Take Me If You Dare Read Free Page B

of SIA, had also been a CIA agent, a fact Mar had only discovered a few months ago while digging through some private papers.
    When she confronted her father about it, he’d said, “That part of her life was over long before you were born, hon. We don’t discuss it.”
    Mar had tried to press him for more, but it was useless.
    Obviously, Mar hadn’t picked up any of her mother’s special interrogation skills, because she’d let the matter fall. She was good at subterfuge. She’d not only fooled the clients, but also several people at SIA headquarters. At first, when she fumbled and stumbled they believed she was still mourning her mother. She was lucky that a few of her friends, Chi, Katie and a couple of others knew the truth. They helped to hide the fact that she was in way over her head.
    When it looked like everyone might figure out what was going on, she’d solved the case of a missing child by sheer luck. Mariska had been coming back from a trip to Houston when she’d stopped at a roadside barbeque joint for some ribs. There was a little girl alone in the restroom washing her hands. When Mariska saw her, she knew that it was Maddie Lennon, who had beenmissing for three weeks. There’d been Amber alerts and everything.
    She’d checked the stalls to make sure the little girl was alone and then locked the bathroom door so no one could get in. Trying to be as calm as possible she told Maddie that she was a detective like on TV, and that she was safe. Maddie didn’t say a word but she didn’t try to run away. Mariska pulled out her phone and called the police.
    The woman and man who’d taken the little girl had nearly beaten down the door until Mariska had shouted the police were on the way. The couple hadn’t made it to the restaurant’s entrance before the owner of the place pulled a shotgun and had them down on their knees. God, you had to love Texans. Later he told Mariska he knew that when they were willing to leave a child behind they were up to no good.
    When the police arrived they took the couple into custody and Mar’s hands were shaking so bad she almost couldn’t unlock the door.
    A few hours after that Maddie had been reunited with her parents. It was a happy ending and Mar was more determined than ever to be better at her new job. She studied the case files of the other investigators and brought in some of her best friends to work with the agency.
    While she had no illusions that she would ever be a great investigator like her mother, she wanted to be legitimately useful. This assignment in Bangkok was a way to test herself even if she’d much rather be on vacation.
    Now she was going into the underworld of a dangerous city with a sexy guy who had more secrets than she could ever imagine. Oh, she might not be the world’s greatest detective but she could read people. Mr. Thomas was hiding something, though her gut told her he was sincere in wanting to help her.
    There was something about the man that made her heat from the inside out. She’d seen, and even dated, plenty of hot guys. None of them had pulled at her the way he did. None of them had ever quite caused her stomach to twitter with a fiery glance. Or made her tongue do crazy somersaults so that every sentence she spoke was an effort.
    She blew out a big breath and stepped into the shower.
    What she really needed to do was get her libido under control. After standing under the hot water for a few minutes and soaping off she turned the tap to cold.
    “Brrrr.” Her teeth chattered.
    It was amazing how frigid water could make a girl’s body behave. She had to concentrate on the case. Solve this one and you get a vacation. Then you can go back to being a figurehead behind your nice safe desk, in your nice safe office, researching cases for the other detectives.
    Her mind wandered to Mr. Thomas.
    Maybe she didn’t want to be safe any more.
     
    “I T’S PROBABLY BEST IF we act like a couple looking for a good time,” Jackson said.