Free Edge of Desire by Rhyannon Byrd

snapped, turning away from him with every intention of heading back toward the house. Until he latched on to her arm, spinning her back around.
    “How do you know that I haven’t?” he asked, his voice a soft, husky rasp of sound, contrasting sharplyagainst the hard cast of his features, his expression one of mounting frustration and rage.
    “I just know,” she whispered, practically hanging there in his hold, her neck craned back so that she could see his face. “I can tell by the look in your eyes.”
    He made a gruff, disbelieving sound under his breath, but it was the truth. He didn’t have that look, the one that said he didn’t know how to deal with it. Didn’t know what to say. People always got that same uneasy shadow in their eyes when they learned about what had happened to her, and she hated it.
    His expression tightened, as if he’d experienced something piercing and sharp, those dark eyes staring down at her, the moonlight giving them an odd glow as they struggled to break through and see inside her mind. He breathed out her name, the hand on her arm clenching, and something electric sparked between them. Something dangerous and wild. Something that made them both stiffen with awareness, just before he quietly said, “You need to go inside, Hope. Now.”
    Her lips shook, but she didn’t argue as he released his hold on her arm. And as she turned, making her way back toward the beautiful, gray-shingled house, she could feel him watching her, every step of the way.

CHAPTER FIVE
    Sunday morning
    T AKING ANOTHER fortifying sip of her coffee, Hope leaned her shoulder against the wall of her bedroom as she watched Kellan Scott install a sleek, expensive-looking motion detector beside her window. Beneath a stormy, slate-gray sky, the frothy caps of the Pacific Ocean could be seen rolling in through the rain-splattered panes of glass, while a watery thread of pale sunlight filtered into the room. She didn’t want to think about how much the high-tech device would cost her, but made a mental note to ask Riley the next time she saw him, since Kellan had refused to give her a price. The charming, good-natured flirt had claimed the security devices were free of charge, considering he and Riley were the ones who’d brought the danger to her doorstep. And while he had a point, Hope refused to take anything on charity. Especially from a friend of Riley’s.
    After a fitful night’s sleep, she’d awakened early and gone down to do the daily baking, allowing Millie achance to sleep in. Not long after opening, her two new tenants had come into the already bustling café, and every female head had turned. Not that Hope could blame them. The two newcomers to Purity were an impressive sight, as well as a formidable one, both over six foot and packed with solid muscle. After Kellan had teased her about whether or not she intended to throw another round of pies at Riley, they’d had breakfast, and afterward Riley had gone outside to make some calls on his cell phone. Grabbing the backpack he’d come in with, Kellan had then told her he was ready to install her extra security. She’d left Millie in charge, along with two of her best staff members, and taken Kellan into the residence part of their house through the connecting kitchen.
    They’d made some idle chitchat about the house and the café, but now, as Hope watched him work, she took advantage of the easy silence that had settled between them to collect her thoughts. There were questions she wanted to ask him about Riley, but she knew she had to get the wording just right. The last thing she wanted to do was sound too eager…or too desperate. But before she’d even managed to formulate the first one, Kellan beat her to the punch, the faintest trace of a British accent to his words as he said, “So what exactly happened between you and ol’ Riley anyway?”
    He was hunched down by the base of the window, his attention still focused on the sensor, his back to