Resurrection River: Men of Mercy, Book 2 by Lindsay Cross Read Free Book Online

life. It’s always been you. Always.”
    Oh God. “Ranger...” What to say?
    I love you?
    She might as well close her business and hang the foreclosure sign in the window. And Chloe, what about her daughter? Could Mavis use her relationship with Ranger to take her daughter away? Make her look like an unfit mother?
    Ranger stood tall then. Looked down at her. A look she’d seen before. The one right before the people in her life walked out the door.
    Amy swallowed past the lump of cotton in her throat. Her father had given her that look. Seventeen years old, the week before prom. She hadn’t seen him since.
    Shane gave her the same look after their fight. He’d boarded a plane for Afghanistan without a backwards glance.
    Now Ranger.
    Tears threatened but she looked away and blinked hard. Not again. She didn’t care. She didn’t freaking care.
    “I’m not leaving. You can scream and cuss all you want. I know you love me.” Ranger grabbed her arms again. This time though he held her at arm’s-length. Trapping her in his strong hands and strong gaze. “I’m. Not. Leaving.”
    The metal cage around her heart cracked. “What?” He wasn’t giving up?
    “Your temper might scare off a weaker man, but not me. Because deep down, I know you want me to stay. I know you’ve got some fucked up reason to tell yourself why you can’t let me, but you want me too.”
    He wasn’t leaving. Not Shane. Not her father.
    “Tell me you don’t want me. Tell me right now to my face that our kiss doesn’t drive you wild. That you don’t think about that night together. Tell me it didn’t mean anything.” Ranger didn’t blink or break his gaze from hers. He didn’t give her the chance to look away.
    She couldn’t speak. Her mouth went dry. She couldn’t tell him that, because she’d dreamed about that night every single day since. She’d imagined his lips on hers. Imagined his mouth on her skin. Tasting. Taking. Torturing.
    “I can’t. Please, Ranger. I can’t. Why are you doing this to me?”
    “Because, you’re worth fighting for. Every damn day for the rest of my life.” Ranger’s voice was harsh, deep, and caressed her skin like the softest silk. “Tell me you don’t want me.”
    I don’t want you. But her lips wouldn’t form the words. He wanted her enough to see past her false anger. Past the front. He wanted her enough to stay. “I want you.”
    Ranger groaned and yanked her to him. “Dammit.” Ranger crushed his mouth over hers in a kiss that communicated all the pent up need. All the longing. She parted her lips, welcomed his probing tongue. Met him head on and clutched his shoulders like a lifeline, because if he let her go, she’d collapse on the ground. He tilted his head, slanting his mouth over hers. The kiss was so intense she almost melted.
    She couldn’t help but notice every little detail. His day’s growth beard scraping across her jaw. His tight lips, so tender and soft. His smell. The way a man should smell. All earth and musk and raw sex. Her stomach clenched, her thighs clenched, her entire body clenched, desperate for more of this man.
    He drove her wild, past reason, past her a-good-girl-shouldn’t-do-this thoughts. She wanted him so bad.
    His hands moved from her shoulders, down to her elbows. Each inch of her skin burned. When his hands fell on her hips, she jerked forward. He cupped her ass, lifted and squeezed. Amy moaned, the intense sensations torturing her insides. Please don’t stop.
    Her cellphone buzzed in her back pocket. She ignored it, Ranger’s lips trailed down her throat, in light fluttering whispers against her skin.
    The buzzing in her pocket came to life in a loud ring, and AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” filled the hangar.
    Holy. Crap. Amy jerked back and snatched the cell from her pocket. She’d pre-programmed the ringtone to warn her of impending disaster. Her mother-in-law had the sixth sense.
    Ranger pulled her to him again, but Amy wriggled free. “You