Free Warrior: The Elect, Book 3 by Loribelle Hunt Page B

Carter split with the other couple, who continued upstairs. Carter and Jamie entered their suite and she turned to him, excited, wanting to talk about everything they’d learned, but the look on his face arrested her. Sharp. Dominant. She backed up and he stalked her slowly.

Chapter Six
    “That was a big risk I took. Letting you close to him. Question him.”
    Jamie had had no idea he’d been exerting so much control over his baser instincts. “I knew you had my back,” she said, trying to temper the wild need suddenly clamoring inside her.
    Her statement froze him before a sensual smile curved his lips and he continued forward. “Always, sweetheart. And I let you do your thing. You’re damned good at it, by the way.”
      Was it approval she felt at what sounded like respect in his tone? Fuck no. She kept retreating and he kept following.
    “You knew that already,” she countered.
    “Seeing is believing.”
    “We have an advantage now we should push. Martin and Toler were on personal security detail. They know Stine’s haunts. They know his habits.”
    “Mmm,” he murmured, drawing closer as her back hit the wall. “We’ll discuss it with him later.”
    She lifted her chin into the air and dodged as he reached for her. “I want to be there. We have to confront Stine. Isolate him. No one else can do what I can.”
    His eyes darkened with anger, but she thought it was because she was avoiding his touch, not because she was trying to insert herself in the operation. He didn’t pursue her this time.
    “Come here, sweetheart. Now.”
    She shook her head, her pussy clenching at a demand that was somehow all sensual promise. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
    He moved to the couch and sat down. His thighs spread wide, one arm stretched across the back and the other rested on the side. The hooded look he gave her made her tremble.
    “Who do you belong to?” he asked quietly.
    The tremble became a shake. Did she dare answer that? Did she dare not? “You,” she whispered. She knew it. She wasn’t sure she liked it, but there was no more denying it.
    His hands moved to unsnap his jeans, and then he pulled down the zipper. He released his cock, and it sprang forward with an enthusiasm that made her mouth water. He closed one hand around the base and slowly stroked up, swiped his thumb around the slit at the top, then slid his hand back down.
    “You put yourself in danger down there. Even without a weapon and handcuffed, he could have hurt you.”
    She shook her head. “He wouldn’t do anything to risk Livie. I told you that.”
    “A man will go to desperate measures to protect his woman. He could have snapped your neck before I got to him.”
    She gulped. Part of her had known that, but her confidence in Carter had overridden that knowledge. “You wouldn’t have let him,” she said. “Next time I won’t get so close.”
    “Next time? I don’t think so, baby. No more next times.”
    Something in her shrank back. Curdled. “Don’t try to force me to be something I’m not, Carter. You’ll destroy us both that way.”
    He sighed and closed his eyes. Several seconds later, they opened and zeroed in on her. “Fine. But don’t deny me the need to convince myself it’s all okay in the end. Stop trying to pretend this doesn’t exist.”
    She took one lurching step forward, the pain in his voice unbearable, but his tone made her stop. Something else was going on here. “I haven’t denied the bond,” she said, bewildered.
    “But you won’t embrace it,” he countered.
    And she knew he was right. She had one final barrier. Only she could lower it.
    “I don’t know…if I can.”
    He nodded sagely. That was just irritating. “You’re afraid.”
    “That little superiority complex is really annoying, Carter,” she said snidely as she paced the room.
    He only smiled as he leisurely stroked his cock. She tried damned hard not to notice, but he was hard and magnificent and she keep sneaking