Read Protecting His Witness (Red Stone Security Series) for Free Online Page B

moment, just staring at each other and in her gaze he saw what he imagined was mirrored in his. Hunger and need. God, he felt as if he’d been starving for years and now he simply couldn’t stop looking at her. He wanted to memorize every inch of her face, her body, the way she bit her full bottom lip when she was nervous or turned on.
    Like she was doing now.
    Stop staring. Stop fantasizing. Yeah, his internal commands weren’t working so well. “You hungry?” he managed to rasp out, proud of himself for those two words.
    At his question, her hazel eyes flared with need. But then she slightly shook her head, as if she realized he was talking about food. Which he was, sort of. “Yeah.” Her voice was as strained as his.
    She stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind her. After locking it, she turned to face him again.
    He couldn’t help himself. Screw control. He had none. Leaning forward, he brushed his lips over hers and felt some primal part of him calm. She shuddered, softly kissing him back as her fingers barely grazed his chest. He could feel her holding back, too, as if she was afraid to clutch him too tightly.
    Because if she did, they both knew what would happen. They wouldn’t make it to dinner or possibly off this front stoop.
    Somehow he forced himself to step back. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks were flushed with arousal. Yeah, he understood that all too well. Swallowing hard, he took her hand and linked his fingers through hers.
    Again, she seemed surprised by him, but he couldn’t help it. Staying away from her, finding closure…fuck it. He couldn’t help but wonder if she was going to rip his heart out again, but he was going to find out. Maybe he was a masochist.
    “So where are we going?” she asked as they walked down the stone steps of the condo complex.
    He shrugged. “I figured we could walk down Duval and stop wherever we wanted. Unless you had somewhere specific you wanted to go?”
    “As long as we get seafood I’m happy. After living in the desert for so long, I want fresh seafood.” He could hear the smile in her voice without even looking at her.
    As they reached the bottom step he glanced around the parking lot, looking for any threat. Doing that was just ingrained in him, but as he’d headed up to Jordan’s place he’d had the sensation of being watched. Having been in the crosshairs of a sniper scope more than once, he knew when someone was watching him. It could have been anything though. Still…
    “What’s wrong?” Jordan’s strained voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
    Seeing concern on her face jolted him, made a protective need surge through him full force. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her tight. Thankfully she didn’t resist, just slid her arm around his waist and snuggled up next to him.
    “Nothing’s wrong. Just being vigilant.” No need to get her worried after she’d lived in fear for seven fucking years. Especially since he wasn’t sure anything was wrong. Still, that feeling persisted at the back of his head.
    She instantly relaxed against him, her body melding to his as they headed across the parking lot to the sidewalk. Her fresh vanilla scent teased him, reminding him of how many times he’d woken up with his face buried against her neck. Even in his sleep he’d wanted her surrounding him. “I’m glad you’re like that. I feel like I’ve been looking over my shoulder for seven years—is it okay that I talk about this stuff?” she abruptly asked.
    “I want to know everything about where you’ve been.” And he did.
    “Same here. I want to know about your job, your family, everything.” She seemed a little nervous as she said the last word, but he couldn’t figure out why.
    As they headed down the small side street that would take them to the main road where all the restaurants, bars and clubs were, he kept his body on the street side.
    “And I’ll tell you, but you’re up first,” he said.
    “Well,