Free Crazy for Her by Sandra Owens Page B

before?
    “Logan?”
    Not answering, he turned away. Dani stood next to the bike and watched him walk to the edge of the drop-off. He looked out over the panorama of mountain peaks, the valleys below, and the vast sky. What the hell was wrong with him? Did he blame her for the mess they were in? If he didn’t want to be here, all he had to do was say so.
    She sat on the bike’s seat and prepared to wait for Jared and Scott. Logan hadn’t moved from his spot at the edge of the mountain, his rigid posture warning her to keep her distance. Fine, if that was the way he wanted it, she would oblige him. She just wished she knew what his problem was.

CHAPTER SEVEN

    L ogan was disgusted with himself. He had let his desires get in the way of the job he was there to do. Men got killed when their commander didn’t keep his mind on the operation. Since the risk if he FUBARed this mission was Dani’s safety, allowing his longings to divert his attention was unforgivable.
    Take today. All he’d wanted was to give her a few hours of fun, maybe help her forget for a while about the deranged man fixated on her. Had he once considered that the man would follow them? Had he watched in his rearview mirrors any more than an ordinary person might? Had he been at the top of his fighting form, aware of his surroundings and anything that seemed out of place?
    No.
    Starting now, beginning this very second, she was a job, nothing more. It was the only way he knew how to shut down his hunger for her. Christ, but the few hours of fun that morning had been remarkable. He recalled her laughing with the joy of it, the intimacy of squeezing her knee, the moment she first leaned with him into the curve. These were the things that made him inattentive and would get her hurt if he didn’t get a grip.
    It was high time to get his game face on and allow no distractions. There would be no more mistakes. He glanced over his shoulder. Dani sat on his motorcycle, her eyes alert to the activity in the parking lot, looking everywhere but at him. He walked to her.
    “Why don’t you go inside where you’ll be more comfortable? I’ll wait here until help arrives.”
    She shrugged. “If you think it’s best.”
    He kept his eyes on her until she was safely inside, and then he took his place on the V-Rod. It would be about two hours before anyone showed up, plenty of time to make some phone calls.

    The next day, after arranging for Scott to stay with Dani, Logan borrowed her Jeep. He made a visit to the Asheville police department and explained the situation to Detective Langley.
    Langley assured him the patrol cops would be on the lookout for a black Ford truck driving anywhere near Dani’s house, but that was the best they could do until the man broke the law. Although it didn’t sit well with Logan, he understood their position. As for himself, he had a lot more freedom than the cops.
    Next, using the yellow pages he had torn out of Dani’s phone book, he started visiting motels, beginning with the closest to her house. On his fifth stop, he hit pay dirt. At the Mountain View Motel, the desk clerk nodded when Logan described the truck.
    “Had one like that in the parking lot off and on for the past month. Guy comes and goes. Checked out yesterday.”
    Logan tempered his excitement. Didn’t mean it was their guy. “What was his name?”
    “John Smith.”
    He raised a brow. The clerk stared back at him, his expression blank. Logan opened his wallet, pulled out a twenty, and slid it across the counter where it disappeared into the man’s pocket.
    “His name?”
    The clerk smirked. “John Smith.”
    “I’m not fond of games.” Logan resisted the urge to wipe the ill-advised grin off the smartass, but his wish to do so must have showed.
    The man’s smirk disappeared and he took a step back. “That’s the name he gave me, mister. Shit, half the men checking in here are named John Smith. I could hold a Smith family reunion most any day of the