Hot Mess by Lynn Raye Harris Read Free Book Online Page A

juice drained within minutes.
    And that’s what DARPA was working on. A mini-drone, capable of being weaponized and able to fly long distances before recharging. That was the nightmare: a weapon of that scope in the wrong hands could change the face of the War on Terror—and not in a good way.
    Mendez had said during the briefing that they still didn’t know if Jake had managed the hand-off or not, but the group he’d been dealing with was apparently a front for the Freedom Force. They didn’t think Hamilton had known precisely who he was selling the information to. Or cared.
    He may not have been a particularly stylish dude, according to Georgie, but he sure had expensive tastes in things other than clothes. A vintage Corvette, for instance. A rare Colt pistol. Front row seats to a Gina Domenico concert.
    Fucking dumbass.
    The Freedom Force probably wasn’t interested in the time and money required to build a mini-drone—but they would be interested in selling the information to the highest bidder. Most likely, they’d attempt to exchange it for a small tactical nuke. If he were Ibn-Rashad, that’s what he’d do. Get a nuke and detonate it somewhere in Europe, preferably near a US base.
    Matt Girard told Sam to hold tight and they’d get back to him when they had something. Which left Sam with a whole lot of nothing to do, except sit around in a remote cottage with the one woman in this world he shouldn’t touch.
    Georgie looked up from her computer, as if she’d known he was thinking about her. Their gazes clashed and held, and his heart ticked up a few beats. He didn’t know what to say to her anymore. Hell, he hadn’t known what to say to her since the minute she’d walked into that bowling alley in Hopeful and tied his tongue into knots.
    He’d been filled with conflicting feelings, and he was still filled with them. She was just about the sexiest woman he’d ever known, and he knew that a lot of that was the lure of the forbidden. He wanted her because he’d decided he couldn’t have her.
    If she were anyone else, he could fuck her and be done with it. But not Georgie. He wouldn’t risk hurting her. If it caused him some discomfort, well, he’d just have to deal with it.
    “You hungry?” he asked, getting to his feet and ranging toward the kitchen.
    She closed the laptop. “I could use a bite of something.”
    Sam went over to the fridge and started pulling out vegetables. “Pasta primavera?” he asked when he’d taken inventory of the stocked kitchen. Thank God for HOT’s resources. Colonel Mendez had arranged this place at a moment’s notice, along with a fully stocked pantry and a generator, should they need it.
    Georgie came over and leaned against the counter. She was smiling. “Seriously? You can make that?”
    He shrugged self-consciously. “I’ve been on my own for a long time. It was learn to cook or starve.”
    “Can I chop the veggies for you?”
    He pushed the pile of vegetables toward her. “Sure.”
    She began to prepare the veggies while he set up the water to boil and got the butter, cream, and Parmesan from the fridge. The kitchen was small and they had to stand almost elbow-to-elbow. He could feel the heat of her body, smell the perfume of her soap, and his dick started to harden as he imagined her in the shower, water and soap running down her skin.
    Why had he let her help him again? Holy Christ, he’d never get through this night with her standing so damn close.
    He set the pasta down on the counter and walked out of the kitchen.
    “Everything okay, Sam?” she asked, her voice coming from right behind him.
    He sucked in a deep breath and turned around. There she was, looking so vulnerable and tempting as she gazed up at him, her green eyes filled with questions he couldn’t begin to answer.
    “Yes, fine. I just needed to get something.” He didn’t have anything in his hands, and they both knew it. But she shrugged and went back into the kitchen and he let