Protector (Copper Mesa Eagles Book 3) by Roxie Noir, Amelie Hunt Read Free Book Online Page A

was, sitting in the chair, his arm around her. Ellie sniffled a little, smiling and still crying at the same time.
    “If I were smart I would have,” she said.
    “I don’t believe you for a second,” Garrett teased.
    “You don’t even know me,” Ellie said, but she was smiling.
    “I know you well enough to know that trouble is like catnip to you,” he said. “The second you saw that note you were out for blood.”
    “That’s not true,” Ellie protested.
    “So you’re here because of some other reason, then?” Garrett said.
    She frowned. Garrett grinned at her, and after a moment, her frown softened.
    “I’m not giving into terrorists,” she said. “I’m in the middle of all this trouble because I have to be, not because I want to be.”
    Garrett just raised his eyebrows.
    “Catnip,” he said.
    Ellie sighed.
    “It’s not true,” she said. “I’m a perfectly reasonable person who weighs risks and rewards carefully and chooses the best course of action.”
    Garrett opened his mouth, but Ellie put one finger on his lips.
    Fire jolted down his spine, and Garrett nearly fell over.
    “Don’t say anything,” she told him. “Just give me everything you have.”
    Garrett swallowed, and she took her finger off his lips.
    Everything in his entire body was screaming at him to lean forward and just kiss her on that perfect, full mouth. He could barely breathe, thinking about it.
    Then Ellie broke the spell, her eyes flicking back to his computer screen.
    “Perfectly reasonable,” Garrett said, and stood.

    * * *

    For hours, Ellie sifted through everything that Garrett had: piles and piles of documents, business licenses, surveillance tapes, even courtroom testimony. She didn’t ask how he’d gotten any of it, and Garrett didn’t volunteer.
    He suspected that she knew some of it hadn’t been precisely legal.
    He microwaved frozen burritos and they ate quietly, Ellie on the floor of the living room, surrounded by paper and Garrett’s spare laptop. He had two spares, actually.
    “Okay,” she finally said, and stood. It was almost three in the afternoon, and she stretched, reaching up and then touching her toes.
    Garrett watched, fascinated. He was at the kitchen counter, maps spread in front of him.
    She didn’t mind when I touched her earlier , he thought. I could offer her a back rub, and then we could get on the couch and I could...
    He blinked and looked at the counter again.
    What are you, fifteen? He thought. A back rub? Come on.
    “Okay what?” Garrett asked.
    She picked up two pieces of paper and walked over to where he was sitting. They were both barefoot, and she leaned on the counter, smiling like she’d cracked a code.
    “The owners of a business registered in a foreign company aren’t actually secret when a company is registered in the United States,” she said.
    “You found a name?” Garrett asked. “I’ve been trying to find a name for months .”
    “Not yet,” Ellie cautioned. “I’m just saying that there’s a name, and I think I can get it.”
    Her eyes crinkled at the corners.
    “Are you going to tell me how, or do I have to drag it out of you?” Garrett said.
    He leaned forward on the kitchen counter.
    “I’d like to see you try ,” said Ellie, nearly laughing.
    “I have techniques ,” he said.
    He was so close that he could feel her body heat, and he felt himself stiffen.
    Garrett fought away a vision of Ellie on the counter, his face between her thighs as she moaned.
    Ellie swallowed, and then straightened up. Garrett forced himself to focus on the matter at hand.
    “For everything that gets registered as a business in the United States, there’s a local office that has a lot of paperwork,” she said.  
    Her cheeks turned a pleasing pink, and suddenly, she couldn’t look Garrett in the eye.
    “For example, the clerk in Mistin County, Delaware,” she said. “Which is where BTSV is registered. Nobody in Washington is going to give us what we want.