Read Online Blue Blooded by Shelly Bell - Free Book Online Page A

a dog.” His eyes briefly met hers. Just long enough for the heated intensity of them to make her shiver. He ground his teeth, jerking his gaze away all too soon. “That man could’ve hurt you.”
    She shrugged, her lips tugged up in a half smile. For a moment, she could almost believe he cared about her. But she wasn’t deluding herself. It was obvious to her that Logan was in love with his law partner—her best friend Kate—despite Kate being in a collared relationship with Jaxon Deveroux. It was Rachel’s job as a reporter to dig deeper than the surface and examine subtleties. Maybe other people couldn’t see it, but whenever Kate was in the room, Logan’s eyes, filled with longing, tracked her every move.
    Petting the dog, she peered out the passenger-side window at the miles of browning grassy fields. Logan didn’t feel anything more than a little lust and a whole lot of disgust for her. No one really understood her, and she couldn’t blame anyone because she rarely gave a person the chance. She realized she put people off with her brash manner and her singular drive to be the best of the best professionally, but it had never bothered her.
    Until now.
    And she didn’t like it one bit. He meant nothing to her, and she meant even less to him. So why had a ball of disappointment settled in her belly?
    â€œIf I believe in something, I don’t let anything stand in my way.” Needing a distraction, she switched on the radio. “Mind if I put on some music?” She settled on a popular song and sat back in her seat.
    He huffed out a laugh. “Uh, I’m pretty sure Britney Spears doesn’t qualify as music.”
    She whipped her head toward him. “I like Britney Spears, so sue me.”
    â€œBelieve me,” he said, his lips turned up, “if I could sue you for liking Britney Spears, I would.”
    Annoyed, she folded her arms, the sudden movement startling Walter awake. He perked up his head, looked around, then put it back down again and resumed his nap. “If you’re so particular about what we listen to, why don’t you choose the music then?”
    Smiling, he leaned forward and turned the dial, stopping on classic rock. Obviously satisfied with his choice, he sat back and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat.
    â€œWho is this?” she asked.
    â€œThe Who.”
    â€œYeah, who is this?”
    He laughed. “The Who. That’s the name of the band.”
    Weird name for a band, but she liked their sound. “Oh. Never heard of them.”
    His brows furrowed as he slid her a look of incredulity. “How could you not know of The Who? Where do you live? Under a rock?”
    She chuckled to herself. He wasn’t far off. Since going out into the world on her own, she’d tried to learn as much about pop culture as she could, but even now, more than ten years later, she always felt one step behind everyone else. “I didn’t really get to listen to popular music until I moved out of my parents’ home to go to college.”
    Living on campus had been an eye-opening experience for her. From fashion to speech, she’d mimicked the girls around her. No one had ever guessed she’d spent her years growing up in an extremely religious household, covered from head to toe—even in the sweltering heat of summer. In her small community, women popped out baby after baby and were expected to cook and clean while the men worked and attended religious services. Her family and the members of their church were cut off from modern technology like music, computers, and televisions and restricted from reading anything not approved by the church leaders. And since her father was one of those leaders, he expected a model family that adhered to all of his rules.
    Within a few months of leaving home, she’d added a couple of notches to her bedpost and drooled over Ryan Gosling, just like her