Safe in His Arms Read Free Page A

past her shoulder blades, but he found himself liking this new style more than the old. He had a clear view of her face, slender throat and the delicate line of her jaw. The longer bangs hid her expression at times, but the way she anchored her hair behind her ear sent an odd nip of pain to his heart.
    She inhaled sharply and the curve of her breasts rose enticingly against the white bikini top she wore. He could clearly see the rounded shape of her nipples under that fabric. His blood heated. Hell, he was a man—whether she wanted him right now or not, he wanted her. He fought with himself to keep his hands off her. This was Mandy. Mandy. He’d never meant to hurt her, but he had. He wasn’t adding to that by making any stupid moves.
    “Just tell me where you’ve been,” he finally managed.
    “I’ve been in Africa.”
    He knew that but still demanded, “And how did you do that?”
    She flashed him a confused frown and tilted her head. “What do you mean?”
    Finally, at least she was willing to start somewhere. He let out a deep breath he’d not known he’d been holding. “I mean, how did you get out of the US? I mean, how did you hide from me?”
    She narrowed her eyes again, but she stayed silent, letting him try to get his head on straight, but finally she gave him a look like he was insane and said, “I booked a flight, got on it, landed in London and went to Africa from there. I didn’t hide.”
    “Liar. You hid from me.”
    She laughed. “You’re the liar. You didn’t even look for me!”
    “What? Are you fucking kidding me? I used every means I could to find your pretty little ass. You hid.”
    Instead of saying anything, she simply stared at him. Fuck. Was she telling the truth? He’d traced her flight to Hawaii and discovered she’d used a fake ID. She was lying. Someone helped her get a new identity—to hide from him—and he wanted to know who.
    “How did you change your name?”
    “Change my name? What are you talking about?”
    She was pissed off now, clearly ready to tear his head off. But why? Her face had flushed again, and her grey eyes were bright with anger and hurt. She sounded like he’d let her down. Like he’d hurt her because he hadn’t been able to find her. He had looked for her. He’d never stopped looking for her.
    “Sugar, if I could have found you, I would have and you’d have been with me all this time, not wherever the fuck you’ve been. Trust me, Mandy.”
    “Oh, yeah, how could I forget, you never break a promise—”
    He cut her fit off merely by pressing closer and getting right in her face. “Who is Elisa Gonzales? Who the hell is that?”

    Mandy blinked quickly, realising Mac was serious. “That’s me, you idiot!”
    Mac stared at her in confusion. “How the hell is that you? I’ve known you since you were a kid, and no way is that your name.”
    She smirked just to see him tighten his jaw. Really, Mac had always been quick to anger, but he’d changed, in ways she couldn’t keep up with but, for some reason, thrilled her. Simply sparring with him like this was more than she’d ever dreamt she’d be able to do. He’d been absent from her life much longer than the five lonely years she’d been in Africa. Now, he’d practically torn her door down to get to her?
    If she wasn’t absolutely certain she’d not fallen asleep, she’d have believed this was some kind of dream.
    He snorted sexy as heck through his nose, and she went all tingly.
    No! No tingly. Anger. Anger is much, much better. He was a jerk to you!
    “Oh? Well, can you please tell the hospital where I was born ‘cause that—”
    “Elisa?”
    She winced. That name was so not her. “Okay, so I don’t use that. Amanda is my middle name.”
    His brow lowered at the confession like she’d given him some lead he was now going to nail her for. She nearly smiled, but held it in.
    “And? Gonzales?”
    She stared at him for a bit before shrugging. “Yeah, so?”
    He rocked back and