Edge of Betrayal by Shannon K. Butcher Read Free Book Online Page B

me.”
    “You’re my partner. It’s my job to make sure you’re safe.”
    “I’d be safer if you left.”
    Adam wasn’t entirely sure she was wrong. The things he felt for her were strange. Potent. She was a constant distraction in a job where such things could get a man killed. Or a woman.
    Still, Bella had entrusted Mira’s care to him, and he refused to let his new boss down, even if that meant coping with distraction.
    He lifted the mug of tea closer and waited to see if she’d take it.
    After what felt like far too long, she let go of the blanket and wrapped her fingers around the warm ceramic.
    The tip of her thumb grazed across his finger. Her skin was cold. Her hand trembled slightly. Even so, that simple, innocent touch streaked up his arm and all along his spine, tingling as it went.
    Before he could think twice about it, his hands covered hers, caging them against the hot mug.
    She froze like a startled rabbit. Her green eyes widened. Her pupils shrank. “What are you doing?”
    “Your hands are cold,” he said, hoping that would end any further questions.
    Her breathing sped, making her blanket slide from her shoulders to pool around her waist. From where he stood above her, he could easily see a shadow of cleavage that made his mouth go dry.
    Her voice was weak. “I didn’t say you could touch me.”
    “This is hardly touching, Mira.” Though it felt very much like the real thing.
    “It’s more than enough. You should let go.”
    He tried to. He issued the order to his hands to move, but they stayed curled around hers, enjoying the smooth feel of her skin inside his grasp.
    To cover his lack of discipline, he said, “Am I hurting you?”
    She swallowed hard enough that he could see her throat move. He swore her pupils flared, and if he didn’t know better, he’d think she was looking at him the same way she had the night of their one and only date—like a woman who was very much interested in the fact that he was a man.
    “That’s not the point.”
    “No. The point is you’re not the kind of woman who likes to ask for help, which forces your partner to be the kind of man who gives it to you, whether or not you ask for it.”
    Anger forced a snarl on her lips a second before she shot to her feet. The mug tilted wildly, sending the hot tea all over his front.
    She’d doused him like this once before, only that time, he’d arranged for it to happen. She’d been extremely apologetic, too—something the look on her face told him was not going to happen this time.
    “Just stop it with the partner bullshit. Whatever game you’re playing, you won’t win. I won’t fall for you or your lies again.”
    Which meant she had fallen for him before.
    Strangely, the idea that he’d had her romantic attention and lost it was what upset him most. Not the drenched shirt or the burning skin. Not her current anger or her refusal to trust him. It was the idea that she could have loved him that he found most compelling.
    No one had ever loved him before—at least not that he could remember. His parents had birthed him and his brother as an experiment, just to see if their theories were correct. Even his baby brother had clung to him more out of fear than love.
    What would it be like for a woman as fierce and intelligent as Mira to love him?
    A tiny part of him grieved that he would never know.
    Mira stormed off, slamming her bedroom door behind her.
    Adam found a towel in the kitchen and dried off as much as possible. The damp fabric felt cool against the slight burn of his skin. He was sure it was all the comfort he would find tonight.
    Not that he needed comfort. That was for other men. Real men—not the product of human experimentation. Adam was designed to need very little to survive, andthings like love and comfort were merely foreign concepts that gave him something to ponder as he made a slow security sweep of the house.
    Tonight, Mira would be safe, and that was really all he needed.

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