Free HeartStorm (HeartFast Series Book 3) by Linda Mooney Page A

willing to wait.”
                She answered him with a lazy, sexy smile. “All right. But if you change your mind...”
                He could tell she wasn't feeling the same sensations as he was, and he didn't expect her to. But the fact that she was willing to help ease his need humbled him.
                He felt her hand at the back of his head a moment before she guided his face down to hers. Their lips met again, and this time Hunter did not hesitate to crush her against him. Unfortunately, his libido did not appreciate the teasing, and he had to end their lip-lock too soon.
                “I'm starving...for food, Terrin.”
                Her soft laugh told him she knew what he really hungered for. Rather than tease him about it, she turned and lightly tapped the top of the incubator.
                "Security sensors on."
                The comm board at the foot of the bed beeped in reply. Emma also burbled to let them know she would watch over her baby sister.
                Terrin laced her fingers through his. "Come on, Udo. I don't feel like cooking, and I'm assuming neither do you. What do you say we go see what's being served in the dining hall?" Checking the timer on the comm board, she added, "When is Three expected back?"
                "Not for another couple of hours."
                "Good. I hope I'm ready by then."
                He knew what she meant. She needed this window to prepare herself. To be ready to face the man whose DNA she shared, but nothing else. In Hunter's opinion, DiMackerlyn didn't even deserve the honor of being called her father.
                With one last glance at their daughter, he followed his wife out the door and into the main building leading to the heart of Guardian Command.
     
     

Chapter Nine
    Dynamics
     
     
                Everyone was gathered in the bay when Transport Three arrived. StarLight stood in the back, legs apart, arms crossed over her chest as she watched the largest ship in the Guardian fleet touch down in its cradle. A hand barely grazed her back.
                "You have nothing to fear," Hunter softly reminded her.
                "I know. I know. Still..."
                She couldn't help the queasy, nauseated foreboding roiling around in her stomach. Her memories of her home life, and what life she'd had before becoming a Guardian, were not happy ones. They were filled with helplessness and hopelessness, instances of extreme depression and fear, and ultimately of desertion. And the man about to disembark off the ship was the sole cause of all her misery.
                She thought she had pushed all the anger and resentment to the furthest corner of her mind. Shut it away behind sealed and impenetrable doors. Once she had confessed her past to Hunter, he'd helped her to find a way to cope with the horrors that would suddenly rear up at unexpected moments to torment her, usually when she slept. With his love and patience, she'd found a way to cope. To forget. To live again.
                Then he taught her to love.
                Now her father was coming back into her life. She didn't want him here. She didn't want to see him or talk with him. She wanted no communication whatsoever, and gods knew she didn't want any personal interaction. But Hunter was right. If she didn't face him, her past would forever haunt her. This was her moment to shred the last of the demons by banishing DiMackerlyn out of her life forever. And by doing so while being surrounded by her Guardian family, and protected by her husband, she was in the safest place to confront him.
                Hunter caressed her back again, running his fingers through her long, unbound hair as he loved to do. His gesture reminded her that he was in his powers, keeping her and the area in front of her