Free Rebel's Desire (Iron Portal Paranormal Romance Series) (Iron Portal Series Book 4) by Laurie London Page B

was a pair of thin gym shorts.
    Take over for me , she’d said.
    He cursed under his breath.
    Would she still have said that if she knew who he really was? A barbarian soldier from the other side of a portal?
    Guilt sliced through him like a blade of hand-forged Balkirk steel at this deception of his. If she knew the truth, would she still feel the same way about him? Would she still have said that? Or would she cast him out, angry to have shared her bed with a man she thought was a terrorist?
    Or worse still—would she be afraid of him?
    Hell. If he were being honest with himself, was he even capable of trusting another human being with his heart? He’d been too naive once, trusting someone who broke his heart, so he’d vowed never to let that happen again.
    When he was finished, he headed back to the rowing club located on a narrow channel of water near the Fremont Bridge. The bridge wasn’t used for cars any longer—it had been too badly damaged in the earthquake years ago—but evidently the city engineers thought it was safe enough for the rowing club and some industrial buildings.
    He arrived in time to see Keely carrying the scull in from the water, her long red hair blowing in the wind from the lake.
    “How was your workout?” he asked, helping her lift the lightweight boat onto the rack.
    Her cheeks were rosy from the cool morning air. “It was good. I haven’t felt like coming down here for a long time. My parents keep their boat moored on the other side of the Locks.” She pointed down the channel to her left. “What about your run?”
    “Grueling,” he admitted, redoing the knot of hair at his nape as they walked to the Jeep. The cool morning air felt good on the back of his neck.
    “I can only imagine. You couldn’t pay me enough to run that hill.”
    “Really?” One side of his mouth quirked up in a smile. “You wouldn’t run it for a hundred credits?”
    Stepping in front of him, she turned around and walked backwards. “Nope.”
    “How about five hundred?”
    “Let me think about it.” She put her finger to her cheek. “Nope. That’s not enough either.”
    He chuckled. “That’s too bad, because I’d really like to see you sweaty and out of breath.”
    “I can think of a few other activities I’d rather do to get me sweaty.” She lifted an elegant brow and gave him a sultry look, but she wasn’t watching where she was going and almost tripped on a crack in the pavement.
    His arm shot out, pulling her close. “Careful,” he warned, staring at her luscious lips. “You could hurt yourself.” They continued walking—him forward, her backward.
    The tip of her tongue darted out. “Not if you’re here to catch me.”
    He felt himself growing hard. Again. When they got back to her place, he’d make love to her in the shower, he decided—her hands splayed against the tile and that sweet ass in front of him.
    Guilt that was never far from the surface clawed at him again. He needed to tell her the truth about who he was. He couldn’t keep dragging it out. It wasn’t fair to her. She deserved to know. Plus, he was proud of what he did—it was a big part of his identity, and he wanted to share that part of himself with her.
    But he had to be prepared for her to leave, and he wasn’t ready for that just yet.
    Not that he was falling for her or anything. Nope. Not going to happen.
    Something behind him drew her attention and she frowned.
    He turned, following the direction of her gaze.
    Two men in dark clothing were behind a bridge piling near the rowing club. One slipped off what looked to be a heavy backpack, while the other man paced and glanced around nervously in the thin morning light.
    “What do you think they’re doing?” she whispered.
    “I don’t know. Doesn’t look good.”
    There’d been a car bombing a few weeks ago. The authorities blamed it on Cascadians, of course, but there were those within the Iron Guild who believed the army was actually behind it. After