LITMIR.BIZ

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the only piece of furniture not smashed to pieces. That left her to stand, but hovering above this guy felt better than the reverse.

      “You can actually sit down,” she said so she would have the advantage if he decided to strike. Despite his athletic look, she’d bet he could not outrun a bullet.

      His smile only grew. “I’m good here on the edge.”

      That made one of them. “Are you ready to talk?”

      “Didn’t exactly come here to chat.”

      A good reminder. She knew staying at Dan’s house carried a few risks. She expected a flood of tears and regret. She had not counted on a six-foot-something walking risk with broad shoulders and an intelligent flash behind his eyes.

      Time to act like a woman being hunted. “Talk or I’ll call the police.”

      He shot her one of those all-too-knowing smiles that all men seemed to have mastered. “I’m not going anywhere.”

      “Option B it is.” She flipped open her cell phone and pretended to dial.

      “You won’t.”

      True. She didn’t really have anyone to call, but how could he know? “That’s wishful thinking on your part.”

      “More like a calculated guess. One I’m willing to play out.”

      “This isn’t a game.”

      “Sure feels like it.”

      Before she could maneuver him to the door, he sprang from the chair and knocked the gun and phone from her hands, sending them skittering across the smooth hardwood floor. Losing her balance, Cassie crashed to the ground on her stomach and smacked her forehead against the chair leg.

      In a panic, her heart raced and her head spun. She had been numb for weeks, like the walking dead, but nerve endings snapped to life at the unexpected assault.

      She kicked out aiming for any weakness she could find on her visitor’s trim, lean body. He blocked her attack and launched one of his own. The breath whooshed out of her lungs as he squeezed her upper body in a fierce bear hug against the floor.

      Being surrounded and crushed by about a hundred and ninety pounds of furious male made her adrenaline pump. Finding strength she didn’t know she had, she flailed and tried to punch. Nothing worked. When he flipped her onto her back and pinned her hands above her head, a squeal escaped her tight throat.

      Heavy breaths beat against her chest as he straddled her. Long-distance running and hours at the gym had not prepared her for this fight. Not now. Not after all that had happened. No, with the weight of everything crushing in on her she lost ground almost from the start.

      “Now you don’t have the weapon,” he said, more as a fact than a threat.

      She calculated the distance from her knee to his groin and waited for the right time to attack. “Get off of me.”

      “Tell me who you are first.”

      His face did not look quite so handsome now that it loomed over her. And that bored look he wore before, yeah, that disappeared as fast as her balance.

      “Go to hell.” She wiggled her shoulders, trying to break his stranglehold, but his weight held her down.

      The vulnerability of her position set her heart pounding until it formed a steady drumbeat in her ears. She bucked her hips and went rock still when her midsection met with his lower body.

      Big mistake. No reason to encourage anything down there.

      “Don’t look so horrified.” A rough edge tinged his voice. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

      Easy for him to say since he was on top and in control. “Like I trust you after that tackle and roll move.”

      “You’re fine.”

      The pounding in her head suggested otherwise. For the first time in weeks Cassie felt something other than frustration and sadness. But she wasn’t sure terror-filled minutes were any better than those that came before.

      “Let me up,” she said in the strongest voice she could muster.

      He loosened the grip on her wrists but kept her pinned. “Stop moving around and tell me who you are and how you know Dan.”

      She glared but stayed quiet.

      “Okay then. We’ll skip the introductions and get to the point. Where is Dan?”

      The question showed this guy lived somewhere else. Either that or the story about being Dan’s friend was just that, a story. “I thought you and Dan were supposed to be so close.”

      “What does that have to do with your name?”

      “If you really were friends, you’d know.” And she would not have to say the words. She could keep the pain and hurt locked in the back of her mind as she searched for the truth.

      “You’re talking in riddles.”

      She searched the guy’s face one last time trying to figure out where she had seen him before. Something about his tone or affect…something kept her from pulling that trigger before and from kneeing him now.

      “You gonna say anything anytime soon?” he asked.

      The dizzying sense of loss, all that gnawing disbelief, exhausted her until she gave in and provided the answer he wanted.

      “Dan’s dead.” Saying the horrible words sliced her to the bone.

      Her attacker did not take them any better. He loosened his grip as his tan face blanched chalk white. She’d seen that horrified look before. Every single time she glanced in the mirror.

      “That can’t be right.” Distress filled the man’s voice. His words came out choppy and low, almost like a growl.

      She nodded, unable to say the truth about Dan a second time.

      “Oh shit.” The stranger landed on his backside on the floor beside her with a thump.

      Stunned surprise. The flash of pain behind his eyes. The tightening of his skin around his mouth. Cassie recognized the signs. The man was trying to hold back the emotions that had his hands flexing and his shoulders slumping in defeat.

      “They tried to tell me at the hangar,” he said in a faraway voice. “But I…it didn’t make any sense.”

      None of it made any sense to her, either. No matter how many times she tried to take apart the pieces and make the facts fit, the story fell apart. Most days, her fight for the truth about Dan was the only thing that got her out of bed.

      “How?” The mysterious man sat back on his haunches, head hung low, body slack. “I mean, when?”

      She knew what he was asking. She swallowed the mountain of tears clogging her throat. Telling the horrible news rubbed her raw. She expected it always would. “Helicopter crash. Close to four weeks ago. We had a private memorial service for him shortly after that.”

      “But he contacted me—” A deep frown marred the attacker’s face. “Who the hell are you?”

      “Cassie Montgomery.”

      “Dan’s half sister?”

      “I don’t make the half distinction.” And she hated when other people pointed it out. “But, yes.”

      “Damn.”

      She sat up straight as he jumped to his feet. “And now it’s your turn to fess up.”

      From the small shake of his head to the sad echo in his voice, she knew the surprise news had the guy reeling. Shock, confusion, and anger all raced across his face.

      “Are you okay?” she asked.

      He paced around at a near stumble. “No.”

      “How about you

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