Free Embraced by Lora Leigh

shower. He had waited, watched,
knowing the day would come when Marey would drop her shields and allow him the
chance he needed to break into her heart. He was in there now, though he was
certain she would deny it to herself as long as she could.
    He also knew something else about Marey,
something she had revealed hours before. She loved the sensual dominance he
could give her. She liked the fiery pleasure-pain and walking that fine line of
carnal intensity. He would push her, he couldn’t give her time to think, to
consider the evolving relationship he could see coming. If he did, she would
run. And he couldn’t allow her to run. He wouldn’t allow her to run.
     
    “When you get ready, I need to run in to
the office for a few hours,” Sax announced as Marey sat silently after
breakfast, fortifying herself with caffeine, wondering how she was going to
manage to escape this new situation.
    Sex with Sax was incredible. Too
incredible.
    “Go ahead.” She took the final sip of her
coffee. “I’ll get ready and you can drop me off at a hotel.”
    The tension that filled the room was like a
punch in the gut. She raised her eyes, staring back at him as he watched her
silently, his eyes narrowed on her.
    “Stay a few days,” he finally suggested
casually, as though it didn’t matter either way, as though there was no risk in
such an action. “At least until they’ve picked Vince up, Marey. You aren’t safe
in a hotel. You’re safe with me.”
    She breathed out wearily, pushing her
fingers through her still damp hair as she sat back in her chair and watched
him directly.
    “And if Vince decides to blame you for the
fact that I’m here, rather than where he can get to me?” she asked him
defensively. “What then, Sax? He’s not sane. He won’t go after you with his
fists as he does me. He could come after you with a gun.”
    A savage smile tightened his lips.
    “I would look forward to it, Marey,” he
snarled. “Unlike you, I know how to deal with bastards like that. He won’t get
to me easily, I promise you that.”
    Were all men insane? Or just the ones she
knew?
    She closed her eyes as she clenched her
teeth and held back a furious growl.
    “And what makes you think you’re invincible
all of a sudden?” she snapped, coming to her feet, ignoring the glint in his
eyes as they dropped to her bare legs beneath the long hem of one of his
T-shirts.
    “I don’t think I’m invincible, Marey,” he
assured her, his voice deepening, thickening with lust as he watched her. “But
I know the type of man Vince is. A bullet isn’t personal enough, it doesn’t
prove his strength, and that’s what’s important to him, proving his
superiority.”
    In that, he was right. Vince couldn’t
tolerate believing an opponent could be physically superior to him. He didn’t
own guns, he owned fists and knives.
    “And I’m supposed to just accept the fact
that you’re placing yourself in his path,” she snapped belligerently. “I don’t
think so, Sax. I don’t need these problems.”
    “Do you think he can beat me, Marey?”
Genuine amusement reflected in his expression then. “Are you afraid your man
can’t protect you?”
    “You aren’t my man,” she muttered, using
the only defense she could come up with. “And right now, you’re acting like a
little boy playing one-upmanship.”
    “One-upmanship is not a child’s game,” he
informed her with a slow, sexy smile. “It’s a man’s game. Want me to show you?”
    Oh man, the sound of his voice, the look in
those dark eyes. Her pussy was suddenly humming in need, creaming furiously to
the pure sexuality there.
    “That’s okay.” She scuttled quickly out of
his way, watching him warily now. He could turn her knees to mush and her
resistance to no more than a passing thought. There wasn’t a chance in hell she
was going to let him touch her. “You go on to the office. I can just lounge
around here. Use the hot tub.” Call a cab and find a good