Hot Pursuit Read Online Free

“Why do women always want the guy who’s not available?”
    â€œThey’re twisted like that, my friend. Well, not all of them.” Shane buckled his seat belt. “Just find a different horse to bet on than Laura.”
    â€œEasy for you to say. You snagged a fine woman, and you’ve got a great kid.”
    A dopey smile split his friend’s face. “I did, didn’t I? I’m a lucky SOB.”
    I will not be jealous. I’m happy for him.
    He was, truly. Shane and his new wife, Daisy, had been through hell and so had Shane’s seventeen-year-old godson, Drew Cooper. Being colleagues at the police department had been a minor obstacle for the couple compared to their other troubles, especially helping Drew deal with the trauma of his father’s death. Then there were the awful secrets Drew had been keeping and the danger those secrets had brought into their lives.
    But it was over now, and the three of them were forging a new life together.
    â€œHey, you’re a great guy,” Shane said, sensing the dip in his mood. “You’re going to find a fantastic lady who loves everything about you. You’re funny, easygoing, and you’re a good friend to everyone who knows you.”
    â€œIs this the part where we hug?”
    â€œShut up, asswipe.”
    But he laughed, and Taylor couldn’t help but be a little cheered as he pulled out of the parking lot.
    Maybe this day would take a turn for the better after all.
    â€¢Â Â Â â€¢Â Â Â â€¢
    Max is dead! Oh, God.
    Cara Evans pulled the baseball cap low on her head and watched the activity from her hiding place in the park across the street from the Sugarland Motel. Angrily, she swiped away the tears that refused to quit falling. Just as she’d done for the past four goddamned years.
    Max had come to town, looking for Cara. Then he’d phoned, urging her in a hushed voice to meet him at the motel. Why had he come to her? Especially now, after all this time? Who killed him and why? His visit could be related to her sister’s murder. Or their father’s estate. Any number of things. But the answers to those questions had died with Max in that awful room.
    One thing was for sure: the murdering asshole would pay for snuffing out the life of a good man. The only person she had still counted as a friend in the entire, sorry world. Leaning her head against the rough bark of the tree, she gave up and let the tears flow. For several long moments she allowed herself to grieve, barely aware of the sounds of activity across the street. Gradually, however, she gained a measure of control. Her fingers tightened around a solid object she’d forgotten about.
    Max’s iPhone.
    She’d be in a fuckton of trouble if and when the cops thought to track its whereabouts. It would be hard to explain her presence in Max’s room and why she’d used the device to make the anonymous call to the police about a gunshot, then lifted it before fleeing the scene. Harder still to convince them she hadn’t killed him, that he was dead when she arrived. But she planned to get rid of the phone. As soon as she took a peek to try to determine why he had wanted to see her so badly. Why he had possibly died for it.
    Voices across the motel’s parking lot snared her attention. Peering around the tree, she saw two men in plainclothes emerge from the room. Detectives, from the glint of the shields hooked to their belts at the waist. She’d been too stricken with panic and raw grief to pay attention when they had arrived, so she studied them now.
    Both were tall, but the brown-haired one was taller and leaner than the other. The man who was presumably his partner was maybe an inch or two shorter and more muscular. Golden blond hair just covered his ears, layered in a loose, casual style with some wisps of bangs falling into what looked from here to be quite a handsome face—
    Recognition hit her