Nobody's Lost (Rescue Me Saga #5) by Kallypso Masters Read Free Book Online Page A

knowing they are out of my life. I don’t need anything more.”
    His gaze lingered on her for a long time, and she tried to ignore the way his stare made her insides turn to jelly. Not easy. The man was so…intense. Didn’t he ever lighten up and have fun?
    Don’t judge, Megan. You haven’t been through what he has.
    Combat changed people. She’d seen it in Patrick and the few from her high school who’d gone off to serve their country. No one should have to do the things they had to do, but thank God men and women were willing to make those sacrifices.
    The rest of the drive passed in silence. She wondered what he was thinking, but decided to give him time to unwind after the shopping trip. Opening the garage door, she pulled in next to his Harley.
    Outside the SUV, her hand stroked over the leather seat before remembering what part of his anatomy had been plastered to it. She’d never ridden on a Harley. “Maybe we can go for a ride later.”
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
    “Why not?”
    He stared at her as if she were clueless. Oh, of course he would be worried about her safety.
    “I have a helmet. I ride with Patrick sometimes on his BMW.”
    “We’ll see.” He opened the hatchback to collect her bags.
    “Do you have kids, Ryder?”
    He shifted his gaze toward her. “No. Why?”
    “I just wondered. You’re always saying ‘We’ll see.’ Just reminds me of what my dad would say when he hoped I’d forget about whatever it was I wanted.”
    She thought she saw a glint of humor in his eyes, but if it had been there, it soon disappeared. “I take it you didn’t forget very often.”
    She flashed him a smile. “Never.”
    He sighed and shook his head, but she definitely saw the hint of a smile before he averted his face. “Maybe we can go for a ride later on, when the day cools off.”
    She joined him behind the SUV. “That sounds great. Thanks for the offer.”
    Perhaps a ride in the mountains or desert. Maybe he’d relax if they left the city for a while.
    Ryder took the bags from the cargo area and carried them to her office. “I’ll start working on the locks while you’re busy in here.” He left her alone.
    The hours spent inside setting up her new laptop and second monitor flew by. At lunchtime, he brought her a sandwich, but she barely paused to eat. She breathed a sigh of relief when all of her latest work had been restored on her computer. She hadn’t lost anything.
    A soft knock came to the door. “We have about three more hours of daylight, if you still want to take that ride.”
    That he would remind her was surprising, but she saved what she was doing and closed the lid on her laptop. She tried to knead the knot in her right shoulder.
    “Want me to work the kinks out first? I used to give a mean neck, head, and shoulder massage.”
    She nearly came at the thought. “Please!”
    His footsteps approached, and she closed her eyes. The t-shirt she wore was so thin she felt the heat from his body against her back as if she were naked.
    Stop thinking about getting naked with him.
    His hands were heavy and strong as he laid them on her shoulders. Without even beginning the massage, her shoulders tingled. Magic hands.
    More lightly than expected, his fingers and thumbs probed the muscles of her shoulders. When his thumb pressed into the knot on the back of her right shoulder, she groaned, and his movements stopped.
    “Did I hurt you?” His voice sounded more husky than usual, probably from being silent so long as he concentrated on her massage.
    “God, no. You just homed in on where I hold most of my tension. Keep doing that.”
    Ryder didn’t move immediately. She grinned. He probably was berating himself for touching his master sergeant’s little sister in such an intimate way. The man really did take his responsibility to her brother seriously.
    No surprise . Adam’s Marines revered him.
    When he did begin to work on that knot, she groaned again. So good . Her head