Read Online Until Death by Cynthia Eden - Free Book Online

you’re saying—”
    “I’m saying, yes, I know you handle plenty of PI cases, but this is different. This is life and death, and I am
not
going to stand by while you get hurt.”
    No standing by
. She got that. Her hands rose and pressed to his chest. She felt him stiffen beneath her touch.
    “Ivy…”
    “I don’t want you to stand by.” She didn’t intend to just play the role of the victim, either. “We’re going to be partners.”
    “The hell we are!”
    “We
are
going to be partners,” she said again. “Because if he is hunting me, then I want you at my side.”
    His gaze searched hers. “You always think you can control everyone around you.”
    No, she didn’t think that.
    “Men jump to do your bidding, and you just take that shit for granted.”
    “I don’t remember you ever jumping.” Quite the opposite. She remembered him leaving.
    “Things aren’t going to keep working that way. I’m not going to risk you.”
    I’m not yours to risk.
She didn’t say those words, not yet. But they still seemed to hang in the air between them. He didn’t understand her. Maybe he never had. Did he think she was just playing at the PI business? No, things were different now. Everything was different.
    The fact that she was intimately involved in this murder just made her all the more determined to act—and to prove herself.
    Chasing cheating husbands, my ass.
    “Thanks for seeing me home,
Detective,”
she pulled away from him and marched back to the foyer. “I’m quite safe now. So you’ve done your due diligence.”
    His steps were slower as he followed her. “I can stay, if you want.”
    She looked back at him. “You think he’s going to come for me again, this soon?”
    “I didn’t think he’d drive his knife into the councilman’s chest, but he did.”
    Her shoulders straightened. “I’ll be fine.” She kept a gun under her bed. And that night, she’d be making sure it was loaded.
    A furrow appeared between Bennett’s brows.
    “Goodbye, Bennett,” she told him firmly.
    He didn’t move. “I want to stay.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “It’s…hell, it’s important, Ivy. I need to know you’re safe.” His hands were clenched at his sides. “Until I get a better handle on this case, until I can figure out what the fuck is going on…I need this. I need to be close to you.”
    He had no idea how much his words hurt. Because those were words she’d wished to hear long ago. Not the whole “what the fuck is going on” part but…
    I need to be close to you.
    “You can stay upstairs. There’s a guest room down the hallway that you can use.” Her voice was grudging and she sighed. “Of course, you know my neighbors will see your car. Everyone will say we’re sleeping together.”
Again.
    He stared at her. “I thought you never cared what people said.”
    “I don’t.” She turned and headed for the stairs. “Just thought you should know…”
    He snagged her hand. “Are we going to talk about it?”
    She looked at his hand. So much tanner than her own. So much bigger. Stronger. “You mean the kiss?” She gave a faint laugh. “It was so fast, I hardly think that—”
    “Actually, I meant our past, but, yeah, if you want to talk about the kiss, let’s do it.”
    Crap. She’d walked straight into that one.
    “Want to know why I kissed you?”
    Get out of here. Right now.
That warning was flashing in her head and she kept a faint smile on her face as she looked up at him. “I already know why.”
    “You do?”
    “Because you still want me.”
    His eyes narrowed.
    “Want to know why I kissed you back?” Ivy asked him as she pulled away and then headed up the stairs.
    “Why.” A demand, not a question.
    She stilled on the fifth step. Her hand tightened around the banister. “Because I never
stopped
wanting you.”
    “Ivy…”
    She kept going up the stairs. “Enjoy the guest room.” Because she might want him, she might need him, but she wasn’t crossing that line.