Bare Nerve by Katherine Garbera Read Free Book Online Page B

could be so much more than a savage. The man who could wake her up inside.

Chapter Five
    J ack and his men were tense on the flight to Algiers. Because of diplomatic problems, they’d have to land in Morrocco and illegally cross the border. That wasn’t a problem for his men—they were used to flying under the radar. But the women of Liberty Investigations didn’t seem like they could go anywhere unnoticed.
    He wondered who Sam Liberty was that he would assemble three totally hot women to kick ass. There was a certain diabolical madness to that thought. That he’d find women who didn’t look like they’d ever done anything harder than apply their lip gloss and train them to be lethal weapons….
    Yet the masculine part of him couldn’t believe the women were truly weapons. Especially Anna. He’d held her in his arms, and that had screwed up his thinking because now when he looked at her he saw sex bunny instead of trained operative.
    The petite Justine wasn’t as deceptive as the supermodel Charity. There was menace in Justine’s eyes that belied the dark-haired, pixie-featured sweetness of her appearance.
    “If you’re planning to charm your way through our team, I have to warn you Charity isn’t available.”
    “For what?” Jack said, glancing up at Anna as she slid onto the padded seat next to him.
    Anna leaned around him, blocking his view of the other woman. Her long blond hair swung forward, and he inhaled the sweet floral scent of her.
    “For dating. She’s engaged,” Anna said.
    “Thanks for the info,” he said, pitching his voice low so it didn’t carry further than Anna. “But I’m not interested in her.”
    “Then why are you staring at her the way a starving man stares at a steak?” she asked, arching one eyebrow at him.
    “Why do you care?” he asked.
    She shrugged, the motion delicate and feminine, and he knew he was out of his element with this woman. He had no business flirting with her, none at all. But he’d be damned if he was going to stop.
    “I don’t,” she said. Then she looked him straight in the eye. “That’s not true. I care because I can tell you are distracted, and in our line of work distracted leads to mistakes, and mistakes are costly.”
    “I am distracted, Ms. Sterling, but not by Charity or Justine. I’m distracted because I’ve spent my entire life working with men, and I have no idea if you women are going to be able to keep up.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “You’re too good at this not to have done your research.”
    He shook his head. “That’s the distracting part. I do know what the three of you are capable of. I’ve heard the stories and read the mission recaps Sam forwarded to me, but I can’t reconcile that information with what I see.”
    She leaned back in the seat, crossing her arms under her breasts. She was wearing a very refined, conservative blouse that buttoned down the front. It was feminine but not sexy at all, so there was no reason for him to suddenly need to adjust his legs to make room for his erection.
    That little gap between the buttons of her blouse wasn’t meant to entice him, but he was enticed nonetheless. There was an innate sexiness to every move Anna Sterling made, and nothing he did to resist her made a difference. He wanted her.
    “That makes no sense,” she said. “Your guys—”
    “It’s a totally different kettle of fish,” he said. “Men are expected to be tough-asses.”
    “They are? Where is that written?”
    “It’s not a law or rule of thumb, Anna,” he said. He liked her name and the way it sounded on his lips.
    “What is it, then?” she asked, her voice softer now, not combative like it had been before. She leaned a bit closer to him, and it was all he could do not to reach out and touch her.
    He wanted to caress the softness of her skin and just let that feeling sink in to him. He’d never had a soft life, and yet it was something he sometimes craved.
    “It’s instinct. Men have been