Read Trust Me: The Lassiter Group, Book 1 for Free Online Page A

done.”
    His body didn’t give an inch. “Somehow I doubt that.”
    She cracked a smile that probably fell miles short of sincere. “Maybe I’m ready to cooperate.”
    Surprisingly, he didn’t call her on the lie, and since he had blood dripping into his eye from the scrape on his forehead and running down his arm from his flesh wound, she knew there wasn’t a hope in hell he believed her.
    Between breaths, he shoved her onto her stomach, planting his knee in the center of her back.
    “Take it easy, damn it.” She sank her teeth into her bottom lip when he yanked both arms back and cold metal encircled her wrists with a deafening click.
    Wasn’t he a regular Boy Scout coming all prepared? Handcuffs would certainly slow her down.
    The pain in her arms had subsided by the time he flipped her back over. Lifting her head off the ground, she watched him move around the clearing. Probably looking for her gun. Maybe she’d get lucky and he wouldn’t find it, though he probably still had his own on him somewhere.
    The audible click of a magazine being checked and reinserted squashed that hope. Hell, something had to start going her way soon.
    Cursing the tender muscles she already knew wouldn’t be very cooperative come morning, she rolled to a sitting position just as Lucas stalked toward her.
    “What the hell were you thinking?”
    The narrowed eyes and thin line that barely passed for a mouth indicated he wasn’t actually looking for a response, but that seldom stopped her. She could have retired at the age of eighteen if she’d earned a dollar for every time her father or three older brothers had given her the same look.
    Strangely enough, reminding herself of that helped to slow the adrenaline that was still pumping through her veins.
    “Which time?”
    He gave her a blank look.
    “Are you referring to me hitting you over the head? Nice goose egg by the way. Or jumping you?”
    His whole body tensed, but Max didn’t think for a second she’d gone too far. He wouldn’t be that easy to crack, but she had a feeling that when Lucas lost his cool—he really lost it.
    All she had to do was hope she wasn’t wearing the cuffs when it happened.
    “You’re a real piece of work.” Lucas jerked her to her feet.
    Max bit the inside of her cheek against the rough grip. He obviously didn’t care he’d nearly pulled her arms out of their sockets getting the cuffs on.
    Standing so close, she had to raise her chin to meet his gaze. “Now don’t go getting all sweet on me, Lucas. We won’t be together that long.”
    The lethal glitter in his eyes did wonders to improve her mood. She was definitely getting to him and that knowledge made the lingering ache in her arms more tolerable as he shoved her in the direction of the truck and fell into step behind her.
    She supposed she should be thankful he hadn’t killed her yet, but not knowing what he had planned left a bitter taste in her mouth. If he wasn’t working for Blackwater—and if he was, why had Snake and Edward shown up too?—then why bother to track her to Canada?
    Even Blackwater knew she couldn’t risk returning to New York and have any hope of beating the murder charge. He’d made damn sure of that, him and the supposed eye-witnesses he’d paid off.
    Max started to turn around.
    “Not one word or I’ll shoot you.”
    She snorted, but kept walking. “You’re not going to kill me.”
    “Who said anything about killing you?” Though his granite-edged voice warned her he was thinking about it.
    They reached the truck, the dark stretch of road just as deserted as before.
    “Face down, Max.” He urged her to her knees, then down onto her stomach, leaving her on the ground next to the truck while he filled the gas tank.
    When he finished, he settled her in the truck’s passenger side this time and slid behind the wheel.
    He reached across her—
    “What are you doing?”
    —and snagged her seatbelt. “Safety first.”
    Safety first? Jesus, who was