Frozen Desires (Asylums for Magical Threats) by Jessie Donovan Read Free Book Online Page B

lower back to her waist, and he hauled her against his side. From a
    distance, Cam could be intimidating to strangers, but with her frame pressed up against his muscular one, she almost appeared small.
    He barely had time to move his hand to Cam’s hip to get a better grip before a man and woman in their
    mid-twenties came around the corner of the building. Cam tucked her head against his side—probably to
    hide her pissed off looking face—so he smiled at the couple and said in Spanish, “Sorry, friends, my
    girlfriend and I were just trying to steal a few moments alone.”
    The man laughed. “No worries. We kind of had the same idea.”
    The man looked at the woman at his side, and Marco felt a pang of jealousy at their obvious affection.
    Good thing he had lots of experience hiding his emotions. “My girl and I were just leaving. But if you know of any other little secluded spots we can take advantage of, I’d love to hear them.”
    Cam chose that moment to lift her head and peek at the couple opposite them. The woman winked at
    Cam, and unaware that Cam didn’t speak Spanish, she said, “Get your boyfriend to take you to a secluded
    cenote at night. You haven’t tried anything until you’ve been naked in a sunken waterhole with the
    moonlight streaming down on you.”
    Marco nearly choked. A naked Cam, floating on her back with the moonlight caressing her breasts, was
    not the image he needed right now.
    When Cam merely stared at the couple, the other man saved him from sputtering some half-assed reply.
    “Ah, she doesn’t understand us. That might work in your favor, my friend, because now you can surprise
    her. No doubt the sudden ‘romance’ will score you some extra points.”
    Marco forced a grin and wink. “Thanks for the tip. I think it’s time for me to go look up cenotes and
    plan a big evening.”
    The pair laughed and walked past them.

    Cam hated not understanding what had just happened. The man and woman had been laughing with
    Marco, and her inner control freak desperately wanted to know why.
    Still, the experience had only reinforced her decision to accept Marco’s help. She loathed admitting it,
    but his language skills alone would no doubt make her mission easier, provided he was honest with her.
    When the couple finally left, she’d expected Marco to let go, but if anything, he tightened his grip on her hip. She gave a quick check to make sure the couple was gone before she hissed, “Let me go.”
    He merely smiled down at her, which only irritated her more. “Not until you tell me what kind of tests
    you plan to put me through.”
    “I need some time to think them through, unless you want some half-assed impossible task, like asking
    you to take out all of the security guards here tonight without getting caught.”
    “I doubt even you could do that.”
    “That’s the point.” She inched her arm toward his, but he saw the movement, and took hold of both of
    her wrists. She narrowed her eyes. “I may have agreed to give you a try, but that doesn’t give you the right to manhandle me.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “What if that couple came back? I’m just keeping up my role, beauty.”
    The stupid, meaningless endearment was the last straw. She needed to find a way to get free of Marco’s
    ironclad hold on her body.
    While Marco was strong, both physically and magically, he was just a man, and there was more than one
    way to get out of his hold without letting on that she wasn’t human.
    Cam reached out her hand and tickled his side. He yelped and she slipped away. She dashed to the top
    of the stairs before he caught up to her with a grin on his face. “So it does exist.”
    She spotted Zalika at the foot of the stairs and put on her hat, the signal that everything was okay. “What does?”
    “A non-badass version of you.”
    “Escape doesn’t always require violence.” When Marco didn’t reply, she looked over at him, but he was
    just staring at her.