Dark Taste of Rapture by Gena Showalter Read Free Book Online

implying she couldn’t handle something like that, she forced her voice to go low and husky. “Hmm, hard and dirty. Just how I like my sex.”
    He tripped over nothing and, scowling, hurried to right himself. “A few weeks ago, we found a storage unit with three otherworlder females trapped inside. They had been taken as prisoners, were malnourished, and near death. Is that something you can handle?”
    Yeah, she could. She could handle anything. Rather than answer him, however, she asked a question of her own. “What happened to them?”
    “We set them free, got them medical care. Now they’re on the mend, both mentally and physically.”
    Ire rose on behalf of the females. “You catch whoever put them there?”
    “Not yet, but we will.”
    The words held a promise, a vow to avenge the weak. His sexiness factor jacked up a few more notches, and she shivered. “You really love your job. I mean, you more than take it seriously.”
    “Of course.” He sound astonished that she’d think otherwise. “It’s my life,” he added.
    Like Ava was hers. Fancy that—they had something in common. Both of them cared about something more than they cared about themselves. I will not admire him .
    They turned a corner. A split second later, Hector slammed his shoulder into hers, shoving her into a shadowed brick wall in an abandoned alley. Gasping in astonishment, the touch catching her off guard, she lost her hold on the candy box. Splat . The bottom busted and the contents spilled out onto dirty concrete.
    Oh, gross. There went Ava’s surprise.
    “Hey! That was uncalled for, you—”
    A growling Hector got in her face, putting them nose-to-nose. He glared down at her as the heat of his breath fanned against her, caressing her despite his obvious anger. “You should be kicked out for this little adventure. If I had my way, you would be kicked out, effective immediately.”
    And I should knee you in the balls . “I didn’t do anything wrong,” she snapped, keeping her knee to herself. She hadn’t been this close to a man in a long time. And that the one so close to her was Hector, a brute whoshouldn’t appeal to her but did … her stomach fluttered with hot flames of arousal. Her nipples tightened beneath the fabric of her bra, abrading deliciously.
    He pressed closer to her, caging her completely.
    Suddenly she had trouble catching her breath. Her gaze lowered to his mouth, and her survivalist fantasy came roaring back to life. Just then, Hector was the epitome of danger, a man who saved the day and demanded his due. A man who took what he wanted, damn the consequences.
    What would he taste like? How would his strong body feel moving on—in—hers?
    His pupils flared, black overshadowing gold. Had she somehow given her thoughts away?
    “You disobeyed orders, Noelle. You put the entire camp in jeopardy. How is that not doing anything wrong?”
    A spark of anger ignited, burning away the fear of being found out, but somehow increasing the arousal. “I get the order thing, but how did I jeopardize the camp?” I want to bite him. Claw him . The good kind of biting and clawing.
    “What if an enemy had seen you exit that hatch? He could next blow up the buildings around it, then sneak through the tunnel, no one the wiser, everyone too consumed with the outside chaos. Should I go on?”
    The anger drained, a guilty flush heating her cheeks. I want him to bite and claw me. “You’re right. I’m sorry,” she said, and she meant it.
    He slapped his hands at her temples, and pressed the rest of the way in, his lower body brushing against hers. For the second time in her life, she felt small andfeminine. “You play the role of airhead damn well, but I’ve got your number now, honey.”
    Panic momentarily overshadowed her desire and guilt. “And what’s my number?” He couldn’t know. He just couldn’t. She didn’t want him to know. “One eight hundred LOVE BUNNY?”
    She’d always taken a perverse kind of