Read Obsession (The Plus One Chronicles) for Free Online Page A

just…”
    “Are you worried I’ll lose my temper and go after David or the guy in the picture?”
    “A little, but it’s more than that.”
    “All right, tell me.” Sloane could almost feel her struggling. He’d let this go last night because her eyes had been bruised with fatigue. He didn’t need to be a genius to know he’d hurt her badly enough that she hadn’t slept the night before. But now they needed to face whatever was bothering her because Sloane was going to see the picture. He couldn’t protect her if he didn’t know the threat.
    “When I came to your house after your mother’s visit, you were in your studio doing your Tae Kwon Do forms.” Her eyes shimmered bright blue. “You were amazing, so beautiful. I’ve never seen you like that.”
    He frowned, trying to follow her point. She knew he did martial arts, so why would seeing that bother her? “Beautiful?” A strange word choice.
    “Stunningly powerful.” She twisted her hands together. “I’ve never seen you full force like that. You’re so far out of my league I don’t know why you agreed to work with me.”
    Shit. Now he got it. She thought the picture of her so badly hurt would change his view of her.
    Taking her hands, he threaded their fingers together and told her the truth. “That’s how I feel when I watch you go through your yoga moves. You put your headphones on and slide into the zone where it’s you and your body working to the music. Every time you balance on one leg, my heart seizes. I’m scared for you. It’s a battle for me to stay back and not spot you. But at the same time, I’m entranced by your goddamned stubborn bravery. You won’t let your leg defeat you. I’ve seen tough-as-nails fighters defeated by their injuries. But not you.”
    Her fingers tightened around his, and the pulse at her throat fluttered. “That’s what you see?”
    “You’re a survivor. My beautiful survivor. A picture isn’t going to change that.”
    A blush chased out the tension in her face. She leaned in and kissed him.
    Sloane inhaled her warm, sweet scent. God he’d never get enough of her. Once she broke the kiss, he told her another truth. “You’ve seen and felt me full force when I’m thrusting hard and deep into you. I don’t hold back with you when we’re together. Couldn’t if I wanted to.” She undid him every damn time.
    Kat shook her head. “You’re making me love you too much.”
    “Right there with you, baker girl. Now show me the picture before I decided to violate all the health codes and fuck you on this table.” He slapped a hand down on the stainless-steel top. “It looks sturdy enough for the full force of us.”
    Kat shivered and turned in his arms to load the flash drive on his laptop.
    Sloane leaned down to her ear. “Don’t want to find out if I was bluffing?”
    She glanced back. “My employee and security will be here soon.”
    “So? You can toss a couple muffins out the door and tell them to wait.”
    She rolled her eyes, turned and clicked on the title of the picture. The image materialized on the screen.
    His lungs locked. “Jesus Christ.” He’d thought he was ready. Thought he could handle it.
    So fucking wrong.
    Kat lay in the hospital bed, her face swollen and bruised to vivid blue and purple. Dried blood matted her hair. Her arm was in a cast, her braced leg in traction. Rage tore through his guts like wildfire. His blood pumped violently.
    What they’d done to her. With a bat.
    Her fingers covered his clamped onto her hips. “Focus on the man standing by the door.”
    Sloane forced his hands to relax before he bruised her as he studied the man. Average height and well muscled. In the picture he looked around thirty, and that was six years ago. Wearing jeans and a T-shirt, he hovered in the doorway, staring at Kat with hard eyes. No sympathy softened his expression.
    “Do you know him?”
    Sloane let his breath go. “No.” He reached around Kat and saved the picture to