Read Return to Me (Storm Lords) for Free Online Page B

head, he looked at her, a slight frown forming on his lean, handsome face. “We’re not con artists.”
    “You’re not?” Her brows drew together. “So what do you want with me?”
    “We run a security company. This is our head office, though we have offices all over the world.”
    “Wow, I’m impressed.” She was, but she still wished he’d get on with it.
    “We get contracts, often from government agencies, but also private companies and individuals, to provide security, do risk assessment, including identifying individuals who may present a threat, and providing background checks on people who are going into sensitive positions.”
    Bella had no clue where this was going. How could she possibly be of any use to such an organization? Maybe they wanted her to test systems, to see if she could con her way through their safeguards. But the idea seemed a long shot.
    “I don’t get it,” she said. “What do you want me for? I don’t see how I can help?”
    He straightened and reached for his glass, swallowing the amber liquid down in one gulp. “We know you were born with certain unusual abilities.”
    Shock hit her hard in the solar plexus. Whatever else she’d been expecting, it wasn’t this.
    How could he know?
    Freak. Monster.
    Her mother’s words echoed through her mind. But her mother had been out of her life for years, and no one knew now, except for Justin and the woman who had helped her control her problem. Justin would never betray her, and the woman hadn’t even known Bella’s real name.
    She gritted her teeth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Bella, you could be of invaluable use to our company. You have the ability to look at people, know if they are telling the truth, if they have good intentions. Or evil.”
    “No one can do that.”
    He reached out, rested his hand on her forearm and she stared down at it. His fingers were long, pale against her skin. Little tremors of sensation zipped along her nerves.
    “You don’t have to pretend here. We can help you.”
    She pulled her arm free and leapt to her feet, stalking around the sofa so it was between them. “I don’t need help.”
    He ignored her. “We have people who can show you how to control your gift. Not crudely as you do now, but so you can use it, as and when you desire.”
    Bella folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. “I have no gift. And even if I did, I have absolutely no desire to learn how to control it.”
    He appeared to think for a minute. “We can pay you a lot of money. More than you could ever make on your ridiculous con jobs. You could be secure for the rest of your life. That’s what you want, isn’t it? Security?”
    He knew way too much about her. How did he find all this shit out? “Have you had me investigated?”
    He shrugged. “Of course. We always run a background check on potential employees.”
    “I am not a potential employee.”
    “You could be.” He rose to his feet, took a step toward her. “Don’t you want to know what you can do?” he asked, his voice laced with frustration. “Are you happy with this pathetic little existence?”
    She backed away from him and turned to stare out through the window. Shock and fear warred within her. She tried to control her emotions and think about his proposal rationally; but she found this was not an easy subject to be rational about.
    Her ‘powers’ as he called them had ruined her childhood. What child wants to be able to sense that her mother hates her, resents her very existence. What fourteen-year-old girl wants to be blasted by lust from her mother’s boyfriends’ disgusting, perverted brains? She shivered as waves of remembered revulsion washed through her.
    No way was she going back to that. She’d wait until she was alone and then she was out of here.
    A hand touched her shoulder, and she whirled around to find him far too close. The sharp, musky scent of his body filled her nostrils, at once strange but