Circle of Danger Read Free Page B

Her gaze followed the fiery path her hands made from his elbows to the skin beneath his T-shirt’s short sleeves. “You feel so good. Hard and hot.” She rubbed her chest against his. “I feel funny. Different. Wonderful. Awww, I love your broad shoulders and the way you’re so big, so manly.” She fingered his nipple through the thin cotton. “So sad. The scars are so sad, but they make you look dangerous. Everything including the patch makes you”—she inhaled deeply, causing her breasts to lift, drawing his attention—“so mysterious, so delicious.” The last said almost in a whisper.
    All the air in the room disappeared, shutting down his reflexes and allowing her the advantage to shove one hand under his shirt and the other beneath his waistband. His rock-hard erection greeted her warm hand with a jump.
    He grabbed her wrists and folded her arms across her upper chest, a much safer spot to allow him to reorganize his thoughts. “Listen to me. Whatever that guy gave you, it’s making you do this. I’ll do my best to help, but you’ve got to help me. You need to fight it.”
    â€œNo. I don’t want to stop. For years, I’ve wanted this. For too long, I was afraid you would laugh at me. Being this close makes me remember things. The way we were when I was a kid. And then you changed. I was afraid of you. I was afraid of what you would do to me. I don’t feel that way now.” She used his tight hold to pull up until her tongue glided across his lips. “I mean I’m no longer scared of this with you.”
    His body, taut and aching from holding back, braced against sinking in her touch. He even smelled her arousal. Who would’ve thought it possible? The drug running through her bloodstream had to be the reason. Set off some type of powerful pheromones or whatever. Every available inch of her naked body strained to rub his, and her sensual attack made it difficult to resist until one word she said sunk into his bloodless brain.
    â€œWhat do you mean, you were afraid of me?” he asked in a whisper. A fear he’d tamped down so many years ago reared its ugly head. Was he the monster their master said he was? She’d known him longer than anyone else in The Circle. Why had she been afraid of him?
    â€œI’d belonged to Master and he called you his beautiful monster. No matter how he treated you, he trained you to take his place. You were so above . . . I . . . I want to show you how I feel.” She rubbed her cheek in the crook of his neck.
    Releasing her hands, his fingers gripped her shoulders until he found the strength to push her away. She landed on her butt in the middle of the bed.
    â€œDon’t talk like that. You never asked to be treated the way Mast . . . Theo treated you.” He needed to quit thinking of the perverted man who warped their lives as Master. Time to move on and realize Theo Palmer had been no more than that. An evil and insane man up to the day he died. His control over their lives continued from the grave only if they allowed it.
    â€œPlease. Only you can make it stop hurtin’.” She licked her lips as her eyelids lowered and she watched him with a lust-filled gaze.
    Her pleading jerked his attention back to the erotic fantasy crawling across the bed. Ryker wanted to take her, wanted to thrust the ache away by sinking into her over and over again. But he couldn’t. The drug the freak had concocted forced her to act so unlike her normal shy self. Later, she would hate her actions, and him even more, when it wore off. They needed a sample of what she was given in an effort to produce an antidote. Every designer drug had an antidote. At least, he hoped there was one.
    Unable to resist one small touch, he brushed the back of his hand against the silkiness of her breast. She smiled up at him, innocent eyes and sinful mouth.
    He arched his neck as he threw his