Freedom's Price Read Free

back in the jungles of San Salustiano. But maybe it was different here. After all, Boston was a different world from her island homeland. Here he had friends and coworkers living nearby.
    Maybe Liam had a lover, a lady friend who wouldn’t approve of or appreciate Marisala’s temporary stay, even if it were only in his spare bedroom.
    She glanced up at him to see if that was the reason behind his reluctance to share his home with her, and the flare of sudden heat in his eyes caught her off guard.
    “Dominant and submissive,” he repeated. “You mean, something more like master and slave?” His voice was soft but intense, and the look in his eyes was pure male. It was not a look she had ever seen before—at least not in
his
eyes. “Don’t push too hard,
cara
,” he murmured, “or you might get more than you bargained for. I may be your guardian, but I’m only human.”
    This time
she
was the one with the pink tinge of a blush decorating her cheeks. She tried to hide her sudden confusion with a joke. “Perhaps we should call you my ‘wrangler.’ You know, kind of like the men who are in charge of making the wild animals behave on a movie set?”
    Liam laughed at that, but the intensity lingered in his eyes. “Come on, wild thing, let’s get out of here. I’ve got a meeting in less than an hour. I have just enough time to drop you off at home.”
    Marisala thanked the woman behind the counter before following Liam back out to his car.
    The sunlight was hazy, the late afternoon was thick with humidity, and Liam’s words seemed to hang in the air around her.
Don’t push too hard,
cara,
or you might get more than you bargained for
.
    Marisala got into the car, hardly daring to glance at the man sitting beside her.
    Mother of God, was it possible that Liam Bartlett was actually attracted to her too?
    He started the engine with a roar. She watched his long fingers gently maneuver the stickshift into first gear, and for the first time in years she allowed herself to imagine him touching her with those elegant hands. Kissing her. She’d imagined him kissing her so many times before.
    He would be so gentle. His lips would be so soft as his mouth brushed against hers. He’d pause, pulling back to gaze at her, the ocean blueness of his eyes so warm as he smiled. And then he’d kiss her again, gently and so sweetly, almost worshipfully parting her lips with his tongue.
    Marisala knew it by heart. It was a fantasy that had sustained her through the darkness of night on more than one occasion. Yet now, for the first time in years, she was actually daring to believe it could come true.
    Because maybe, just maybe, Liam found her attractive too.
    Marisala gazed out at the unfamiliar city streets, remembering that unmistakable heat she’d seen in his eyes. It had frightened and even shocked her a little bit. And it had excited her too. He was human, he’d said. Don’t push him. She realized that during all those years she’d daydreamed of him, she’d dreamed about someone perfect, someone not quite human.
    In her dreams he’d undressed her slowly, carefully, his eyes not hot with desire but warm with love. He’d touched her, kissed her, he’d taken his slow, sweet, gentle time to love her completely.
    But maybe her dreams had been wrong. Maybe if she kissed him, that hot fire she’d seen burning in his eyes would take control. Maybe his passion would explode, sending her to a place she’d never been before.
    She would surrender herself to him, giving him what she’d given no man—a glimpse of her heart and soul.
    But just a small glimpse, because she was no longer a wide-eyed innocent schoolgirl. She was old enough now to know quite well the difference between love and lust. And her dreams no longer ended with promises of forever.
    She no longer wanted them to end that way.
    A moment of shared passion was all she desired now. A temporary joining of bodies, accompanied by a brief touching of souls, with a