Read Online Charmed and Dangerous by Lori Wilde - Free Book Online Page B

delightfully delicious sabras cactus? Prickly on the outside but sweet and soft on the inside. Her pulse skittered off kilter.
    So why the armor-plated exterior? What was he so afraid of? He gestured toward the sack. “Pass me one of the burgers, will you?”
    She moved the sack out of his reach, tucking it against the right side of her body. “Nope.”
    “No?”
    “I’ve got your number too, mister.”
    His grin widened. “Let’s hear it.”
    “You’re one of those guys who’s so focused on winning that you try to shut down your tender feelings by channeling your energy into blasting your way through any given situation.”
    “Now why would I do that?”
    “Because if you’re winning that means you’re in control. Because if—horrors—you’re not busy telling other people what to do, that means someone could be taking advantage of you. You view soft emotions as a weakness and nothing terrifies you more than being seen as weak.”
    “You think?” David asked lightly, but Maddie noticed he’d lost his teasing smile. Ah-ha! Apparently it was quite a different story when the pop psychology was on the other ego.
    “I think.”
    “Well, I think you’re one of those women who doesn’t appreciate having their shortcomings pointed out to them, so in order not to have to face said shortcomings, they grasp at very thin straws and lash out at the person who observed their flaw in the first place.”
    “You think that was lashing out?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Buddy, you don’t wanna see me lashing out.”
    “I guess it would depend on what kind of lashing we’re talking about. A physical tongue lashing is quite a different animal from a verbal tongue lashing.”
    “There you go with the sexual innuendo again.”
    “But you’re so fun to tease.”
    “Maybe we should examine the reason you feel compelled to tease me, if indeed it is, as you claim, teasing.”
    “Maybe we should leave the psychoanalysis to the professionals,” he said.
    “I’ll go for that.”
    “Could I have my supper now, please?”
    She relented. He had asked nicely. She unwrapped his burger and handed it over.
    The next few minutes passed quietly as they concentrated on fueling their bodies. The farther north they traveled, the more rugged the terrain grew. Smooth sandy beaches gave way to dense scrub, rocky thickets and sedge swamps. Just when Maddie was beginning to think that David had no earthly idea where he was going, the beaches reappeared.
    After finishing her food, Maddie wiped her hands on a napkin and stuffed it, along with the greasy wrapper, back into the paper bag.
    Well-kept bungalows graduated to pricier digs until they found themselves in Cayman Kai where the manor houses were lavish and the condos exclusive. David followed a string of cars down the road to Dead Man’s Cove.
    “Looks like someone is having one heck of a chichi party,” she said, impressed with the assortment of Jaguars, Porsches and Mercedes-Benzes.
    The line of cars slowed as they turned into the private drive of a very swanky plantation-style house surrounded by coconut groves. The cars were stopping at a checkpoint manned by a uniformed security guard.
    David backed the car up and narrowly missed running into a Viper. He slipped their outclassed rental into drive and eased past the party house.
    “What’s going on?” Maddie asked.
    “Change in plans.”
    “You mean we’re not just going to walk up to the front door, ring the bell and say, Hey dude, you fencing Shriver’s stolen Cézanne?”
    “That was never my plan.” He sounded irritated.
    “What was your plan?”
    “I agreed to bring you along, basically to keep you from screwing up my investigation. I did not agree to play twenty questions. Now hush,” he said, scanning the waterfront.
    “What are you looking for?”
    “What did I just say about asking nosy questions? Weren’t you listening? Or are you just bad at taking instructions?”
    “That last part. Now what is it that