Free Awakening Kiss (Watcher's Kiss Book 4) by Sharon Kay Page A

kitchen. Grabbing a water bottle, he moved into the den and sat in front of his computers.
    With a few keystrokes, he linked to the GPS tracker he’d surreptitiously attached to Enza’s new phone. Red halos flared out from the dot, reassuring him the thing was working and that she was at her shop. It hadn’t been hard to slip the tiny chip between her device and the case that protected it. She’d had to turn away from him often to mind her burners and ovens. The problem had been him nearly getting busted every time, checking out her curvy ass.
    But he’d done it. And it would give him a small measure of satisfaction to know where she was, if she ever ended up in a sketchy neighborhood again.
    How would she feel about being tracked? He sat back in his chair and folded his arms. She might be pissed. But he was worried about her safety.
    Damn. If he were honest, it was more than worry. Something about her intrigued him and awakened the need to protect. Who the hell knew why, but he would roll with it and accept her potential anger at him for tampering with her phone.
    Glancing out the window at the thick hedges beyond, he frowned. Was it worth the risk? He knew exactly what it felt like, the betrayal of trust, the knowledge someone had been keeping tabs on him and snooping in his business. Only his situation had been one of manipulation, not concern.
    Sinna. In the length of a demon’s life, she was here for just a recent blink in time. A full Deserati female, she had jet black hair and bright blue eyes, and she’d fallen hard for Rhys. Or so he thought.
    They’d never felt the bond that mates feel, but the weeks they spent together had been a haze of insatiable desire mixed with fun, goofing off time. And she’d shared his interest and skill with computers. They’d talked shop and swapped hacking tips.
    He just never expected to be on the wrong end of her fingers at the keyboard.
    He’d trusted her enough to leave her alone at the Lash house when he wasn’t around. And when a mission had been compromised, sensitive information leaked, Arawn had been furious. Watchers had been injured as they were ambushed. Luckily, no one was killed.
    But the leak was traced back to Rhys, who would give his life before betraying any of his team, or his leader. Then two and two had clicked, and Sinna’s involvement was confirmed.
    Rhys had been disciplined, given low level assignments for letting her close to their tech. She had been turned over to her clan leader—a favor—since Arawn knew the guy. Otherwise she would’ve been killed.
    Her façade still haunted him. The times she queried him for details of what he did, and he thought she was genuinely hoping the Watchers would succeed. Yet throughout, she’d been relaying it all to her cronies.
    Fuck. Thanks to her, a woman with tons of questions usually made him run the other way. But Enza pulled him as if an invisible string connected them.
    She’s different. Honesty shone through her words. But Rhys had thought Sinna was honest too. Maybe he wasn’t the best judge of character.
    But hell, he was going to find out. He could put up walls too. No need to say more than he had to. He’d find out what he could about Enza…then decide if he could risk letting down those walls.

C HAPTER 9
     
     
    E NZA COULDN ’ T KEEP THE BOUNCE out of her feet as festival passers-by gobbled up the last of a cinnamon crumb cake that she’d broken into bite-size chunks. Standing in front of Java Genie’s booth, she hadn’t had to twist many arms as she held out her platter of free samples. The best part was hearing the nearly universal comment of, “Mmm, this is amazing!”
    She ducked back behind the makeshift counter and set her plate down, nearly toppling a sleeve of coffee cups in the process. She caught them just in time.
    “You are like, vibrating with excitement,” Meena teased. “When is Mr. Sexy coming by?”
    “I told him any time after eight.” Enza tightened her ponytail.