Come Hell or High Desire Read Online Free Page A

handle. Her vision flickered, and she staggered forward until
     Zack’s warm hands grasped her arms, dispelling the gray haze in her mind. She blinked
     up at him. Subtle waves of energy poured into her where his hands made contact with
     her skin.
    “You okay?” His speech wrapped around her, warm and comforting. The sudden change
     in his attitude was almost as disconcerting as the psychic jolt.
    Or whatever that had been.
    “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.” She stepped back as far as good manners allowed and rubbed
     her upper arms. “Mind if I go inside to get what I need for the store? It’s a Limited
     Edition crystal rhino, about yea-big—”
    “How’d you know I’d even be here?” he asked.
    “I didn’t, but I hoped if Ann wasn’t, you might be.” He didn’t respond, and heat crept
     up her neck. “Look, I really need to get that rhino back. At the store, you said you
     were coming here after your meeting, and I took you at your word. You have a problem
     with that?”
    He didn’t say anything for a long while, but took her measure with those gorgeous
     eyes. Then he blinked, and she could breathe again.
    Until he shoved his hands in his front pockets. Oh , but the man was well-made.
    “My word’s good. But what’s this really about?” he asked.
    “What is your problem? I just told you—”
    “Lies are for cowards.”
    Her breath seized at his quiet words. If he only knew how many lies she’d had to tell
     over the years to protect her—
    Sssecretsss.
    She glanced to the side, looking for the source of the echoing sound, then back at
     Zack, but he didn’t seem to have heard it. She clasped her icy hands and faced Ann’s
     front door. Her peripheral vision glimmered. A rolling tightness crept from her stomach
     toward her esophagus. Oh, Lord, something’s really wrong here.
    And Zack was watching her. Think about Ann. Ask a few helpful questions, then you can leave in good conscience. “Is there anyone else you can call? Any other family or friends she could possibly
     be with?”
    He looked down at his scuffed work boots. “No. I’m not blood, but I’m all she’s got.”
    One of his elbows brushed her shoulder when he raked a hand through his hair, turned,
     and started up Ann’s walkway. A blast of negative energy radiated off him, leaving
     her nerves vibrating in awareness. That kind of damaging aura from anyone else required
     use of her psychic energy shield. Why not from him? Her nausea had abated as well.
     “What did you just do?” she asked, trailing after him.
    “What?” He halted on the walkway arranged with brimming petunia pots, his hair sticking
     out at all angles from hand-worrying it.
    Her heart slugged away at her chest like it had in high school when she got those
     sideways glimpses from the teachers. “Nothing. I, uh, I’m gonna head back to the store
     now. I’m sure Ann’s fine.”
    But Zack’s glower told her he didn’t believe it either. Which left them where? Mother
     had always told her ignoring her gut was equivalent to playing Russian roulette with
     just one empty chamber. But that didn’t make her any less determined to ignore the
     compulsion telling her to walk up to Ann’s front door and hold on for the ride.
    Crap, crap, crap.
    A woman moseyed down the walkway from the condo next door, making poor pretense of
     waiting for her tiny fur ball to pee while she angled her ear their direction. Zack
     moved closer to whisper. “If you see Ann first, have her call me.”
    She’d never seen such expressive eyes in her life. Right now they were so earnest.
     What would it be like to have a man that concerned for your welfare? Why couldn’t you affect me differently?
    He seemed to storm her defenses without even trying, so he had to be off limits. Just the thought of hurting someone again…
    Her teeth grabbed her lower lip. Suddenly his eyes crinkled at the corners and the
     color lightened to that sparkling green once more. They were saying