Possession by Jennifer Lyon Read Free Book Online

herself in his arms on the deck, her small body curling around him, he’d caught himself holding on to her. Not for sex, but for a connection. It just…he didn’t know what to do with all that. Especially the way she cued in on how sick Drake was and baked the man muffins. “I’ll book a room at a hotel for us Saturday night. Anywhere you want to go.”
    She didn’t look up. “I have to be at work around 4:30 a.m. Sunday. If you want to have sex at a hotel, I’ll meet you there so I can leave when we’re finished.”
    “Damn it, Kat.” Frustration clawed at him. “I’m trying to do something nice for you. Take the day off.”
    “Sorry, I can’t.”
    That dead tone of voice stabbed at his brain. He didn’t know how to make this right. “I’m trying—”
    “I don’t want you to try.” Grabbing the edge of the counter, she closed her eyes and tilted her head back. “I just want…”
    “What do you want?”
    “To be able to handle this.” Her gaze hit his. “Have sex with you and not make it anything more.”
    Sloane stared at her, his entire body twanging in reaction. Strength and vulnerability radiated from her.
    So beautiful and scarred. Inside and out. Emotion rubbed him like sandpaper. She tugged at his chest and dried his mouth. A dozen years ago, when he’d first seen her, she’d been a child at sixteen, a young beauty he hated for what he perceived as her fairytale-like life while his sister was dead.
    But now, the innocence had been stripped away, leaving a fighter struggling for footing on moving ground. She brought out his protective instincts like no one else since Sara.
    Sloane went to her, fitting his front to her back, caging her with his arms. Feeling her weight against him, he settled his chin on her head. “Too late. We both know this is more.”
    She dug her fingers into the granite. “I don’t know if I can survive when it ends.” She took a breath. “Do one thing for me?”
    “What?” Anything. He’d feel better if he could do something for her.
    “Don’t lie to me. Just don’t lie. I can deal with this as long as you tell me the truth.”
    He should walk away from her now. Leave her. Jesus Christ, Sloane knew it was going to end.
    And end badly.
    He could keep it from her for awhile, but Kat was too smart not to figure out his goal.
    To kill the man who murdered Sara.
    But Sloane couldn’t let Kat go. Not yet.
    * * *
    A few hours of working in her bakery kitchen helped her sort through her thoughts. She couldn’t fix Sloane’s life. But she had something else that bugged her.
    Like she’d told Sloane, she believed that whoever attacked her the night of the supposed mugging was still a threat. The new part of her flashback worried her. They hadn’t hurt David, at least not much, but they’d made him watch while they hurt her. Told him Consequences . If they had targeted Kat as some kind of consequence back then, what about other people in David’s life now? She hadn’t heard about a girlfriend, but her brother Marshall was David’s friend. Her parents wouldn’t listen to her, but would Marshall? Should she warn him that she thought David could be into something dangerous?
    Taking a sip of water, she continued working on assembling the raspberry heart cookies. They were a huge seller. She spread the seedless preserves on the heart-shaped shortbread cookie, then set on the top outline of a heart and dusted them with powdered sugar.
    She assembled the cookies on autopilot, thinking about Marshall. They weren’t really in each other’s lives. He’d chosen David to be in his wedding, while Kat would just be a guest. Yet when she did see him, her brother treated her with his usual distracted affection, just as he always had.
    So would he listen to her? Or did he simply believe David?
    Ana plopped down on the other stool at the stainless-steel table.
    “Taking a break?” Kat finished the first batch and went to work on the second.
    “I wanted to talk to