Full Exposure: A Loveswept Contemporary Erotic Romance Read Free Page B

throat and moved his hand slowly down her chest. As his fingers closed around her breast for the first time, a huge streak of lightning lit the sky beyond the studio and the lights went out, plunging the room into a still and eerie darkness.

Chapter Two
    Serena stiffened, pulling away from Kevin as fear wrapped itself around her throat in a tight-fisted chokehold. Bloody images flashed in front of her eyes before she could stop them. “What happened?” she demanded, hands pressing urgently against his shoulders.
    “It’s just the storm,
bebe
,” he soothed, his black-magic voice calming the shock waves pulsing within her. “Any time a big one hits, we lose power out here. I’m surprised we’ve had lights this long.”
    He lowered his head to her neck, let his tongue stroke lazily across the hollow of her throat. But she pushed at his shoulders again, shoving him away hard as she scrambled to her feet. “Do you have a flashlight?”
    “A flashlight?” he responded dumbly.
    “Yeah, a flashlight. Or a candle? Anything?” The urgency in her voice barely registered on him.
    “Do we need one?” He ran a hand through his hair. “I thought what we were doing was pretty well-suited to the dark. Not that I don’t look forward to seeing you in the light.” His voice was low and teasing as he reached for her again. A note of humor crept in. “So, where were we?”
    “I don’t want—” She pulled away, ran her hands down arms that were suddenly ice cold.
    “You don’t want what?” he parroted, the warmth in his tone cooling several degrees as his eyes narrowed dangerously. “You don’t want this? You sure picked a helluva time to change your mind.”
    The flames in the iron-working stove had died down as he worked with his blowtorch, so that it gave off just a small amount of light. Enough that he could see her outline, but her face and eyes were shadowed.
    “Serena, answer me. What’s going on here?” Impatience colored his words, making them cooler—and hotter—than they might have been otherwise.
    Serena pressed trembling hands to her eyes, desperate to block out the darkness and the hint of temper Kevin couldn’t hide. Desperate to stop the memories bombarding her. Though her arousal was gone, killed by the sudden and imposing darkness, now she was shaky for entirely different reasons and she couldn’t stand this new and unexpected loss of control.
    “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I know it looks bad, but I never meant to do this to you.” And she hadn’t—once she made up her mind she rarely changed it and she always, always followed through with what she started, whether it was an assignment for work or a project she did for pleasure. Making love with Kevin definitely fell into the pleasure category, but she couldn’t do it. Not right now. Not while darkness closed in around her. Not while Sandra’s screams echoed in her head and the stench of long-dried blood assaulted her nostrils.
    “I never said you had.” His tone was guarded, though warmer than it had been a few moments before.
    “I don’t …” Her voice was harsh, husky with a fear she couldn’t banish as she forced the words past the sudden lump in her throat. “I don’t like the dark.”
    “What?” Kevin asked, confusion evident in his tone.
    A hint of her own temper entered her voice—she hated being vulnerable. “I’m afraid of the dark, okay?” The words were evenly spaced, her voice defiant as if daring him to make fun of her.
    Feeling as if he’d missed a couple of steps, or an entire staircase for that matter, Kevin closed his eyes. Ran another hand through his hair. Clamped down on the desire still twisting his guts into knots. “You’re a photographer,” he finally said incredulously. “Half your life is spent in a darkroom!”
    “It’s different.” Her voice shook, despite her best efforts to keep it steady.
    “How?” But his voice was softer. He was too shocked at the difference in her—the