer and trailed one finger over her cheek in a tender caress. “So after we didn’t have unsatisfying teenage sex in my car, you took the tape recording of our conversation and our kiss to your cheerleader friends.”
    Why did he have to remind her of the details? The awful details. “Yes.”
    Ann and Carolyn had slipped the tape to a friend, who had made sure it accidentally leaked out on the intercom system. Not all of the conversation. But that silly, awkward, terrible kiss…oh, man.
    Administration halted it and heads rolled. She’d never forget the embarrassment. “My parents grounded me for three months. No car. No dates.” Dark memories surfaced. “Every idiot boy in school thought I was an easy lay after that.” She tried a smile but failed. “But your reputation did a spiral upward. All those boys thinking you’d got some .” She covered her face for a moment. “I ruined my senior year by going along with that stupid stunt. For putting you through that.”
    He reached for her hand, held it against his thigh, a gentle and consoling touch. “Sometimes stupid takes a long time to forget. I just wanted to clear the air. We don’t need to dwell on it.”
    Deep inside an ache burned. Two aches actually. One held huge remorse for what had happened that night. The other for thinking that a one -night stand could ever remove the stain of heartache. Did she think sleeping with some guy she didn’t know would wipe away the anger she felt for Danny Mendoza’s betrayal with Felicia? She’d contemplated sleeping with Vic to wipe away bad feelings, but now old memories brought up her own betrayal of Vic as a teen.
    She felt like the greatest heel in the universe. She made penitence for it the only way that felt right. She took a plunge.
    Lucy kissed him.

Chapter Two
    Lucy fell into heaven.
    Vic had apparently learned a lot over the years about kissing. Oh, yes. He smelled like over six feet of hot pheromones. Leather, musk. Man. Tough and tender.
    Her inhibitions crumbled as her body melted against his, soaking in the delicious need that opened inside her. He accepted her kiss without reservation. One hand came up to cup her face while the other kept possession of her hand. His mouth was hot, gentle. As his arms came around her and drew her into his muscular frame, she felt twenty kinds of protected. All that strength turned her on, drew her higher and hotter than anything she’d experienced before in a first kiss. Exceptional power cradled her close, as if he held an item so precious to him he couldn’t bear to part with it. She was swamped by the excitement, overtaken, her defenses destroyed. The powerful protection she experienced in this moment made no sense when she’d only just met him…again. Still, her body accepted it. Her mind following along as if he’d given her a drug. As if his hard, masculine body was a fortress made for her alone. Restaurant sounds faded around them. Liquid heat invaded her veins and gave life to the steady ache that had burned inside her since she’d seen him tonight. She didn’t grip him