Read Online Big Girls Don't Cry by Taylor Lee - Free Book Online Page A

of the nearest chair, she glared at him.
    Given the turmoil roiling in her gut she was grateful her voice was as calm as it was.
    “That’s where you are wrong, Agent Gardner. You may command battalions and lead men in and out of dangerous life threatening situations. But you are not in charge of me or responsible for me in any way. I am responsible for myself.”
    She tossed her head with a dismissive sneer, ignoring the dangerous glint in his eyes.
    “So pack up that southern charm, Special Agent. Save it for someone who will appreciate it. Find another helpless woman to save, because that woman isn’t me.”
    She was now several feet away from him and only inches from the doorway.
    “Oh, and a little advice. When you take your next powerless woman out to dinner, tell her what you are really after. Most women, even pitiful ones, don’t like being lied to. Now, if you’ll excuse me. Don’t bother getting up. I’ll see myself out. And I won’t need a ride. I’m taking a cab.” She turned to go then reached in her purse and threw two twenty dollar bills on the table. “For my dinner.”
    Threading her way through the main dining room, Lexie was shaking so hard she bumped into several tables. She grimaced. People probably thought she was drunk. She was. With rage.
    When she got to the entrance, she said to the teenage boy who had taken Jake’s bike, “Will you please call me a cab or tell me where the nearest cab stand is?”
    A gruff voice behind her said. “Don’t bother, Pedro. I’ll see Miss Beloi home.” Taking the keys the flabbergasted boy handed him, Jake added, “Please say good night to your mother and father. Tell them I’ll be back soon.”
    He took hold of her arm and strode across the parking lot to the motorcycle planted within sight distance of the valet stand. It took Lexie three steps to keep up with one of his.
    “I’m not riding on that with you. I...I’m getting a cab.”
    He pressed his lips together in a straight line. “Be quiet.”
    She gasped and stepped back, startled by the underlying anger in his usually contained expression.
    He leaned back against the handle of the bike and glared at her, his eyes narrowed, gleaming in the light from the Cantina.
    “Tell you what, sugar,” his drawl was noticeably hard, without a trace of teasing humor. “We have a saying where I come from. You dance with the one who brung you.”
    Lexie rolled her eyes and shot him a defiant glance. Crossing her arms tightly in front of her chest, she scoffed, “Oh, great, more of Grandma Winnie Mae’s words of wisdom? In case you didn’t notice, we weren’t dancing.”
    He smiled a tight hard smile. “Nope, that was Uncle Bobby Jo’s warning to me when I was thirteen years old and thought I knew everything about the world of women and he knew nothing.” He straightened up and moved toward her. “But darlin’, if it applies to dance partners, it sure as hell applies to the guy who took you out to dinner and is about to take you home.”
    Lexie stiffened and looked over her shoulder, judging the distance to the door of the Cantina. Surely, he wouldn’t chase her if she ran. But before she could decide her chances, he flipped up the lid to the storage compartment and yanked out a black leather jacket.
    He thrust it at her. “Here, put this on.”
    “I told you, I am not riding…on…”
    The rest of her words stuck in her throat. Within what seemed like seconds, he deposited her on the back seat of the bike dressed in his jacket. He snapped on her helmet and pulled the strap tight.
    Swinging his leg over the fender in one motion, he strapped on his helmet. He twisted around and smiled a grim smile when he saw where she was sitting.
    She’d scooted back as far as she could and clenched her fists around the leather handles on the seat.
    He actually grinned, infuriating her further, then dug around in the pouch on the side fender.
    She shrieked when she saw the handcuffs. She fought him as hard