Read Wilde Nights in Paradise (A Wilde Security Novel) (Entangled Brazen) for Free Online

to help herself. The man pushed all of her buttons—good and bad—and right now, she needed the distraction he presented. Anything to take her mind off the image of that car headed directly toward them…
    Oh God, why wouldn’t her hands stop shaking?
    She rolled her fingers into fists on her lap and clenched her jaw to keep the trembles from traveling up her arms and into the rest of her body.
    For once, Jude didn’t rise to the bait of her snide remarks. He studied her for a second, then reached over and covered both of her hands with one of his.
    “Jesus, your hands are half-frozen.”
    She tried to pull away, but his grip tightened. She wasn’t going anywhere until he allowed it, and that knowledge grated. “Let go of me.”
    To her surprise, he did and turned up the heat, angling the vents her way. But, being Jude, he couldn’t leave it at that. “You used to like when I touched you.”
    She still did, a little thrill dancing through her belly at every contact, but she’d bite off her own tongue before admitting it. “I was young, stupid, and horny back then.”
    One corner of his mouth kicked up in a half smile. “Yeah, been there.”
    “From what I’ve seen, you’re still there,” she said.
    He actually laughed. “You know, Reece said the same thing to me yesterday. Sure he’s not your brother?”
    She vaguely remembered Reece and Greer. And the twins, but she couldn’t remember their names. She’d met them all once at Jude’s apartment, but only very briefly. Jude had rushed through the introductions and then hurried his brothers out the door, making a fake excuse about having dinner reservations.
    That should have been her first clue their relationship was doomed.
    Young, stupid, and horny.
    She looked at him again, let her eyes trace the line of his long, muscled frame, and a spark of pure desire heated her from the inside out.
    Yeah, so what was her excuse for wanting him now?
    …
    When Jude pulled to the curb in front of her house, her father’s car already waited in the driveway, and he stood in the open doorway, his big body backlit by the lamps in the living room. He held a gun in his hand.
    Libby sighed and got out of Jude’s truck. “Dad, put that away.”
    He merely grunted.
    “Daddy, please. You’re overreacting.”
    With the tip of his gun, he pulled her front door shut. “Is this overreacting?”
    “Shit,” Jude said from behind her.
    Heart in her throat, she stared at the streaks of dark red splattered over the door. Here, too? No, not here. Not at her home, her sanctuary from the world. “Is that…?”
    “Paint,” her father said. “Now come inside out of the open.”
    “Oh.” Relief shook her to the bone. Her legs didn’t seem to want to move. “Paint. Right. Just…paint.”
    “Wilde.”
    “Yes, sir,” Jude said, and suddenly her feet were no longer touching the ground. She wanted to tell him to put her down, that she could walk herself, thank you very much, but her vocal cords had also stopped cooperating. Jude carried her into the house.
    How ironic , she thought. Here he was, finally carrying her over the threshold after all these years. Tears threatened, and she focused on blinking them back. She must be an emotional wreck right now if something as ridiculous as an old romantic fantasy brought on the waterworks.
    “Plan B,” her father said.
    “I didn’t know we had one,” Jude responded and set her down on her favorite overstuffed leather recliner.
    “We do now.” Her father tucked a chenille throw around her shoulders, and she clutched it, welcoming the warmth. “You have to take her away from the city. Hide her somewhere, keep her safe until the trial.”
    “How far are you thinking?” Jude asked.
    “I own a hunting cabin in the mountains in Vermont—”
    “No.” Jude moved away from her, over to one of the three front windows. He nudged the curtain aside and peeked out as if he expected her stalker to be across the street,