Free No Turning Back by Kaylea Cross Page A

relief made him feel like a lecher. Had she really thought he'd force her sexually? He hated the thought that she might have, even as he knew it was for the best she was wary of him. Keeping his eyes off her gorgeously curved figure wasn't easy, but he figured he owed her a little privacy while she got dressed. The whisper of cotton as she pulled her clothes back on made him think of every beautiful naked inch of skin he'd seen.
    Ben clenched his jaw. Sexual attraction was the last thing he needed to feel right now where she was concerned. He needed to be remote, clear headed. Detached. Like his twin. Damn, why hadn't Rhys been assigned to do this?
    At Sam's soft footfalls behind him, he turned around and met her shadowed gaze.
    “Okay,” she said, appearing more composed. “Can we talk now?”
    Sam's heart was still pounding, but she felt much more in control as she faced him. For a minute there, she'd been sure she was going to have to do the full monty in front of him, but he'd eased off at the last moment. When he'd come up close, the sheer size of him had made her want to shrink away because he'd loomed over her like a giant, shadowy menace. Then she'd smelled the cinnamon gum he always chewed and felt strangely calm.
    This is Ben, some inner voice had said . He won't hurt you . And he hadn't. While she'd been standing there in her skivvies, she even thought she'd detected a hint of desire in his light green eyes before he'd masked it. Her own body had answered that flicker of male interest with a quick rush of heat prickling over her skin. It shamed her that she could feel attracted to him under the circumstances, but she couldn't deny her reaction. She hoped he hadn't noticed, since it would only make her more vulnerable to him. She didn't know him well enough in this capacity to be sure he wouldn't exploit the weakness, but she intended to find out why he was treating her like a criminal.
    Ben cocked his head and folded his muscular arms across his chest. Intimidating as hell, but at least she wasn't afraid of him.
    “So, talk,” he said.
    Her arms were already folded across her chest, so she cupped her palms around her elbows. Where should she start? She so desperately wanted him to believe her. Needed him to because he was Ben; because she couldn't do this on her own anymore and had no reason to. “I told you someone had been following me. For a couple weeks now. Then they broke into my place, went into my e-mails and hard drive and I found— ”
    “The transmitters. Yeah, I know. I was there, remember?”
    Nerves grabbed in her belly. She rushed to find the words to make him understand. “I went to Luke that day, told him I suspected Fahdi was up to something, and planted a device on him.” He didn't react to the information other than to nod, and her heart sank in disappointment. “You knew that already?”
    “Luke told me.”
    “But then... ”
    “Then what? That's it? That's the best you can do to convince me you're innocent?”
    She frowned. Innocent of what?
    “What about Ali being blown to pieces a few hours after you disappeared? You're saying you didn't know what Fahdi was up to?”
    She sucked back a gasp. The explosion on the day she'd run. Ali had been killed by it. “No, I didn't know anything!” Poor Ali. She was horrified Ben thought her capable of being part of that.
    “And what about the men he sent after Bryn to kidnap her?”
    She gasped. “I didn't know he'd— Is she all right?”
    “She's going to be.”
    “But what happened?”
    Ben's hard gaze rattled her even more. “You mean to tell me you had no idea Fahdi'd planned to turn her over for Tehrazzi to torture and execute.”
    “No!” The blood rushed out of her face. God, poor Bryn. “How could you think that? I would never have done anything to hurt Bryn, or anyone else.” Ben was super close with Bryn. No wonder he was so pissed at her. “Is she— did they... hurt her?”
    “She'll be okay. She's stateside with