Free Edge of Passion by Tina Folsom Page B

his pants where his erection created a visible bulge.
    Her eyes widened, and true fear shone through her irises. “Oh, my God, you came to rape me!” She shot back into the room and slammed the door. He heard the lock click shut.
    Fuck! He’d screwed up royally! But there wasn’t time for any explanations now. The fire was approaching quickly, consuming anything combustible in its way. Already now, the hallway was impassible and they’d have to find another way out.
    There was no time to plead with her to open the bedroom door, no time to waste on kicking it in. They would need that door as a barrier against the fire. Realizing he had to expose himself for what he was, he passed through the door.
    A shriek greeted him, her hand barely holding onto the receiver she was punching a number into. 9-1-1 from what he guessed. He snatched it from her hand and pressed the off button before tossing it into a corner.
    Her face blanched. “What are you?”

NINE
     
    Leila hit the back of her knees against the bed frame and automatically snatched her pillow to press it against her front.
    As if that were giving her any protection!
    But covering her nudity wasn’t her biggest concern. What she’d just seen couldn’t have happened. Aiden, if that was really his name, had passed through the locked bedroom door as if it were made of air and not of solid wood. A sideways glance to the door confirmed that it was still closed and locked.
    She shook her head. Was she having a nightmare? No! That was impossible. She knew she was fully awake. In fact, she’d never gone to sleep. Then it came to her in a flash.
    “You drugged me at the bar!” she cried out. That’s why she was hallucinating. “You followed me.”
    “No, Leila, that’s not true.”
    She didn’t believe him.
    “I’ll explain everything later.” He took a step toward her. “But we have no time now.”
    Of their own volition, her eyes drifted to his jeans. The bulge was now markedly smaller, but he still sported an erection.
    “Get away from me!”
    “You need to put some clothes on, now.” His eyes searched the room and fell on a pair of jeans and a sweater. He took them from the chair they lay on.
    As he approached her anew, she tried to back away from him, but with the bed at her back, she had nowhere to go.
    “Now, Leila,” he said in a voice that brooked no refusal.
    Coward that she was, she took the clothes he handed her. When she tried to put on the pants while shielding herself with the pillow, he pulled it from her hands and dropped it on the bed behind her. Heat suffused her cheeks.
    “Damn it, Leila, there’s no time for modesty. The fire …” He pointed to the door, where smoke started creeping in from the top.
    She dressed more quickly than she ever had, fear giving her wings. This couldn’t be happening to her. Not only was he here to rape her, he’d also set her place on fire so he could abduct her. And she couldn’t even protest: it was either go with him or die of smoke inhalation. She had a medical degree; she knew how quickly that could happen.
    “Please don’t hurt me,” she begged.
    There was a flash of disbelief in his eyes. He stared at her, seconds ticking away. “I would never hurt you. I’m here to save you.”
    Then his arms pulled her to him and all strength left her. She couldn’t do anything to protest. “Let me go.” But her demand was a mere whimper.
    She didn’t do danger and panic very well. This was a situation she wasn’t prepared for, one that didn’t fit into her orderly life.
    His hand connected with her cheek, but the touch was caressing, his knuckles brushing lightly over her skin. “Never, Leila. I’m here to protect you.”
    Oh, God, no! He was an obsessed stalker. For all she knew, he’d been following her even earlier in the night, before they’d ended up in the bar.
    From the corner of her eye, she saw the paint on the door blistering. The smell of smoke was getting stronger by the second as it