Read Online Dangerous to Her by Virna Depaul - Free Book Online Page A

of the feelings he inspired, sure, but not of him.
    The barely-there smile suddenly radiated pure arrogance. “Prove it. Have dinner with me.”
    “Dinner?” she sputtered. He’d gone from ignoring her to challenging her to questioning her, and now he was moving on to flirting with her? She reacted the way she always did when she felt threatened—on the offensive. “Are you crazy? I can’t even stand the sight of you.”
    He didn’t so much as lift an eyebrow, but his look turned reproachful. “You never used to lie.”
    “Too bad I can’t say the same for you,” she shot back.
    “I never lied to you, Mattie.”
    She flushed, twisted her hands together, and wished she’d kept her mouth shut. It was true. He hadn’t lied to her, but now that she’d given herself the freedom to speak her mind, she couldn’t seem to stop. “Not by express words, no. But you know what they say—actions speak louder than words.” And he’d acted plenty ten years ago. Boy, had he acted. Every touch, every kiss, had made her acutely aware of what she’d been missing before they’d made love. Not only the physical sensations of sexual desire, but the feeling of being cherished. Of being made to feel she was special to him. She’d grieved that loss for a long time, even after she’d met and married John.
    “Then let’s act,” he insisted. “Have dinner with me. We can catch up. Put the past behind us.”
    Inside, she was stunned. Shattered. He was offering her the closure she’d never really gotten before. It was tempting, the idea of being able to forgive and forget. It’s what would be healthy, wouldn’t it? Outwardly, she called upon ten years of learning to live without him in order to appear unaffected. Hands on her hips, she tipped her head to the side, studying him. “I’m fine with keeping the past where it is. And why all this sudden interest? You haven’t said one word to me that didn’t have to do with my job.” Well, besides the talk about naked pictures, of course, but she wasn’t about to bring that up.
    “You know more than anyone that I’m not overly talkative.”
    She smiled tightly. “No, unless it comes to making false promises.” She held up her hand to forestall him speaking. “I know, I know. You never made false promises. The talk of driving cross-country and wraparound porches and baby quilts was all in my head. But at least you got what you wanted most. You became a cop.”
    His eyes darkened with some emotion she couldn’t name. “I became a cop, yes. But you didn’t imagine all the other stuff, Mattie. It was something I dreamed of, too. I was just realistic enough to know I couldn’t have it.” He stepped closer until she had to tilt her chin to look up at him. “Will you have dinner with me?” To her dismay, she was considering it. Desperately, she glanced around, trying to focus on her surroundings instead of the man in front of her. Unfortunately, the sparsely decorated hallway, with only a framed copy of the Declaration of Independence hanging off-kilter on one wall, couldn’t compete with the man in front of her. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, she thought. Such simply stated goals. She had her happiness. She had Jordan. Her brother, Tony. They had each other. She didn’t need more. Or anyone else.
    Her body shouted in protest, forcing her to recall the pleasure he’d always brought her. Not just physical, but emotional. A kind of sweet joy that she felt only one other time—when she looked at their daughter.
    The daughter he could never know about. She might want closure and Jordan might need a father, but the stakes were too high. Instinctively, she knew Dominic wasn’t a man who would take kindly to his own child being taken from him, even if he had abandoned her mother. What would stop him from trying to punish her by taking Jordan from her completely? Besides, her concerns about his profession were still valid—why let Jordan open her heart to