Read HAYDEN (Dragon Security Book 5) for Free Online Page A

He slid his fingers carefully under the top edge of the bathrobe, his fingertips brushing the swell of my breasts. “I feel so many things for you, but none of it is sorry.”
    “Please, Hayden…”
    He turned me around and forced me to sit on the edge of the desk. “You’ve gotten under my skin, Sam. I can’t think about anything but you.”
    I started to shake my head, but he grabbed my jaw and forced me still. And then he kissed me, his lips demanding against mine. I couldn’t help myself. I responded to him; I allowed my lips to part ever so slightly and that was enough. He buried himself against me, pressing his tongue against places that had never been touched before. I didn’t know where to put my nose; I didn’t know how to breathe. But I didn’t want it to stop.
    I’d been an observer all my life, always watching other people fall in love: Megan and Luke all through high school, all the way through to their aborted wedding; Cole and all the girls in his life, a few of my friends in high school, and then Amber, the one who finally stole his heart. There was Peter—oh, I had such a crush on Peter once upon a time!—and the girl he’d fallen for, the one he thought would be his forever, but who walked away before forever could even begin.
    Then there were all these big, handsome men. The men in the Marines who looked at me as the brain they had to push through basic training, but who could return the favor when it came time to go through specialization training. None of them had seen me as anything more than that. And then Dragon. All these big, handsome men, all of them single until recently. None of them saw me. But, to be honest, I never really expected them to.
    And then there was Hayden.
    All this time, watching him flirt with everyone else—Megan, the other girls in the office, our female clients—it killed a little bit of my soul. I didn’t want to like him; I didn’t want to get a secret thrill every time he smiled at me with that charming smile he had. But I couldn’t help myself.
    And now…how many times had I imagined this moment? And how sick had I been to have my very first kiss be from him, but be wrapped in the guise of an act, an undercover operation that we were both getting paid to participate in?
    Was this just an extension of that? Did it matter?
    I’d wanted this for so long that I couldn’t make myself pull away. I couldn’t convince my heart that I was only rushing toward heartbreak. I couldn’t make my hands stop slipping over his shoulders, my fingers from burying themselves in his hair.
    He moaned softly against my mouth, his hands slipping over my thighs, tugging my hips closer against him as he leaned into me. I fell back against the cool surface of the mirror, pulling him with me. It was an awkward angle, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was kissing me almost roughly, his hands sliding over my thigh, searching for the bottom edge of the bathrobe. My heart was pounding, my breath coming in small gasps. I’d never been touched this way. Was it normal to feel like I was suffocating?
    His hand discovered my bare knee just as a knock sounded on the door.
    “Room service!” a disembodied voice called.
    Hayden moaned, reluctantly pulling away from my lips. He rested his forehead against mine for a brief moment, and then turned toward the door.
    “Coming.”
    I stood as he opened the door, pulling the front of my robe tighter against me. The waiter walked in, carrying a tray that held a teapot and a selection of tea bags, along with two dainty cups. Again, the idea of Hayden sipping out of a cup that was more than a third smaller than his hand made me want to laugh. I turned away, moving to stand at the window. The world was still there—people rushing around on foot and in their cars, moving in and out of buildings like ants in one of those clear, plastic ant farms.
    It seemed odd to me, somehow, that the world was still the same after everything that had been going on