Free Wanting by Calle J. Brookes

her
body almost to the point of breaking. That—he suspected—was behind
her incessant need to drum against any surface. Energy, and
tension, needed somewhere to go. And she somehow kept all that
tension within herself, appearing calm and almost apathetic the
majority of the time. How had she managed that?
    He dropped one hand and
squeezed her smaller one. She didn’t stir, didn’t move—didn’t pull
away, and he took the moment to enjoy the feel of her warm, soft
skin beneath his.
    He’d come to the
realization in the last twenty-four hours that he a hard time not
touching her. That had never happened to him before; he wasn’t too
sure how he felt about that now. He wanted to touch her, so he did.
There was no one there to stop him, or to care. And he’d continue
to do it, as long as she didn’t mind.
    He left his hand right
where it was until his cell phone rang. He grabbed the phone
quickly and identified himself before it could wake her.
    “ Dammit, Lorcan, where are
you?” Hellbrook’s voice rang through the line.
    “ Driving.” Lorcan’s hackles
immediately rose at the other unit chief’s tone. “What of
it?”
    “ Do you have Carrie?”
Hellbrook’s tone was slightly calmer.
    Lorcan felt a surge of
protectiveness—and possessiveness—swell. “Why?”
    “ Just tell me whether you
have my agent.” There was now fear in the other man’s voice and it
had Sebastian’s attention sharpening. He pulled the vehicle to the
side of the road, ignoring the traffic whizzing by. Carrie never
stirred.
    “ I have her,” Sebastian
admitted after a short moment. “Why?”
    “ Thank God.” The relief in
Hellbrook’s voice was almost palpable enough to reach through the
cell line. Sebastian flipped the emergency lights on to prevent
anyone from rear-ending their vehicle in the dark rain.
    “ What’s going
down?”
    “ Carrie’s apartment was
broken into; we didn’t know where she was, and all we had to go on
was your phone call to the unit asking for information to be
forwarded to Carrie’s email. We were worried she was home when it
happened.” Cell service was strong wherever they were and Sebastian
had no trouble hearing the censor—and curiosity—in the slightly
older man’s voice.
    “ When did it happen? We
left yesterday morning around seven. Everything was fine, then,”
Sebastian said.
    “ Not sure, probably
sometime last night.” Hellbrook paused for a moment. “Let me speak
with her.”
    “ No. She’s sleeping, and I
don’t want to just spring this on her. She’s had a tough day. Let
me tell her. Give her time to get it together before we get
there.”
    “ And when will you be
bringing my field agent back?” Sebastian definitely didn’t miss the
meaning behind Hellbrook’s words. He knew there would be a
confrontation in the near future with Carrie’s
supervisor.
    He almost looked forward to
the challenge—there were few men he’d met in St. Louis whom he’d
consider worthy opponents for anything, and Michael Hellbrook was
one of them. “Just why is she with you, and why is she sleeping? Is
she ok?”
    “ She’s helping me find the
daughter of a friend. And she’s asleep because she hates long car
rides, especially at night, and she hates the rain. But she’s fine.
I think she’s escaping the only way she can.”
    “ You do, do
you?”
    “ Listen, we’re not even an
hour outside the city. I’m going to get her awake and break the
news. It’ll be tough for her. You know that—she told me herself
that no one enters her space. We should be there in about an hour.”
Sebastian disconnected before the other man could respond. He’d
deal with Hellbrook later. Right now he had to tell her.
    He looked at the sleeping
woman beside him, hating what he was about to do. She’d told him
that no one entered her space, not even those she was closest to.
He’d thought nothing of violating that space that first night he’d
showed up at her door, but now the thought that