Free Dark Powers by REBECCA YORK Page A

automatic and beyond it to Ben’s tense face.
    “Christ!” He lowered the weapon. “I’m sorry.”
    “What happened?”
    “I woke up when I heard a car pull into the lot outside. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t someone coming after us.”
    “Who was it?”
    He made a dismissive sound. “A man and woman on their way in from a late night.”
    She shivered in the cold. She’d been staring at the gun. Now she stared at the man, at his well-toned body, his narrow waist, the dark mat of hair that spread across his chest, split by an eight-inch-long scar.
    “You should go back to bed,” he said.
    That was the truth. She should. Instead she walked toward him. He’d said he’d been shot. Thank God he’d recovered.
    Reaching out, she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face against his shoulder.
    “Don’t.” The word was a low rumble in his chest.
    “Why not?”
    “Because you’re in a fragile emotional state, and you’re reacting to danger instead of thinking rationally.”
    She blew off the flat, emotionless statement. “I’ve been trying to think rationally ever since Mom called to ask if Laurel was at my house. It’s not working. Too much is happening too fast.”
    “I scared you,” he muttered.
    “Not you. Everything.”
    Unable to stop, she pressed against him, warming herself with the heat of his skin.
    To her relief, he put down the gun, then lifted his arms and folded her close. One of his large hands played with her hair, combing through the strands. The other stroked her back and shoulders in small circles, working the tight muscles.
    He made a muffled sound deep in his chest as he reached down, slipping his hand under the hem of her shirt and sliding it upward, splaying it against the bare skin of her back, sending prickles of heat through her body.
    Heat that warmed her from the inside out.
    She closed her eyes, wanting to focus only on the man who held her in his arms. Tonight she’d come to him for comfort and discovered she wanted a lot more than that. No, she’d known it when she climbed out of bed, but she hadn’t been able to admit it.
    When she lifted her head, he went very still.
    Reaching up, she clasped the back of his head and brought his mouth down to hers. Their lips met in a kiss that turned hot the moment they touched.
    The contact drove all the uncertainty from her mind. She forgot everything but his taste, his touch. And her own out-of-kilter response.
    She needed to get closer to him, as close as she possibly could. If she had ever felt such desperation, she could not remember when. All she could do was lean into him, caught by the steamy pleasure of the contact.
    “Sage,” he murmured against her mouth, nibbling with his lips before settling into a more steady pressure.
    She liked the way he kissed and the way he said her name with an edge of the desperation she felt. It made her reckless, made her feel as if she was a prisoner of forces that held her in their grip.
    Wrapping her arms around Ben, she felt the hard shaft of his erection between them. When she moved against it, his hands went to her hips, pulling her more tightly to himself.
    They rocked in each other’s arms, caught in a cloud of sensuality that was carrying them away from this place and time to somewhere better. For heartbeats she thought they were going there together.
    Then he shattered the moment as she felt the pressure of his hands against her shoulders, easing her away from him.
    His breath shuddered.
    Her eyes blinked open, and she stared up at him, struggling with confusion.
    “Don’t push me away,” she managed to say.
    “I have to.”
    “Why?”
    “You know this is wrong.”
    “Why?” she asked again.
    “You hired Decorah Security to find your sister—not have me seduce you.”
    “You weren’t seducing me. I was the one who came to you.”
    “And I should have sent you back to your bed.”
    He was being too damned rational, but she knew there was no returning to the place