Free Forever by Jacquelyn Frank Page B

the weight of his movements. It made her look down at his bare feet and wonder how it was that he wasn’t torn up by the underbrush. Of course that was perhaps a silly consideration under the circumstances. Obviously he was a god. Or maybe a demigod. From that powerful ability right down to that awe-striking physique … not to mention the total arrogance he was seething with. He simply couldn’t be anything less. He’d always been notably confident in the past, but the sensation she was feeling from him now could have bordered on hubris. He was a living, breathing Hercules. Prometheus born to give the gift of fire to mankind. To her. God, what fire would he stir in her? It couldn’t be much more than she had already entertained in her most secret fantasy life. Or could it?
    Oh Christ. She was out of her mind. She was worried about
his
mental stability? She was the one who had clearly jumped right into the deep end. Her life was in the utmost danger and yet she was still obsessing about … about things she had never had any right to obsess about. No matter what their relationship, even if he had never walked through her office door, she was the department shrink. Any officer who might end upcrossing her professional path must be treated as a patient at all times. Treating the precinct like a possible dating pool was absolutely out of the question. Now it was even more so. He was a killer. A stone-cold killer. A powerful killer. He had wielded a power that no man should ever have at his fingertips. Humanity was far too flawed and far too infantile to have such power in this world.
    “Now there you would be right,” he said quietly. “No ordinary man could do what I do and be considered anything but dangerous. But we … I … am no ordinary man.”
    “Well excuse me if I spit out a big fat
duh
on that one,” she bit off, her ongoing panic beginning to make her a little surly. There was only so long a woman could tolerate being utterly scared to death. Given enough time, she was going to push past fear and move straight into bold foolhardiness … if she hadn’t already. She nervously licked her lipsvg.“And who is this ‘we’ we’re talking about anyway? Because I must say it sounds a little crazy from the shrink perspective.”
    “I thought shrinks weren’t supposed to say their patients were crazy,” he said, amusement shaping his fine mouth into a broaching smile. It kind of pissed her off even more.
    “Well I think I’m staring at a big fat exception to the rule,” she spat.
    “No doubt. Are you going to let me explain?”
    “Do I have a choice?”
    “My my, Marissa, you do get plucky when you’re nervous. Your defense mechanism is showing.”
    “You’re an ass,” she bit off. Then she realized she was insulting a very powerful ass and she swallowed audibly.
    “And you are either very, very brave, or very, very foolhardy.”
    “I’m teetering on a little bit of both,” she said with a weak, breathy sort of laugh.
    “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said. And in that tone of voice, with all that rich bass reaching out to cuddle her up in its unexpected tranquility, she felt herself craving the ability to believe him. The desire frustrated her to no end. She was a strong, independent, professional woman! She shouldn’t get all googly-eyed and mushy-hearted over the charming, handsome demigod who could smite her with a dirty look.
    She swallowed noisily.
    “You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you,” she said, thinking it would have sounded much stronger if she weren’t breathing so damn hard. Her blood was racing through her veins, just as her breath raced in and out of her lungs.
    “Oh, but you do believe me,” he said, his tone even more coaxing, his hand lifting in a supplicating gesture. “If you didn’t, you would have run away from me long before now.”
    “Well, as you’re always pointing out, I’m not exactly wearing the right shoes for a foot