Born Wild by Julie Ann Walker Read Free Book Online Page A

pavement.
    â€œIt’s okay, sweetheart,” he crooned in a low voice, the endearment jolting her like a shock from an electric eel. “Go ahead and hop in.”
    It took a second more for her to snap out of her trance— I really am a sad sack, aren’t I?— but then she hurried to do as she was instructed. Heaving open the heavy door and jumping up into the mammoth vehicle, she quickly tossed her bags onto the back seat. The heat inside the Hummer had sweat popping out all over her skin and trickling in an itchy line between her breasts, but that was nothing compared to the fire in her heart.
    Sweetheart… Oh, how she’d loved to hear that word on his lips that summer and—
    For the love of all that’s holy, pull your head out of your butt! Someone might be waiting back there to kill you!
    Okay, and that was the voice of sanity yanking her from her reverie. And, yep, perhaps she should listen to it.
    Shaking her head at herself, she watched as Billy skirted the front of the vehicle before wrenching open the driver’s side door and hopping inside, bringing with him the smell of sunshine, leather, Irish Spring soap, and man.
    Before she had a chance to utter one word, he leaned over, yanked her seatbelt tight across her lap and started the big engine. Throwing the monster vehicle into gear, he slowly— slowly? —pulled out onto Jeremy’s street as adrenaline coursed through her system, making her brain fizz. At the stop light on the corner, she swiveled in her seat and tried to peer out the heavily tinted back window to see behind them. But there was something strapped there. Narrowing her eyes against the dimness of the hot interior, she wondered if that was a….? Yep, that was most definitely a gun rack. A gun rack with two short-barreled shotguns attached to it.
    Double gulp.
    Facing forward once again, she scooted down in her seat to try to use the side rearview to see—
    â€œYou’re gonna give yourself whiplash if you keep flopping around like that,” Billy commented, cool as can be over there, which only managed to redline her own anxiety.
    â€œIs it behind us? That black Chevy? Is it following us?” she asked breathlessly. The air conditioner was blowing full blast on her heated cheeks, but it did little to mitigate the stagnant air inside the Hummer.
    â€œIndeed it is,” Bill said like one might say indeed the sun is shining .
    What the huh? How could he remain so unruffled when there was a mysterious black SUV following them? Possibly being driven by the very person who’d been trying to eighty-six her for months?
    Oh yeah, because he did this sort of thing for a living. Which was the whole reason why she’d run to him in the first place.
    Okay Eve, she coached herself, taking a deep, cleansing breath, get it under control. You’re in good hands.
    And just the thought had her glancing over at the steering wheel, where Bill’s broad, tan hands handled the huge Hummer as gently and as easily as a little girl handles a puppy.
    She’d always loved his hands. So big, so…capable looking. With long, knobby fingers, square nail beds, and tough calluses, his hands had always made her feel safe, secure… protected . Looking at them now reminded her of the first time he kissed her…
    They’d just come back from a day on the water where she’d taught him how to captain the little Daysailer her father had given her for her eighteenth birthday. She’d been feeling awfully proud of herself for having instructed the big, handsome petty officer on anything. But after they’d stepped off the boat and onto the dock and he’d turned to her? You better believe she’d known by the look in his eyes that her time as teacher was over. His expression had clearly conveyed that he had a thing or two to show her.
    And, boy, oh boy, had he ever…
    Even now she could recall the exact feel of his broad,