Read Online Ricochet by Cherry Adair - Free Book Online

“I thought I knew you, too. But boy, was I wrong. I don’t know which man scares me more,” she said quietly. “The Grayson I believed for years was a criminal, or the man I just saw kill several men without hesitation while saying he’s the good guy.”
    #
    Jesus that stung. “You know I’d never hurt you, right?”
    Hannah lifted an eloquent brow. “You think it was painless being left at the altar?”
    Ouch.
    He sucked in a breath of her honey and orange blossom shampoo, almost overpowered by the stink of smoke. The good and the ugly. The juxtaposition wasn’t lost on him. “Mitigating circumstances,” he said roughly. This was neither the time nor place to tell her the why of it. Maybe he’d never have that chance, but he sure as shit wasn’t going to waste this moment rehashing what had happened to prevent his returning home to her on time.
    “Maybe sometime I’ll give enough of a damn to ask what they were.” Her hard ass words were ruined by the catch in her voice.
    Ah, Hannah . “I do my job. And I’m good at it. No apologies. What my men and I do matters. It keeps people safe when they aren’t even aware of being in danger. They don’t have to know the who and why of it.”
    She was quiet for several minutes. “That bomb would’ve gone off with us on board. We’re lucky you showed up.”
    Grayson’s smile felt strained. He saw the lights of the city in the distance. Time was almost up. “Colton isn’t going to feel so damned grateful when I strip his skin from his bones.”
    “I’ll help you.” Hannah assured him, then shifted out of his arms, leaving Gray feeling bereft, and cold. She’d always been instinctively tuned into other people’s needs—frequently to the detriment of her own. Had she kissed him because she knew how desperately he needed her? Or was the need her own, as she’d said? Gray used to be able to read her, but not anymore. She’d become adept as masking her innermost feelings.
    And no doubt he could take credit for that. It was as if he’d told her he didn’t believe in fairies, and her light had died.
    Sliding back across the wood bench, she clasped her fingers in her lap, and gave him a steady, unemotional look. They could be strangers. “I imagine you don’t want these men to see you all over me. Go. Do whatever it is you have to do. I’m fine in here.”
    Gray wavered between duty and desire. There was no fucking time to talk it out. No time to mend what he’d broken. He knew where he needed to be, but was also acutely aware of where he wanted to be. Here in this temporary bubble with Hannah. Holding her had been too good to be true. Her long-lashed, big blue eyes looked bruised, and wary. Gray pushed to his feet. He was a fool to think he had a choice. There was none. In less than thirty hours, Stonefish would reign terror on South America. He had to be apprehended and stopped.
    “We’ll be docking at Esmeraldas in a few minutes,” he told her, voice brisk as he got to his feet. “You’ll be on your way home in less than an hour.”
    “What about Colton? What about the Moms’ money which is the whole frigging reason I’m here in the first place?”
    “I have no fucking idea, Hannah,” Frustration, rage, shame, and lust tangled in his gut. “I’ll try and help you sort it out when I’ve done what I came here for.” Stonefish needed those diamonds to pay for the weapons he’d ordered. No diamonds, no weapons.
    No money for Hannah to take home.
    But the principals must have the diamonds somewhere . They wouldn’t have blown the ship without ensuring the stones went with them when they bailed.
    “You know what, Grayson? Go ahead and do your job. And I’ll take care of Colton and the Moms problems as I’ve always done.”
    #
    A car awaited them at the docks. Grayson didn’t bother with the niceties of introducing her to his team. They got in the car, and drove through Esmeraldas, which had rolled up its streets hours ago.
    Kissing him had