Read Embraced By Passion for Free Online

her skin burned.
    The thrum of the engines began to hum louder, their torque building as the plane prepared for takeoff.
    Ja’Rol took a seat ahead of her, and Slone sat at his side. Then together, they swiveled their chairs. Brigit stared.
    “Relax,” Slone said soothingly. “Our pilots are among the best. The weather will make it a bit bumpy, but it’ll clear soon enough.”
    Then they were moving.
    Was it so wrong that the vibrations of the plane speeding down the runway were traveling through her system, making her thighs clench as her body ached with need? Her fingers flexed into the wood accented armrests. She purposely unclenched them twice, then gave up trying to relax. The pavement hummed and skipped beneath the jet, then there was a feeling of weightlessness—for about two seconds, right before her stomach tried to fill her shoes.
    She moaned. Bending at the waist, she clutched her stomach. Her vision blurred, watery as pain sliced through her middle. She lost track of which way was up.
    “Brigit?” Hands caressed her shoulders and another swept her hair out of her eyes. “Breathe.”
    She sucked in air, hit with the worst case of nausea she could ever remember. Closing her eyes, she waited for it pass, diving into the black calm that rushed toward her.
     
    * * * *
    “She’ suffering,” Ja’Rol told Slone. Anxiety was woven through the thought.
    Slone lightly shaped his palm over Brigit’s forehead and closed his eyes, seeking into her physical being.
    “She’s starving.” Worry for her health, and anger that she wasn’t taking care of herself, made his tone brisk.
    “What?” Ja’Rol continued to massage her back, rubbing her unconscious form as Slone supported her in his strong arms. Neither felt the tilted rise of the plane.
    Slone frowned. “ Carl did take her to a hotel yesterday, right?”
    “I didn’t ask, but she gave us those phone numbers, and a room number.”
    Slone shook her head. “ She stayed at a shelter. She hasn’t eaten in days, at least two.”
    “Why?”
    Disregarding her privacy, knowing he’d likely pay for the indiscretion, he sought her memories.
    The deeper Slone dug, the harder his expression became, images of her father in the forefront, the cause of her misery. Verbal abuse, malicious control, a man who thrived on cruelty. The most recent fight had been emotionally horrific and brutal. Both doubted Traci had any hint of a clue of the man’s behavior toward his daughter. Brigit had told the truth. She’d just returned stateside from a trip to Paris, as in right before she’d shown up on their doorstep, seeking Traci from the plane. She’d come home early to escape her father, leaving him and her stepmother behind in France. Her hope to find her mother to recover and lick her wounds had put her instead, in their care.
    “Never again.” Ja’Rol’s statement was steel.
    Slone agreed with Ja’Rol. She would never be left with that man again.
    “We’ve overwhelmed her, but she’s more like her mother than her father,” Slone pointed out. Releasing her belt, he scooped her easily upward to take her seat, settling her on his lap to cradle her in his arms. She folded into his chest like a kitten.
    Ja’Rol opened a compartment and grabbed a blanket, covering both Brigit and Slone. “I’ll warm up something light for her to eat.” Turning for the kitchen, Ja’Rol found cups and filled two with water, and another with ginger ale, giving all three to Slone.
    Subdued over their woman’s health, neither said much for the next thirty minutes, until she began to stir.
    “Easy, pet.” Slone stroked her back, soothing her when she stiffened on his lap. “You’re safe.”
    “How?” Blue eyes widened as color flooded her cheeks, discomfited at finding herself on his lap, and searching for a way to put space between them evident in her tension.
    “You fainted.” He narrowed his eyes at her, sensing her need to flee. Ja’Rol may know her thoughts easier