Under Threat B.J. Daniels (best free novels txt) 📖

This time, she didn’t just smile, she laughed. The smile did something to her face, seemed to lighten that heavy sadness that had waved off her. She was pretty; it couldn’t be ignored.

She’s more than pretty.

But that would have to be ignored. He had no business thinking of her as anything other than a civilian under his protection. He shouldn’t notice that she was pretty, or the curve of her hips, or the way her smile changed the light in her eyes. He shouldn’t and couldn’t notice these things. Not and do what he needed to do.

“So, Ranger Cooper, tell me about your cooking skills,” she said, moving toward the kitchen.

“Well, first let’s not set any expectations here. I have reheating skills, and that’s about it. Lucky for you, there is no chance of doing anything other than reheating for the next couple days.”

“Well, whatever it is, it smells delicious. I’m starving. But I do want to take a shower.”

“Everything should be in the bathroom. If you don’t find it in the shower, there should be a container under the sink with things like soap. As for towels, I packed a few. I’ll grab you one from my bag.”

She nodded without a word, and he left the soup on low heat so he could fetch her towel.

It was strange to have another presence in the cabin with him. He only ever came here alone, unless it was Christmas, and then sometimes he and Lucy would come up here with Mom.

He’d always felt like there was plenty of room when they were here. It was a small place, but Lucy had her room and he had his. If Mom came, he never minded sleeping on the couch.

Ms. Torres seemed to take up a lot of space.

Something about the way she moved, the way she smelled underneath that smoke. There was... Something there. He couldn’t put a finger on it.

Perhaps that was the thing that made her feel like such a larger presence. Because he couldn’t get a handle on her, he couldn’t figure out what made her tick.

But he would.

He strode into his room and grabbed the duffel bag he had packed in haste. He jerked the zipper and then stopped as she stepped into the room with him.

He had meant for her to wait in the living room, or at least out in the hall, but here she was—in his space. There was something about it that set him on edge. There was something about her that set him on edge.

“How come the only color is in your sister’s room?”

“I don’t know,” he returned with a grunt.

“You seem like the kind of guy who knows everything.”

“I know important things. However, I don’t give a damn about interior design.”

She leaned against the door frame. “Well, it’s a lovely place.”

“It’s something.”

“Do you ever get lonely out here?”

The last thing he needed to think about right now was how lonely he was and for how long. He jerked the first towel his hand touched out of the bag and tossed it at her. She caught it, albeit clumsily.

She cocked her head at him. She seemed to be forever doing that, and he couldn’t help but wonder if this was some sort of hypnotist trick. Cock her head, look as though she knew exactly what was going on in his mind even though there was no way that she possibly could.

“Thanks. I’ll go take a shower, and then you can get some sleep. That is, if you trust me enough?”

She said it sarcastically, because she probably knew he didn’t have a choice. At this point, if he didn’t purposefully and decisively take a nap, he was going to keel over and fall asleep against his will. “Trust is a two-way street, Ms. Torres.”

“Natalie. Please call me Natalie. I am so tired of hearing you drawl Ms. in that condescending Texas Ranger tone.”

“Fine. Natalie.” Something about saying her full name aloud with her big dark eyes on him shimmered through him. He was tired of this weird feeling. Tired of not knowing what it was that she did to him. There was some gut itch there, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. And that, on top of all the other things he didn’t know right now, was just about enough to make him snap.

A weaker man would. But he was not a weaker man.

“I’ll trust you when I absolutely have to.”

“So, not at all.”

“Trust is a commodity not easily imparted. If you’re looking for a friend to build trust with, you shouldn’t have gotten messed up in the Unsolved Crimes Investigation Unit.”

“Ah, you’re back to your charming self. I’ll take that as my cue to go.”

“Don’t use all of the hot water,” he called after her, not sure why he let her get to him. She was goading him. He knew she was, and yet he couldn’t seem to let it go.

Natalie stood in the warm pulse of the shower that was shockingly luxurious. This cabin got stranger and stranger. Parts of it were stunning in their understated elegance. This, what appeared to be, all glass and marble shower, the fancy pristinely white sink and floor. It was gorgeous.

But then other parts of the home were rough-hewn and distressed. She kind of liked that, actually. It was the strangest thing. It appealed to her, those disparate parts.

But it hardly mattered if the decor interested her. All that really mattered was that she stop sniping at Ranger Cooper and start getting to the bottom of this mystery.

He just made it so easy to snipe.

She turned off the water and toweled herself dry. She had picked out a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt from the closet in “her” room. It felt so completely wrong to wear someone else’s clothes, somehow especially since they were his sister’s clothes, when all of this...hiding out was due to her sister. The sister Ranger Cooper didn’t know might be connected to