Read Online FEARLESS by Helen Kay Dimon - Free Book Online Page A

this is, right? Stay away from the idiot male so he doesn’t jump on top of you.”
    The marina light shone down next to the boat’s deck, casting the water around the boat in deep shadows. It was tough to make out much, but he could see her face. The frown was hard to miss.
    Her legs slipped and her feet fell to the floor. “You’ve got this all wrong.”
    “Look, I know I can be demanding in the bedroom, but I’m not a jerk.” He believed in monogamy and a healthy sex life, whether the relationship lasted a few days or a few weeks. With her, it had lasted almost two years and he was all in. He thought only of her, always of her.
    “Your bedroom preferences aren’t relevant because we’re not together.”
    The words sliced through him, but he refused to let the wound show. “I’m not sure that matters for us. Bed is the one place we’ve always communicated just fine.”
    “You’re such a guy.”
    “That’s what I’m saying. It’s been a long, crappy day. You had two men die at your feet and are still standing. I’m really impressed. Everything about you makes me proud, but I won’t pretend I don’t want you.”
    Her eyes widened to the point of popping. “That’s the first time you’ve ever said that.”
    “The wanting thing? Uh, I don’t think so.” He was pretty sure he’d said it several times tonight.
    And there was no way she couldn’t know. People who passed them on the street and had never met them knew. Hell, Mrs. Winston saw them together for two minutes, not touching, and got the point.
    “Not that.” Lara waved a hand in the air before putting it on his knee. “The impressed part.”
    He stared at her fingers. Looked at her hand where it flexed against his leg and felt his frustrations drain out of him. Without thinking about it, her inclination was to touch him. He didn’t know what that meant, but it gave him hope again.
    All those calls the first few weeks after the breakup had gone unanswered. The visits where she wouldn’t open the door. He’d stopped because he refused to be a stalker and would not beg a woman who wanted him gone.
    Now he wondered if he’d given in too soon.
    “That’s not true. I know I told you that before.” When she shot him a nice-try look he searched for an example in his memory. Nothing came to him. “Then I am a jerk.”
    “Let’s agree you have had a few jerklike moments.”
    Not good enough. He wasn’t going to let her give him a way out with a joke. This was too important. She was too important.
    He slipped his fingers through hers and willed her to believe. “Honey, I’m proud of you every single day. You’re strong and independent, and don’t get me started on how beautiful you are. Just looking at you makes me hard.”
    She leaned into him. “Sweet talker.”
    He brought their joined hands to his lips and kissed the back of hers. The soft skin drove him wild, but he needed to prove something to her. “I can sleep up here if that makes you more comfortable. You take the bed.”
    “Being out here really isn’t about you.”
    “Lara—”
    She squeezed his hand. “Davis, listen to me. It’s not you.”
    He wanted to shrug but couldn’t get his shoulders to move and fake the gesture. “Feels like it is.”
    “I’m sick.”
    “Wait, what?”
    “Sick.”
    The lightbulb didn’t just go on in his head, it exploded to life. He should have thought that through. She wasn’t used to death. The usual bad guys in her life consisted of losers in the grocery store or those boring attorneys she used to work with, including the one partner who’d made a pass and almost had Davis’s fist shoved down his throat in response. Contract killers were at a whole different level.
    “It’s probably a reaction,” he explained.
    “Yeah, to the boat.”
    “What?”
    She tucked her face into the space between his shoulder and his neck. “I’m seasick. When you broke out the peanut butter, I thought I was going to hurl.”
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