Blaze of Glory by Catherine Mann Read Free Book Online

knew
she’d
pay
later,
but
some
prices
were
worth
the
pain.
    She
shifted
to
hike
up
her
left
leg
and—
    “Ahhh!”
She
swallowed
a
scream
that
would
bring
a
stallful
of
soldiers.
    Not
in
this
lifetime,
gentlemen.
    Damn,
damn,
damn!Something
thick
inched
over
the
top
pole
holding
the
tarp
sheet.
A
thick
reptile
grew longer
and
longer
by
the
slithering
second,
his
slit
pupil
eyes
glistening
in
the
moonlight.
And
not
enough illumination
to
ID
Sergio
the
Snake.
    To
hell
with
babysmooth
legs.
    Her
left
could
just
be
hairy.
Her
BDUs
would
cover
it
anyhow,
so
no
one
would
know
since
she
wouldn’t be
getting
naked
with
any
man
here.
    Grace
Marie
snagged
her
fluffy
robe
from
the
hook
and
made
tracks
far
away
from
Sergio
the
pervert
snake slinking
his
way
for
a
closer
peek—or
worse
yet,
a
taste.
She
edged
along
the
tarp
stall
toward
the
door, shoving
her
arms
in
the
robe,
achieving
as
much
modesty
as
she
could
before
she
reached
the
door
and bolted
out.
    And
slammed
into
a
rockhard
body.
    She
didn’t
even
have
to
open
her
eyes
to
know.
Bobby.
She
could
smell
him.
    “Snake,”
she
said.
    “Gee,
thanks,”
his
voice
rumbled
all
the
way
through
her
terry
cloth.
“But
you
already
made
my
reptile status
clear
nine
months
ago.”
    “No.
Really.”
She
inched
back,
guilt
pinching,
because
God,
she
hadn’t
meant
for
Bobby
to
think
poorly
of himself.
The
guy
was
great.
Offkilter.
But
great.
“There’s
a
snake
hanging
over
the
shower
stall
all—” His
hand
whipped
downward,
smooth,
fast,
into
his
boot.
His
fist
swept
upward
with
a—
    Knife.
    He
held
a
huntingstyle
knife
with
a
big
butt
blade,
serrated
and
glinting
in
the
starlit
night.
He
launched
into the
stall
and
sliced
off
Sergio’s
head
before
Grace
Marie
could
complete
her
sentence,
much
less
her thought.
    The
reptile—probably
about
six
feet
long—well,
five
and
a
half
now—thudded
to
the
ground.
The
tail flopped
around
with
afterdeath
muscle
contractions
while
the
head
lay
limp
and
useless
and
horrifyingly ugly
at
her
feet.
She
wasn’t
a
wimp,
but
now
she
could
see
the
damn
thing
had
been
a
brown
tree
snake.
    Strong
and
poisonous.

    With
a
swipe
of
his
boot,
Bobby
kicked
the
remains
off
to
the
side
into
the
undergrowth.
He
sheathed
his knife
in
his
boot
without
missing
a
beat.
    Okay,
she
knew
the
surges
of
arousal
going
through
her
were
adrenalinebased
because
of
his
show
of testosterone.
She
refused
to
be
so
hormone
driven.
Thoughts
of
searching
for
athinking
man
shimmied
over to
a
corner
of
her
brain
and
let
all
the
tingly
want
swell
and
fill
her
mind,
her
whole
doggone
body.
    She
clutched
her
robe
close
and
wished
again
for
hips
slim
enough
that
she
didn’t
have
to
worry
about
the least
wind
whipping
open
what
little
robe
stretched
across
her
thighs.
    “Hey,
Gracie.”
    Keeping
one
hand
between
her
breasts
to
squeeze
the
robe
together,
she
eased
the
other
down
so
her
arm anchored
the
lower
slit
of
fabric.
“You
know
you
really
scared
the
crap
out
of
me
when
I
ran
into
you.
I