Free Touch of Temptation by Rhyannon Byrd Page A

confusion.
    “We don’t have any choice but to stop.” He pushed the words through his gritted teeth, quickly refastening his jeans over the raw, angry ache in his cock. Grabbing her panties off the floor, he tossed them to her, saying, “Get these back on.”
    She started to argue as she caught them, but he reached out, grabbing her behind the neck and pulling her against him, so that he could take her mouth with another deep, marauding kiss that left her dazed and breathless. Then he lifted her into his arms, kicked the cot back against the wall, and laid her down. Pinning her forearms on either side of her head, Kellan leaned his face close to hers, the panties still grasped in her hand. “I’m not backing out,” he grunted, the rough words thick with frustration. “But we have to be smart.”
    “I don’t believe this,” she choked out, her eyes suddenly flashing silver as the furious Merrick inside her strained against his hold. “I can’t believe you’d do this to me! I was so close!”
    “Chloe—” he gave her arms a careful shake “—listen to me, damn it.”
    “I don’t want to listen,” she moaned, her neck arching as she fought him, her small fangs glistening in the golden glow of firelight.
    He shook her a little harder. “They’re coming down here again, and God only knows what they want. Think about it, Chloe. I know you’re hurting, but I have a bad feeling about this.”
    Her body slowly stilled, fear gradually replacing the hunger in her gaze as she blinked up at him. “Oh God,” she finally whispered, wetting her lips. “Raine! Do you think they’re coming to hurt her again? Westmore’s been waiting for her to give him the location for the next Dark Marker, but he’s getting impatient.”
    “I won’t let anything happen to her,” he promised, tucking a dark strand of hair behind her ear. “Just stay in this bed and pretend to be asleep. No matter what you hear, do not draw attention to yourself. I’ll keepwhoever’s coming away from Raine, but I want you to keep quiet.”
    Knowing he needed to get the hell out of there, before he was caught in her cell, Kellan quickly grabbed up the keys and locked her cell door behind him. Moving with rapid strides, he placed the keys back on their rusty hook and flipped the switch open for the counterweight on her door, then made his way back into his own cell, adrenaline fueling his strength as he wrestled with the heavy door. After making sure the lock didn’t show any signs that it’d been tampered with, he headed toward the front right corner of the grim enclosure, his heart still pounding with a deep, resonating beat.
    Jesus, the woman had nearly burned him alive, and he hadn’t even brought her off. The enormity of what they’d almost done finally started to crash down on him, and he groaned, scrubbing his hands down his face.
    A day. He hadn’t even lasted one goddamn day before pawing her.
    I want you….
    Freaking pathetic, the way he’d been drawn in by those three simple words. Kellan could only thank God that he’d been wrenched back to his senses in time. He knew what could have happened. Even though he understood damn well that he should keep his hands off her, he’d been more than capable of taking it all the way. Hell, ten more seconds and he’d have been buried a mile inside her, soaked in that slippery heat, nailing her sweet ass against every surface he could find—and the fact they didn’t have anything for birth control wouldn’t have stopped him.
    A tremor ran through his long frame, and Kellan rananother shaky hand down his face, a muscle pulsing in the hard set of his jaw.
    I don’t believe this. You’re scared shitless.
    He wanted to tell the bastard to shut up, but his wolf had it right. He was scared. Of failing her. Of becoming more obsessed with her than he already was. Because the stronger his desire to hold on to her grew, the more this was going to suck when it came to an end. And it would