Free Underworld Lover (A Guardian Angel Romance #2) by haron Hamilton

your life, you’ll not tell her that.”
    Peter chuckled. He looked up at the night sky, at the stars overhead, regarding them. He shook his head. “This is too rich. Beyond my wildest imagination,” he said as he snaked a heavy and very long arm around her waist and drew her to him like he owned her.
    Melanie pulled away. “I don’t like it when you do that.” They walked for a minute in silence, side by side. “You want to tell me what fascinates you so much about my mother, dare I ask?”
    “I could cut the enmity between you two with a knife. Women in battle are very sexy. I’m an ordinary man. I like to watch.”
    “Oh, God, I can’t believe you’re telling me this. I can’t believe I’m listening to this drivel.”
    “You both are equal in power, Melanie. Most people are uncomfortable with the display. I think that’s why the Barstows left early.” He shook his head, hands on hips. Melanie could see he was sparring with her.
    “Well, I think they’d be a whole lot safer at their own house. My family home is deadly.”
    Peter opened up the door to his red Maserati, and Melanie got in. “Indeed,” he said just before he slammed the door.
    After depositing his long, lanky body into the driver’s seat, he leaned over and said, “You are safe with me.”
    He gave Melanie a deep, penetrating kiss she could not break away from. The message was clear. He intended to claim her, and there wouldn’t be anything she could do about it. The time and place would be of his choosing. It was if she had no free will of her own.
    “Who are you?” Melanie blurted out as soon as she could pull her head back far enough to get rid of his probing tongue.
    “That’s complicated.”
    “Try me.”
    “I’m a man driven by passion. I’m the director of a very powerful machine, and I have the ability to fulfill all your dreams. Every one of them.”
    “Are you? Really?” Melanie saw his expression was almost euphoric, like he felt he was winning. She saw clearly he loved to win, above everything else. “I thought you worked for my father.”
    “I represent one very powerful organization. It’s what I brought to the partnership.”
    “You direct this organization?”
    “Yes, I do.” He gave her a confident smile and slipped his forefinger under her chin. “Let me bring pleasure to you, Melanie. Please.” He leaned closer to her. She could tell he wanted her to touch him. An invisible force kicked in, causing her to raise her right hand as if to put it to his cheek. She had to concentrate to keep it from doing so.
    “Stop it.”
    “What?” His eyes sparked as he parried back at her. In his eyes, she saw a flash of red.
    “You’re making me move my hand. I don’t want to touch you.”
    “Oh, but you do,” Peter said, eyelids at half-mast, his breath blowing over her face.
    Melanie’s hand lost the tug of war. It proceeded towards Peter’s cheek as Melanie watched with detached curiosity. When she looked into Peter’s dark eyes, she saw need there. This gave her an idea.
    Her hand barely grazed his cheekbone, and then her fingertips fluttered down to trace a path to his lips. His dark eyes began to water and he squirmed in the leather seat, repositioning his large frame. A faint frown line appeared at his forehead where his eyebrows drew closer together, as if seeking counsel with one another. The touch of her fingers on his lips parted them. The rise and fall of his enormous chest made her feel like she was standing in front of a blast furnace. Peter eliminated the safe space between them, moving aside her fingers, and claimed her lips again, fully possessing her mouth.
    She noticed it wasn’t unpleasant. There just was none of her desire there. Her free will was entirely absent.
    “Melanie,” he whispered softly. “You have tamed the most powerful man in the universe.”
    She used the trust he seemed to bestow upon her against him. He had let his power over her slip. “Are you really the most