Read Off the Map (Winter Rescue #2) for Free Online

his vision spotted with black, and he recognized the color at once, felt the oppressive lump in his throat threatening to choke him and leave him for dead. He’d promised himself he’d never feel this way again, but here he was, falling under, losing his balance. “It’s too late for that. If you cared about me even a little, you’d have thought twice before you washed my—”
    Understanding flashed on her face, all traces of sympathy gone in an instant. “You better not say what I think you’re going to say.”
    “I told you what it meant to me. I told you not to touch my—”
    “I swear on the lives of everyone you hold dear, if you so much as say a word that starts with the letter v , I’ll hit you over the head with that flask of tequila.”
    “Your problem, Carrie, is that you don’t listen . I told you not to wash my vest, but you did it anyway.” The reasonable part of his brain told him to stop, all but begged him to step outside, cool off, give himself a moment to collect his thoughts. Carrie drove him crazy—no woman had ever gotten under his skin and inside his heart quite as effectively as she had—but she wouldn’t kill anything other than the occasional surf and turf.
    Unfortunately, as was always the case when he was in her proximity, he had absolutely zero control. With Carrie, it was all or nothing, fight or fuck, light or dark. There was no rational middle ground. There was no place for his heart to just take a moment to beat .
    “You never listen to anyone about anything,” he said, his heart making the decision for him. “And that’s why Mara’s death is on your head.”
    She made a grab for the tequila, but he’d been anticipating such a jab and yanked it out of her reach. When all she hit was air and his aura of triumph, she stopped as suddenly as she’d begun. Fury heightened her already classic good looks, making her not just beautiful but so breathtaking he could barely breathe.
    That was the end of him.
    “Everything and everyone in your life is cursed,” he said, still holding the flask out of her reach. “I hope you’re happy now.”
    She was smart enough not to try for it again, but the icy way she looked at him felt like a wash of alcohol and stainless steel over his head all the same.
    “Very,” she said with a curl of her perfect bow lips. “I would’ve murdered your dog with my own two hands months ago, but sacrificial bloodstains are such a pain to get out.” 

Chapter Three
    “It doesn’t look enough like him. Here—let me.” Carrie grabbed the Ken doll from out of her friend Lexie’s hand. The brown marker they were using to color over the signature golden plastic locks hadn’t dried all the way yet, so some of it smudged on her fingers. “Shoot. Shouldn’t we be using permanent marker for this instead? And why are there sparkles all over his feet?”
    “I only had glitter glue,” Lexie apologized. “You should have warned me we’d need more than just basic art supplies. I only took that one scrapbooking class.”
    “Hmm.” Carrie finished touching up the hair and used a red marker to try and pull Ken’s glistening smile into a more suitable scowl. “I guess this is as close as we’re going to get. I just need to sketch in the tattoo on his arm. Are you almost done with his vest?”
    The conversation they were having on the living room floor of the house Lexie shared with her boyfriend wasn’t as strange as it seemed on the outside. Yes, they were adult women sitting cross-legged on shag carpeting with glitter in their hair. And yes, they were creating what amounted to a plastic voodoo doll. But desperate times called for desperate measures. It was either this or take a baseball bat to Scott’s headlights. Craft time had seemed the more ladylike choice.
    “Ta-da!” Lexie held up a miniature red vest with a flourish. They’d had to cut into a pair of Lexie’s tights to make it, but her friend assured her the hosiery loss was worth it.