Bound to Love by Mia Petrova |
Somewhere
in Nevada Hiding her
face with a blue Yankees baseball cap and keeping her face down turned
to avoid any security cameras, Elena Dawson rushed to get what she
needed. She was used to hiding, of running. After becoming an agent for
the Paranormal Defense Agency, it was something she never thought she’d
do. Now she was doing just that because of them. She
surreptitiously scoped the small market as she walked down an aisle
after grabbing a small basket, searching for exits and making sure no
agents were present. They were everywhere. When the
front door bell rang, she glanced over her shoulder. Her heart stuttered
at the sight of a man so beautiful that for an instant she forgot where
she was. In that
moment, she realized she had never been so lonely. She’d been alone so
long she’d almost forgotten what lust was, how it made a woman’s skin
tighten and tingle. She had to
remain alone. With the agency after her, she was constantly on the move.
There was no choice. Anyone she might let close was in as much danger as
her. The man
stopped at the postcards, and then as if sensing her stare, he met her
gaze with stunning blue eyes. He was tall, lean, and had a short blond
hair. Snug, faded jeans and a tightly fitting gray T-shirt over his
sculpted body made her mouth water. Just the sight of him made her ready
to be caressed, kissed, and loved. Her breasts grew heavy, her nipples
hardening, and a pulse of need sparkled through her core. Her blood
heated while her breathing became erratic. If her body
wasn’t betraying her on its own, the divine man ran his gaze over her
from head to toe, and she recognized the hunger written on his face.
When she glanced down, there was no mistaking the bulge pressing against
his jeans. He wanted her. She wanted
him too. Taking a
long breath, she turned away, refocusing on her task. She grabbed food
items quickly, adding the prices up in her head and dropping them into
the basket. She didn’t want to spend any longer in the market than she
already had. When she was
done, she placed the basket on the counter and waited patiently while
the cashier slowly typed prices into the cash register while most of his
attention was on the small television set at the end of the counter. “I’m kind of
in a hurry,” she said softly, but he continued as though she hadn’t said
anything. She felt
someone behind her. She didn’t
have to look back to know it was him. The hairs on the back of
her neck stood up as if his eyes were boring into her flesh. Without
realizing it until it was too late, she was already glancing back. She
met his gaze, but she turned away as quickly, while hiding her face with
the baseball cap. Her pulse quickened. “Thirty-six
dollars and fifty cents.” She looked
at the register to see the total. “You must’ve made a mistake. I counted
thirty-four dollars.” Which was
exactly what she had clutched into her hand. “Look, lady,
you gonna pay or not?” Elena threw
the money on the counter and went to check her pockets. She didn’t have
any change. She was stalling as she tried to decide if she should use
her powers. She needed the food; however, she had to keep a low profile. “You’re
almost three dollars short.” “Yeah, the
ones you’re trying to steal,” she murmured under her breath. Elena heard
a chuckle behind her, knowing exactly who it came from. “What did
you say?” the employee asked, obviously getting angry. Elena was
about to use her powers when the mystery man’s chest touched her back.
Contact, finally she had contact after so many years. She shivered when
his hard thighs slightly touched hers. He reached
around her and laid three dollars on the counter. “I think that covers
it,” he said, then looked down on her. Elena was a few inches shorter
than he was, but it didn’t matter when his gaze dropped to her lips. It would
never happen, she thought to herself. “Thank-thank
you,” she mumbled, moving away from his touch while picking up her bags.
Without another glance, she headed for the door. She didn’t
look back when she threw her things into the passenger seat and left.
Then all she saw was desert and diamonds in the sky. * * * * * Logan Stark
watched the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen get into her car and
disappear as if she’d been a dream. But she had been real, and she had
looked at him as if craving every bit of pleasure he could give her.
There was something there; he’d felt it. And he was sure she’d felt it
too. But she left.
Disappointment weighing him down, he dropped into the driver’s seat of
his car and opened his bag of chips. She was
beautiful. Her brown
wavy hair reached her shoulders, surrounding a heart-shaped face with
deep brown eyes and full lips. She was only a few inches shorter than he
was, which would make it easy to lean down and kiss her. Her smooth,
olive skin enveloped a body so stunning it took his breath away. His cock had
swelled when he saw her, surprising him. No woman had ever excited him
with just a look. He wasn’t a
fool though. She was in trouble. He saw it in her eyes and the way she
hid her face from the cameras. Her expression when their gaze met had
been sad at first, as though she craved something she could never have.
That saddened him so much that he wanted to find her again, to replace
that memory with a sweeter one. But then, her breath quickened,
replacing the sadness with desire. And he wanted her. And she’d
run, but he didn’t think it was from him. She had the look of someone
who lived on the edge and had for a long time, who was used to
disappearing. Like him, perhaps. Logan couldn’t settle down in one place
because the result could be catastrophic. But if she had just given him
a chance, they could be together now, instead the loneliness he lived
with, buried deep in his soul. Sighing, he
put aside the half-eaten bag of chips and got on the road. The moon was
so bright it lit the road ahead of his headlights. After thirty minutes
of driving, as though in a stupid B movie, a teenager ran into the
middle of the road, gun raised, pointed directly at him. “Damn it,”
Logan cursed under his breath, slamming his foot on the brake. The
windshield shattered in a spider web of cracks, making Logan lose
control of the car and veer into the shallow ditch at the side of the
road. When the motor died, he tried to start it again, but the door was
ripped open. The boy was stronger than he looked, grabbing him by his
collar and pulling him from the car. Logan fell
to the ground while pieces of glass cut his skin. “Get up,”
the boy said, pointing the gun at Logan’s head. “Look, kid.
You can have anything you want, there’s no need for this.” The kid was
out of his mind, on drugs, with red-rimmed eyes and shaking hands,
obviously in need of a fix. “Give me
your phone!” “Okay, okay.
Just calm down.” Logan reached into his back pocket and pulled out his
cell phone. The kid took
it, mumbling under his breath, “I’m gonna kill those gangbangers dead,”
while he touched numbers on the phone. But before he could do more than
that, Logan spotted headlights coming in their direction. “Don’t do
anything or you’re dead. Get up. Get up!” Logan rolled
to his feet, keeping his limbs loose, awaiting his chance to disarm the
kid. The guy hid
the gun and pretended everything was fine while he touched the screen of
the cell phone. Logan figured the gun was probably pointed at him from
under the boy’s clothes. The car got
closer, and Logan hoped they just kept driving. He wasn’t scared, he had
been in situations similar to this when he was a cop, but a civilian
wouldn’t know what to do. He was afraid for the person behind that
wheel, especially when the car started to slow down when it got closer
to them. Logan let
out a slow breath when the car stopped, killing the lights. His gut
clenched when he saw the woman from the market exiting the car. “Hey guys,
what’s going on?” Her stance was calm and her voice soothing. However,
that wasn’t enough for the kid who gripped Logan’s body to shield his
own and push the gun directly into his temple. “Stand back
or I’ll blow his fucking head off,” the kid warned, pressing the metal
even harder against Logan’s head. |
|