Free Salvation (The Protectors, Book 2) by Sloane Kennedy Page B

that was what I’d been wanting from the moment he’d stepped into the den yesterday, but now the idea of his hands on me made me want to curl up in shame. Because what I really wanted more than anything right then was for him to kiss me so I could get the taste and feel of Barry out of my head.
    I pushed out the door and walked around the covered in-ground pool. Bullet darted past me and began running towards the beach. On any other day, I would have smiled at my dog’s antics, but now I just envied his ability to get past the dangerous moment in the study so quickly.
    “Seth,” I heard Ronan say gently from somewhere behind me but I just shook my head. I didn’t want kindness or pity or understanding.
    “I just need a few minutes, okay, Ronan?” I managed to say once I realized Ronan was still behind me.
    “Seth, just wait one second.”
    I swallowed hard and forced myself to stop and face him. He was almost directly behind me, but I couldn’t make myself look at him. And when he tipped my face up, I actually closed my eyes. I waited for him to order me to open them but he didn’t say anything. There was no order, no apology, no asking if I was okay, nothing. It felt like minutes had passed, though I knew it had only been seconds. I was just about to pull free of his warm, firm touch when I felt his lips brush tentatively over mine. He paused for a moment, maybe waiting for my reaction, before doing it again. Only this time, his tongue stroked over the seam of my lips and I instantly opened for him. I kept my hands fisted at my sides so my touch wouldn’t send him running, but I couldn’t stop the pent-up sigh that escaped me as his tongue stroked over mine. The kiss was so sweet and reverent and moving, that I felt relief sweep through my whole body. It was a kiss I could take with me for the next several minutes as I tried to process what had happened. Even if Ronan couldn’t get Barry out of my head as easily as he’d gotten him out of my house, he sure as hell had managed to wipe away every last bitter taste of him.
    Ronan finally released his hold on me and I opened my eyes. There was no pity or judgement. There was just understanding. The kiss had resolved nothing between us but he’d known I’d needed it.
    “I’ll be here when you get back,” he said softly and then he was the one to turn away. I watched him walk back into the house and then I turned to follow Bullet down to the beach. I let my fingers press against my tingling lips as I cast a glance over my shoulder on the off chance that Ronan was watching me from the doorway.
    He wasn’t.

Chapter Seven
     
    Ronan
     
    Six years earlier
    “Dr. Grisham?”
    “Don’t call me that,” I automatically said as I turned away from the man standing at the motel room door and continued to struggle with the cap on the prescription bottle. “Here,” I said as I tossed my wallet at him. “Take whatever I owe you.”
    I didn’t care when the man followed me into the room, although as I glanced at him again, I realized there could have been two men since my vision was fucked up. “How many of you do I see?” I asked stupidly as I searched for the bottle of vodka I’d put down somewhere when I’d gone to answer the door.
    The man didn’t respond and truthfully, I didn’t give a shit because I’d finally gotten the cap off the pill bottle. But when I tried to dump the pain pills into my hand, none of them hit my skin and I stared in confusion at the array of white dots scattered around my feet.
    “Here,” the man said and he placed one of the pills in my hand. Somewhere in my muddled mind it occurred to me that the pill was round instead of oval and it looked blue instead of white but I didn’t care.
    “Need more than one,” I muttered even as I shoved the pill into my mouth and swallowed since I hadn’t managed to find the vodka.
    “It will take me a few minutes to clean these up,” he said. “Why don’t you relax and I’ll give you