A Forbidden Love by Lorelei Moone Read Free Book Online Page B

her limbs some rest, though he never let her go.
    "You're amazing," Alison mumbled, once she found the energy to talk.
    "You are," Jamie responded.
    He held her tighter, his breaths slowing further and further until she could tell he'd drifted off to sleep. In another situation she might have minded, she might have felt alone to have a new partner fall asleep so soon after making love for the first time. But somehow, everything was different with Jamie.
    She carefully lifted his arm off her and sat up in the bed to watch him.
    Something about him had changed. He didn't look as serious as he did when awake. He looked completely calm and at rest, even the otherwise permanent crease between his eyebrows had smoothed out. Alison wasn’t sure how she knew, but this moment was significant. A sign of complete trust.
    She could watch him for hours like this, no matter how creepy that sounded. Unfortunately, she didn't get the chance to just yet.
    "What's funny?" Jamie said when he opened his eyes only moments later.
    "You look so sweet when you're sleeping." Alison grinned down at him.
    "I didn't sleep!" Jamie protested, and sat up himself.
    "Yeah. Sure."
    "Really!" Jamie insisted. "Anyway, this is unacceptable. I asked you out for dinner, didn't I? I'd better keep my promise."
    Alison watched as he got up from the bed and found some takeaway menus in the bedside table.
    "Pizza?" Jamie asked, with an apologetic frown on his face. Perhaps he'd wanted to take her somewhere nice, but they'd been so preoccupied with one another, they hadn't noticed the time. It was too late to go out now and besides, Alison didn't want to leave.
    "Perfect," Alison said.
    Jamie took the menu and left the room to place the order, leaving Alison alone with her thoughts for a moment.
    What a night.
    In the span of just a few hours, she'd gone from confused about the idea of dating the enemy, to understanding they were soul mates, now and forever. She ought to feel guilty about betraying her family, but somehow, she didn't.
    Instead, Alison still felt terrible finding out she'd been instrumental in the abduction of Jamie's brother, Matthew. His capacity for forgiveness in the matter had amazed her. Matthew's disappearance had left a gaping hole in his being. That much was obvious from the way he'd talked about that day. No matter what he said, it was at least in part her fault. She'd do anything to help make things better.
    "Done. It'll be here in half an hour," Jamie said, as he came back into the bedroom, phone in hand.
    "Really. I wonder how we will pass the time," Alison teased, while obviously checking out his naked body from head to toe.
    That was all the encouragement Jamie needed to get back into bed.

Chapter Seven
    It was just another late morning at the Alliance office. Two days had passed since Jamie's first date with Alison, and although he'd made no real progress questioning the prisoners no matter how hard he tried, Jamie felt invincible.
    He and Alison hadn't been able to stay away from each other and had spent every spare hour together. Gone were the days when Jamie didn't know what to do with himself once his working day was over.
    Gone also were the sleepless nights, the endless restlessness and unnerving dreams that threatened to spill over into reality. He was a changed man, who no longer lived to work, but worked to live.
    "What time is the pick-up?" Jamie asked Kyle, who had been coordinating with their contact at the Alliance Council.
    "Depending on traffic on the M1, probably early afternoon," Kyle said, without looking up once from his computer screen.
    Kyle was the odd one out at the office. Not only was he a black bear unlike Jamie and Aidan who transformed into brown bears, he was a bit of a nerd and awkward around people, especially women. His pale complexion stood out against the darker hair, a testament that he was less outdoorsy than the others on the team.
    Though Kyle could fight if he needed to, his main weapon was his