Read Ride (Alpha Male Romance): In Between the Covers (Carolina Bad Boys #3) for Free Online Page A

around Benny to reach Ave and took her hand in mine. “You’ve got your key?”
    “Yes.” Her cheeks flashed pink as looked down at our joined hands.
    I tipped Ave’s chin toward me. “Don’t make any mistakes tonight, precious.”
    “Don’t worry. I never do.”
    I aimed to leave, but I didn’t even make it to the door. I just couldn’t get my feet to cross the threshold knowing she was still inside.
    If she started dancing, I was cutting in on that shit.
    Sure enough, sometime later some drunken fool leeched onto her and tried to drag her into the mash of bodies weaving every which way but upright and sober. I didn’t hear what Ave said to make the fucker move on, but I felt a zing of pride she knew how to take care of herself.
    That didn’t stop me from strutting up to her and asking, “Buy you a drink?”
    “Last time I checked keg stands were free as long as a girl took her shirt off first.”
    “I’d like to see that. But I don’t think anyone else here deserves it,” I rasped.
    “And you do?”
    Sucking in a breath, I dropped my head. “Not yet.” I gathered her hands in mine. “Listen, Ave. I’d ask you to dance if I didn’t think you’d knee me in the nuts.”
    For the first time that night, I heard her low laugh.
    I dipped my knees so we were face-to-face. “I really just want to make sure you get home all right.”
    She whispered, “Yes. I think I’ve had enough of these people.”
    Relief washed through me. I wouldn’t have to commit murder one tonight. Bonus. Or maybe the bonus was getting to run my arm around Ave’s back—her completely bare back—as we left the party. She texted Benny and held a screechy, aka cap-locked, exchange with her friend as we walked along.
    “You didn’t score tonight?” Ave’s glance slid to me.
    I wrapped my arm more strongly around her waist. “I wouldn’t say that.”
    Ave wasn’t exactly small—she was probably five-foot-six to my six foot two—but she felt slight in spite of her curves as she snuggled against me. I liked the feeling of her thigh and hip pressed against me as we strode along.
    “No Harley?” she asked.
    “Drinking means no driving.”
    “Huh. So you really are the responsible one.”
    “Wouldn’t say that.” I slid my key into the lock and let us into the house. “You’re cold.” I rubbed both her arms as I knocked the door closed behind me.
    Shrugging from my hands, she pulled away. “I’m always cold. That’s what they say.”
    “Bullshit to that.” My jaw hardened. I motioned her to the kitchen, careful not to touch her because the skittishness was back and this time she had no sweater to hide inside. “I’ll make you tea. I got the kind you like.”
    For one moment, Ave’s eyes turned to stone like they had that first day when she’d showed up on my doorstep. It made my stupid, screwed-up heart miss a beat. I moved to the sink to cover the way my hands shook as I ran water into a mug and slid it into the microwave.
    When I set the mug of tea in front her, her eyes returned to that soulful blue color I liked so much I’d give almost anything to keep it right there.
    “Jase, can I ask you something.” She blew across the lip of the cup.
    My gaze hovered between her pretty pink lips and the rim of the mug. “Sure. Whatever.”
    Dragging a chair around, I dropped into it and laid my forearms on the table.
    “Why do you even care what happens to me?” Her chin wobbled and she stared down at the milky tea I’d made her.
    Why do I care?
    Christ, a thousand reasons, a million answers flew to the tip of my tongue. She was funny and so fucking smart it turned me on. She was sexy in a way I never knew a woman like her could be. She was shy but not. She was fragile but strong. She filled in the cracks of my life when I’d been sure those cracks would only spread deeper.
    I cared a hell of a lot more than I should.
    Reaching across the table, I captured her neck in my hand. Her skin was buttery soft.
    I