Behind Enemy Lines by Cindy Dees Read Free Book Online Page B

made several good points. They were going to be living together in pretty intimate circumstances. And he was still going to need care and assistance.
    She didn’t for a minute believe the ridiculously hopeful expression he was throwing at her was sincere. He was a smart enough operator to try charming her into agreeing with him. But darned if that boyish smile wasn’t hard to resist.
    “You’re just saying this stuff because you want another one of my massages, don’t you?”
    He accepted her surrender gracefully. “Darn straight, I do. In fact, I may even have to order you give me one on a daily basis.”
    “Oh, yeah? And who’s going to die if I don’t do it?”
    He arched a dark brow at her. “My, my, we have led a sheltered life haven’t we?”
    Abruptly she blushed to the roots of her hair and jumped up off the sofa. “And just when I thought you might be turning out to be a gentleman, after all.”
    She hustled over to the kitchenette and fussed with putting away the groceries. “Are you hungry?”
    “Now that you mention it, I could use a bite to eat.”
    Tom’s answer was mild, but she definitely heard undertones of amusement in his voice. The rat.
    While she cooked up pasta and vegetables, Tom fiddled with his notebook and paper. From her vantage point, it looked like he was encoding some sort of message.
    He set aside the pen and paper to eat. Annie was dismayed when, a few minutes later, he handed her his plate still half-full of food.
    “You didn’t like my cooking, did you?”
    “Yes, I did. It was a far sight better than the grub I was living on before the accident. I’m just not hungry.”
    “Once you get more active, maybe your appetite will pick up.”
    He put his hand on her arm as she bent down to pick up his glass. Her breath hitched at the feel of his fingers on her bare skin.
    “Look, don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine. The meal was great, and I appreciate you making it for me.”
    Flustered, she sidled away from his hand. She’d finished washing and drying the dishes before she calmed down enough to breathe normally. How in the heck was she going to live with this guy if every time he touched her she got the vapors?
    Tom’s voice interrupted the stern lecture she was giving herself. “Annie, would you mind helping me for a minute?”
    “Not at all.”
    He rolled on his side and gestured for her to sit down by him on the sofa. She did so and found her fanny wedged against his lean, hard stomach.
    “What can I do for you?”
    Resting his forearm on her thigh, he showed her the sheet of paper he’d been working on. The top half of the sheet was covered with what looked like random mathematical doodles. The bottom half of the sheet was covered with neatly printed rows of numbers. They swam in a jumble before her unfocused gaze.
    His muscular power surrounded her. His clean, male smell filled her nostrils and made her light-headed. Or maybe it was the picture that came to mind of all those brawny, bronzed muscles she felt as he spooned his body around her that made her feel faint.
    “You see here where the sequence starts with 924681?”
    She swallowed to clear the lump from her throat. “Uhh, yes.”
    “Start there and read me the numbers in sets of six while I enter them in my pager.”
    The procedure took a couple of minutes. Somewhere along the way she found herself relaxing back against the warm wall of his body.
    When they finished, she jerked herself upright once more. “So. Can you tell me what we just did?”
    “We sent a status report to my superiors.”
    “How?”
    “Digital satellite paging. When we’re out in the field, headquarters monitors all the transmissions over our assigned frequencies.”
    “Now what?” she asked.
    “Now we wait.”
    “For what?”
    “For my team to arrive.”
    She nodded. “Pretty slick. And here I was wondering how my contacts in St. George were ever going to find your guys to let them know where you are.”
    He grinned.